Page 80 of Taming His Vampire Mate

“Monsters could come through,” Jeremy said. “I had no choice. I’m selfish and I’m a dick, but I’m not someone who can turn his back and let the people I love get slaughtered.”

“By things like what we saw in the dream last night,” I said, horror flooding me at the memory. “Things like that are what come through the bleeds.”

“Exactly like that.” Jeremy gave a thin smile. “Wolves don’t just howl at the moon, Thierry. We’re guardians of places where the veil is thin. That’s what we’re supposed to be. Our calling is to defend the rest of the world from monsters that shouldn’t be in our reality. That’s why we exist in the first place.” He let out a long breath. “And I think they’re right—I can feel how unstable the veil is getting. The bleeds will start again soon, if they haven’t already. The pack is going to need an alpha.”

“They’ve got an alpha!” I snapped, suddenly not liking where this was going. Not one bit.

“I can’t be what they need me to be,” Jeremy said quietly. “I can’t pretend I’m okay when I’m not. Losing Ian did something to me, Thierry. It put a darkness inside me that I can’t ignore. And the pack deserves better than me. They deserve someone who will lead them properly.”

“Okay, fine. Step down, then! Surely someone else in the pack wants a turn at playing leader!”

I hated the note of fear in my own voice.

“It doesn’t work like that.” He met my eyes for an instant before looking away. “You know, I really wish Quinten would just attack us. It’s the least he could do after putting us through all this trouble.”

“How does it work?” I asked, ignoring that last part. “You can’t just step down? Resign and say ‘no more’?”

“No,” he replied softly. “I really can’t. Either I die and it passes to my second-in-command, or someone else in the pack has to challenge me for alpha and win against me.”

“Okay, so arm-wrestle them and lose!” My voice was rising in a way I didn’t particularly like. “Or play a game of poker and fold!”

“Thierry.” His voice carried quiet reproach. “It’s not that sort of contest. We have to shift into wolf form and fight for dominance. Whoever wins gets to be alpha.”

“But you lot are still aware of who you are when you’re wolves,” I said slowly, trying not to process what he was actually saying. “It doesn’t need to be a fight to the death.”

“You’re right. Technically. But it usually is.” A shadow crossed his face. He met my gaze, and I saw the regret there, as though he knew he was scaring me and hated it. “When we’re in wolf form, instinct takes over. Doubly so when we’re fighting. And we’ll do anything to defend ourselves. Even kill a friend.”

“So don’t fight, then!” I said, as though it were obvious. “Suck it up and be there for them!”

Jeremy swallowed. “When I go back, Reed—my second-in-command—is going to fight me. I ordered him to. Wolves have to obey their alpha. It’s a type of compulsion.”

“So why come to Rookwood, then?” I demanded, unable to keep the betrayal from my voice. “Why even try to get to know me at all, if you’re just going to run off and get yourself killed later?”

Before Jeremy could answer, a shadow dropped from the towering stack of shipping crates above us.

Quinn hit him in a blur, knocking him flat. I lunged forward, but I was too late. Quinn wrenched Jeremy’s head sideways and sank his fangs deep into my wolf’s pulsing jugular.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO || THIERRY

Iwrenched the vampire off Jeremy and hurled him into the side of a shipping container. Metal buckled with a deafening clang where the creature struck.

Though I spent a not-insignificant portion of my life in varying degrees of annoyance with everyone around me, it had been a long time since I’d truly gotten angry.

The world narrowed to the vampire in front of me.

One truth blotted out everything else: this thing had hurt my mate.

My wolf.

It rose slowly, fangs bared, Jeremy’s blood staining its mouth crimson. Malice burned in its eyes.

An eerie calm settled over me. This was a predator. It would always be a predator. And it had tried to kill someone I cared about.

It would take more lives unless it was stopped.

What I had to do now was very simple.

It rushed me, enraged I’d ruined its kill.