Page 67 of Love Lives

"He wouldn't be the first of your brothers to change his mind."

Collin didn't seem to have a response to that.

"It's the fangs," Aldrich suggested. "Or maybe my dick is magic."

Collin only rolled his eyes at him."Isn't that what they all say?"

"Not all of them, but I'm pretty sure I recall one or two of my partners saying that about me." Aldrich gave Collin a grin. "I'll let you guess if your brother was among them or not."With that, he turned and left the room with Remy in his arms.

* * *

Waiting for Remy to wake up, Aldrich killed some time by studying the objects he'd stolen from Vlad. In the midst of battle, he’d hardly had time to look at them properly. One was a stone, which looked spectacularly unspectacular in its smooth grayness.

The other one, though… the other one was a marble.

Aldrich turned it over between his fingers. It looked kind of like the ones Sage had used to lock memories away. Only that hers had shone with magic and this one was entirely black. Cold to the touch too, almost like something dead.

Why had Vlad carried it with him?

Before he could figure it out, Remy stirred, and Aldrich slid the objects back into his pocket.

The objects Remy had deemed worth risking his life for.

He'd been so incredibly stupid. This entire plan of his... absolutely fucking ridiculous. The more Aldrich thought about it, the more the whole thing pissed him off. His own part in it too. He should have stayed away after that shit Remy had pulled on him. He should have let the mortal run into his death if that was what Remy wanted.

But he hadn't been able to stay away.

He couldn’t let Remy die, because… because he’d promised himself he wouldn’t. Because losing Remy would hurt as much as losing Liam had.

Aldrich wasn’t sure where that thought had come from, but as soon as it bubbled to the surface of his mind, he grabbed it, pushed it back under and let it drown. The past was past. Over and done with. And whatever was going on between him and Remy, it wasn’t the same. It couldn’t be, because Aldrich wasn’t mortal anymore.

Remy rubbed his eyes as he woke. With a yawn, he turned over on the bed.

"Time to get up," Aldrich said.

Remy looked at him in confusion, which was kind of endearing. Nope, not endearing. Not while Aldrich wanted to be mad.

"It's your old room." Aldrich gestured at the poster on the wall above the bed. "Apparently you were into dinosaurs." Something else that was kind of—

Aldrich cut that thought off before he could finish it.

"Luke gave that to me,” Remy said. “It was a good movie." Sleep still laced his voice. Aldrich should have given him a minute or two, but frankly, he didn't know if he could stay mad and say what needed to be said if he did, so he pressed on.

"Did you wanna die today? Because you came really fucking close."

Remy's eyes narrowed. "Were you waiting for me to wake up just so you could fight with me?"

"Maybe I was."

"Get out."

"Yeah, sorry, not gonna happen." Aldrich showed the stone to Remy. "Is this what you wanted?" he asked, deliberately keeping the marble hidden. The conversation would be over once Remy sawthat, but Aldrich wasn’t done yet.

Remy glanced at the stone, then rose to his feet and reached for it. Aldrich took a step back, dodging him easily.

"Nuh-uh." He shoved the stone back into his pocket. "You're not gonna get that until you tell me what you plan to do with it and why it was so damn important that we all nearly died for it."

For a second or two, Remy looked as if he was gonna be stubborn about this and not tell Aldrich a thing, but then he caved. "Okay, whatever." He sat on his bed. His posture didn't relax, though. It was clear he wanted that stone. "That thing will let us talk to the God of Death," he explained.