Page 117

Lucien

L uc eyed his old friend in the strained silence that followed the trio’s departure.

Roman looked objectively good, Luc supposed he had to admit. That harried, frantic air he’d had all those years Luc had been chasing him had finally gone away.

In truth, he was an absurdly handsome man, which was incredibly annoying when Luc was angry with him. Which was generally always.

Luc wondered, not for the first time, why he’d never been compelled to start a more intimate relationship with his old friend.

But his monster had never wanted that from Roman, and neither had Luc.

He and it hadn’t been looking for prey or a potential lover on that battlefield.

They had been looking for…companionship. Family.

And Luc had certainly fucked all that up, hadn’t he?

“I’m surprised you let Danny leave your sight, here in enemy territory, mon ami.

” Luc wasn’t sure why he tacked on those last words.

Something of a habit, perhaps, coupled with the inability to keep himself from taunting his former friend with the old moniker, one that had once been sincere and had long since become mocking.

Roman brushed absently at the arm of his chair as if dispelling dust, frowning at it. “He can hold his own these days.”

Luc was frankly surprised his own monster had allowed Jamie out with two potentially hostile vampires. But his monster knew—it could sense, in that way it had—that Danny was…good, for lack of a better word. He wouldn’t hurt their mate, not out of simple spite against Luc.

And there were Jay’s earlier words on their purpose here: part reconnaissance, part rescue mission .

No, Danny definitely wouldn’t hurt Jamie. He would protect him—a human, an innocent—even if that protection was from Luc himself.

There was comfort in that.

There were a million questions Luc could ask Roman. A million apologies he could and should be making. But he found himself asking instead the one question at the forefront of his mind. “How did you bear it?”

Roman cocked a brow at him. “Our friendship?”

“Hilarious,” Luc deadpanned. He gestured with a hand to the kitchen. “How did you bear…Danny? Loving a human.”

“Mm.” Roman crossed his legs and nodded as if he understood perfectly what Luc meant.

And perhaps he did. To Luc’s surprise, he answered his question seriously.

“It was frightening,” Roman admitted. “Horrifying, really. And of course, your antics”—he shot Luc a familiar glower—“made it all a thousand times worse.”

Luc waved the accusation off with one careless hand. “And yet you’re not here looking for revenge? I would be, were I in your position.”

“Danny would not like it,” Roman muttered darkly. He looked Luc over then. Slowly, carefully. Luc wondered what he saw. His old friend? His maker? The monster who had haunted him for decade after decade?

All of the above?

“It is strange,” Roman finally said, tapping a finger to his chin.

“I would have thought…” He shifted in his seat.

“With anyone else, if they so much as look at Danny the wrong way, my demon wants to tear them apart on the spot. Rip out throats, drain bodies dry. It is a constant battle to contain myself, where he is concerned. And yet here we are… You hurt him. Truly hurt him. And I am here, sitting across from you.” He laughed dryly, but his blue eyes were cold, icy.

“You must have gotten under my skin, all those years by your side. I cannot think why else you still live.”

Why else indeed?

“I always knew you’d hate me eventually,” Luc mused.

“And why is that? Did you always have plans to ruin me?”

Luc propped one elbow on the couch arm, resting his head in his hand, forcing himself to meet Roman’s blue eyes. “Because I cursed you, on that battlefield. Instead of letting you rest in peace, I made you in my image. Horrifying. Wretched. Damned.”

Roman clucked his tongue at that. “I do not consider it a curse. Not anymore.” He looked out toward the back door, where his mate was not so subtly giving them space to reconnect.

“It was a gift, that I lived long enough to find him. The other half of my soul.” He turned his gaze to Luc and sighed heavily, leaning back more fully against his chair.

“I would not wish you to waste your own gift, Luc. That would be more disappointing than all the rest of it, I think.”

Luc didn’t know what to say to that. It was surreal enough, sitting in a living room with his former brother, his familiar adversary. Had he just been awarded grudging forgiveness?

They stared at each other for long moments. “Do you remember when I’d get angry?” Luc finally asked. “When you’d try to calm me down?”

Roman huffed a bitter laugh. “A lost cause if there ever was one.”

Luc smirked at his old friend. “He fucked the monster into submission. Jamie did.”

Roman’s dark brows rose in disbelief. “I almost would have liked to see that.”

“Pervert,” Luc accused mildly.

Roman waved a dismissive hand. “It would not be the first time watching you fuck some poor human. Although, it would be the first time watching you get fucked, I admit.”

