Page 55 of Donovan

My breath caught. He stood at the edge of the clearing, gun raised, eyes locked onto Declan with a single, unyielding emotion. Hate.

I barely had time to process it before Kit barked, “Get away from him, Donovan!”

I shot to my feet, hands raised. “Kit, wait!”

His finger tensed on the trigger. “He’s a vampire.”

Declan didn’t move, but I felt the tension radiating from him. He was sizing Kit up, calculating.

“Put the gun down,” I said carefully.

Kit’s eyes snapped to mine, wild with disbelief.

“Are you insane? You went missing for a month, and now you’re lying in the grass with a bloodsucker’s fangs in your throat?” Kit demanded.

I clenched my jaw. “I wasn’t missing.”

His hands trembled, but he held his ground. “What the hell happened to you?”

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to stay calm. I knew Kit. Knew his stubborn streak, knew his unwavering loyalty to the Guild.

Knew that right now, he thought he was saving me, but Kit didn’t understand.

“He’s not a threat,” I said, my voice steady.

Kit scoffed. “He’s a vampire, Donovan. That’s all he is.”

Declan exhaled sharply. “I’m right here, you know.”

Kit’s grip tightened on the gun. “You don’t get to speak, traitor.”

Declan went still, and I stepped forward.

Kit’s eyes widened. “Stay back.”

I didn’t. “If you shoot him, you’re going to have to shoot me too.”

His mouth opened. Closed. Disbelief flickered across his face, followed by something like pain. “Donovan, ” Kit began.

“I mean it.”

Silence. The wind stirred between us, rustling the trees, the grass. Kit’s grip on the gun was still tight, his knuckles white in the moonlight.

He hadn’t lowered it all the way, just enough to keep me from doing something stupid.

But I could see it in his eyes, the barely restrained fury, the betrayal cutting deeper than any bullet ever could. He thought I was lost.

"Kit," I started carefully, keeping my hands up. "Just listen to me."

"Listen to what, Donovan?" His voice was sharp, trembling with frustration. "You disappeared. No word, no trace. And now I find you feeding a vampire your blood like you’re his personal donor?"

Declan tensed beside me, a muscle in his jaw twitching. He hadn’t moved much since Kit had arrived, but I could feel the cold, sharp edge of his patience thinning.

He wasn’t used to standing down, but he was doing it. For me.

I took a step closer to Kit, slow, deliberate. "It’s not like that."

Kit let out a humorless laugh. "Oh? Then what is it like?"