No, it didn’t. I knew Sam well enough to know… “You have a theory.”
“Imani was a drifter for years. She had a lot of people tracking her, all intent on using her for her gift. She’s a slippery little thing, and she’s smart and resourceful. But would that really have been enough to evade all those vampires?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You think Marco protected her somehow.”
“Tracking is my specialty,” said Sebastian, leaning against the kitchen counter. “But it was no easy thing for me to find Paige and Imani. It was as though someone was wiping away their trail.”
I frowned. “Why Turn her, abandon her, let her flee, and protect her from afar?”
“Guilt?” offered Sebastian. “Perhaps he felt badly for wronging her.”
“By all accounts,” said Sam, “Marco isn’t the regretful type.”
A thought occurred to me. “Is it possible that Paige is working for him? That he appointed her to protect Imani?”
“No,” replied Sam. “I think Imani reminds Paige of her sister, but that’s another story.”
Jared took the seat beside his mate. “Maybe it wasn’t Marco that was erasing her trail. Maybe it was Lazarus.”
Her brows lifted. “That sounds much more likely.”
It did, but there was no knowing anything for sure. There were too many unanswered questions here. “All I want to know is if Imani will be in danger at Lazarus’ home. If the answer is yes, she doesn’t go.”
Sebastian spoke. “If Marco meant her any harm, he would have put a bounty on her head when she fled. He never did. Instead, he let her be—may even have protected her.”
Still… “That’s not to say that seeing her won’t anger him enough to hurt her now. It would be better not to risk it.”
Sam cast me an impatient glance. “Butch, she’s a member of the fucking legion. She’s been trained to handle and protect herself, she knows a dozen ways to end someone, and she’ll have back-up. We don’t have a valid reason for forcing her not to go.”
“Being careful with her life isn’t a valid reason?”
“There’s being careful, and there’s ignoring her ability to look after herself. It would insult and hurt her to refuse her request to come along. You wouldn’t expect any of the others to do that in such a situation.”
Jared nodded. “It might be good for her to face the asshole that stole her life.”
Good for her? “Like Coach pointed out, he’ll be pissed at Imani.”
“And we’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t try to act on it,” said Sam. “Honestly though, I sincerely doubt he will. He’s allegedly very intelligent. That alone should stop him from attacking a member of the legion.”
But we couldn’t know that for sure. And that lack of certainty didn’t sit well with me. If I couldn’t be confident that she was safe, I wouldn’t function. Maybe I could convince her to stay behind, maybe if I just talked to her—
“Don’t, Butch.” Sam, apparently having guessed my intentions, shook her head. “It would insult her, and I really don’t think you want to do that. Protecting her means also protecting her feelings.”
Yes, it did, but I wanted to keep her safe. I didn’t want to take any chances with her life. “She’s important,” I bit out.
Sam’s face softened. “I know she’s important to you. I don’t pretend to know what you feel for her, but I know it’s strong and intense. That doesn’t mean you get to interfere in her decisions. If you had claimed her as yours when you had the chance, she’d have made compromises. I repeat, compromises. Not have given you your own way. And although I don’t like to interfere in people’s personal lives—”
Jared snorted.
“—I will say now that you were a dumb dick not to claim her. She’d have taken you as you are, Butch. That’s a special thing. But in return, you’d have had to take her how she is.”
I’d take her any way I could get her, and I would claim her, but that was between me and Imani. “While we’re at Lazarus’ home, I’m with her every second. She doesn’t leave my side.”
“She won’t be leaving your side because you’re there as her shield in case Marco tries to harm her. You have to promise me right now that you won’t lunge at him unprovoked. I know this situation will be bloody hard for you—being around Jared’s Maker was a pain in my arse.” Which was partly why Sam had killed her. “But it will be even harder for Imani. Put her feelings before your own.”
“Fine,” I clipped. But I almost hoped that Marco did something to provoke me just so that I’d have the perfect excuse to kill the fucker.
CHAPTER SIX
(Imani)
Prisons could be very beautiful.