The Dark Vampire: Last True Vampire 3 (22 page)

Jenner snorted. He was through with this place. “You gave an oath to your king,” Jenner said as he headed for the doorway. “Your coven is his. And you will
not
go back on your word.”

“I suppose you’ll make sure of it,” Thomas replied in a somber tone.

“You bet your ass I will. And I’ll enjoy it.” Jenner pushed open the paned French doors and strode from the room.

“Having a doctor come to the house for prenatal exams weirds me out. I mean, a home birth really wasn’t on my bucket list. Mikhail won’t budge on it, either. I tried to bribe him, wager with him, con him. Oh, and I tried to use sex as a weapon. But with this massive belly, my body definitely
isn’t
a wonderland, if you know what I mean.”

Bria laughed at Claire’s overexaggerated waddle as she crossed the kitchen to the fridge. She pulled a couple of sodas out and passed one to Bria.

“I’m sure that Mikhail only wants you to be safe,” Bria said. She popped the tab on her soda and sipped. She thought back to last night and the shifter who’d demanded to know if she was the vampire queen. “Slayers are still out in force. It’s not worth the risk to be exposed.”

Claire made a sour face. “Bastards. They’re totally fucking with my birth plan.” Her expression softened as she leaned against the counter. “I know it’s a good idea. I might have to burn our bed after the baby’s born, though. I don’t know if I could sleep . . . or do other things on the same mattress afterward.”

Bria swallowed down her amusement.

“I’m done with my homework!” a tiny voice called from the living room. “Can I play Wii now?”

“You’re really done?” Claire called back. “All of it?”

“Uh-huh!”

“Okay,
one
hour!” Claire turned her attention back to Bria. “God. I sound like such a
mom
.”

Bria didn’t know much about the human girl who lived with Claire and Mikhail, only that she must be very important to the both of them. She had her own security detail that drove her to and from school and anywhere else she needed to go. “It’s going to kill me when her mom gets out of rehab.”

Bria gave Claire a questioning glance but didn’t press for details.

“She was in a coma for about six months. Head trauma. She’s making progress, but it’s slow going.”

“That’s awful,” Bria said. “Poor Vanessa.”

“She’s a tough cookie.” Claire’s brow furrowed with worry. “She’ll get through this.”

Thanks to her night out with Jenner, Bria had become more in tune with her senses. There was something about Vanessa that tickled at the back of Bria’s brain. An otherness that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It wasn’t unsettling per se, just . . .
different
. “She’s lucky she has you.”

Claire smiled. “We’re kindred spirits, that’s for sure.”

Again, Bria didn’t ask Claire to elaborate. It wasn’t her business anyway. “Claire, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.” She took another sip of her soda. “Sup?”

The question formed on Bria’s lips, but she couldn’t make herself speak. She didn’t want Claire to know about what had happened between her and Jenner last night. It embarrassed her to admit that her tether with him felt tight and tenuous. That she worried they’d never find common ground and that she would live for eternity bound to a male she might not grow to love.

“Nothing,” she said on a breath. “Never mind.”

Claire fixed her with a stare and pursed her lips. “Nuh-uh. You can’t open up for a question and then clam up. Spill it.”

“Jenner wants to teach me how to defend myself.” It was as good a deflection as any.

“Really?” Claire smiled wide. “Cool. Mikhail treats me like I’ll break if I so much as stub my toe. Think he’ll let you play with guns and knives and stuff?”

Bria hadn’t considered it. “That would be exciting.”

“Exciting?” Claire replied with enough enthusiasm for both of them. “It would totally kick ass.”

Bria smiled. “It would, wouldn’t it?” She’d been worried about Jenner’s ominous mandate that she be ready for a workout, but now the thought of truly learning how to fight, how to defend herself, sent a thrill through her.

“Bria,” Claire said. “You’re officially my hero.”

She snorted. “Hardly.”

“Just promise me one thing.” Claire leaned over the counter as much as her stomach would allow and Bria bent toward her. “Keep Jenner on his toes.”

He flipped her world on its axis, excited and frightened her, brought her to dizzying heights of pleasure and new levels of frustration. She doubted she’d get the upper hand on him. “I’ll try,” she said. “I don’t know that I’ll be successful, though.”

