Page 74 of Map of Pain
«Go back to Nick,»Matteo said, his smile warm and genuine.«Help him heal. Let me figure out how to help myself for once.»
«And if you need me?»
«I’ll ask,»Matteo promised.«Instead of just waiting for you to notice I’m struggling.»
«And if I need you?»
«I’ll be here.»Matteo gestured toward the main room where their family gathered.«Not as your burden to carry, but as your brother who loves you.»
Together, they walked back toward the voices and laughter of their chosen family—not as caretaker and patient, but as two people whohadfinally learned the difference between love and obligation.
Chapter twenty-nine
What's worse than a vampire cult...?
Nick
Nick found himself seated in what could charitably be called a circle, though the hastily pushed-together tables and chairs made it look more like a planning session for the world’s most dysfunctional book club.
Caleb sat to his left, close enough that Nick could feel the warmth radiating from him—a steady, reassuring presence that kept the anxiety from climbing too high in his throat. Luka claimed the chair to his right, and Nick noticed that his twin, Matteo, looked different. More settled. Their conversationhadclearly gone well, and Nick felt a strange flutter of relief in his chest. He wanted Luka to be happy.
Marcus took the seat beside Caleb, and Nick’s arm instinctively shifted closer to his body. The man who severed his handwasnow three feet away, but instead of terror, Nick felt... complicated. Marcushadbeen protecting Caleb from the hunter when he did it.
Matteo settled next to Luka, and Petrov filled the next chair, his imposing frame making the furniture look comically small. Nick remembered him from Society files—dangerous, methodical, impossibly strong—but right now he just looked like someone’s protective older brother. Vincent and Adam completed the circle, and Nick felt a brief spike of unease. Vincentwassupposedto be a monster, but hewascurrently holding Adam’s hand with casual tenderness.
Opheliahaddraggedover a folding chair and perched on it like some kind of gothic gargoyle, feet tucked up under her in an oversized black hoodie. Her hoodwasup, leaving only wisps of brassy curls hair around her eternally bored expression. Despite her intimidating reputation, she looked like any teenager forced to attend a family meetingshe’drather skip.
“First,”Marcus said, his voice carrying a comfortable, natural authority with a single word,“I want to say how glad we are to have found you alive and well, Nick. We’ve all been worried about you.”
Nick’s throat tightened unexpectedly. Whenwasthe last time anyone worried about him? Actually worried, not just calculated his usefulness? He glanced at Luka, whose eyeswerewarm with something that might have been pride. Nick felt his shoulders relax fractionally.
“And almost in one piece,”Ophelia added, not looking up from her phone.
Heat flooded Nick’s face as shame crashed over him—not just about the disability itself, but about the circumstances that led to it. He covered his stump with his hand beneath the table, trying to minimize the obvious absence.Say you’re sorry. Thank him for not taking more.
Stop it.
Luka’s hand found his under the table, fingers interlacing with calm certainty. The contact grounded him immediately, pullinghim back from the edge of that spiral. Nick squeezed back, amazed again at how Luka could read his needs so accurately.
Adam made a sound that might have been a choked laugh, which he quickly tried to stifle behind his coffee cup.
“Ophelia,”Caleb said, his tone carrying gentle reproach.
“What? It’s accurate,”she replied, glancing up with those unsettling blank eyes.“Could have been worse. Could have been his head.”
Nick almost laughed despite himself. The casual way she discussed potential dismembermentwasoddly comforting—no pity, no careful avoidance of the topic. Just facts. He could work with facts.
“Moving on,”Marcus said, shooting Ophelia a look that she ignored.“I’ve been briefed by Luka and Jae about what happened at the community center in Peoria. Vincent, Petrov, Ophelia—what did you find in your trips to the other neutral territories?”
Nick straightened in his chair, recognizing the shift to business. Thiswasinformation he needed to hear. The Society’s scopewaslarger than this family understood, and their safety depended on accurate intelligence.
The energy in the room dropped as Vincent leaned forward, his earlier domestic struggles with the coffee machine forgotten as he slipped into what Nick recognized as detached, almost tactical mode. The transformationwasstartling—from fumbling with kitchen appliances to dangerous predator in seconds.
“Champaign’s group is gone,”Vincent said without preamble.“Clean sweep. Bodies removed, but thereweresigns of a coordinated assault. Multiple entry points, professional execution.”
Nick’s stomach dropped. ThatwasSociety methodology—precise, overwhelming, thorough.He’dbeen part of operationsthat looked exactly like that. The familiar patterns made his skin crawl, knowing how those attacks would have unfolded.
“Decaturthe same, but many bodies left behind”Petrov added, his deep voice carrying no emotion.“The hunters hadbeen prepared there. Many weapons,zajaknati vrati, but didn’t help them.”
