Luke stared back at him. “Too late, my friend. She’s gone.”
He’d grabbed Luke by the shirt-front, his claws tearing into him. “Make me a deal. You make deals with everyone else. Give her life back. Help me.”
“I can’t,” Luke gritted in response. “To bring someone back from the dead? That would deplete my power. My enemies would close in. I would be done. The dark would fall.”
“I will take care of your enemies.”
Luke’s gaze had hardened. “Be careful what you say.”
Rose was still and cold on the bed. “I will hunt your enemies down. You know I’m the best hunter out there. You keep her in this world—”
“It’s not keeping her here. It’s bringing her back. And believe me, there would be a heavy price for that. Both for me…and for you.”
“I don’t care about the price. I care about her. Only her. And I’ll do anything…”
Then the deal had been set. Rose had come back.
“I tried to do the right thing,” Julian rasped. His hand slowly lowered from her mouth. His blood had dripped down her chin. Steam seemed to rise from her body. “I was sending her away, trying to make her leave because I knew I was bad for her. I hurt the ones close to me, and no one has ever been closer than her.”
Rayce cleared his throat. “Buddy, um, I think we should walk out now. There are some memories that you don’t want to have. And your lady burning? You don’t want to carry that memory.”
His head turned so that he was staring at the wolf. “Do you think I would ever let her die alone?”
Rayce’s jaw hardened.
No, dying alone wouldn’t happen.
He used his claws to cut his wrist even deeper. “I just have to give her more blood. It worked before. It will work again.”
“No,” Luke told him. “I’m so fucking sorry, but it won’t. My brother was made to be my opposite. His blood can destroy dark paranormals just as mine…mine destroys the light. We’ve both always known we were poison.”
Mine destroys the light.
In a flash, Julian jumped off the bed. He grabbed Luke and slashed his claws across the guy’s forearm.
The whole room seemed to shake—actually, it did shake. Luke’s fury blasted against him. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Trying to save her! “Give her your blood. If he’s poison to her, then you could be the cure. Give her your blood.”
But Luke didn’t move. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking?”
“I’m asking for you to help the woman I love.” Because I’m breaking apart without her.
“My blood…you don’t know what it will do to her.”
Julian looked back at the bed and his heart nearly stopped. “She’s dying already. What could be worse?”
“She could come back…wrong.”
What?
“You think I haven’t already considered giving her my blood?” Luke shook his head. “But I don’t know what will happen if I do. My blood…Leo’s blood…all in one person? That much power? Light and dark trapped together? She could wake up and want only death for everyone around her. Or she could wake up…and think that monsters like you and me—the dark ones—that we need to be eradicated. She could be the instrument of our destruction. The being who takes us out. I don’t know what she’ll become.”
“I know what she’ll be.” His shoulders straightened. “Because it’s what she’s always been, vampire or human. She’s no killing machine. She’s not evil. She’s not twisted. She won’t ever be. You give her the blood, and she’ll just be stronger. When bad things come her way, she just keeps growing stronger.”
Luke studied him with worried eyes. “And you think that’s not dangerous?”
“She’ll be on our side,” he promised. Help her!
“How do you know that?”
And despite everything, Julian managed to smile. “She chose me.” She chose life. “And I chose her. She’ll come back strong and she’ll come back right.”
“If she doesn’t, will you be the one to put her down?”
The question seemed to echo around him.
And he didn’t speak.
“That’s what I thought,” Luke said softly. “You love her, you can’t kill her, but if something goes wrong, I’m supposed to just let her roam around attacking people? You know I can’t do that. And you’re the one I send when the dark ones go rogue. If you can’t handle her, then what will I do?”
Did Luke really think he was going to promise to kill Rose?
“She’s your weakness. You think I don’t understand?” Luke sighed. “I do. But I have to look out for more than just you. She could be too strong. She could be—”
“She’s dying.” And he couldn’t just do nothing. “This is Rose. Rose. She’s always been good. She never—not once—killed anyone when she was a vampire.”
Luke’s lips twitched. “She used to get so nervous before drinking that she’d nearly faint. A vampire, fainting at the thought of taking blood.”