The twins faced off.
“I think you’re mistaken,” Luke murmured, his voice as gentle as a breeze. “You see…Rose is a vampire. That means she’s under my dominion. A creature of the dark. You have no say about what happens to her. And if you so much as twitch in her direction…we’ll finally have that battle that has been prophesized for centuries.”
The waves crashed onto the shore.
Fire began to burn inside of Rose’s body. Just like before…just like when she’d had Leo’s blood in her and it had started to burn her up, from the inside out. “J-Julian?” Now she was the one afraid.
He stared down at her, and his bright eyes were all she could see. Everything else was getting too dark.
“She wasn’t supposed to have my blood!” Leo yelled. “It is poison! She barely survived once—it will hit her even harder this time. She’s dying! I wasn’t threatening her—I was telling you what’s happening. She’s dead—and there is nothing either of us can do for her now!”
Julian’s hold tightened on her.
She wanted to smile for him.
She couldn’t.
“Love…don’t go,” he whispered.
“I…choose…” She had to say this. He needed to always know. “You.”
***
Her fangs were gone.
“Why doesn’t the vamp have fangs anymore?” Rayce muttered.
Because something was fucking wrong.
Julian lowered Rose onto his bed. She’d been drifting in and out of consciousness while he carried her to the house. He’d begged her to drink from him, pushing her mouth to his throat as he hauled ass to get her to a safe place but…
Her fangs hadn’t come out.
“It’s okay, love,” he said, hating the fact that his voice came out so rough and ragged, as if everything was very much not okay. “I’ll take care of you.” He slashed open his wrist and forced her to take his blood. It had worked before. It would work again.
The blood dripped into her mouth. Julian massaged her throat, forcing her to swallow. But…
Her body seemed to be getting warmer to the touch. Too warm. As if she were feverish.
“Drink, Rose. Drink for me.”
A hard hand closed around his shoulder. “She can’t.” Luke’s voice. Sounding sad. Luke was never sad. He didn’t have time for emotions.
Julian didn’t look back at him. “This happened before. She bit your asshole of a brother once before, and I gave her my blood and everything was fine.” Her cheeks were flushed. Not just her cheeks. Her neck, her collarbone. Her arms.
“She’s burning up, from the inside out.” Again, Luke’s voice was sad. “It won’t matter how much blood you give her. My brother wasn’t lying. His blood is poison to vamps. She…didn’t really survive the first time.”
What? That was bullshit, of course she’d survived.
“The first time she had his blood, the poison got in her body.”
Julian kept his hand to her mouth. “And I gave her my blood. I diluted that tainted crap of his. She came back fine.”
“The poison stayed in her body, but it was dormant, waiting for another exposure. That’s how it works. One bite to begin, one bite to end.”
What?
“Her heart is going to burn up. She’ll burn in front of you. You should…step back. Let her go.”
Dazed, Julian couldn’t move at all.
“Fuck,” Rayce swore from the corner of the room. “I’m so sorry, man.”
No, this wasn’t happening.
He stared down at Rose. Her hair was spread on the pillows behind her head. It just looked as if she were sleeping. And he remembered another time…
Rose had been lying in a bed, blood on her body. She’d been so still. But she hadn’t been warm to the touch. She’d been ice cold and he’d known he was losing her.
So he’d turned to Luke Thorne, and he’d made a deal. “Bring her back, Luke. Change her. She can’t die.”
The memories swirled through his mind.
“She’s already gone.” Luke had stared at him with no expression on his hard face. “Mourn the dead, and move on.”
He’d hit Luke then. Punched him. Clawed at him. And Luke had just taken the blows. “I can’t lose her! She’s the first thing in my life that matters—don’t take her! Don’t let anyone take her!” And he’d been lost—lost to a fury and pain that had sent him out of control. He’d destroyed that room. Slashing the walls. Breaking the furniture. Turning his claws on himself…
My fault. I did this to her. My fault. Mine…
Luke had grabbed his hands. Julian’s claws had been buried in his own chest.
“Why are you doing this?” Luke asked him.
“Because I should die. She should live.” Simple. So simple…And if she didn’t live…then he was ready to die.
“You…love her? You fell in love with a human, knowing it was forbidden?”
One of Luke’s laws. “I fell in love with her…” He stared unflinchingly at the most powerful dark paranormal being in the world. “Because I couldn’t stop myself. She owns me. Owns me. And I can’t just let her die!”