He laughed softly. Luc chuckled with him, leaning his head back against the couch.

How strange, to share a laugh after everything they’d been through.

How unexpectedly merciful. Even if Luc knew, deep down, this truce was temporary.

There was no world in which Roman could give up the grudge so easily, was there?

Life was never that kind. Not to monsters.

“Why did you ask Soren, of all people?” Roman asked after another quiet moment.

Luc shrugged. “I had his number. He gave it to me, when you all ran me out of town. I’m not even sure why.”

Roman made a noncommittal noise. “And why did you not come to Hyde Park and ask me yourself?”

Luc scoffed. “Oh, I don’t know, Roman. Because you despise me?”

“That never stopped you before,” Roman mused, studying Luc with those sharp, cold eyes.

“I didn’t want to leave Jamie,” Luc admitted after a moment. “There are other vampires here in Tucson.”

“Feral?”

“No. Protectors, of a sort. Somewhat noble, seemingly. Very concerned over their citizens. They don’t like having me here.”

“I do not blame them.” Roman’s eyes bore into Luc’s. “You found him, Lucien. Your mate.”

“You believe me this time?” Luc couldn’t quite keep the bitterness out of his voice. Roman had never truly believed Victoria was Luc’s mate. It somehow didn’t make it any better that he had, in fact, been correct in the end.

It was really very annoyingly perceptive of him.

“I can see it, this time.” Roman’s tone remained mild, the vampire not rising to Luc’s bait. “And the fact that he calmed your monster… Extraordinary, really.”

“He calms the monster, yes,” Luc agreed. “But the man…”

Roman raised a brow in question as Luc trailed off.

“I worry,” Luc finally admitted. “He’s so fucking breakable, Roman.”

“Then turn him. You did me a favor, in a way. Turning Danny.” Roman leaned forward, his eyes ice-cold once again.

“Make no mistake, mon ami. I hate you for it. I hate you for scaring him. I hate that his final mortal memories were of fear and pain. It should have been a beautiful moment, for he and I to share. You took that from us.”

Luc couldn’t argue with any of that. He didn’t try to. “So many reasons to hate me.”

“Yes.” A pause. “Danny introduced me to the word frenemies .”

“That’s a word teenage girls use, Rome.”

“Yes. Well—” Roman shrugged. “It is more than a little accurate, is it not?”

“You’re clairvoyant?” Danny’s lovely brown eyes were sparkling as he eagerly chatted with Jamie, this time seated on the couch alongside him.

Luc might have been overtaken with jealousy—no one else should be sparkling at his mate like that—if he didn’t know for a fact Danny was bound to another.

“So freaking cool. Is that why you smell so good?”

Jamie shrugged, his posture uncharacteristically shy.

“It’s not really that cool, actually. I don’t get to do much with it.

The best thing to come out of it was preparing me for Luc’s arrival.

I always knew my monster was coming for me.

” He turned to smile that perfect smile at Luc, and Luc’s monster rumbled in pleasure.

“How sweet,” Roman muttered, the sarcasm clear from across the room.

“Be nice ,” Danny hissed, swiveling to glare at him, then turning back to Jamie with a kind smile.

Luc decided right then and there he was glad he’d turned the boy rather than killing him.

Danny could be a good friend for Jamie down the line.

Eternity was a long time, and as much as Luc hated to admit it, Jamie would most likely need sweetness and companionship beyond what Luc could give him.

Jamie was a social creature; that was his nature, pure and simple.

Danny hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder if— Soren thinks some parts of our personalities get enhanced when we’re turned. Like the volume on particular qualities gets turned up a notch.”

“Ah yes. Let us see… Were you a hateful psychopath before you were turned, Lucien?” Roman asked.

Luc was starting to think spending so much time around humans had upped Roman’s capacity for sarcasm. He answered the question honestly anyway, for Jamie’s benefit more than anything else. “I’ve always struggled with…anger, I suppose.”

Roman gave an ironic laugh at that.

“Didn’t your mate tell you to be nice ?” Jamie asked, eyes narrowed at Luc’s old friend. Roman scowled fiercely at him, but Jamie only met the scowl with his own dirty look, completely unintimidated.

Luc hid his smirk behind his hand. Such a brave flower.

“My point was,” Danny continued, after pulling his own face at Roman, “maybe your special Sight stuff will enhance as a vampire. Maybe you’ll even learn to control the visions. Or—Oo! Oo!—direct what you see. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”