Page 76 of Lucien

But Danny and Roman would be with him, right?

Jamie let out a long, slow breath at the thought. It was going to be okay.

He knew he had at least a little bit of time. Not much—Luc in the vision had been wearing the same clothes Jamie had last seen him in, so whatever was going to happen was most likely to do so today. But it had definitely been dusk. They had at least an hour until the sun started to set.

Danny picked up on the second ring, and Jamie was mortified to feel tears welling up behind his eyes in sheer relief. “Jay?” Danny’s voice was full of friendly concern. “Is everything all right, honey?”

Jamie cleared his throat, willing the tears away. Now was not the time. “It’s Jamie. I need to talk to Luc.”

“Oh! Um, have you tried calling him? He’s not with us at the moment.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Jamie registered—just barely—Danny explaining how they had split into two groups, how Luc was with the twins while he and Roman were on their own search. How no, he didn’t have the twins’ numbers, only Luc’s. But it was hard for Jamie to focus on the words. His head was spinning, and there was a sour taste in his mouth.

This was all so fitting for one of his useless fucking visions. Knowledge of Luc in danger, with absolutely no way to get a proper hold of him. No way to help. No way to prevent it.

Jamie hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

He tried to get control of himself, drawing in deep, shaky breaths. He wasn’t going to admit defeat just yet.

He needed to focus on what hedidknow, not on what he was missing. He closed his eyes, ignoring Jay’s questioning, and thought back on his vision, pulling it up in his mind’s eye. He did his best to ignore the brutal fighting, the horrible sight of Luc’s injuries. He focused instead on the background details, the desert surroundings.

Because Luc and his opponent were definitely out in the desert. A rocky, hilly area. Jamie saw saguaros. Ocotillos.

Of course, those particular desert floras were fuckingeverywherein the area surrounding Tucson. Jamie bit back a groan of frustration.

There. As the pair tussled to the ground, a glimpse of a signpost. A trailhead? Jamie couldn’t see the side with any lettering on it, of course. That would just be too fucking easy, wouldn’t it?

Still, it was something. He opened his eyes and thought back on the trails he’d walked with his family over the years. Some he could rule out immediately—different terrain, too flat or too sparse—and some he had to think over more carefully, comparing them to what he’d seen in the vision.

There was one—yes. Jamie knew it. Heknewit.

Gate’s Pass.

“Pull over,” Jamie urged, turning to Jay. “I know where we need to go.”

Jay did as he asked—pulling the car to the side of the road quickly enough that he almost swiped the mirrors off another car as he did so—and they scrambled to switch places, Jamie taking over the wheel.

He tossed the phone to Jay. “Call Danny again. I’ll tell him where to meet us.”

Jamie wanted both him and Roman there. With enough vampire backup, Luc wouldn’t have to fight alone.

And Luc would be fine then, right? He’d be totally, 100 percent justfine.

It didn’t matter that Jamie had never been able to change an outcome before. Just because something had never happened didn’t mean it neverwould. Life was full of firsts, if people were living it right.

Jamie had never been in love before Luc, had he? He’d never met anyone who set his blood on fire and made him feel like he was perfect exactly as he was. Who made him feel needed and necessary, like he was vital to their very existence.

But now here he was. Heretheywere.

And Luc wouldnotbe taken out by some lowlife feral vampiredickhead. That wasn’t how their future was going to play out. No way.

Jamie would get there in time.

He had to.

nineteen

---