Fractured (Deep In Your Veins, #5)(18)

“Let’s be honest,” began Jared, “if the situation was reversed, what would you do to Butch’s Maker?”

My back teeth locked. “The question is: what wouldn’t I do?”

A slow smile surfaced on Sam’s face. “I like that answer.”

Well, it was true.

“I actually doubt Marco will start any shit,” said Sam. “The reunion will be awkward, though. Still, we can deal with ‘awkward.’ And if Marco does act like a tit, you can take him. And I can watch, smiling with glee the entire time.”

“She’s not kidding, by the way,” Jared told me.

I smiled. “I didn’t for one second think that she was.”




(Butch)



A few hours before dawn, I was sitting across the kitchen table from Sam after receiving a telepathic summons from Jared. “Imani’s been here,” I noted, picking up her scent.

“We need to talk to you about her,” Sam replied simply.

Everything in me froze. I flicked my gaze from Sam to Jared to Sebastian; they all looked equally serious. “What about Imani?”

Sinking into her seat, Sam said, “After she told us about her past, I had a little chat with Mona and Cedric. I wanted to know more about Marco. According to them, he’s a cunning, intelligent, smooth-talking predator who’s so cold he’s dead inside. Still, he doesn’t go around Turning unwilling humans.” Sam leaned forward. “But something made him do that to Imani. Until her, he was happy without the responsibilities of running his own line; he was happy owing loyalty to only his Sire and his nest. She changed that somehow.”

“She’s his first-born?”

Sam nodded. “She doesn’t believe that he cared for her, even though they were a couple while she was human—which is something you’re best knowing upfront.”

Oh, f*cking were they?

“Stop growling and listen. She also doesn’t believe that he tried tracking her after she fled. She’s right about that. And that’s just bloody weird. If nothing else, he should see her as a possession that he lost. He appears to be just ignoring her existence. Does that make sense to you?”

No, it didn’t. I knew Sam well enough to know… “You have a theory.”

“Imani was a drifter for years. She had a lot of people tracking her, all intent on using her for her gift. She’s a slippery little thing, and she’s smart and resourceful. But would that really have been enough to evade all those vampires?”

I narrowed my eyes. “You think Marco protected her somehow.”

“Tracking is my specialty,” said Sebastian, leaning against the kitchen counter. “But it was no easy thing for me to find Paige and Imani. It was as though someone was wiping away their trail.”

I frowned. “Why Turn her, abandon her, let her flee, and protect her from afar?”

“Guilt?” offered Sebastian. “Perhaps he felt badly for wronging her.”

“By all accounts,” said Sam, “Marco isn’t the regretful type.”

A thought occurred to me. “Is it possible that Paige is working for him? That he appointed her to protect Imani?”

“No,” replied Sam. “I think Imani reminds Paige of her sister, but that’s another story.”

Jared took the seat beside his mate. “Maybe it wasn’t Marco that was erasing her trail. Maybe it was Lazarus.”

Her brows lifted. “That sounds much more likely.”

It did, but there was no knowing anything for sure. There were too many unanswered questions here. “All I want to know is if Imani will be in danger at Lazarus’ home. If the answer is yes, she doesn’t go.”

Sebastian spoke. “If Marco meant her any harm, he would have put a bounty on her head when she fled. He never did. Instead, he let her be—may even have protected her.”

Still… “That’s not to say that seeing her won’t anger him enough to hurt her now. It would be better not to risk it.”

Sam cast me an impatient glance. “Butch, she’s a member of the f*cking legion. She’s been trained to handle and protect herself, she knows a dozen ways to end someone, and she’ll have back-up. We don’t have a valid reason for forcing her not to go.”

“Being careful with her life isn’t a valid reason?”

“There’s being careful, and there’s ignoring her ability to look after herself. It would insult and hurt her to refuse her request to come along. You wouldn’t expect any of the others to do that in such a situation.”

Jared nodded. “It might be good for her to face the * that stole her life.”

Good for her? “Like Coach pointed out, he’ll be pissed at Imani.”

“And we’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t try to act on it,” said Sam. “Honestly though, I sincerely doubt he will. He’s allegedly very intelligent. That alone should stop him from attacking a member of the legion.”

But we couldn’t know that for sure. And that lack of certainty didn’t sit well with me. If I couldn’t be confident that she was safe, I wouldn’t function. Maybe I could convince her to stay behind, maybe if I just talked to her—

“Don’t, Butch.” Sam, apparently having guessed my intentions, shook her head. “It would insult her, and I really don’t think you want to do that. Protecting her means also protecting her feelings.”