Page 28 of Fighting Fate (Monsters of London #4)

Vince

I head over to see Kieran the next day. He’s not looking any less harried, even though I know the others are trying to take some of the weight of his role off him, but he still said when I called him this morning that he’d have time for me.

Only Sam is hanging around in the flat when I turn up. From what I can tell, Drew will still be at work for a couple of hours, and Lucien and Adam are resting.

“Ophelia and Dante haven’t come round yet,” Kieran says when I ask. He gestures at the sofa for me to sit. “I’m sure they’ll be by in a bit. Did you want to talk to them?”

“No, to you.” I glance past him, at Sam. “Both of you, I guess.”

Sam doesn’t come out from behind the kitchen counter but tilts his head like he’s listening. Kieran frowns. “What’s going on?”

“When I had to leave yesterday… Something’s going on with my housemate, Jamie. His ex. He turned up and started shouting at him, and me and Nick don’t really want to leave Jamie on his own.”

“You want us to do something about the ex?” Sam asks.

I shake my head. “No, Jamie doesn’t want anything like that. But there are times when Nick can’t be with him after work and I have classes, so I was wondering if he might be able to come along?”

Kieran sighs. He rubs a hand over his face, and I get it, I do. It’s a big ask.

“Do they know about everything?”

“No.”

“Should they?”

I pause. Should they know that there are vampires and werewolves and magic and that half a year ago, a vampire tried to wipe us all out?

“I-I’m not sure,” I say, trying to be honest. I don’t know how they’ll take it, and I don’t want to do anything that’ll cause Kieran trouble. “Depends what you think.”

Kieran looks over at Sam, who’s watching from the kitchen now and wearing his own frown. “I could just find the ex,” Sam offers again. “Jamie won’t even have to know.”

I shake my head and Kieran sighs. “No, we’re not doing that,” he says.

“I already checked the classes for the next few weeks. Nick’s around at home whenever we’ve got the ones with the vampires, but some of the classes with the mages are just after work, so there’s a couple where Nick won’t have come back from the office yet.”

“Okay,” Kieran says, nodding. “Okay. If you don’t want to bring them in on this, then I think we can probably have him come along to the classes with the mages. They’re not supposed to be using their magic anyway, and the wolves look tough enough that it shouldn’t be a surprise if they seem strong.”

“What about the other wolves?” Sam asks.

“We’ll have to keep the nervous ones out of those classes,” Kieran says, and I grimace when I think of Quinn. It’s really not ideal.

“I can find another way—”

“No,” Kieran says. He levels me with a look. “You’re worried about Jamie. Quinn can work with Drew some more. He’s got the basics down, and he trusts Drew better than anyone else. Adam can help them, too. Right?”

He’s directing the question at Sam, not me, and Sam nods instantly. “Yeah, they’ll be fine. I’ll ask Pris if there’s some other space they can use.”

“When’s the next class you’d have to bring him to?” Kieran asks.

“Thursday’s,” I reply. “I guess we’ll have to warn everyone?”

Kieran nods. “We don’t have to give them the details, but yeah, we’ll give them a heads-up. Is there a time you could hold another make up class if anyone decides not to come?”

“Sure, we can plan that.”

I settle back on the sofa as we begin to plan, and Kieran prepares a message to send around to all of Thursday’s potential attendees. A weight lifts off my chest. Jamie’s going to be safe.

Only, when I bring the idea up to Jamie a few hours later, he doesn’t quite seem sure. Nick doesn’t either, which is infuriating because I really need him on side if this is going to work.

“You’re going to make me exercise,” Jamie whines, pouting just a little. I fight the urge to roll my eyes.

“I won’t make you do anything,” I say and concede, “not even come with me. But it’s a good idea and you know it. And it wouldn’t hurt for you to learn a few moves if Tim decides to catch you sometime when we’re not around.”

Nick scowls, and Jamie crosses his arms over his chest, glaring at the floor. “Fucker’s ruining my life.”

I sigh. There’s nothing I can do to help that I haven’t already offered, and I think we all know it. Honestly, I was half-tempted to tell Sam to go after Tim anyway. Jamie would never have to know.

I would, though. Even if Sam never told me… I know he wouldn’t just let it lie. They’ve not told me everything that’s happened in the past year or so—I know they’ve glossed over the finer details—but Drew had some kind of shady ex, it seems like, and even without knowing precisely what happened to him, I know he won’t be showing up again.

“Look, just let me know what you want to do,” I say finally. “The option is there, though, if you want it. Hell, we could reinforce the doors here if that works instead?”

