It occurred to me that I had no right to question Forge’s friend circle, but damn, it was beginning to dawn on me just how close a call this had been. What would have happened if Dobson had reached me? I had no doubt I’d be lying on that cold floor, my throat ripped out.
“No, not a friend. Not even close.” Forge paused, looking into my eyes intently, and I felt him run invisible fingers over my barrier, still locked firmly into place. “No, your shield appears to be intact.”
Forge’s voice held the same relief that I felt down to my bones. Thank God. The thought of someone like that inside my head—and the damage they could do—turned my stomach.
“If he’s not a friend, then why was he here?”
“Summoning me to Assembly.” Forge didn’t sound at all happy about it—not the meeting, nor the person who was just here. “You’re early. I gave you a specific time to arrive, and I expected you to honor that.” From his sharp, clipped tone, I realized he was angry, really angry, and that threw me, since emotion was such a departure from his usual unflappable demeanor.
“I am early. I just thought…”
“You didn’t think. You were so focused on beating me at my own game that you disregarded the rules.” His dark eyes turned glacially cold, his voice like a knife as he continued, “None of this is a game, Selena, no matter how much you pretend otherwise.”
“I’ve never pretended this is a game. It’s you who changed the rules, by setting moving targets for me to hit. Not that I haven’t hit every single one,” I added, just so he didn’t forget I’d successfully kept him out of my head.
“Have you really?” he drawled, as if he sensed—or heard—my self-satisfied jab. In an instant I was stripped bare as he tore my shield away in one fell swoop. The pain from being suddenly exposed felt like a bright light stabbing straight into my eye.
“That’s what Dobson could have done to you. Left you exposed and vulnerable. He could have made you slit your own throat, or walk off a roof. He could have killed you before you even knew he’d moved, or drunk you until there wasn’t a drop of blood left in your body. That’s how much danger you were in, just because you couldn’t follow the rules.”
“You asshole,” I hissed, my hands balling into fists. He’d started this, he was the one dictating the rules, setting my next hurdle to jump. He was the judge I had to please in order to even make it to Assembly. Whatever in the hell that was.
As his face tightened up, I knew I’d gone too far.
“No, I’m not an asshole, Selena. I’m much, much worse than that. And it’s about time you found out just how much more.”
His eyes grew so dark that even the overhead lights didn’t penetrate his rage. The planes of his usually handsome face turned hard and unforgiving under the bulb’s faint glow. Shadows crawled beneath his skin, like bruises looking for a place to land, and my heart lurched as he glided toward me.
I realized that over the past week, I’d lost whatever sense of caution I had first exercised around Forge. Somehow, I’d not only become comfortable with the notion of being around a vampire—I’d actually grown to look forward to our time together. Just like complacency was a bad idea in the distillery business, complacency around a two-hundred-year-old vampire could have deadly consequences.
But there were two things Forge didn’t count on. I was a Langston, and Langstons didn’t back down. I was also a woman, and stubbornness ran in my blood. Add the two together and I turned into a brick wall that was every bit as impenetrable as he was.
“I’m not afraid of you, Forge,” I said, with false courage. “You knew I was coming here tonight. An hour shouldn’t mean the difference between life and death.”
He closed his eyes for a second, as if praying for patience—do vampires even pray?—and when he opened them, some of the ice had disappeared.
“Rules are put into place for a reason. But obeying them seems to be an issue with you. If I hadn’t sensed your distress when I did, he could have really hurt you, Selena.”
“And here I thought you didn’t care, Forge.”
“Oh, I care. Especially now that I’ve been officially summoned by the clan. Now I don’t have a choice. Dobson saw you, so you’re going. Whether you’re ready. Or not.”
“I’m ready. He didn’t get through, even though he tried.” A terrible thought occurred to me. “But you got right through. Have you always been able to bypass my shield? Have you been playing with me this whole time?”
He seemed to debate it for a minute. “Just because I can doesn’t mean anyone else can. Your shield will keep all but the strongest vampires out. You face, however…”
“Yeah, I know I need to work on that.”
“Keep working on it. We leave tomorrow morning. I’ll have a car pick you up.”
“A…car? Like a car with a driver?”
“Ah, I’m impressed,” he said wryly. “Yes, Selena, my car with a driver will pick you up at nine o’clock sharp. Please be ready when he arrives—the flight leaves at ten.”
“And you were going to tell me this…when?”
“After you passed the final test, which, as we know, you failed miserably. However, we will have time to practice on the plane.”
“It’s going to look weird, us making faces at each other on a plane. What do you think the passengers will think?”
“The only passengers on the plane will be you and I, Selena,” Forge said, ushering me toward the door, his tone completely sarcastic. “Do you really think I’d fly commercial?”
11
As it turned out, there
