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“Did you know?” I ask it the moment Valen enters his apartment.

He isn’t the least bit surprised that I’m sitting here in the dark waiting for him. “Which part?” he sighs and takes the seat across from me, his eyes luminous in the dark.

“Juno.”

“She knew what she was getting into the moment she agreed to Gregor’s deal.”

“That’s not an answer. I need the truth. All of it.”

He stares back at me.

“If I don’t get it from you right here, right now, I’m walking out that door, down the stairs, and out into the street in the fucking dark.”

His jaw flexes.

“You think I’m fucking around? I just saw my sister sitting in her own filth, her eyes empty!” My voice rises, and I don’t care who hears me. The people I care most about are already gone. I stand and take a step toward the door.

He’s on me instantly, so quickly I can’t react. He pins me to his couch, his glowing eyes all I see. “You won’t put yourself in danger.”

“I will. I swear I will if you don’t tell me the truth!” I yell in his face.

He rises with that phantom speed, and before I even know what he’s done, his refrigerator is jammed against the door. Bent out of shape and impossible for me to ever get past.

I sit up. “Answer me. Did you know what Theo was doing to her?”

He meets my gaze again. “Yes.”

My stomach drops. I should’ve known what his answer would be, but it’s no less of a sucker punch when he confirms it. “Did you do it, too?”

“No.” He paces in front of me. “I don’t get off on torturing humans.”

“But you didn’t help her?” My tone is scorching, so much anger churning inside me that I feel like I might burst.

“As I said, she knew what she agreed to. I couldn’t interfere.”

“You couldn’t or you wouldn’t?” I practically spit the words at him.

“Your sister is not now and never has been my concern.” He kneels in front of me. “You are.”

“Bullshit!” I kick away from him, tucking my legs beneath me. “If you cared about me at all, you’d know that my sister is the most important thing to me. The only family I have left! Get away from me.”

His fangs hint at the edge of his lips, his gaze so intense it could burn me. “I’ll never leave you. Never . Not in this life or any other.”

“Juno is part of me.” I glare at him. “Don’t you understand that?”

“She’s someone who betrayed you, my Blood.” His lips draw back in a snarl. “The only reason she still breathes is because of your love for her, misguided though it is.”

“She’s always protected me! You don’t know her. You don’t know what?—”

“ I protect you.” He grips the couch on either side of me. “Every piece of information I’ve shared with you, every scrap of intel I’ve passed to the captain, every fucking moment I’ve spent with you—it’s a threat to Gregor. It’s me signing my death warrant again and again just to keep you safe. To keep you alive!”

“Oh, I’m supposed to believe you’d turn on Gregor?” I roll my eyes. “You’re his executioner!”

“Yes! But I’m also one of his heirs.” He reaches for me, then drops his hand as I recoil.

“What does that mean? Don’t lie to me. The next person who lies to me—” My hands curl into fists.

“Never.” He looks up at me, his hair dark silk. “You’re my mate, Georgia. I don’t lie to you.”

“What?” I shake my head.

“You feel it. I know you do.” He’s beside me in an instant, his palm on my cheek. “We’re bound. We’ve always been bound.”

My breath hitches at his sudden heat.

“I have killed, betrayed, and lied to my own people for you. I’ll do so much more if it means you’re safe.”

“I don’t know what you’re saying.” I swipe his hand away, instantly missing his warmth. “And I don’t care. Tell me how to save Juno. That’s all I want from you.”

He drops his gaze. “There’s no saving her.”

“No!” I shove at him. “That’s not an answer.”

He takes it, barely moving. “She made her choice. That’s what you refuse to understand.”

“Well she can unmake it! Tell Gregor the deal is off. Whatever the hell he thinks he’s going to get out of this, tell him it’s over.”

“You know that isn’t an option.”

“It is.” I hate the wheedling in my tone, the utter childishness of my demand that the world be as I wish it. But I have to try.

He sighs and sits back, his gaze holding mine. “Think it through, Georgia. Think about the truths you don’t want to face. The moment you found the cure, Gregor would’ve wiped all of you out.”

“What?” I shake my head.

