Page 80 of High Stakes and Soulmates
“Of course,” I say. “Do you have my new phone?”
“I do. I’m so sorry, Cyrus. I’m so extremely sorry that happened to you. I mean… being a werewolf isn’t the worst, but it’s still… something. And to have been turned the way you were had to have been horrible for you to go through.”
“Everything ended up okay,” I assure him as I take the phone and input my information into it. When it finally connects, I see that I have missed calls from Joaquin. The relief over seeing his name is unexplainable.
Immediately, I tap the number, upset that I didn’t have it memorized so I could have called it from Ezio’s phone. The fact that he called me tells me that he’s okay, that he’s still alive, and that’s what I needed to know.
I press the phone against my ear and listen to it ring and ring before the call is finally accepted.
“Cyrus!” Joaquin says.
“Oh fuck,” I whisper, realizing how terrified I’d been that something had happened to him. I didn’t want to upset Ezio andcause him to do something reckless in an attempt to find him when he could be perfectly safe, so I’d been trying to keep it to myself.
“Where are you? Are you okay? After the vampire attacked Donovan, I tried leading him away so he wouldn’t know you were there, but… I don’t think I accomplished a whole lot before I ran into Ezio… I’m afraid he’d have killed me if I hadn’t… so tell him thank you from me.”
“I’m fine,” I assure him. “I’m okay. Where are you?”
“I’m hiding out at a hotel. I can’t go home; I can’t risk leading him to you.”
“I have Ezio, Casimir, Julian, and Yorick… they’ve promised to help. Please come here and stay with us. We’re going to stop him.”
“Where are you right now?” he asks.
I know I can’t tell him the truth or he’ll double down on staying away from me. “What happened?”
“Why are you avoiding my question? Did you get hurt?”
“I’m with Ezio. I’m perfectly safe, I promise.”
“You keep refusing to answer my question.”
“I only got a little hurt. I’m fine. I promise.”
“I can’t involve you in this,” Joaquin decides. I knew he’d say that the moment he realized I’d gotten hurt.
“I’m involved no matter what. So just meet me at Casimir’s, please.”
“I can’t,” he says. “I really can’t. I should never have taken you to Donovan’s with me. I should have stayed away.”
“Why?” I ask. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“Because I can’t draw more attention to you. I’m safe here. I promise.”
“Joaquin, please. Casimir and the others can keep us safe.”
“Let me think about what to do, okay? I’ll contact you. Let me think.”
“Okay,” I say. Hell… maybe it is better for him to just hide. He’s so confident he’s protecting me by hiding, yet he has no idea that it isn’t him they’re after but me. It was me all along. But if he knows that, will he come to me and risk his life? If Ezio, who is hundreds of years old, can’t go up against Louis, can my brother who has absolutely no experience fighting? Maybe it is better for him to stay away…
I decide I’ll talk to the others about it, and for now, I’ll just leave him to keep hiding. “Just… promise me you won’t do anything reckless.”
“Same for you. Stay with Ezio or Casimir or whoever. They’ll keep you safe.”
“Okay. I’ll contact you soon.”
“Perfect,” he says. And when the call ends, I look at Ezio.
“I assume you could hear the conversation. I don’t know what’s safest for him.”
