“Maybe it’s foolish to want something that so few of our people have, but I want it all the same.”
I know what he means even without him explicitly saying it. “There does seem to be a dearth of happy childhoods among vampires.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
I try to picture what he’s saying. A happy childhood. I’ve seen it represented fictionally, but a part of me always believed it to be exactly that—fiction. Even the humans manage to fuck up their kids in astronomical numbers, and most of them are attempting to marry and procreate because of love, rather than politics. The odds are not in our favor.
They’re especially not in our favor with this current situation.
I don’t want to ask the question, but I need to know the answer. “What happens if I get pregnant and you’re not the father?” Even with Rylan attempting to stay out of the race to impregnate me, Wolf and I have sex nearly as often as Malachi and I do.
He shrugs. “It doesn’t matter to me. I’ve made my choice.”
As if it’s just that simple. “If we broke the bond and one of them got me pregnant instead… Malachi, you’d be free. Free for the first time in decades. You should be focusing on that instead of tying yourself to a sinking ship.”
“Mina.”
Gods, the way he says my name. It makes me shiver. “Yes?”
“I respect your ability to make decisions for yourself enough to stand by while Wolf courts a demon, even though I don’t agree with it. Give me the courtesy of returning the favor.”
I open my mouth to continue arguing, but I don’t have a leg to stand on. He’s right. No matter what I think, he’s more than capable of making his own choices. I swallow hard. “Okay. Sorry. I just don’t want you to end up regretting…”
“Regretting you.” Malachi gives me a small sliver of a smile. “Impossible. You’ve crashed into my life with all the subtlety of a bomb detonating, but it’s been refreshing.” He turns us toward the farmhouse. “Now, let’s get inside and discuss next steps.”
And that’s that.
I’m completely unsurprised to step through the door and find that Wolf and Rylan both beat us here. Neither of them were weighed down with carrying me, or having that conversation out in the field before entering. That said… I glance at Wolf. “How did you know we moved?”
“Rylan caught me on the way back.” He hops onto the faded counter and rubs his hands together. “I should have news on the demon front within a day or two. Those bastards like to play hard to get.”
Malachi appears in the doorway. “Everything is secure.”
“I told you it was.” Rylan is staring out the window as if he’d rather be anywhere but here. I can’t exactly blame him, but I won’t pretend that his attitude isn’t grating on me. Obviously things aren’t going to magically change between us just because of what happened last night, but would it kill the asshole to look at me?
Malachi moves to lean against the counter next to Wolf. “We can’t keep operating like this. The demon deal is a long shot, but even if we remove the bond, it won’t remove the threat Cornelius represents. We need to know what he knows.”
Finally, Rylan turns from the window. “You want to take one of his men.”
“Yes.”
“It won’t be easy. We’ll have to kill the rest of the scouting party.”
“I’m aware.”
I look between them. “If it’s too dangerous—”
“It’s not.” Rylan cuts a hand through the air. “Malachi and I are more than capable of dealing with a handful of Cornelius’s dogs. It will incite him to send more next time, but Malachi’s right. We need the information.”
Malachi crosses his arms over his large chest. “It was Mina’s idea.”
“I see.” Rylan clenches his jaw and seems to make himself look at me. He might have an expression like he’s chewing on rocks, but even he can’t mask the heat in his dark eyes.
An answering heat licks through me, but I shove down the sensation. Now isn’t the time, and he won’t thank me for it. “The sooner we do this, the better.”
Chapter 7
Wolf kicks out his heels and grabs Malachi’s shoulder when it looks like the larger man is about to speak. “We know you don’t like leaving the pretty little dhampir alone, but she won’t be alone. She’ll be with me.”
“That’s not the comfort you think it is.”
Wolf laughs. “We both know I’m capable of keeping her among the living. If I’m so inclined.”
“My last statement stands.” Malachi sighs. “But if you lay down a blood ward, I’ll consider myself comforted.”
Alarm blares through me. “No. Not another blood ward.” Not when one of those spells was responsible for keeping Malachi trapped in that rotting house for far too long.
“Don’t worry, love. I don’t know which one of my worthless cousins was greedy enough to be bribed by your father, but wards are capable of more than just containing. We can keep the enemy out with them.” He makes a face. “They’re not exactly fun to put in place, though, and feeding from you so soon after Rylan fucked things up is out of the question.”
Rylan startles. “That’s not—”
“Take the blood from me.” Malachi’s already turning for the door. “The faster we move on this, the better.”
“You’re no fun, old friend.” Wolf hops off the counter. “But you know what would make it more fun?”
Malachi’s sigh is fond. “We don’t have time for that.”
“There’s always time for that.”
I listen to them bicker as they move deeper into the house. Judging from the quick look I got at the layout when Malachi whisked me inside, they’re heading for the living room. It’s fully enclosed, without a single window, so the easiest to fortify. I hold out a hand when Rylan starts to follow them. “They’ve got this.”
“You don’t give me orders.”
I bite back a sigh. “No, I don’t give you orders. But they’re about to fuck, and unless you’re going to pull that stick out your ass and join in, you stalking after them is going to be distracting.”
Again, that tiny startle. He seems to give me his full attention. “It doesn’t bother you that they’re intimate when you’re not around.”
“Why would it? Their relationship predates me.” I pause. “So does yours.”
“Ancient history.” But the way he glances at the doorway gives lie to his words. I don’t know what happened with Malachi and Rylan. I haven’t asked, and neither of them has offered. Malachi and Wolf make more sense in my head. Theirs is a friendship that often includes sex, and they hold each other lightly in a way that suggests they aren’t heartbroken by the years they’ve spent apart. As if they’ve come together and parted over and over again through their lives. I don’t have confirmation, of course, but it’s there in the way they interact.