“He knows you’re close. I did everything I could to keep you from it. But the moment I gave you my blood, I knew it was over. I knew you’d find what you needed.”

I can’t seem to process what he’s saying. “You intentionally kept the cure from me?”

He gives a stark nod.

“People are dying!” I yell. “You withholding your blood is the same as if you killed them yourself!” My heart stutters as I meet his gaze. “You could’ve saved us.”

“I don’t care how many die as long as you’re alive!” he snarls back at me.

“I care.” I clutch my chest, my heart raging against my ribs. “I care about my sister, my friends. About the people in the world.”

“I care about you,” he says simply. “Only you.”

“It’s not enough.” I glare at him as he touches my cheek again, his fingers so gentle against my skin. “I need more from you. I need the truth. All of it.” I glance at the mangled refrigerator. “You can’t keep me here forever.”

Something in his gaze tells me he disagrees.

I go silent, matching his taciturn energy.

He sighs, low and deep. “I will give you what you want, but when it’s done, you may regret having asked for it.”

“Nice and vague. Just like I like it.” I grind my teeth.

He runs a hand through his hair, leaving it mussed. “All these things I tell you—you have to understand that I kept them from you to keep you safe. The more you knew about my kind, the more you knew about me , the more danger you were in.”

“I’ve had enough of people protecting me for my own good. Making these decisions for me like I’m a child. Do you hear me? No more. I’m going to fuck up the next person who tells me they’ve deceived me for my own good.” I flex my fists and wonder just how far I’d get.

He settles into the couch and crooks a finger at me.

“What?” I gawk at him.

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Once you’re here where you belong.” He smooths his palms down his lap.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I swear his audacity knows no bounds.

He smirks.

“No!”

He shrugs and leans his head back, his cat eyes closing.

I stare at him, willing him to open his eyes. He doesn’t move. Just waits. Pretending to be relaxed when I see the tension in his chest, his shoulders. He’s holding his breath.

“Seriously?”

Still, he doesn’t move.

I try to wait him out.

I try. But I fail.

I want to claw his eyes out. I think about it for a long moment before grudgingly climbing into his lap. He pulls me closer, resting my head on his chest. Why does this feel good? Why does my body seem to settle down, my mind go almost quiet? I hate how I react to him.

“Gregor is the oldest and cleverest of our kind. Blood Dragonis has ruled over the others for as long as our history has been written.” He strokes his hand down my back. “He saw the plague as an opportunity. The other houses believe that working with humans is folly. Even so, he forged ahead and offered a deal, one that would lead to a cure for the plague and his eventual ascension to rule over both humans and vampires.”

I close my eyes, listening to the deep resonance of his voice. “I knew all that.”

“Patience, my Blood. He offered the bargain to your sister. This bargain is one he’d been planning on for quite some time. Different versions of it in different centuries, of course. But this time, he knew it could work. He sent me to show her the lure and hide the hook. Without much effort at all on my part, she took it.”

“Tell me the terms.” God, do I want to know?

“She would become president with Gregor’s help. In return, she would open the blood camps where my people could feed at their leisure.”

“What about the cure?”

“That was her addition to the deal—or at least she believed it was her idea. She wanted access to our blood. Gregor agreed, of course. He needed to save the food supply if he wants to rule.”

“Fucking bleak.”

“Yes,” he purrs, his hand still stroking through my hair. “But he never intended to let you keep the cure once you’d found it.”

“That’s the ‘killing us all’ part you mentioned?”

“Just so. He would take the cure and dole it out as he saw fit. Use it as a whip to keep the humans in line and willing participants in his scheme.”

“But you gave me shit samples to draw it out, to make his plan falter?”

“The longer it took you to find the cure, the more time I’d have to undermine Gregor and find a way out for you.”

“But you help Gregor.” I sit up and look at him. “You fight for him, kill for him. You keep him propped up.”

He gives me a level stare, his eyes bluer now. “I do what I have to do to ensure his belief in my loyalty.”

“Including killing innocent people.” I push away from him, but he wraps his arm around me, keeping me in his lap.

“Yes. I’ve killed many. I’ll kill more.” He says it so simply, like a fact from a textbook. “To keep you safe, I’ll do it gladly.”

