My love only deepened now she’d killed Kylan. I’d felt her deep sense of loss. I knew what she’d given up.
Her sister.
She had us to remind her of Maisie, but we could never replace the memories she’d lost.
“He looks better this way,” Freya said casually.
Her body leaned into my touch, her head resting against mine.
“You can’t see his ugly smirk, so I have to agree.”
“That smirk was fucking ridiculous,” she said. “I love your little smirks, but his was so smarmy.”
“Smarmy?” I asked, chuckling. “Odd choice of words.”
“Accurate, though. And it kind of fits with the vibes of Zemterra. I think everyone here fits that description.”
“You’re not wrong.”
“Do you have any other business here? What’s going to happen to the mafia now you’ve seized the assets?”
It was hard to say. My family would never accept me as the head of the vampire mafia, and I didn’t want the position. All it would do is put Freya in danger from my family. She could take care of herself, but considering the AEA had already plastered her face on wanted posters, she didn’t need to be running from anyone else.
From the beginning I’d figured I would put my younger brother in charge and create a mutually beneficial arrangement between the mafia and Harbour Assistance, but I was doubting myself.
Was my brother the same man I’d known? We hadn’t talked in years, and he could easily have been indoctrinated into Kylan’s ways. Having another person so callous as the leader of the vampire mafia would only lead to a situation like this all over again.
“I was thinking I’d give control to my brother,” I said hesitantly. “He’s an Alpha, so my family will accept him. I doubt they’ll challenge my appointment of a new mafia leader. It’s always been an unspoken rule in the family that if the leader is stupid enough to die, his killer takes his place.”
“And you don’t want to?”
I snorted. “I think we’ve had this conversation before. Not only do I not want to, but they would kill me if I did.”
“Let’s go see your brother, then,” Freya said.
She stepped back from me, pulling her wand from her belt. The poor thing was falling apart. It had originally had a faint crack through the wood, but that had grown to a thick gash, the halves almost falling apart.
“Right now?” I asked dumbly.
She’d already started drawing the runes for a portal.
“Yes. I want to get this the fuck over with so I can have you all to myself. You’ve finally gotten the stick out of your ass about being mated to me, so we have catching up to do. You even participated in a group activity.”
“Caspian needed to feed.” My words came out automatically, as if that was the only reason I’d been OK with staying in that cramped inn room. It wasn’t. I’d needed to be close to her, and as the pack bonds formed and somehow also included me, I finally felt like I was a part of something.
Freya paused in the portal creation to glare at me over her shoulder. “So that’s the only reason? I was going to let you off the hook without me reaming you out about being an asshole, but I can get into it if you’re going to be like that.”
“What were you going to ream me out about?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you fucking kidding? You accepted Oswald within fifteen minutes of him claiming you without your consent, but you ran from me for weeks once the flirting became more serious. Did you think you weren’t hurting my feelings? I know it seems like I don’t have any, but I do.”
I stared at her for long enough she turned back around to draw more portal runes, grumbling under her breath. My brain caught up to her words and I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around her from behind. “Fuck, I’m sorry,” I said, pressing my nose to her neck and inhaling her scent. It was mixed with everyone else’s, the evidence of our fuck-fest still on her. “I was selfish and scared. I told you being rejected would break me, but I didn’t realize the constant rejection was hurting you.”
“Of course it was, dumbass.”
My chest rumbled with a laugh. She turned in my arms, grabbing my chin, her sharp nails poking my skin. I tightened my grip on her hips, my dominant side wanting to stop her from touching me so roughly and show her I was the dom here. I restrained myself and she grinned.
“I never want you to feel like you aren’t part of the pack again, but if you do, you need to talk to me. Don’t push me away. Believe me, it doesn’t work.”
