Page 41 of A Token of Blood and Betrayal

His brows raised in question.

“Thanks,” I said.“I know you don’t want to be here, but…” I shrugged.“I appreciate it.”

His expression froze for a moment.Then the corner of his mouth lifted.“No problem.”

He relaxed into the couch.That helped me relax more.Despite the vampire blood moving through my body, it felt good to be off my feet.Good to just sit and be for a moment that I knew wouldn’t last.

“I am in your debt,” Jared said without preamble.

My mental alarm went off.His words were simple and straightforward, but his gaze was too level, his voice too carefully measured.

“I’m pretty sure we all knew that,” I said, trying for a noncommittal response because it felt needed.

“Satine did not anticipate resistance to her claim,” he continued.“Had you not arrived and recognized me as the master of this territory, she would have received no objections.”

“I was just trying to stop Nora from getting herself killed.”Where was he trying to take this conversation?

“You suggested recognizing me when I brought you Deagan and the sanctioned list.I did not listen to you.I should have.I would have been recognized before Satine arrived, and we would have avoided enraging an enemy.”

Enraging an enemy.Damn, that sounded dire.

“Well, I’m all for you listening to me more.There’s no need to—”

“We should listen to each other,” he said.“You know the influence you have as a Rain.I know the power of paranorms.That is why I will kill Nichlathan.”

He dropped that statement like a wrecking ball on a bunny.

My anger from before surged back, fast and hot, tearing through the semblance of calm I’d managed to stitch together.“We already discussed this.”

“It is a necessary and preemptive strike,” Jared said.

“To murder the king of the night court?Don’t we have enough enemies already?”

“Wolves already consider the fey enemies,” Blake said.“What was your bargain?”

I wasn’t the bunny anymore.I was the deer in the headlights.I wanted to tell Blake and realized I couldn’t, not if I wanted to keep Garion’s secret away from Lehr.

Intelligence prowled behind Blake’s eyes.That wasn’t something he let people see often.He disguised it with his dominating presence and aggression, and with me, his smirks and teases, almost as if his intellect was a vulnerability.I had to be careful.The few times I’d seen him interact with The Rain’s bartender, it had seemed he was already circling the truth, testing the edges of it.He might piece everything together.

“They’re Lehr’s enemies,” I said.“You were at Beltane without bloodshed.You bargained with Cyrielle.She’s at least an acquaintance if not a friend or more.”

Blake’s jaw clenched.My unwillingness to trust him wasn’t helping his struggle to contain his wolf.

“I need ideas,” I said to the others in the room.

“There are none,” Jared replied.“You cannot break a bargain with a royal fey, and you cannot fulfill this one.”

He was on board with keeping Garion’s secret from Blake.Was that out of spite or because he also didn’t trust Blake with the knowledge?

“Your absolutes and yourI shalt killattitude aren’t helpful.”

Blake huffed.“It’s hard to be helpful when you don’t know the complete scenario.”

“Blake,” Nora said, caution in her voice.

There was a wildness in the way Blake held himself, a tightness in his shoulders, and the sharp line of his jaw that threatened an explosion.The longer he stayed in the vampires’ domain, the more agitated he became.

“You may leave,” Jared said, apparently seeing the same thing Nora and I did.His response wasn’t the best way to address it though.