The Vampire Who Thirsted for a Wolf (19 page)

had nothing to do with Ayaka. There were bombs going off inside his

home.

Blast after blast echoed in the distance, and screams rose in the

air, reaching out to Kaname in a symphony of terror. Inside the

library, walls crumbled, and vampires scattered all around in an

attempt to escape. Ayaka and her allies seemed surprised, as well, but

not as shocked as Kaname. At the very least, they knew who was

behind this.

“Get Masaru and let’s go,” she shouted at Takeshi. “Hurry.”

Takeshi obeyed and hastened to lift Masaru’s body over his

shoulder. Yuuma and Mizuki stood by Ayaka, ready to help her.

Kaname took one step forward, intending to stop them, but he didn’t

get the chance. Another blast shook the coven and a beam fell

between him and his mother, stopping his progress. She took

advantage of the situation and fled, disappearing through the door

with Mizuki and the Oshiros following behind her.

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Kaname would have been put out, but he had more important

things to worry about. The psychic battle had weakened him, and if he

didn’t get out of there, both he and Yakumo would die.

He still had several people with him, so clearing the way wasn’t a

difficult task. Even as they moved the beam, though, more obstacles

appeared in their path. As they rushed through the corridors, brick and

marble collapsed around them, as if trying to trap them.

How had this happened? The coven had been built to withstand

even the strongest of earthquakes. Since they were underground,

special measures had been taken to eliminate the risk of cave-ins. The

best architects and materials had been used, and security was always

very tight.

There was only one explanation Kaname could come up with

when faced with the sight of his coven crumbling around him like a

castle of cards. Bombs couldn’t do this, but magic could. Magic users

had turned their attention toward vampires. But why?

There were no answers and very few chances of escape. The

elevators would be death traps now, and if Kaname was right, the

blasts would affect the entire building, not only the coven. Time was

already ticking away, but they did still have a chance. The panic room

that had been added as an extra precaution was close by. It was the

only area that could withstand the collapse of the coven, and it would

be able to protect them long enough until assistance showed up.

Everyone had been instructed to head toward the panic room should

the need ever arise. Kaname only hoped they managed to reach it and

were not trapped or incapacitated along the way.

Much to his dismay, when Kaname got to his destination, he

found that he’d been more than right to be worried. Over half of the

coven members were here, but the rest had not succeeded in making

their way through the blasts.

Kaname looked back in the direction where he knew they would

be. “What do we do, Yamamoto-sama?” a vampire asked.

The Vampire Who Thirsted for a Wolf

117

“We go after them, of course,” Kaname said. Not even vampires

could survive such a disaster, and he couldn’t just wait here while his

people died. He had to rescue them.

It was, perhaps, the hardest thing he’d done in his life. Every

second that passed made his strained mind cry out in agony.

Nevertheless, Kaname still extended his powers, seeking every

member of the coven. Whether they were vampires or just humans

working for them, Kaname detected them. There was no way they

could get out of the coven now, and they had maybe minutes before it

all collapsed.

“We’ll split up,” he told his guards. “We’re not letting anyone

die.”

He gave them detailed instructions regarding where they needed

to go, and they ran back through the collapsing structure, Kaname

leading the way. As his men split up, Kaname focused on his

connection with Derek to keep him going. His senses were beginning

to dull, the transference spell taking its toll. Just a little more, he told

himself. If he collapsed here, both he and Yakumo would be in

danger.

One by one, all the injured or trapped vampires were found.

“Back, go back,” Kaname said, panting. He saw the concern on his

guards’ faces, but he waved it off. “Go. Hurry.”

It seemed to take forever, but finally, the panic room was in sight

again. As far as Kaname could tell, everyone was there now. Kaname

slipped inside as well, and not a moment too soon. As Kaname shut

the door of the panic room, everything collapsed, the strength of the

blast shaking the structure reaching Kaname even through the

unbreakable walls of their sanctuary. It was almost as if it had been

waiting for him to get there, like some benevolent watchful entity had

kept it all from coming down on them before they’d reached safety.

Kaname threw one last looked over the gathered men and women,

his coven, his people. At last, he could no longer fight back the

aftermath of the exhaustion and effort and went down to his knees.

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His consciousness spiraled out of control, propelled out of Yakumo’s

body, and for the longest time, his world was pure blackness.

And then, a golden thread of light reached out to him, illuminating

the darkness, casting aside the chill that threatened Kaname’s soul. A

soft, familiar voice repeated his name over and over.
“Kaname,

Kaname, Kaname. Where are you,
tsuki
? Come back to me.”

Kaname could not have resisted Derek’s call if he wanted to.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and found himself back in the airplane that

he’d taken from Sydney, in Derek’s strong arms. “I’m okay,
hana
,” he

whispered. “I’m here. I’ll never leave you.”

Derek released a breathless gasp. “Kaname.” His eyes glistened

with unshed tears as he touched Kaname all over, as if not quite

believing it was true. “God, don’t ever do that to me again.”

Kaname wanted to say that Derek shouldn’t worry, that their bond

had brought him back and given him the strength to withstand it all.

