Page 23 of Marked By Moonlight

To his credit, he glanced at me, but only for a split second. Apparently, alive and gasping tallied up toperfectly finein his book. The look he shot me said,Get up — and toughen up.

He probably expected me to jump up and yell,Yes, sir!too, but it was all I could do to rise shakily to my feet.

Henrik bared his teeth at Roux, but his fangs receded to half length. Still half too long for my taste, though. A moment later, he straightened his white button-down shirt — the one that would have been splattered with my blood if Bene hadn’t come along — and strode out the door.

I stared, then gaped at the others. “Where is he going?”

Bene traded weary looks with Roux. “Heading out to find what he needs.”

“What?” I shrieked, putting two and two together. “Where?”

A door slammed downstairs, and Bene shrugged. “Not Auberre. Somewhere with some nightlife, I guess.”

My eyes bugged out. “And you’re just going to let him go?”

Uh, yes,their blank looks replied.

“And kill an innocent person somewhere?” I protested.

“Probably not kill. Well, hopefully,” Bene tried.

“Ideally, he’ll go to Delphine,” Roux sighed.

I blanched.Idealin whose world?

A car revved, then peeled out of the driveway.

I fumbled for my phone, shocked and mortified. “I have to warn her…”

Roux closed a big, warm hand over mine in a firm but surprisingly gentle move.

“Delphine will be all right.”

I stared. All right — with a thirsty vampire speeding toward her door?

I thought of the hours Henrik would drive to reach her. The “rest stops” he might take along the way. Then I stared at Bene and Roux, who had no such qualms. They’d come to my rescue, and I was grateful, but I was disgusted too.

I thought of the cold shoulder they’d given me. The secrecy. The ugly deeds in their pasts.

And just like that, I’d had it.

“You know what?” I barked. “That’s it. You’re out of here.”

Bene put up his hands, much as he had with Henrik. “Now, Mina…”

I shook my head. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and that camel was me.

“I want you out of here — all of you. Now.”

“Now?” Roux protested.

My mind raced, and a stray thought clicked in out of nowhere. “Henrik is out starting now. You two have until the third weekend in October.”

Bene tilted his head, once again proving more astute than I thought. “What’s happening in the third weekend in October?”

I stamped a foot. “You’re moving out and never coming back.”

Right in time for the police championships I’d just decided to host, dammit, though I didn’t say that.