Page 50 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Three

“I know, all right? I’ve thought about all of that.”

“Here, we’re kings. But standing against one of the princes from the Unseelie Court? We would not measure up.”

“I know that. For fuck’s sake.”

Mike slips his phone in his pocket and stands in the middle of the road, a little shellshocked.

“You could just let it go,” Damien says. “I could talk to Rita, tell her to pretend to perform the unbinding. Jessie won’t know any different. We could go on with our lives. You would have Jessie and I would have Kelly and everything would be as it should be.”

Mike’s shoulders are drooping, but his eyes are clearer. Will he be better off having risked his entire life just for the truth?

“Your wife is keeping you?” I call out to the deputy.

Mike nods numbly.

“I guess you were worth it.” I dart across the road and stop a foot from him. I zero in on his pupils as I tap open a connection so I can compel him one last time. “You’ll go to your wife and you’ll treat her like she’s a goddess and you’ll be faithful to her for as long as the breath fills your lungs. Say you understand, Mike.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now get in your car and go.”

He quickly slides in behind the wheel and takes off, gravel crunching beneath the bite of the tires.

When it’s just my brother and me, I turn back to him. “Jessie deserves the truth.”

“You think she’s worth it, do you?” he asks, prolonging the game.

“Yes.”

He gives me a quick nod. “Then let’s hope you’re right.”

Episode 47

Teach Me A Lesson

I wake to Bran giving me a gentle nudge. “Mouse.” His voice is quiet but raspy like he spent all night shouting. He’s crouched beside the couch in front of me, putting him at eye-level.

“Hi,” I say, stretching on the couch. “What time is it?”

He reaches over and pushes a stray lock of hair away from my face and instinctively I turn into his touch.

“It’s four a.m.”

“Really? You’ve been gone a while.”

“Damien and I got hung up.”

For the Duval brothers, “hung up” could mean a hundred different things, half of which would be bloody.

I don’t ask because I don’t want to know.

I look down the length of the massive couch to find Kelly’s head in Damien’s lap. His fingers are trailing through her hair. Neither of them is speaking, but I still get the impression that what they’re saying can be heard loud and clear.

My sister is in love with Damien Duval.

And Damien is in love with her.

Whatever has to happen today for them to be together will be worth it.