Page 82 of Roman

“Why do you want to kill me anyway?” Danny was relieved that he seemed to be capable of normal speech again. Maybe he didn’t have a brain bleed after all. “Does Roman finding love really make you that angry?”

Luc’s smirk dropped, and he stared at Danny for a long moment. The vampire didn’t look angry exactly. More…contemplative. “I thought that was it, at first. When I realized what he thought he’d found with you. I’ll admit there’s a part of me that goes a little crazy at the thought of Roman finding eternal happiness after sabotaging mine.”

“He didn’t sabotage—”

Luc shushed Danny. “Don’t start. I don’t want to talk about Victoria. And I don’t think you want to piss me off right now, hm?”

Right. Because there was a difference between a quick, relatively painless death and a slow, very painful death. Call him crazy, but Danny had never been much into the idea of being tortured.

Luc nodded approvingly at his silence. “Tell me about how he made you feel. Your mate,” he demanded.

Made. Past tense. Danny couldn’t let himself dwell on that, couldn’t let himself think that maybe Roman hadn’t made it. If Danny was leaving this world, he wanted to leave believing Roman was still in it.

“Why would I tell you?” There it was, petulance again.

“Because I want to know.”

Danny considered refusing to answer out of spite. But maybe if Danny stalled, Soren would still be able to find them. Assuming Soren was even okay. “He makes me feel…safe.”

There was a pause. Luc seemed to be waiting for Danny to say more. Then, “That’s it? That’s your description of yourfated mate? Safety? That’s just a glorified bodyguard.”

Danny snorted, which ended up being kind of gross because it felt like maybe some blood bubbled out of his nose when he did it. Ew. “You’re so centered on violence you don’t even know what I mean.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Before I met him, I was so…lonely. And tired. And afraid. Afraid of living my life. Of letting anyone in. When I met him, he was clearly dangerous. But even so, I felt…safe. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me.” Danny narrowed his eyes at Luc. “Beyond the physical. I knew he’d hold on to my heart. That he’d protect it. Even when my mind was trying to scare me with my own insecurities, it was like my soul knew it.Knowsit.”

Danny was panting for breath by the end of his explanation. Speechifying was exhausting when your body was broken, turned out. Now would probably be a good time to go to the hospital.

Except, right, he’d been kidnapped by a psychotic vampire with a thirst for vengeance. No hospital for Danny.

“Victoria never felt safe with me,” Luc mused. “No matter how wild, how joyful she seemed. There was always an undercurrent of fear. I could smell it. Taste it. Always.”

I don’t fucking blame her, was the thought Danny sagely decided not to voice out loud.

“You really don’t fear him?” Luc asked.

“Never.”

Luc hummed. “He’s not dead, you know. He’s on his way to you now. Your knight in fucking shining armor.”

The relief was so overwhelming that Danny found it hard to breathe. Or maybe he just had a punctured lung. Luc was watching his reaction with interest.

“So what’s the plan?” Danny asked between gasps. “You’re going to kill me before he can get here? Force him to live with the same rage and guilt you’ve been living with?”

Luc shrugged a shoulder. “Possibly. I wanted to see. Special fated mates, he should get here in time, right?”

That didn’t really add up to Danny. “If you want to take free will out of the equation entirely, I guess?”

Luc ignored him after that.

Danny waited for what felt like forever for the attack, but it didn’t come. Luc never made a move.

Danny had a realization. “Youwanthim to get here in time, don’t you?”

Luc smiled down at him, but it didn’t reach his black eyes. “Why would I want that? You think I care about your pitiful life that much?”

“Not me. You want to know if fated mates are real. Youwantthem to be real. Victoria’s death rocked your faith in them, and you’ve been living a life of misery and loneliness ever since.”

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