“Of course I care.” He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and gently bit down on it. “You…you’re like a patch. You make the anger go away. Until you piss me off, which you do a lot.”
I thumped him in the stomach, shaking my head. “Plonker.”
“You love me really,” he wheezed out, leading me toward the door.
“Yeah, well, you love me.”
“Yes, I do, which is why I get so pissed when you fight me on trying to protect you.”
I shot him a playful, petulant scowl. “How about this: I’ll accommodate this protective streak you have, and you stop freezing me out.”
His brows arched, and I felt his suspiciousness. “That deal sounds fifty/fifty. For you, that’s a first.”
I shrugged. “It’s not like I don’t need a little help right now, is it?”
“Hey, soon enough your gifts will be working again and you’ll be kicking ass like you usually are. Mine, included.”
I chuckled as I exited the room, almost not seeing Magda until it was too late. The gloating smile on her face told me something that made my stomach sink: she’d heard Jared’s comment about my gifts. Oh shit.
Rather than saying anything, she simply turned and headed back to the dining room.
Obviously having reached the same conclusion as me, Jared growled warningly, “Magda.”
Without breaking stride, she peered at him over her shoulder and winked. This wasn’t good. Hand-in-hand, presenting a united front, Jared and I re-entered the dining room. Seeing that she had made a beeline for Marcia and Rowan, I cursed. Smoothly but quickly, Jared and I walked to our table where only Antonio, Luther, Wes, and Lena sat.
“She knows,” Jared told Antonio as we returned to our seats. At Antonio’s confused frown, he elaborated, “Magda. She overheard me talking about Sam’s problem with her gifts.”
Antonio cursed, which raised everybody’s brows since he wasn’t one for swearing. “Once she informs the others, we will have a huge problem on our hands.”
“What exactly is it that you think they’ll do?” I asked.
“Cause a riot,” he replied. “What you have to understand is that this is much like humans having the right to vote for who is president, or prime minister, or whatever they term the ruler of their country. Up to now, no one has objected to you, despite their reservations. Yes, Marcia, Rowan, and Ricardo have issues with you, but they have not publically rejected you. If enough people were to do so, a voting would be held. If the outcome was that most of vampirekind had decided to vote against you, one of two things would have to happen. Jared must choose another life-partner—”
“That will never fucking happen,” Jared vehemently stated.
“—or I would have to choose another Heir. It is vampire-law.”
“Shite,” I uttered. I’d always known that Jared might be under some form of pressure to ‘do better’ than me, but I hadn’t imagined that he might lose his position. That wasn’t an acceptable path to me.
Wes growled. “Is there no way we could just kill her before she has the chance to talk?”
“I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed,” said Jared. “She went over to those three moaners. Now she and Marcia keep looking over, smirking.”
Crap, crap, crap. “No prizes for guessing how this is going to play out.” And what else could we do but sit there and wait for the shit to start?
So we sat and we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing. Not a bloody thing. “Do you think that maybe she hasn’t told anyone?”
Jared, who was holding my hand and massaging my pulse-point with his thumb, shrugged. “It could be that she’s trying to make us sweat, keep us wondering and worrying.”
“She does like mind games,” mused Luther.
“Let’s find out.” Keeping hold of my hand, Jared walked toward her with a determined stride that I saw made Magda hitch in a breath. Whether it was from arousal or anxiety, I wasn’t sure. “What the fuck is your game?” he demanded quietly.
The weird witch smiled at him and patted his chest. At his growl and my hiss, she dropped her hand. “There is no need to panic, Jared. I told you, I only wish you happiness. If I can be convinced over the next few evenings that you are happy with Sam, I will not reveal what I know.”
“I could just slit your throat now before you do,” he gritted out.
“You could…but I’m not the only one with the knowledge, so that will do you no good. Like I said, I simply want to be assured that you are content.”
He shook his head, glaring at her through narrowed eyes. “You’re playing some sort of game…I’m just not sure what it is yet.”
“Always so suspicious and eager to distrust those around you,” said Magda, shaking her head sadly before shooting me a smug smirk. Working those hips, she waltzed away. Oh I could kill that bitch happily if I didn’t know it would put Jared through absolute agony.
He turned to me. “What do we do now?”
“I agree with you, she’s up to something, but I don’t know what. So we wait.”
“I’m sick of waiting.”
I knew what he meant but was afraid to say aloud – he was sick of waiting for whatever changes were happening to me to finally take shape. “So am I, but what else can we do?” Nothing, there was nothing.
(Jared)
Sam was draped over me when I woke up after a restless sleep. Unable to resist touching her, I ran my hand along the length of her spine. My hand then crept lower and cupped her ass. I knew that fondling a sleeping person was a little low, but in my defence, it was the most luscious ass. I smiled as I recalled biting it. My smile widened as I remembered promising her I was going to fuck that ass one night, and she’d responded with, ‘You’d never catch my arse to fuck it’. She was probably right.
Then it all hit me. Reality hit me. Our problems hit me.
Those precious seconds I had each evening when I first woke up, thinking about nothing but the woman in my arms, were the best. For those few seconds, nothing was on my mind but her. Everything felt as normal as it usually was. For those few seconds, I forgot that we had more issues than we knew what to do with.
Feeling her stir, I tightened my arms around her. “Hey, sleep well?”
“I feel like I only shut my eyes ten minutes ago,” she mumbled against my chest.
I sighed. “I know what you mean.”
“Do you think we’ll hear from Ryder tonight?”
“I’m more worried about if Magda’s blabbed yet.”
“Maybe she’s telling the truth and she won’t say anything.”
I snorted. “Do you really believe that?”
“No, but a girl can dream.”
After we had both drank some NSTs, I followed her into the shower, where I took her hard like the good fiancé that I was. Hey, I’d take her slow if she didn’t always bitch at me to go faster.
After a few hours in our office, taking care of a couple of minor issues, we headed for the huge training arena for the evening’s entertainment; a gladiator-style dinner show. It was tradition that three of the High Masters would each pit five of their best legion members against the others in a series of events. It was usually pretty entertaining, so I was looking forward to it. I knew Sam was equally eager – anything with a little violence tended to keep her interested.
Inside, most of the guests were already seated, nibbling on the appetisers that had been laid out on the long counter-style tables. For the purpose of the show’s theme, the seating had been divided into four sections. One section was for Rowan’s bloodline as five members of his legion were partaking in the challenge. The second section was for Ricardo’s bloodline since his legion was also involved. The third section was for Bran’s bloodline, who usually won. And the fourth section was for all neutral parties.