Across the table, Cade imitated Forge’s stance as his huge hands clenched into fists. “Mara was mine long before she was yours.”
“You lost her long before I came along.”
While I was unraveling this puzzle of history between Cade and Forge, the Elder rapped his knuckles on the table. “The contest will occur tonight. There will be no opportunity for Bastian Forge to evade the sentence imposed by this Assembly.” Instead of commanding, he sounded petulant, but maybe that was because Cade was sucking all the air out of the room at the moment.
Forge shrugged out of his jacket. “So be it. Where shall we do this? I expect you have my demise thoroughly planned out, Meyer.” When his cold gaze slid around the table, most of the vampires shrank back, while others dropped their gazes to their laps. “Look at you all. So bloodthirsty, but at heart, you’re nothing but a bunch of cowards.” No one contradicted him.
“You and I, then,” Cade growled as he slipped his coat off, revealing a defined, muscled body as ripped as Forge’s.
I was having a hard time keeping my face composed, when my feelings were all over the place. I had to tell Forge what I’d discovered, but I couldn’t afford to distract him from what was happening. Then there was the matter of keeping my shield in place, when all around me, I felt vampires poking at it, trying to worm their way inside to access my thoughts. I’d prepared to defend myself against one, maybe two vampires, not an entire table of them, and I was failing miserably.
Forge took off the cuff links, pressed them into my hands, then peeled off his shirt.
Holy hell.
Forge was hot. Like really, really hot. Like sizzling, melt-my-panties hot.
As I grappled with this new realization—and the sheer inappropriateness of it, given the circumstances—Cade stripped down until they were both naked to the waist. “Are we doing this in here?” Forge asked, scanning the well-appointed room. “Seems like a waste of good furniture.”
“Outside,” Cade snarled, showing huge fangs. The other vamps parted like the Red—black, actually—Sea as he shouldered roughly through them on his way out.
What about Dobson? I don’t see him anywhere. He had men waiting…
Taking care of that right now.
I was taking Forge’s advice and sticking close. But not too close, because whatever he was about to do, I wanted to be outside the range of it. It was a good thing I’d fallen back a pace.
Two heavily muscled vamps converged on Forge the second he passed through the exterior door, their scarred faces telling of a violent past. Cade paused to watch the fun and smirked as they caught Forge by the arms, one on each side, pummeling him with their free fists. The sound—hollow, meaty and deep—grossed me out on a primal level, but when I rushed forward to help, I was snatched off the ground by a set of viselike arms.
Struggling, I was dragged backward through the house, further and further away from Forge, and as I watched him disappear completely, my heart thudded against the pressure of the vampire’s restraining arms. “Forge,” I screamed, my cry ringing through the house.
Kicking and twisting did me no good, but I managed to work an arm loose and elbow the asshole in the face. Blood spurted everywhere, and when his grip relaxed, I wiggled out away from him, blood dripping from my hair.
The vampire wiped his gushing nose and grinned at me through the red smear across his face, my breaths coming fast as I backed away, my left hand blindly searching for any kind of weapon.
“Forge,” I yelled again, realizing how out of my element I was. So much for my grand plans to be a super spy and hold my own against another race. I couldn’t find so much as a newspaper to defend myself with as the still-grinning bastard herded me toward the corner. Dear God, please don’t let me die being stupid.
I’d just given up hope when a shadowy blur caught the vampire in the side, driving him across the room and into the fireplace. The huge mirror over the mantel tipped and burst into slivers as it hit the floor, raining glass all over us. Forge held my attacker to the wall, then, faster than I could see, swiped his hand across the other’s neck. As blood spurted from his throat, Forge dropped his body to the floor.
“You’re bleeding.” He caught my face in his hand and tipped up my chin to get a good look.
“I…” Indeed, the dead vampire’s blood was all over me, dripping from my hair to my destroyed dress. “It’s not mine,” I reassured him, hanging on to him for dear life, my gaze slipping all over the room, from the spreading blood to the shattered mirror, to the faces gaping in the doorway, to Forge. “I’m okay—it’s his blood, not mine.” I motioned to my now-deceased captor.
Forge took my hand, then whipped around to face the vampires congregating behind us.
“She is under my protection. Any one of you fuckers lay a finger on her, you’ll end up right next to him.” A nod at the dead vampire. “I claim blood rights on Cade.” His lip inched up, revealing long white fangs. “And Dobson, that little fuck, if he hasn’t turned tail and run.”
“Cade is waiting out back,” someone said quietly, and gave us a clear path to the door.
I was numb, having seen too much, too quickly, and struggled just to put one foot in front of the other. Forge, on the other hand, was on a mission, and I tried to match his long strides. When he set me beside one of the female vamps, I instinctually edged away from her.
“She’s a friend,” Forge murmured against my ear, pressing me back in place. “She’ll protect you if this goes sideways.” The woman motioned me closer, and I caught the glint of gold on her finger. A ring. An
