Page 39 of Taming His Vampire Mate

But I’d asked for it, hadn’t I? This was what happened when I didn’t keep my emotions bottled up, safe and sound. But I couldn’t stop picturing my brother’s face everywhere I turned here.

I couldn’t help him anymore, but I could prevent this from happening to anyoneelse. I could and would stop Godric.

And Poppy’s spell had worked. The irritating proof of that was only a few feet away, his piercing blue eyes sparkling with amusement at my “private” call.

And if she could do it again…

Well, there was a whole town of vampires to save.

The fact I’d be creating shedloads of work for her? Not my problem.

Until I knew for certain she could repeat the process, I couldn’t allow the vampires of this town to be destroyed. Not if there was even the slimmest chance they could be brought back. But this was neither the time nor the place to explain to Nathaniel that I had, in fact, found my fated mate—in all of his dubious glory.

“Thierry, I know you, and therefore your concerns don’t surprise me,” Nathaniel said, making things worse by speaking at full volume. Wolves had excellent hearing. I was certain Jeremy caught every word. “But you know me as well, and I won’t risk your safety on the mere possibility you might still do some good there. Perhaps if you had proof there were survivors—”

“Then I’ll get proof, if any exists!” I hissed, my frustration with both Nathaniel and the wolf boiling over. “Send your teams. I’ll call if there’s an update.”

I disconnected.

And then, without warning, yawned.

“That’s a helluva way to talk to your boss,” Jeremy said dryly. “You still gonna have a job when we get back to Seattle?”

“I’m not going back to Seattle,” I told him flatly.

“Yeah, I caught that,” he said, still studying me intently.

“And Nathaniel is only technically my boss. We’ve been allies for more than a hundred years.”

“Allies, huh? Not friends?”

“I don’t have friends,” I lied. In reality, the number of people I cared about—despite my best efforts—was far too high.

“Except James. And the dark-haired vampire.”

“I tolerate Pierce, and he affords me the same consideration,” I said coolly. The effect was ruined by another yawn.

“Not denying you’re friends with the human, though.”

In lieu of clawing his face off—which would have been satisfying but messy—I sighed from the bottom of my soul and reminded myself, firmly, that I didn’t actually want to murder him.

Mostly.

“Nathaniel’s right about one thing,” I said once I’d counted to ten. “You need to leave.”

“It’s the smart thing to do,” Jeremy agreed lightly. “But we still have plenty of daylight. Time for me to help you search for survivors before ducking out.”

Scowling, I opened my mouth to argue, but another yawn interrupted.

“Go take a nap,” Jeremy suggested, holding up a set of keys. “It’s vacant. I’ll even cut you a deal on the cost.”

I brushed lint off the collar of my red velvet suit jacket and peered at him. He’d grabbed the keys before joining me, which meant he’d noticed how the sunlight was affecting me and decided to fix it. “What is this, wolf? What are you doing?”

He jiggled the keys. “It’s daytime and you’re a vampire. Which means you’re tired. That’s how this works, right?”

“I’m eight centuries old. Sunlight doesn’t affect me.”

“You’ve been yawning like someone cornered you to talk about cryptocurrency.”