Page 8 of Blood & Bond (The Bouchers #2)

“I’m fine,” Charlie said, using the shoulder of his shirt to wipe off his cheeks. “Really. I’m so happy for you.”

“That feels a little premature,” I replied with a scoff. “But thanks, I guess.”

“I’m not usually like this,” Charlie told Ambrose, lifting his chin a little like it would hide the fact that his eyes were bloodshot and his face was swollen from crying.

“He is,” I countered, looking over my shoulder at Ambrose.

“I am not,” Charlie shot back.

“You’re a little bitch baby, and you know it,” I joked, my laugh watery as I dodged the arm he swung at me.

“She can say it,” Charlie told Ambrose seriously. “But just saying, you better not.”

“Oh no,” I agreed with a sniffle. “I’d kill you. Dead.”

“Noted,” Ambrose replied.

Charlie dropped onto the other bed with a sigh. “So…mates. I didn’t see that coming.”

“Join the club,” I said as I sat down next to Ambrose.

I wouldn’t have asked him to start rubbing my back again, but I couldn’t hide the relieved slump of my shoulders when I felt his fingers sliding down my spine.

“It surprised me too,” Ambrose said with a smile. “My brothers and I have been waiting a very long time, and now suddenly three out of five of us have found our mates in the last few months.”

“Who else?” Charlie asked curiously.

“Beau,” Ambrose replied with a grin. “His mate’s name is Reese.”

“That’s great,” Charlie said. He smiled sadly.

“Zeke was first, though.” Ambrose nodded.

“Well, not really,” Charlie said softly. “Didn’t one of your brothers find his mate during the war?”

“Wait,” I interrupted. I hadn’t heard this story. “What war?”

“The Second World War,” Ambrose replied. “Yes, that was Beau.”

“But I thought you said—” I frowned. Something wasn’t adding up.

“When Beau met his mate, she was already married and had a baby on the way.”

Charlie visibly flinched.

“But I thought Vampires only have one mate,” I argued. “So how did he find another one?”

Ambrose smiled gently. “Only one soulmate,” he said slowly. “Same soul.”

“Oh, ew.” I grimaced. “You guys think that we’re reincarnated or something?”

“Yes.”

“So you could’ve met an earlier version of me and mated her up?”

Ambrose choked out a laugh. “Basically.”

“Huh.” I wondered what that version of me was like. Maybe I’d been a bombshell, gorgeous with long, flowing blond hair, huge boobs, and a tight ass. That version would’ve fit with Ambrose. Too bad he didn’t find her .

“I didn’t know that,” Charlie said quietly. “Zeke didn’t explain the reincarnation thing.”

My stomach twisted. God, if old Charlie and Zeke had met a hundred years before, what would their life have been like?

Nothing like it had been when they’d met outside that café.

They wouldn’t have had those nights out dancing like no one was watching, or the time at the theater when they’d held hands and whispered to each other the entire time, irritating the hell out of me since I actually wanted to see the movie we’d paid for.

I had a hundred memories of Zeke pulling Charlie in for a kiss, no matter where we were.

At the time, I’d been almost as happy as Charlie, watching my best friend get everything he’d ever wanted.

It hadn’t even occurred to me to be afraid.

But if they’d met a hundred years before, I didn’t know if I’d have felt anything but fear.

The world had changed so much in the last century.

“We believe that we find our mate when we’re meant to,” Ambrose said. “I don’t know why Beau met his twice, but there must’ve been some cosmic reason.”

“It must’ve been awful for him,” Charlie whispered.

“It was,” Ambrose confirmed. “But he’s happy now. More than happy.”

“What a mind fuck,” I announced, falling over until my head hit the pillow.

My body was twisted, with my feet still resting on the floor, until Ambrose reached down and pulled them onto his lap.

“Zeke was with Beau when he met his first mate,” Ambrose said, rubbing his palms over my feet. “Did he tell you about that?”

“He mentioned it,” Charlie replied with a nod. “During the Blitz, right?”

“From the stories I’ve heard, they found her in a collapsed building,” Ambrose confirmed. “About thirty seconds after they realized who she was, her husband came running.”

“Ouch.” I grimaced.

“Yes,” Ambrose agreed.

“You didn’t fight in that war, right?” Charlie asked, lying down on the other bed until he looked like a mirror image of me.

“Not at first,” Ambrose explained. “The United States hadn’t joined the war yet. We could see where things were headed, but politics tied our hands. We fought near the end, though.”

“That had to be frustrating.”

“You have no idea.” His hands tightened on my feet for a moment before they resumed the massage. “The truce between humans and Vampires has always been held by a very fragile thread. If one side pulls too tightly, even for a moment, the entire thing could snap.”