Jamie shakes his head. “No. This is… I know it’s safe here. I just didn’t think he’d do this at all, you know?”

Nick nods and pats Jamie on the shoulder when Jamie leans against him. “Go to the class,” he says, and I stare at him in surprise. “It’s not even about you being left alone here and him coming back. It’s about you being alone . At least there’s something to look at if you’re with Vince.”

Jamie scoffs. “I’ve seen Vince before. I’m not impressed.”

“Hey!”

“Not him,” Nick says with a grin, gaze sliding to me. “I bet Dax will be there, right?”

Fucker. “Yeah, Dax will be there.”

Jamie picks at a loose thread on the sofa cushion and carefully doesn’t look at either of us when he asks, “And Patch?”

Nick looks as surprised as I feel. Sure, I left them all alone together, but there were four of them, and I know nothing happened …

But yeah, Patch is good-looking too, I guess. I really haven’t paid him much attention.

“He doesn’t volunteer,” I reply. “But I could ask Dax if—”

“No!” Jamie flinches at his own outburst, and Nick swallows a grin. “No, I mean, I just wondered, since I’ve met him before…”

I could tease him, but we’re already putting him through enough with all this, so I tuck that away for some distant future and nod understandingly instead. “Yeah, I get it. Dax will be there, though, and some of Kieran’s friends who are pretty nice.”

I don’t mention that I think he’ll get on with Sam. For one, Sam might not be there.

For another, I hope he isn’t. I like Sam, but he and Jamie seeing eye to eye will result in the disaster duo none of us need.

“Yeah, okay,” Jamie says. “But if I don’t feel like taking part, you’re not going to make me.”

“I promise,” I say.

Nick snorts and gets up from the sofa. “Cuppa?”

“Let me come help.”

Jamie rolls his eyes—he knows we’ll chat while we’re in the kitchen—but he settles back onto the sofa and turns on the TV.

“I’ll come meet you there,” Nick says in a low voice as he flicks the kettle on. “I don’t really fancy being around here if he comes back, either.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Even if I don’t quite share the feeling. I’m not one for fighting, even though I know how, but I don’t like that this guy came here and threatened Jamie—that he thought he could do that on our doorstep. Dickhead. Not that I’ll do anything to him for the sake of it.

But I’ll not stand by and let him hurt Jamie again, either.

“He’ll be okay at the classes, right?”

“Yeah, we worked it all out. Some of the groups are smaller and more closed off, but the one on Thursday is pretty casual. They’ll be okay with him.”

Nick hums. The kettle boils and he pours water into the mugs we’ve prepared. “You never did tell us what happened. Kieran’s your friend, but he’s organising these classes? All these people who—”

I shake my head. “I can’t really talk about it.” I grimace. True, but not quite for the reasons he’s going to assume. “But yeah, he knew some of them before he came to London. They just need help. Confidence.”

“Yeah, okay,” Nick says. “Well, hopefully this whole thing with Tim will just blow over. I don’t see Jamie sticking it out for long.”

“Me neither.”

We eat together, and when Jamie and Nick go to their rooms after dinner, I head to my own. I drop onto my bed and pull my phone out of my pocket, a little surprised I don’t have a message from Dax. I really didn’t mean to run out on him yesterday—out on the whole class, really—but it wasn’t like I could do anything else.

I tap out a message before I can second-guess myself.

Hey. Sorry about yesterday. I meant it about us hanging out another time. Something came up.

He’s probably busy tonight. I can’t remember his schedule, though I know he works at a café and a pub as well as coming to the classes. I frown. When does he even rest?

It’s okay. Are you okay? Had to see Axel yesterday anyway so I wouldn’t have been around for long.

I’m fine. Axel? Your alpha? Why?

It only hits me a second later that I might be being pushy. Oh well. Dax can always not reply if he doesn’t want to.

He wanted to know how the classes are going. He asked if I like going to them more than I like my other jobs.

What did you say?

Yes, obviously. :) You’re doing a good job helping people, Vince.

My face heats, and I smile even though he can’t see me. Still…

Don’t sell yourself short. They wouldn’t work without you. And the other volunteers.

Thanks.

No worries. My housemate is going to be at the class on Thursday, btw. Don’t know if Kieran let you know yet.

He didn’t.

Yeah, it’s a whole thing. I’ll tell you about it in person. But he doesn’t know about… everything.

That’s okay. We can keep an eye on him anyway.

Thanks, Dax.

Don’t worry about it.

I can’t not. But it’s easy to let some of the worries slide away while I talk to him, and I end up texting him until the early hours of the morning.