Page 22 of Taming His Vampire Mate

The naked man from the woods.

He’d cleaned up, his dark blond hair falling in waves around his ruggedly handsome face. He wore actual clothing now—albeit flannel—but there was no mistaking him.

The man I had slept with, moments after meeting him, in the middle of a forest clearing. The man I’d dreamed of every night for nearly a month. The man I had recognized as my fated mate.

I shouldn’t have been so surprised. The wolf pack lived in the Cascades. That explained the nudity when we’d first met—he’d probably shifted into human form for a quick romp with the first willing vampire he ran across. And it explained how feral he’d seemed, even when his touch had been unspeakably tender, his warm hands on my skin…

“Wait,” I whispered, staring at him, fresh horror crashing over me as I added two plus two together. “That can’t be—is that—”

Pierce had gone still beside me.

“It’s him,” he gritted out, his hands tightening into fists, amber eyes locked on the blond wolf. “That’s Jeremy.”

Every half-formed hope I’d had, no matter how deep I’d buried them, about who Poppy’s spell had conjured for me shattered one after another against the jagged rocks of reality.

Because destiny had paired me with a savage predator who thought it was fine to hurt people just because he could. Someone exactly like my maker.

The wolves sat at the end of the table, moving like they owned the place. Jeremy met Pierce’s gaze defiantly, holding it for a long moment. Then he gave James a curt nod, looking, for a split second, uncomfortable. He probably wasn’t thrilled at being reminded of the one who got away. His gaze slid down the table toward me, perfunctory, sizing me up—

And then he froze.

His eyes widened comically. His jaw dropped. Recognition and horror mirrored my own. I heard it—tuned into him without even meaning to—as his heartbeat stuttered, then climbed.

The dark-skinned female wolf beside him nudged his arm. “Quit staring,” she hissed.

The other wolf, a lanky black-haired one, followed Jeremy’s gaze to me and then smirked, visibly relaxing. “Don’t worry, buddy,” he said, his eyes glinting with amusement. “I won’t let the bad vampire get you.”

We’d see about that.

“We’re here for a reason,” the female wolf hissed. “You two keep your shit together for the next hour, or so help me, I’ll sic Emma on you both.”

With visible effort, Jeremy tore his gaze from me, looking dazed and shaken.

I didn’t want to empathize with him, but I knew exactly how he felt—that is, if he could feel anything beyond his own selfish wants. Because I barely heard anything that happened next.

Nathaniel cast me strange looks, as if noticing I wasn’t myself. My brain registered it distantly, the same way itregistered everything else right then. As though overhearing a TV droning in the next room, playing a boring news program in a language I didn’t understand. Most of my attention was still locked on the wolf sitting less than ten feet away from me.

Of course destiny had paired me with someone like Magnus.

After all, what Jeremy had tried to do to James was exactly what Magnus had done to me and Nicolas. And to dozens—maybe even hundreds—over the centuries. He hadn’t asked for consent either. He’d turned us both without a single word of warning. Then he made my brother into a monster. Exactly how Jeremy had tried to rip James’s humanity away.

Jeremy was everything I hated—and feared—most.

“You okay?” Nathaniel asked quietly. “Poppy and Tatiana put up a sanctuary spell. No violence can be enacted in this room, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

It took me a long moment to realize he was speaking to me. Longer still to understand he assumed my reaction was worry for James and Pierce’s safety.

Which it ought to have been.

After all, Jeremy had tried to hurt them once. He might have come here solely to do it again. People like him didn’t change.

Only their victims changed.

I couldn’t muster the words to answer.

I didn’t have to. Tatiana stood. “We have an alarming announcement to make.”

I tried to focus on her. My eyes kept sliding toward the end of the table. Jeremy was right there. Right over there.