Page 86 of Taming His Vampire Mate
“How nice for you.”
“And what do you intend to do with him now?” she demanded. “Surely you cannot mean to keep him locked away in this dungeon forever.”
It was a good point, and one I had no answers for except to wait and see.
Apparently, that wasn’t good enough, because she scowled, finally tearing her eyes from Quinn long enough to glare daggers at me. “You have rewritten the rules of our entire species, and you were entirely unprepared for the consequences of youractions. This is not acceptable.” Then, after studying me for a long moment, she grudgingly added, “But you have done a selfless thing as well. Agoodthing.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I respect this, even if I would not have believed you capable of it. I will speak with Nathaniel tomorrow, and we will create a plan to reintegrate Quinn into the outside world.”
So that was delightful and charming. Though if Sadie were helping us drive the bus, we would absolutely reach our destination. Very likely with acts of emotional violence along the way, but who was being picky?
Not that I’m letting on fully how much she’d spun my head around. Sadie, just by being herself, had made me look at this situation properly. And I absolutely could not do that level of processing here. Not without unseemly theatrics. I had a reputation to uphold, after all.
Because with this all neatly sorted, I could finally realize this was really happening. And the relief—crashing and total—was almost overwhelming. I felt halfway ready to bawl like I was an over-emotional human.
Again.
I hadn’t saved my brother from his fate, and maybe I couldn’t save the world either, but I had donethis. I’d created a situation where Quinn could maybe be a person again. And I hadn’t done it alone: Poppy had done most of the heavy lifting. Michael had helped me understand that this was even possible. Everyone around me had helped, in fact. Hell, even Sadie was willing to assist, in her own no-nonsense way.
I understood it right then. I couldn’t do this alone.
And I didn’t have to, did I? This didn’t have to just bemydream. It could be bigger than me. If other people wanted to help me, I could let them in. I probably had no other choice, anyhow. Not if I wanted to do this the way it needed to be done.
I knew I couldn’t save everyone—I wasn’t naïve enough to think I could—but maybe I could do this again, for others. Maybe there were other Quinns out there who needed me, even if they didn’t know it yet.
I had Jeremy to thank for every moment of this, and for everything that came after. And so did Quinn. And Derek, too. And all the other vampires—victims themselves—that I might someday help.
It was all because Jeremy had stopped me. Because if I had killed Quinn, if I’d torn out his heart in the shipping yard, I would have given up on this whole plan. I know I would have. I would have taken it as proof I was wrong, that this would never work, and that I was a silly goose for believing—even for a moment—that it could.
Trusting Quinn to Sadie for the rest of the evening, I took Jeremy by the hand and led him up the stairs and through the back door. Jeremy didn’t protest, even though I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going at first.
He was oddly silent beside me, his heart beating louder when I didn’t drop his hand immediately.
“I want to show you something,” I told him.
“Okay,” he said solemnly, letting me guide him into the stillness of the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE || JEREMY
“I’m not much of a city guy, but the view from here isn’t half bad,” I said less than an hour later.
I meant that mostly because Thierry was here with me, the shadows carving his face into mysterious, otherworldly shapes that made him even more alluring than usual. Behind him, the city lights glittered like a hundred thousand jewels in a sea of steel and concrete, standing in defiance of the darkness.
Thierry snorted but watched me carefully. It might have been a trick of the light, but his eyes seemed wet. He let out a shaky breath and sat, joining me in gazing out over the lights.
We were on the rooftop of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, perched on the western edge of Capitol Hill. It was a massive, blocky structure looking down over the city. It was private enough to feel like we were the only ones here, seeing this—though I knew that wasn’t true. This was Seattle. There were people within a stone’s throw if we looked hard enough. Still, it felt like we were the only ones seeing the skyscrapers glitter below, the cars gliding past like toys, and the moonlight shimmering on Lake Union between patches of cloud.
“It feels like there’s no one else for miles,” I said when more than a minute had passed in silence. I could sense Thierry’s mind—thoughts jumbled and confused, more emotion thancoherence. But I was making an effort not to read him. Until he relented and sealed our bond, I wouldn’t. Listening just to satisfy my own endless curiosity sat firmly in the wrong column. Still, even without trying, I’d felt the storm of emotion from him in the basement earlier.
Something had changed in him. Something big.
“Yes,” he whispered, his voice rawer than I’d ever heard it. “It’s felt that way for years—” His lips curved into a rueful smile. “I suppose it’s been decades, really.”
Maybe with anyone else I would have made the moment about me. Wondered what I could possibly offer someone who’d seen so much. But not with Thierry. Not when he was showing me something rare and precious: vulnerability.
“How long have you come here?”
