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“I know you will.” He went to pour a glass of water from a crystal pitcher on the table and brought it to her. “I have seen this process play out more times than I care to remember.” Lifting her upper body in one arm, he held the glass to her lips.

She licked at the moisture and made a face. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Drink it anyway. You’ll need it to keep your mind clear.”

Grabbing hold of the glass, she bravely swallowed half the contents. He settled her back into the pillows. “Rest now. I need to speak to our lord and master,” he said with a soft sneer. “But I will be back and not leave your side again until dawn.”

She closed her eyes. “Hurry.”

He found Kambyses back in the lounge, seated at the table with Jackson and Garrett, his attention riveted on the chessboard. The redhead lazed on a sofa nearby and flipped pages in a magazine. All four turned to Dominique expectantly when he entered.

“She will join us,” he said to Kambyses. “Tomorrow.”

Monica sighed, a sound of dreamy contentment.

“Lucky girl,” Garrett said while reaching to advance a black knight. “And I believe that’s checkmate, kid.”

“Fuck,” Jackson said.

Dominique looked between them and sensed something skirt his awareness. Something he should seize.

Kambyses steepled his fingers, waiting, and Dominique returned his attention to him.

“I will remain with you, but only so long as Cassidy is with us. If anything happens to her tomorrow, next week, next century or a thousand years from now—I will destroy us all. Do you understand this, old man?”

He inclined his head. “She challenges me almost as much as you do, Nico. Nothing of my doing will ever befall her. Like you, she shall always enjoy my protection. On this, you have my word.”

These were admissions and statements Dominique could never have imagined from his sire, and he didn’t know how good this creature’s “word” might be. Maybe Cassidy’s presence really was influencing him? Maybe they really could help him change? Maybe this was their joint mission in the world of night? The prophecy?

Maybe.

Dominique nodded. “Then give us the rest of this night, and you can have all the ones to come.”

“As you wish.”

Jackson sat back in his chair. “This sounds big. You guys getting married or something?”

Kambyses graced him with a dry smile.

“What will you do with them?” Dominique wondered, tucking his thumbs into his pockets to appear relaxed despite his nerves twanging with tension.

“They are hunters. What do you think should be done with them?”

He considered the two men who were oblivious to the fact that their deaths were being discussed. Such tender mortal beings. Their only crime was to secure the world for their kind—and to avenge their loved ones. A half-formed idea rolled around in the back of his head. “Ineffective hunters,” he said. “They only catch the young and stupid.”

“And?”

“And I think you can easily compel them to give up that mission. Release them to enjoy their brief lives with their families.”

Kambyses tilted his head as he regarded him. Dominique met the naturally coal-black eyes steadily. The formidable mind behind them seemed to slide through his flesh and bone like a fine sword. “You are a wonder, Nico. They almost destroyed you, and yet you would show them compassion?”

“Be honest, old man. That’s one of the things you love about me.”

The ancient blood-drinker flashed a rare bright smile and got up in that way that looked like he levitated out of his chair. Stopping by Dominique’s side, enveloping him with cedar smoke stench, he spoke in sultry French. “Do you know that you seduced me the moment I laid eyes on you?”

“Oui. I do,” he said with a slow nod. Only now did he fully grasp the events of that night. Kambyses had seen him snap a man’s neck without hesitation. Dominique knew exactly what he was doing to the brute who had raped his sister. It was this instinctive act of controlled rage that had bewitched Kambyses with the possibility of a blood-drinker companion who was as compassionate as he was unrepentant.

It hadn’t quite worked out that way, of course. Not with Dominique’s compassion tormenting him over what he had become. The regrets would have destroyed him—if not for Cassidy.