Page 45 of Blood & Bond (The Bouchers #2)

“All right, before I lose my nerve,” Zeke said with a choked laugh.

“I want you to know how much I love you. You’re everything I ever hoped for, Charlie.

Everything I could ever imagine. My perfect counterpart in every way.

Even if this is all the time we had—and I really hope it wasn’t—you gave my life meaning that I didn’t even know was possible.

I—” Zeke stopped and cleared his throat with a self-deprecating smile.

“I think you are impossibly wonderful, Charles Franklin. If I could disappear with you to a deserted island and live happily ever after, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

We’d take Lucy, of course, because we both know she’d go crazy without you. ”

Clasping my hand over my mouth, I forced myself not to make a sound.

“Speaking of Lucy,” Zeke said, pressing his lips together for a moment.

“She needs you, Charlie. I know that if you’re seeing this, I’m probably gone.

But I need you to stay, baby, okay?” Zeke paused and swiped his hand under his nose.

He didn’t bother with the tears on his cheeks.

“I know it’ll be hard, and I can’t even imagine the pain you must be in.

I’m so sorry, love. Please know how much I love you.

Please know that someday, far from now, I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.

Okay? But for now, I need you to stay—and this is important—I need you and Lucy to find my brothers.

Find Ambrose. They’ll keep you safe when I can’t. ”

Ambrose’s hand tightened on my hand as Zeke smiled mischievously.

His grin faltered, and he let out a sigh, glancing over his shoulder.

“I can’t drag this out forever, can I?”

“Please,” Charlie whispered.

“I love you so much, Charlie.”

Zeke’s hand reached up to cover his mouth as his body jerked in a silent sob. He pressed his eyes tightly closed for a long moment.

When he opened them, he dropped his hand and clenched his jaw.

“When you see my brothers, tell them that the stars are clear and the questions are answered. Only the unadulterated are guilty. If they don’t know what it means right away, hopefully they’ll figure it out.

” His lips quirked. “And if they don’t, it’ll be a way for me to piss Chance off indefinitely. ”

He straightened his shoulders.

“I love you, baby. Forever.”

The screen went dark, and my brother crumpled to the ground.

I scrambled toward him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and head as he cried silently, his entire body spasming with sobs.

The light turned on, and I lifted my head.

Every single one of the Bouchers sat around me, stunned. Their faces held a range of emotions. Sorrow, anger, love.

Charlie stiffened in my arms. When he raised his head, his eyes blazed with anger.

“That asshole,” he rasped. “I was in bed behind him. I was right there. He could’ve just told me.”

“He was hoping you’d never see it,” I reminded him quietly, brushing his hair back from his forehead. “And if he had, you wouldn’t have it now.”

Charlie fell back onto his heels and nodded.

“I’m sorry,” Matilda said after a moment. “That was private. We should’ve let you watch it alone.”

“I don’t mind,” Charlie replied. “There was nothing in that video that either of us would want to hide.”

“It’s true,” I said, pushing to my feet. “They were disgustingly affectionate. Nauseating, really.”

Erik chuckled.

“Only the unadulterated are guilty,” Chance said, shooting to his feet. “The stars are clear and the questions are answered— only the unadulterated are guilty .”

“You know what it means?” Beau asked, helping Reese off his lap.

“The list of Vampires,” Chance said as he strode purposefully for the door. “Question marks and asterisks.”

“Holy shit,” Danny muttered.

Chance turned in the doorway. “I’m still really fucking pissed at him,” he said. “But not for this.”

Beau, Danny, and Ambrose hurried after Chance, but the rest of us took longer to rise from our seats. I unplugged the camera and handed it to Charlie. There wasn’t anything on it that I needed more than he did.

Erik and Matilda stayed on the couch with my brother while Reese and I headed for Chance’s room. His computers held all the information, and we correctly assumed that’s where the brothers had gone.

When we opened the door, Danny had just thrown a glass across the room, and it shattered against the wall on impact.

“What?” I asked, searching out my mate. “What did you find out?”

“Thomas Keihley, Roderick Morren, Edgar Adamson,” Chance replied grimly.

“Should I know those names?” I asked as Ambrose crossed the room. “Who are they?”

“Vampires,” Danny said with a scoff, his hands linked behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

“Okay, we know that there were Vampires involved, right?” I asked as Ambrose reached me. “We knew that.”

“They’re not just Vampires, baby,” Ambrose said as he pulled me into his arms. “Two are generals and one is a lieutenant general. They answer only to the commandant and the Prime Minister.”

“Americans?” I asked slowly.

“Every single one.”

The knowledge was like a heavy blanket thrown over us. Suffocating and dark.

“I think,” Chance said, his fingers typing furiously on the laptop. “Holy fuck. Okay. Okay.”

“What?” Danny asked impatiently. “You think what?”

“Give me a second,” Chance replied, his fingers still typing faster than anyone I’d ever seen. His head was jerking as he looked from one screen to the next. Little boxes popped up and then were whisked away over and over.

Ambrose wrapped both arms around me, and I lay my head on his chest.

Whenever we’d discussed it, we’d theorized that the Vampires leaking the information to the humans were nobodies. We’d assumed that lack of families and status within the community had been what caused them to turn on their own kind. But, if top generals were part of the plot, that wasn’t the case.

“Got it,” Chance barked, throwing his hands into the air. “Zeke had fucking proof. It’s all there. Every single transaction can be traced to Morren, Adamson, or Keihley directly.”

“Fantastic,” Danny spat. “But that doesn’t mean shit. They’re so far up Arthur’s ass I doubt we’d even get a fucking meeting.”

Chance spun toward us in his chair and looked at each of his brothers. “Wait, we’re not planning on taking this to command, right?” He rose to his feet and grinned, stretching his arms above his head. “Because I plan on going hunting .”

Ambrose ushered me out of the room as his brothers began to argue.

I didn’t realize that my hands were shaking until we were safely closed in our own room.

“Does hunting mean what I think it means?” I asked Ambrose, stopping in the center of the room. “Because we’ve played that game before, remember? It didn’t end well.”

“I’m not sure what the next steps are,” he replied, locking the door. “But I know there’s no need for you to worry.”

“Well, too late for that,” I snapped. The day wasn’t even half over, and I was already tired to the bone.

“Baby, we talked about this, remember?” he asked softly, framing my face in his hands.

“You won’t ever leave me behind again,” I replied, closing my eyes as he brushed his lips across my cheeks.

“And if we’re separated, I’ll always come for you.”

I nodded. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes again. “You’re worth every sacrifice.”

“I promise you won’t have to sacrifice anything,” he whispered back.

“I love you.”

We fell into bed with a desperation born of uncertainty, but when I lay there afterward, with Ambrose’s arm wrapped tightly around my waist, I was surprisingly calm.

Whatever came, we could face it. We’d done it before and survived.

Next time, we’d have immortality on our side.