Claire looked her over from head to toe. “Dude. You’ve already got him so wound that he doesn’t know which way is up.”

“Do you think so?” Jenner ran so hot and cold, Bria found it difficult to ever get an accurate read on him.

“I know so,” Claire said with a smirk.

Bria hoped that Claire was right. He could try to withhold himself from her, to protect some silly notion of her innocence, but she wasn’t willing to let Jenner go without a fight.

“Don’t
let your guard down, Bria. Focus.”

Every night for the past couple of weeks Jenner had been pushing her, training her, teaching her how to fight. With every passing night his instruction became more intense, more focused, as though her very life depended on her ability to protect herself. Training her had become his obsession. Bria suspected he used it as a distraction as well. Jenner hadn’t fed from her throat since that night in her bedroom. He took the vein at her wrist and insisted she drink from his. Likewise, he hadn’t touched her outside of the gym with anything other than casual contact.

“Bria!” Her head snapped up to find Jenner staring at her, his brows dawn sharply over his dark eyes. “Pay attention.”

She blew out a frustrated breath. Every night he exhausted her, running through maneuvers, fight techniques, dagger play, until she had no choice but to fall into bed at sunrise. He left her alone and wanting morning after morning. At sundown his insistent knock forced her from her room. There were no longer spare moments in
her nights to sneak out. She hadn’t been on a single treasure hunt since the night Jenner had followed her. She had become as much of a prisoner in the king’s home as she’d been in her own coven. Maybe more so.

“I don’t want to pay attention,” she spat. “I’m tired of this.”

“All right,” he said. “We’ll switch to hand-to-hand combat, then.”

Gods. No more of this!
She was already proficient with daggers and had actually managed to best Jenner in a sparring match last week. He’d even taken her to a shooting range a few times and she’d proved she was a decent shot. She couldn’t be more capable of protecting herself.

“No!” Bria tossed the practice daggers to the floor. “I’m done, Jenner. I’m not doing this anymore.”

Jenner swooped down with a low growl to retrieve the discarded daggers and held them out to her. Bria refused to take them as she held his stare. Silver chased across his irises, signaling the flare of his temper, and Bria snatched the weapons from his grasp. She attacked without warning, swinging out with both arms as she put Jenner immediately on the defensive. He didn’t hold back—he never did—and made her work for the advantage as he retaliated with wide sweeps of his arms and low thrusts aimed at Bria’s thighs. Anger fueled every action and she pushed harder, faster, putting weeks of training and her own inherent tumbling skills to good use as she gained the upper hand in the fight. The fierce expression on Jenner’s face heated her blood; the display of muscles on his bare chest as they gleamed with a sheen of sweat whetted Bria’s appetite for so much more than another sparring session. She let her frustration feed her purpose as she jabbed, swung, and stabbed with the daggers until she’d managed to back Jenner against a wall.

“I’m not weak!” she shouted as she poised the tips of
the blades at Jenner’s throat. “And I’m done being a prisoner. I’m
through,
Jenner!” Her temper waned as a deep sadness swelled within her. “I’m leaving.”

His breath heaved in his massive chest and his nostrils flared. Bria tossed the daggers down yet again with disgust. If she ever picked them up again it would be too damned soon. She spun on a heel and marched for the door. She refused to let Jenner deposit her at her bedroom once again only to leave her alone until the sun set. If this cool detachment was what she could expect of their tether for the remainder of her existence then Bria wanted
none
of it.

“You’re not going anywhere,
viaton.
Not without me.” His voice was a low, dangerous rumble. Bria suspected that even stalwart males gave Jenner a wide berth when he addressed them like that. Good thing Bria was tougher than a stalwart male.

The endearment bristled. She was sick and tired of his perception of her as some pristine, untouchable thing. He cared nothing for her beyond the blood in her veins. “Watch me.” She picked up her pace, sure as the sun would rise that he’d come after her. She could take care of herself now. Jenner had seen to that himself. So if he thought she’d let him waylay her he had another think coming.

“Where do you think you’ll go, then?” His temper boiled under the surface of his words, but Bria didn’t care.

“Wherever the hell I want!” Her thirst was under control. The Collective barely tickled at her mind anymore. She had mastered her senses, her strength . . . all of it.

