Page 73 of Soren

Merging onto the freeway, Soren considered driving through the median, into oncoming traffic. Maybe he could cause some sort of explosion, like the movies. Hendrick would perish.

The world would be a better fucking place; that was for sure. But there was no guarantee in that. Either or both of them could survive a crash. Innocents could die. The odds just weren’t good enough.

Hendrick had touched Gabe. He’dhurthim. He would pay for it. Soren would make sure of it. He’d pay for all of it.

Soren just wished he’d been better prepared. This motherfucker deserved a slow, painful death. But that might not be possible at this point.

Soren knew one thing though.

Only one of them was getting out of this situation alive.

eighteen

Gabe

Gabehadfelthelplessbefore. He’d lost people he’d cared about. But he’d never felt this pure fury, this all-consuming frustration.

Hendrick hadtakenSoren.

Soren, who was just learning to open up again. Soren, who made Gabe feel safe and comforted for the first time since his childhood. Soren, who had stayed in this town, after over a century of running, just to remain close to him.

Hendrick had taken him.

And Gabe hadn’t been able to do a single thing about it. Had been taken out of the running in an instant, Hendrick overpowering him without so much as a misplaced hair for his effort. The vampire had snapped Jay’s neck, and before Gabe could even process that, his leg had been bent, his face smashed. It was like Lucien’s attack all over again.

Except this time, Soren hadn’t been able to swoop in and save him.

Soren had been taken instead.

Gabe panted from his prone position on Danny’s porch. Fuck. He needed to get up. He didn’t know if walking was possible, with whatever Hendrick had done to his leg. But he could at least sit upright.

He pulled himself up into a seated position, his right leg stretched out as best he could in front of him. It hurt. Everything hurt. But it was nothing compared to the pain he’d felt at seeing Soren walk away. Like having his heart ripped out of his chest. It was exactly what Gabe had been fearing these past three weeks. Soren leaving. Soren leavinghim.

And Gabe realized he might have been able to handle it, under any other circumstances. If Soren had left because he’d realized he’d needed more, realized Hyde Park wasn’t enough—realizedGabewasn’t enough—Gabe could have survived that. Could have watched Soren go back to his globetrotting and club-hopping and lived to see another day.

It would have hurt, yes. It would have broken Gabe’s heart. But he could have handled it, for Soren. He could handle Soren leaving if it was what Soren needed. But this. Soren going with that piece of shit slimeball, putting himself into that psycho’s hands…

Gabe hadn’t been fooled by any of the bullshit Soren had spouted at Hendrick. Soren’s words about Gabe being a pet, an easy distraction. Gabe knew better. Soren had been protecting him. His vampire had thought he’d had to go with that fucking monster to protect Gabe.

Well, fuck that.

Gabe hadn’t been able to stop his dad from dying. He couldn’t prevent his mother’s dementia from progressing. He couldn’t keep Danny from turning against his will.

But he could sure as shit do something about this.

So he hadn’t been able to protect Soren because he was human—fragile, weak, mortal. Well, then he wouldn’tbehuman anymore.

He couldn’t stop life from changing. He clearly couldn’t keep bad things from happening. But he could choose what in life he wanted to focus on. He could choose what to striveforrather than against.

Gabe wanted love. He wanted belonging. He wanted to be understood.

And Soren—weird, unhinged, fantastical Soren—understood him. He let Gabe be the real version of himself, not just the superficial golden boy.

Gabe would fight for that.

“Jay,” he called, shocked by how hoarse his voice came out. “Jay!” No answer. Gabe tried to move over to the vampire, to bend his right leg, but gasped when the sharp pain hit him.

Right, no moving. He had to be patient, even if it felt like he was ready to crawl out of his skin. The little vampire wouldn’t stay down. Soren had said only beheading or fire could kill them.

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