“Why are you so obsessed with me being safe? We aren’t together. We aren’t?—”

“You’re my mate. I will fight and bleed and die for you.”

“You’re delusional!” I try again to wrest myself free of his grip but get nowhere.

“Would you like me to stop telling you everything you want to know?” he asks, his arrogant smirk back in place.

I groan, my irritation like a burr under my skin. “Fine.” I settle against him under protest.

“When I realized you were mine?—”

I scoff.

He ignores me and continues, “I couldn’t let anyone know.”

“Why?”

“If Gregor were to discover I’d found my mate, he’d have both of us impaled. I’m of his line. If I were able to bring forth a mate and eventually an heir from a true mate bond, I’d be the biggest threat to his reign he’s ever experienced. He’s never officially claimed me as his son, but that would force his hand.”

“I’m lost.”

“Vampires have a defined hierarchy.” He toys with my hair.

“Right, Gregor’s at the top. I get it. Vampire politics.”

“Gregor, then Theo, then—grudgingly, of course—me.”

“Why doesn’t he claim you as his?”

“Because my mother was a human.”

I make something akin to a croaking sound. He’s half human? Every moment spent in bed with him replays in my mind in fits and starts. “Are you saying humans and vampires can breed?”

“Of course.”

“Fuck!” I try to stand.

Again, he doesn’t let me.

“We didn’t use protection. I didn’t think—We—Oh, god!” I press a hand to my face.

“You aren’t with child.” He kisses my shoulder. “I would know. I would smell it.”

Relief washes over me right along with indignation. “Stop smelling me!”

“Impossible.” He pulls me closer, his nose at my neck. “The most delicious scent in the world.”

When his lips ghost along my skin, a pleasurable shiver runs down my spine. I lean away from him. “Stop trying to distract me. Why are you telling me all this?” I ask. “Just to keep me from going outside?”

“I’d tie you to the bed before I’d let you venture an inch out into the darkness. I’m telling you because it doesn’t matter any longer.”

My eyelids flutter closed when he presses his mouth to the spot just below my ear. “Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Because I’ve arranged transport for you off this continent. You’ll fly from DC to a ship in port, then away from here.”

My breath catches, disbelief fogging my thoughts. “What?”

“You’re leaving. Tonight you’ll be taken from here and then across the sea.”

“Your solution to all this is for us to run away to Europe ?”

“I didn’t say Europe, and I didn’t say I’m coming with you.”

“You’re not?” Why does that give me pause? It shouldn’t. I shouldn’t want him to come with me.

He gives me a cocky half smile. “Worried for me?”

“Glad to be rid of you.” I shrug.

His half smile turns into a knowing full smile. “I’m afraid I can’t leave. Gregor’s connection to me is far too strong. He can’t control me as he did when I was younger, but he can still get into my mind if he wants to badly enough. The only way out is for me to kill him.” He sighs. “Therein lies the rub.”

“Huh?”

“The problem. I’ve been near enough to do it many times, but his mind is well guarded and always scanning those closest to him. Any full intention on my part—he’d know before I could strike.”

“If he can read your thoughts, why doesn’t he know you’ve been trying to kill him?”

“He can only read ones that are easy to catch, ones at the forefront of my consciousness. I’m mindful and keep my true desires hidden away.” He sighs. “You’re there. Always there. I can try to hide you away in my memories, but he’d find you eventually if he ever had reason to go looking. I can’t risk it. I can’t come with you. He’d hunt me down, and in doing so, would find you.”

“So you’re content with never seeing me again?”

“I never said that.” He squeezes my hip. “Once I end Gregor’s reign, I’ll be free to come to you.”

“How? You just said he’ll know you’re coming before you get the chance.” I think about the syringe of proteins in my refrigerator. If someone could get close enough to Gregor to inject him, then maybe it would work.

“I’ve been dreaming about it, planning it from the moment I knew what death was. But now I’m close. Closer than I’ve ever been before. I just need a few more pieces to fall into place. As soon as it’s done, we’ll be together.”

I chew over what he’s said. Escaping to Europe doesn’t sound so bad, if I’m being honest. As long as I could continue my work there. I could even tell him about the proteins, give him a head start on getting rid of Gregor. But there’s one part of this deal that’s non-negotiable. “Juno has to come with me.”