“Like, say, if humans were targeting Vampires and their mates?” Charlie asked knowingly.

“That would be more like cutting the thread with a pair of scissors,” Ambrose replied flatly. “Which is why I think that whoever is responsible for what’s going on has kept the information very contained.”

“Zeke was sure that if he had more time with the unit’s computers, he could follow the threads until he found out who was leaking information,” Charlie said with a yawn. “But he said it was impossible to get into the systems from the outside. That’s why he went back.”

“That must’ve been painful for you,” Ambrose replied sympathetically.

“It hurt like a bitch,” Charlie confirmed. “Luce was convinced I had some kind of deadly virus.”

My head snapped up in understanding. Charlie had been sick when Zeke left, but I’d never imagined that it was because Zeke left.

He’d spent days in bed with a raging fever, but that had felt almost secondary to the constant weeping.

I’d been desperate to keep him hydrated and terrified when he wouldn’t let me take him to the doctor.

“Separating mates, especially after the bond is complete, has physical repercussions,” Ambrose explained to me.

“Why the hell would anyone want this?” I griped, glaring at him.

“It’s worth it,” he replied simply.

“I remain unconvinced,” I grumbled, closing my eyes.

“It eventually tapered off,” Charlie told Ambrose, his voice faint. “It was manageable for a while. Until…” He let out a long breath. “Well, now it’s more like a hollow spot. Empty.”

“I’m sorry,” Ambrose said quietly. “I wish I could’ve seen the two of you together.”

“They were disgustingly adorable,” I announced, opening my eyes again. I wiggled my toes so Ambrose would keep rubbing them. “So lovey-dovey all the time. You’ve never heard two men giggle so much.”

“Zeke giggled?” he asked, his lips twitching.

“Oh, yeah. He giggled. Like a schoolgirl.”

“He did not,” Charlie protested with a small laugh.

“He did,” I countered. “And he looked at you like you were the most beautiful and fascinating person on the entire planet.”

Charlie smiled.

“And, I mean, you’re handsome, brother,” I continued. “But let’s be honest, you’re a little boring.”

“Do you see how mean she is to me?” Charlie asked Ambrose.

“I keep you grounded.”

“Is that what we’re calling it?” Charlie asked.

“My brother was lucky,” Ambrose said, ending our argument.

“I think so too,” I added, blowing a kiss to Charlie.

“I was the lucky one,” Charlie replied. “For a while there.”

“Even the toe didn’t gross him out,” I told Ambrose with a little laugh. “And you’ve seen it. That thing was weird looking.”

“It was not.” Charlie rolled his eyes.

“You should’ve seen it when it happened,” Ambrose replied with a grimace. “Blood everywhere. I thought our mother was going to faint.”

“He dropped an axe, right?” Charlie said, curling his hands together under his cheek.

He looked so young. My older brother, who had always felt younger than me.

Always sweet. Always helpful. Always kind.

The world hadn’t been able to change him yet, and I swore it never would, not if I still had breath in my body.

There was something unmistakably pure in Charlie.

He could curse like a sailor and got angry as much as the next person, but I’d never seen him take it out on someone else.

I’d never seen him make anyone feel less.

He didn’t deserve what had happened to him.

No one deserved it, but Charlie deserved it even less.

“Right on his foot,” Ambrose confirmed with a nod. “He was always trying to keep up with us, even though he was the youngest. I think it was Chance’s turn to chop wood. Back then, we kept the house warm with a woodstove, so if we didn’t have split wood, we’d go cold.”

“Back in the olden days,” I drawled.

Ambrose pinched one of my toes and continued with his story.

“So Zeke went out to do it himself, even though my parents didn’t expect him to help with that chore yet. I think he was trying to get on Chance’s good side, but it also probably had a lot to do with pride. Zeke hated being the baby.”

“And that’s how we all know that Zeke was insane,” I joked, grinning at Charlie. “Being the baby is the best .”

“So he’s out there for a while,” Ambrose said.

“And nobody realized what he was trying to do, but eventually, my mother ordered Chance to go finish his chores. He stomps outside, grumbling and pissed, and half a minute later he comes running back in, and he’s white as a sheet.

We all go running outside, and Zeke’s sitting on a log, swaying, staring at his mangled foot.

” Ambrose paused, staring at the floor. “He wasn’t making a sound. ”

The room was quiet for a long moment before Ambrose spoke again. “He always said that Chance startled him.”

“That’s what he told me,” Charlie added.

“But Chance says that he found Zeke already sitting on that log with a bloody foot.” Ambrose shook his head. “Who knows what the truth is.”