Fractured (Deep In Your Veins, #5)(49)

Marco looked at me, upper lip curled back. “I’d happily see you dead. But Imani will always be safe with me.”

Sam snorted. “Considering you’re a bloody psycho, forgive me for not believing that.”

“You’re being blinded by your anger,” insisted Marco. “Think. Why would I use serum to kill someone when I can do that with my bare hands? Why would I go through the trouble of keeping Imani safe all these years just to later kill her?”

“If it wasn’t you, who was it?” I asked.

“If I knew that, they’d be dead by now.”

My gut tells me it’s not him, Jared said. Sam gave her mate an odd look, so I guessed that he’d said the same to her. I don’t think Marco would hurt her. Yes, Turning her against her will hurt her, but I don’t think he sees it that way.

Honestly, I was beginning to think that just maybe the guy wouldn’t physically harm her, but that wasn’t to say that he hadn’t injected her with the serum. Maybe he didn’t want to kill her. Maybe he was hoping the serum would work and he was trying to repay her by giving her back her human life or something.

“Whether you’re guilty of this or not, you deserve to die,” I said. “You stole her human life from her.”

“Perhaps, but you really shouldn’t kill me,” said Marco, smiling. Freak. “I have information you’ll want to hear.”

“Is that so?” Sam snorted. “I think you’ll say anything that you believe will keep you alive.”

“You could be right. But you could be wrong.” He cocked his head. “Would you like to know what the little insignia is on the blog that’s leaking info about our kind?”

Jared stiffened. “How do you know about the blog?”

Marco’s smile widened. “You’re not the only one who keeps a lookout for such things.”

“There is no insignia,” said Sam.

“You didn’t notice the ‘O’ that had a ‘T’ running through it?”

There is a small symbol on the blog, but I didn’t think it meant anything, Jared told me.

“What do you know about it?” Sam asked Marco.

He took a step back. “Can’t say I’m tempted to help you. I don’t like you much. But there is someone I’d like to speak to.”

No prizes for guessing who he was talking about. “Fuck that.”

He ignored me. “Bring my Imani to me. If she wants to hear about the insignia, I’ll tell her.”

“You’ll toy with her,” I corrected.

Again, he ignored me. “It’s a fair deal. You let me live, and I’ll tell Imani what the insignia means.”

“If we let you live,” began Jared, “it would be inside this cell.”

“At least I’d be alive. Bring her to me. Or don’t. The choice is yours.”

Before I could tell him to go f*ck himself with a jagged blade, I found myself standing in Sam and Jared’s office.

I immediately began to pace. “He doesn’t know anything. The bastard’s just buying time and playing games. He’d say anything to see Imani. He’s obsessed with her.” Not that I was in a position to judge.

“I agree,” said Sam.

I heard a ‘But’, and I didn’t like it. “But…?”

She sighed. “But this has to be Imani’s decision.”

“No,” I bit out.

“Butch, think about it—”

“He’s bullshitting us, Coach. We can’t ask her to let him play a f*cking game with her. He’s hurt her enough.”

“I know, but I will not make decisions for her. It would insult and disrespect her. You know that, which is why you’re not going to pressure her into making the decision you want her to make.”

Inwardly, I snorted. Sam didn’t know me well if she thought that. I was as overprotective of Imani as I’d warned her I’d be. During the transition, she’d been in so much pain, so crazed, and so close to death, that there had been several moments when I’d been sure I would lose her—and it had been f*cking excruciating. Whenever I thought about it too much, anxiety chafed the edges of my consciousness until I wanted to punch something.

It had been so f*cking hard to watch her in such gut-wrenching pain; to feel so helpless because there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to take it away. The only way I’d been able to help was to feed her. Sam, Jared, and Antonio—being the most powerful on the island—had also acted as regular donors. I’d be eternally grateful for that.

Although a whole lot of people had stopped by to see Imani during the transition, I hadn’t allowed any inside; aware that she wouldn’t have wanted everyone to see her that way. The only vampires I’d let inside that hadn’t been donors were Chico and Lena.

Of course, Fletcher being incredibly dramatic, had staged a protest outside her apartment; marching with huge ‘We want to see Imani’ boards. One deathly look from me had sent him scampering.

Taking a calming breath, I unclenched my fists. “You saw her, Coach. She’s not at full strength yet. And we have no f*cking idea what ‘full strength’ will even be now for Imani.”

“I know, and I hate that as much as you do. But there are different kinds of strength. Imani will never be weak. She can do this. Marco can’t hurt her when there’s an impenetrable glass wall between them.”