Page 28 of Bewitched Before Christmas
“Hah. You couldn’t take me back then. You couldn’t now.”
“I probably could. If I could be bothered.”
“You know your problem,” Gabe said.
“I have a problem?”
“Yeah. You always did think the whole universe revolved around you. Everyone lost people back then. Stop thinking you’re so goddamn special.”
“You mean the world doesn’t revolve around me?”
“Hah.” Gabe rook another swallow. “So the bonnie lassie from tonight. She vanished. Is she dead as well?”
“Nope. She’s a witch.”
“A witch? Are they even a thing? I thought they were like fairytale stuff.”
Lachlan studied his brother in amazement. Where had he been for the last three hundred years? “You’re a goddamn werewolf. I’m a fucking vampire. Why wouldn’t witches be a thing. Goddamn ignorant dogs.”
“Hey, just because we like to keep to ourselves doesn’t make us ignorant. Just particular about who we spend time with. So, the witch—you care about her?”
Lachlan gave him a sharp look. “Why would you ask that?”
“The sappy way you were looking at her. The fact that you were ready to give away your life for hers.” He studied him for a moment. “It won’t hurt to accept that you care about her.”
Lachlan swallowed the last of the scotch. He’d loosened his control and he could feel the alcohol like a buzz in his brain. “Might not hurt me. Probably kill her. I don’t have a good track record.”
“Jesus. Here we go again. Mr. Special. You’re just too much of a coward to take the chance.”
“And you’re happily married with a houseful of bairns are you?”
“No. But I haven’t found the right woman yet. I will. I’m not a closed off miserable bastard like you. I presume she saw that in you and told you to fuck off.”
“She asked me to go with her. She said she needed me.”
“And you did the honorable thing and told her to go. Stupid bastard.”
Was he a stupid bastard? He felt doubts coalescing into a big, hard lump. “Besides, I’m too old.”
Gabe looked him up and down. “You don’t look a day over twenty-two. It’s true. You haven’t aged at all. Mentally or physically. You need to grow up.”
Actually, he needed to change the subject. “What happened to you? At Culloden.”
“When the battle was over, the pack came. They feasted. I was close to death. I’d already seen you walk away. They killed most of the dying but a few of us they kept alive. I didn’t care at that point. Christ, it hurt. So fucking badly. Like I was on fire from inside.” He shrugged. “The past. I’m over it.”
“Except you don’t like vampires.”
“The wolf that changed me was an evil bastard. Used to pimp us out to the vampires. Sell our blood.” He cast Lachlan a sideways glance. “I know vamps like wereblood so don’t be getting any ideas.”
Lachlan raised his upper lip to show the tip of his fang and licked his lips. Grinned.
“Never going to happen. Anyway I killed him in the end and took over the pack. Then killed the head vamp because he was an evil bastard as well.”
“There’s a darkness inside us.” Lachlan shrugged. “It’s closer to the surface in some. Will you join the Council?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Good.” That was all he could really ask.
