Dare to Believe

He was fairly certain his still heaving mate had no desire to become a vampire.

Duncan glided into the dungeon room, beautiful and dangerous. Jaden watched him with bleary eyes, knowing he didn’t have long before he collapsed again. It would be worth it, though, to see Duncan give his sister the smack-down she deserved.

“Hello, Kaitlynn.”

The Deranged Darling flinched at the sight of her big brother, the livid bruise on her face in stark contrast to the pallor of her skin. “Duncan.” Her voice was slurred, no doubt due to the hit Dunne had landed.

Duncan was staring at Kaitlynn in a very scary way. Jaden watched and wondered what the Sidhe was up to. He doubted it would go the way he hoped. The woman was Duncan’s sister, unfortunately. “Blood debt is owed, and you’re going to pay it.”

“On whose authority?” One brow tried to rise, but then she winced, the action pulling at her bruised cheek.

“On mine, as Lord of Clan Malmayne.” The authority in Duncan’s voice sent shivers down Jaden’s spine. He allowed his teeth to drop, determined to back Duncan with his last drop of blood if need be. If his bond-brother was actually going to make Kaitlynn pay for her crimes then Jaden wanted in on the action, even if he only got to be a spectator.

“Father is lord, not you.” Her chin rose. She almost managed a sneer, but her broken cheek prevented it.

“Father is dead, buried in the formal gardens.” Jaden’s jaw dropped. How in hell had he missed that?

It was damn near impossible to hide death from a vampire.

He glanced at the column that pinned Jeremy West to the ceiling. Perhaps the other vamp had somehow managed to hide the tell-tale signs?

Kaitlynn’s skin had gone pale, her expression filled with trepidation.

“Dead by your hand, I believe.” Duncan circled his sister, his eyes cold and without mercy. “For your crime of murder, the sentence is death.”

Kaitlynn gasped.

Goodbye, bitch. Jaden laughed internally, delighted at this turn of events.

“For the crime of kidnapping and torture: also death.”

She whimpered.

“For the crime of the attempted murder of my bondmate: death.”

Wait, bondmate? Jaden nearly chortled. Duncan was breaking out a truly archaic definition of the bond they shared, if he was calling Jaden his bondmate. By using that term, he increased the level of Kaitlynn’s crime from attempted murder to cardinal sin.

“Sentence to be carried out immediately.” Duncan turned to Jaden with a grim look. “She’s all yours.”

Jaden bowed, as best he could in his wounded state, to the man he’d pledged his allegiance and part of his heart to almost a century ago.

Then he turned to Kaitlynn and smiled sweetly. The pain subsided at his lord’s permission to feed.

He was very, very hungry.

He let the predator in him surface, using everything he was to ensure the Deranged Darling paid her debt in full.

Not one drop of Kaitlynn’s blood tainted the floor. Jaden made sure of it.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Leo chanted. He pulled Ruby under the warm water, desperate to get the tainted blood off of her. He didn’t bother removing her ruined clothes first, just dunked her under the shower and rinsed her as fast as he could. He completely ignored his own clothes, not caring that he was now soaked along with her. He was pretty sure Duncan could spare them some new ones.

“Leo?”

Her quavering, weepy voice nearly did him in. “It’s okay, kitten. I’m here.”

She collapsed into his arms, sobbing, and he nearly sobbed with her. He held her and rocked her, making nonsense noises in her ear just to let her know he was there.

He began to sing softly, a lullaby in the Sidhe tongue. Eventually her weeping slowed. When she began ripping her clothes from her body, he didn’t question, just helped. And when she picked them up and threw them as hard as she could out the shower door, he helped with that, too.

Finally, her crying stopped completely. She drowsed in his arms, only the occasional sniffle letting him know she was still awake. He picked her up and carried her into the adjoining bedroom, laying her wet body down on top of the coverlet. He went back into the bathroom and turned off the water. He grabbed a towel and returned to her. He didn’t want her out of his sight.

“You’re okay, kitten. Nobody’s ever going to hurt you again.”

He winced as the gentle swipes of the towel against her abraded back drew a hiss of pain from her.

When he was done, he rapidly stripped himself down, dried himself off, and slipped between the sheets. He really didn’t give a fuck if Duncan was offended or not. Ruby needed to rest, so she was going to rest. He wasn’t even sure whose bedroom they were in, other than it wasn’t Kaitlynn’s. The stench of the other woman would have driven him from the room once Ruby was cleaned off.

Ruby cuddled up against his chest, hiding her face in his shoulder. The occasional shudder still wracked her body.

If I hadn’t left her in the driveway none of this would have happened. Guilt ate at him like acid, but he just couldn’t deal with that right now. Ruby needed him.

“Show me what she did to you, kitten.” He hoped if he could get inside her mind, he’d be able to fix whatever it was Kaitlynn had done to terrify her.

She shook her head. “Nope. Not going there ever again.”

He nodded. He’d get to see it when she was ready, he was determined on that, but there was no point in traumatizing her further. “Then tell me.”

She drew a deep breath. “Have you ever seen those horror movies where someone’s strapped down to a table, a bit is put in their mouth, some weird contraption is strapped to their head, and then someone else throws the switch?”

Leo stiffened. “Electrocution?”

Ruby nodded, never moving her face from his shoulder.

Oh, the bitch died way too easy. He’d felt Kaitlynn’s death while they’d been in the shower, but he’d been too focused on Ruby to pay it much attention. He was going to ask Duncan and Jaden to bury her body somewhere far, far away, where her evil would no longer poison his land.

He felt Ruby moving against him and looked down. She was rubbing her head. “Headache?”

“Throw some volts through your brain and see what happens.”

He stroked her damp hair away from her face. “I have an idea.”

“What?”

“Do you trust me, kitten?”

She looked up with a frown as he constructed the fantasy in his mind, projecting it into hers before she could form a protest. 

“Oh, hell yeah.” Ruby moaned. Those talented, strong fingers she loved worked their oily way up from her calves to the backs of her thighs. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Glad you like it.”

She opened one sleepy eye to see Leo grinning down at her, his shoulders moving as he expertly massaged her legs. “What are you really doing to me?”

Leo shrugged but kept going. “Antibiotic cream. Luckily none of the scrapes are bad. You won’t scar.”

She snorted. “Glad I can’t feel that.”

“I should never have left you alone.”

The condemnation in his voice made her sigh. “I’m alive. You’re alive. Kaitlynn is…?”

She looked over her shoulder to see a grim, satisfied smile on Leo’s lips. “Dead.”

“Good. Did it hurt?”

“A lot.”