“No.”

“Then I’m not going anywhere.” I shove myself out of his lap.

“You are.” He stands and stalks me across the room. “Gregor will still be able to sense you even at great distance, but he’ll have to pull a lot of fucking strings to get to you. You’ll be safe there.”

“What do you mean he can sense me?” I back up until I hit the wall.

Valen cages me in. “My blood— his blood—runs in your veins now. Enough that he can feel you if he ever were to try. Can even control you to a limited degree. Nudging you in his direction, making you think and do whatever he wishes, though you’ll believe that desire is your own.” He digs his claws into the drywall. “I’ll never let him get to you.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” My mind is running headlong toward a dark path, one wreathed with shadow and despair. “Are you saying that my blood—if it’s used to create a cure for the plague—are you saying it carries Gregor’s will into it? His control?”

“Of course. Why do you think he offered it in the first place?”

The implications of it flood my mind. Anyone who receives a cure or vaccine from the sample on its way to Atlanta—they would all be under Gregor’s influence. He could control … everyone. Every human on the planet.

What have I done?

“I can’t leave.”

“Georgia—”

“I will fight you. The whole fucking way, Valen. I won’t let you tell me what I can and can’t do. This is my life. My decision.”

He presses his forehead to mine. So tender when I expect him to be furious. “I can’t deny you.”

“You … can’t?” I close my eyes, breathing him in even though I’m on the verge of murdering him.

“How the fuck could I?” He rests his hand at my throat. “When I’ve been searching for you for centuries? You’re my Blood, Georgia. My only one. Mine .”

“Is this a trick? If it is, I don’t care what you do to me.” I kick my chin up. “I won’t leave Juno. Not her, not even Vince.”

He scowls. “He’s never trusted me.”

“What can I say? He has great instincts.”

He gives me a look, one that carries more meaning than a thousand words could. “It’s not a trick. Even if you wanted to walk into hell, all I ask is that you let me walk with you.”

How is it that only minutes ago I wanted to scratch his eyes out, but at this very moment, I go weak in the knees for him?

“I can’t lose you,” he whispers. “Please. Don’t stay. Trust me to finish it with Gregor and come to you.” His seething darkness is gone. “Please.” He draws his knuckles down my cheek, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. Begging me in a petal-soft voice, he guts me more surely than any knife. All his violence, the power that runs through his veins—and yet he listens to me. He begs me, a man who has probably never begged for anything in his life.

“I’ll go, but only if my conditions are met.” My voice comes out breathy.

“Yes?” he asks.

“I’d need you to get a message to my friends in Atlanta, but if you can promise me that, I’ll go wherever you want to send me. Me, Juno, and Vince. Fatima, too.”

He ponders for a long moment, his scowl deepening as he thinks it over. “Done.”

I blink. “You … you agree?”

“You’ll be safe. That’s all I need…” His gaze drops to my lips. “For now.”

“I honestly can’t tell which one of us is more delusional.” I throw my arms around his neck and kiss him.

He meets me, his tongue plundering my mouth as he grabs my hips and lifts me, pinning me against the wall. Heat rises in my veins, warming me as I give myself over to this kiss, this unspoken connection I’ve felt with him from the moment he walked out of Juno’s office that day. I’m falling. I’ve been falling.

“I can’t.” I gasp as he presses kisses to my throat.

“You can.” He sucks that sweet spot right below my ear. “I’m already yours. I’ve always been yours.”

“Valen.” I meet his lips again, letting go and kissing him with every bit of fire in me. I want him. I may be damned for it—I probably am—but I want him.

“My only one. My Blood.” He cradles my face, his eyes on mine.

In that moment I realize my heart, once firmly ensconced behind my ribs, is gone. Given without my consent. Taken before I even realized it. Valen has it, and he guards it with a fierceness that guarantees I’ll never get it back.

He wraps his palm around my neck, his mouth owning mine as he angles my head to the side. Then he stills, his head turning quickly, his gaze on the dark window.

“What?” I whisper.

“Fuck.” He grates and slowly lowers me to the floor. “It’s time. We must go.”