He didn’t, though, since he couldn’t disregard Derek’s fear for him

just like that. Instead, he just hugged Derek to his chest and

murmured, “
Ai shiteru
,
hana
. Never forget that.”

He was aware of the other people in the plane watching them, but

he couldn’t care less. “We’ll be together forever.”

“Forever,” Derek repeated, still holding him tightly. “It’s a deal.

And from now on, you’re never going anywhere without me. I love

you too much to lose you.”

Those beautiful words made Kaname smile, and his physical pain

dwindled when faced with Derek’s affection. In spite of everything

that had happened, they still had this powerful feeling, and that made

them undefeatable, no matter what new foes now stood in their way.

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119

“So you truly do not know who awoke my parents.” Kaname

frowned at Takaba, watching as the human wrung his hands together.

“I’m sorry, Yamamoto-sama,” the butler replied. “I don’t know

anything beyond what I already told you.”

Kaname hadn’t expected a different answer. It was not the first

time he had asked Takaba this question in the past month, but he had

hoped that some digging around in the man’s memories might reveal

some clues. It now seemed obvious that Takaba had been merely a

tool in the hands of Masaru and Ayaka and truly didn’t have any

answers for Kaname.

Suppressing a sigh, Kaname nodded. “Very well. I’ll have Haruki

come see you in a minute.”

“Yamamoto-sama, please give me another chance. I—”

Kaname didn’t give the human the chance to finish. He just turned

his back on Takaba and left the room. He nodded at the guards he’d

posted outside. “I’ll send Haruki soon,” he told them. “Be watchful. I

don’t want him to hurt himself or anything like that.”

“Yes, Yamamoto-sama,” the vampires answered.

Kaname walked away, saddened that a friendship he’d once

considered important had been destroyed like this. Honestly, he didn’t

think Takaba was quite so desperate as to try to commit suicide, but

sometimes, humans were strange and had lapses of judgment. It

would be best for them to be on their guard. Besides, Kaname had no

other choice but to imprison Takaba, and even if the accommodations

he’d given the butler were by no means similar to a jail, the guards’

basic duty was to ensure Takaba didn’t get out.

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It was still not fully clear to Kaname what his parents planned to

do. It seemed obvious that they meant to take over the mantle of

leadership over the vampires once again, but at the same time, their

actions suggested another goal, perhaps one not their own. While both

Masaru and Ayaka had always had very traditionalistic views, they

had not been themselves at all during Kaname’s brief encounter with

them. What puzzled Kaname even more was the rest of the attacks

that seemed designed for a larger scheme. It might have been meant to

set the vampires against the shifters and demons. But why? What was

the real reason? Kaname felt irritated at the knowledge that he had no

way to answer his numerous questions, at least not until he found his

parents.

Kaname’s mood significantly improved when he ran into Derek.

The werewolf was snapping his cell phone shut, and Kaname knew

that his mate had been talking to his family, who had traveled to the

Sidhe island to watch over Yuki Bristol. Predictably, the Sidhe had

been very agreeable about helping Yuki give birth, and their

assistance had made it so that she could have her child without risking

her life. Suffice to say, the Cunninghams were ecstatic, and Kaname

himself felt relieved on his mate’s behalf.

“How is she?” he asked Derek.

“She finally gave birth.” Derek grinned. “A baby boy. They

decided to name him Halen.”

“You should have joined your parents there,” Kaname said, seeing

Derek’s fond smile.

Derek shook his head. “They already helped us so much. We can’t

have their island overrun with shifters. Besides, I’m more needed

here, by your side.”

Kaname certainly couldn’t argue with that. He leaned forward and

brushed a kiss over Derek’s sweet lips. It seemed that lately, they’d

had very little time to themselves to enjoy their mating like they

wanted to. Just the thought of Derek leaving, even for a little while,

made Kaname more anxious than he could bear.

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121

“Don’t even think about that,”
Derek said in his mind.
“Forever,

remember?”

Kaname broke the kiss and gently caressed Derek’s cheek. “I

remember.”

He was very tempted to just take his mate in his arms and carry

Derek to their rooms, where they could make love all day. Alas, they

were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Yakumo

appeared at the other end of the corridor, closely followed by Haruki.

The two men had grown quite close in the past month. Yakumo

had always been friendly to the humans working for them, but not

quite to the extent he’d reached with Haruki. It seemed that Yakumo

empathized with Haruki since both of them suffered greatly due to

their respective parents’ betrayal. Haruki had taken the news of his

father’s participation in the plot hard, and while he still went to see

Takaba, he was far quieter and sadder than before.

Kaname didn’t want to take his frustrations with Takaba out on

Haruki, though, and even if he’d have preferred spending some alone

time with Derek, he knew his brother and the human wouldn’t have

come this way without good reason. “Everything okay, Yakumo?”

“Yes. I just wanted to let you know the budget for the second

phase of the coven building is ready. You have to check into the

reports on Australia, though. There’s unsettling information coming

from there.”

Kaname released a sigh. His suspicion had been confirmed, and

Byron had, indeed, found Sophia, floating just off the Australian coast

in shifted form. By that time, though, she’d suffered extensive