Never mind the fact the Elder was finally pursuing his vendetta.
I wasn’t about to lay my entire life out in front of Selena. Not when parts of it were so ugly. Not when she wouldn’t understand. The more I thought this through, the more I knew I should never have involved her in this. I’d been blinded by her ability. Blinded by her.
But that wasn’t fair. I’d been too focused on using her to get me out of this jam, and not weighing the consequences. In truth, it had been so long since I’d worried about anyone other than myself, I’d forgotten how. But the thought of putting Selena in danger, the thought of any of my kind getting anywhere near her, brought out a primal, territorial response.
“I’ve managed to stave off the Elder for many years. Blackmail, you see, works better than gold among my kind. But I don’t have my leverage anymore, and it appears the Elder has run out of patience.”
“What happened to your leverage?” she asked.
“He’s dead,” I answered. “I didn’t know it until they sent Dobson after me.” Or rather, as soon as Dobson had materialized inside my goddamned house, I knew Jackson was dead. There was no other explanation for it. The Elder had killed him, and now was coming for me.
“Dobson…the washed-out vampire that looked like he wanted to have me for a snack?”
“Yes,” I told her drily. “Him.”
“You threatened to rip his head off, if I remember correctly,” Selena pointed out, her tone every bit as droll as mine. “Stopped him in his tracks.”
“He’d better have stopped. He was ten feet away from you.” Ten fucking feet…
Jackson might be dead, and the hold I had over the Elder gone, but I still had contacts in Scotland. People I could rely on. If I didn’t, I would never have brought Selena.
“That was too close.”
“Yeah,” she said soberly, her face tightening up just enough that I knew he’d really frightened her. “He was. I thought I was a goner. But then you showed up. Always saving me from something, or so it seems.”
“Happy to oblige.” I kept my words light, but just the way she’d said it made me hard. I shifted position before she noticed. Damn, all these years and I was as suave as a schoolboy.
She shook her head, her hair tumbling all around. “What am I doing here, Forge? I should be home, running the distillery, falling asleep before nine so I can get up early to check on the mash. This is way over my head. The only reason I’m here is…”
My chest constricted. Of course there was only one reason. “Because of the loan.”
“No, actually, that’s not it at all.” Selena tilted her head, observing my face intently. “I guess you could say it was curiosity. I grew up hearing about you. You were a legend, like some kind of knight in shining armor who saved the company and cemented the Langston family’s futures.”
“I’m no knight, I can assure you of that.” I didn’t want to hear another word about Langston family gossip. “Selena, we’ve been over this, and I don’t want to hear any more—”
She completely ignored me. “But to me, you were always more than a legend. Do you know how many times I’ve stared at your painting, speculating about who you really were?” She ducked her head. “I’ve wondered about you for years, Forge. Did you ever think,” she added softly, “I just used the money as an excuse to meet you?”
As I struggled for some pithy comeback to the bombshell she’d just dropped, she smiled at me, breaking her expressionless visage. “Which means there’s no way I’d pass up a chance to go to Scotland with you. Now that I can read minds—and keep a straight face while doing it—I want to find out what I can do. What you taught me to do.”
Watching her face transform back to a serene, blank slate, I couldn’t help but agree. “Maybe you are ready.” Still, I wondered what we’d be walking into tonight. I was stronger than anyone else there, except the Elder. Given it had been years since our paths had crossed, I might even give him a go.
If I wasn’t one hundred percent sure Selena would be safe at my side, I’d never have allowed this to progress so far. I was powerful, but I wasn’t about to get cocky. After nearly two hundred years, the Elder had decided to come after me. I had to know why, or this would never end.
Which was where Selena came in—I needed her to read their minds and find out.
“I brought you something,” I told her, surveying her perfectly mundane jeans and sweatshirt. “It’s in the bedroom, and I hope it’s the right size.”
Her eyebrows twitched slightly, then settled back into place on her blank visage. “Gifts and a trip. You’re too good to me, Forge.”
“Just look in the bedroom,” I told her, before I picked her up and carried her back there myself. Just the thought of her splayed out on my bed… I could almost imagine what she tasted like, a mix of musk and sweetness, and my mouth watered.
She blew me a kiss before she shut the door, then I heard a muffled squeal. Hopefully the dress fit her as well as the shoes. Vampires were a vicious lot, but they loved their fancy clothes, and if Selena was to fit in, she’d have to dress the part.
When Selena emerged in the green silk gown, which showed off every perfect curve, I knew my face showed exactly what I was thinking. “You look beautiful,” I said, the words slipping out of my mouth while my brain was catching up. She was stunning. A woman made for expensive clothes and private jets.
A woman made for me, I told myself—before reminding myself that I was a dead man walking.
14
Forge and I practiced the mind-shielding thing for a couple of hours
