Somehow Di managed to climb to her feet and tried to fix her clothes and hair while she swayed back and forth, inching toward her companions.
“You’ll regret this,” she slurred. “I only did what I had to do. You, of all vampires, should understand the meaning of sacrifice for the greater good, Butcher. Was there a danger of Emelia dying? Yes. But it was a risk the rebellion and I had to take. You should be rejoicing I turned her! If I hadn’t, you would have never found your mate, even if she did reject you.”
She never took her hate-filled eyes off of Matias. But the fact she called him a nickname, and one that meant something dangerous, made me pause. However, I didn’t pause for very long.
“The fact you just said that implies you’ve never had a mate, so you don’t understand what you would do for the person who is yours,” he told Di, hate still covering his features.
Her eyes bled from blue to red as her anger grew. “You know nothing…” she sneered. Well, well. Maybe she did have a mate after all. I wondered what happened to him. I decided to let that go, even as I decided on my next course of action.
“You made me a supernatural super-species, but you won’t get to use me like you planned. I am leaving this place and your precious rebellion. I will not take up your cause. The only thing I want to do is find my uncles and learn to survive as I am. I can do that without you now, so I am leaving the first chance I get.”
Matias was next to me in an instant and held my hand in his, lending me his support. I wasn’t going to ask for it, but I was beyond thankful.
“You, you can’t leave,” she cried. “You are meant to be our savior and I made you more powerful! You can defeat your enemies and become the leader we’ve always needed! Why aren’t you grateful? Why aren’t you happy?”
“You just don’t get it, Di, and I’m not sure you ever will.”
I raised my hand, flicking my fingers in the air and the two frozen vampires crashed into each other, nearly knocking themselves out. Di ran to them and when she reached their sluggish bodies, she helped them up one at a time and all three hobbled away, hate filling their eyes.
Matias moved in front of me and cupped my face with his free hand. I closed my eyes against the sensation and leaned into his palm ever so slightly. It was wrong, but I couldn’t help it. I was his and he was mine, no matter how much I tried to fight it.
He just attacked Di for me. Threatened her because she hurt me, made me feel weak. He would have done anything for me, including the fact he would have rather me not be turned at all if it meant I would never feel that helpless again. If that wasn’t love, I didn’t know what it was.
“Emelia, I…”
The door swung open and Xander walked in, his angry expression fixed on Matias and the way he was holding me. I slid away, letting go of his hand and tried not to look as guilty as I felt. Guilty for feeling like I had betrayed my dragon mate and guilty for refusing my vampire mate once again. I hated it. I hated it all.
“I want to leave, Xan. I can’t be here anymore. I don’t want to be a part of this… whatever it is. I just want to give us time to be… us.”
Xander looked relieved, until Matias spoke up next. “I have the perfect place we all can go,” he said. “No one will find us.”
“I don’t think she meant you, vampire,” Xan told him through clenched teeth.
“And I thought I made it perfectly clear I was not going to leave her side, dragon,” Matias snarled in return. The two had moved closer together, their predator sides becoming more prominent as they geared up for another brawl.
I felt my body begin to shift into my dragon, then out of it as my vampire side started to emerge. I closed my eyes and willed myself to stay calm, making my body return to normal, even though those two were beyond trying to do the same thing. The last thing I needed at that moment was to add fuel to the fire, so to speak, and my body wasn’t handling the multiple supernatural powers I possessed with my emotions all over the place.
“You’re both fucking idiots,” I said quietly. I knew both of them heard me, so I didn’t feel the need to speak up. “If you two decide to keep up your resentment of each other, I’ll go at it alone. Without you. I don’t want to, but I need to stay calm and I can’t do that with you both at each other’s throats. I’m having a hard enough time as it is and I don’t want you to fight. At least not with each other. So please, knock it off.”
I opened my eyes to see them both staring straight at me, their features back to normal. They both looked sort of sheepish at my chastising speech.
“I am sorry, little one. I will leave you alone, if that’s what you want,” Matias said.
“No!” I exclaimed. My vampire side resurfaced and I closed my eyes to calm myself again. “No, I don’t want that,” I told him in a quieter voice.
“Then what do you want?” Xan asked. I heard the exasperation and anguish in his question. It was hurting him and I couldn’t help it.
“I need to be around Matias, Xan, just like I need you in my life too. I just can’t….”
“You can’t be without him…”
I opened my eyes and shook my head. I pleaded