“Bria, no.”

Her step faltered at the hint of desperation that clung to his demand, but she steeled herself against it. “Why? Tell me why.”

She placed her hand on the door to the small studio
space that Jenner rented for them to work out in. Silence stretched between them as Bria waited for his response, knowing what it would be before he had the chance to say it. “It’s not safe.”

The fire of her temper burned bright. She whipped around to face Jenner and shouted, “You sound like my uncle! If I’m truly in danger I deserve to know exactly from what. I’m tired of cryptic explanations and guarded warnings. I’ve lived centuries and a witch has yet to find me. If you know something about it, then tell me. If not . . .” She turned and yanked the door open.

“Stop.”

His voice rippled through her and Bria drew in a shuddering breath. Gods, the effect he had on her without even trying. Jenner had become her only weakness. It took more effort to walk away from him than she thought she could muster. But if she wanted to retain even a shred of self-respect she had to do it.

“Did your uncle ever talk to you about William?”

Bria paused.

“How do you know about my father?”

The sound of Jenner’s quiet footsteps reached her ears as he crossed the width of the soft foam mat toward her. Delicious heat engulfed her as he came up behind her. If she simply reached back she could touch him. Jenner’s hand came over hers and eased the door closed. His hulking body loomed over her. Overwhelmed her. And Bria trembled with need. His proximity, the scent of his blood, and the sweat that clung to his skin intoxicated her.

“Your uncle went to Ronan before you were turned looking for help. He paid Ronan—and me—to protect you and to find the witch that hunted you. You were attacked by slayers that same night.”

Bria’s eyes went wide. “You’ve known about the witch all this time and said nothing?” She let out an incredu
lous bark of laughter. “You’re taking his money in exchange for my protection?”

“No, Bria,” Jenner replied. “The tether changed everything. I protect what’s
mine
.”

His.
The possessive edge to his words almost made her laugh. As if Jenner ever behaved as though their tether were anything more than an inconvenience.

“So you knew all about me before you even met me?”

“I only knew that Thomas Fairchild’s niece needed protection. Nothing else. I didn’t know who you were until after we were tethered and Ronan told me.”

Her uncle and her mate had conspired against her, it seemed. And already Jenner knew more about the danger she was in than Bria knew herself. Her temper flared and she faced Jenner, her hands balled into tight fists. “I want to know everything he’s told you. I have a right to know, don’t you think?”

“You do,” Jenner agreed. “And I’ll tell you everything I know.”

Bria’s chest ached with unspent emotion. Hurt sliced through her and stole her breath. “My father died only a few weeks before I was born,” she said. “I never knew him, and my uncle rarely spoke of him.” Bria’s heart stuttered at the concern in his expression. “How old are you, Jenner? Old enough to have fought against the legions of slayers?”

Sadness replaced the concern. “I’m old enough,
viaton
.”

Her brow furrowed. “What does my father have to do with the witch that supposedly hunts us?”

“What did Thomas tell you?”

Bria let out a frustrated breath. She wanted Jenner to get to the point. There was no need to ease her into anything. “He told me that that an ancient evil hunted our family. A witch. That she killed my mother and wanted
revenge for something that happened during the wars. I wasn’t allowed to question him. He said that the less I knew, the better.” Her voice thickened with bitterness. “That it was for my own protection.”

Jenner’s brows drew together. His dark gaze held hers as he reached out and smoothed a strand of hair from her face. A wave of pity reached out to her through their tether and she flinched as though stung. It didn’t matter how strong she was. How capable. Jenner would never see her as anything more than pathetic.

“What do you know?” Her tone escalated with the anger that burned a scorching path through her. “Tell me!”

Silence stretched between them. A sickening stillness that turned Bria’s stomach. Hurt and regret reflected in Jenner’s expression. As though he were about to break her heart. “William is the evil that hunts you,” he said. His voice trailed off into an eerie echo in the empty studio space. “At the behest of a necromancer named Astrid that your mother made a bargain with. The witch resurrected William after he’d died on the battlefield, and in exchange your mother promised her the blood of a newborn. You.” A growl rose in Jenner’s throat and his jaw squared.