Page 8 of Wedlock (Vampire Bachelor Games #3)

“Not at all,” I drawl as I consider the map laid out on the table before me, indicating where Wolf plans to travel next. “Accompanying you will give me something to think about other than ripping my former friend apart and burning down my castle. I’m very happy to come with you.”

“Terrific,” Wolf grins.

I answer his grin despite myself and take another drink.

This will be the first sister-search I’ve carried out with Wolf since arriving a week ago.

I know I’m holding him up from it and he’s itching to leave.

He’d only stayed on at his castle this long because I’d called telling him I was desperately seeking a refuge.

I don’t bother telling him that I don’t believe he has a sister; that ship sailed long ago.

Right now I need any distraction I can find, because fucking, killing and drinking, not necessarily in that order, certainly aren’t helping at all. Quite the opposite.

So, he searches, I accompany.

In between trips I intend to live here in his isolated castle like a medieval hermit, attended to by his geriatric servants.

There’s something comforting about this place. Jag once called it a ‘bachelor pad gone feral,’ but for me it holds a certain charm in its faded grandeur.

Either way, this is exactly the bolthole I need right now. The place may not have been redecorated in centuries, but Wolf does have a very healthily stocked wine cellar, which I fully intend to put a major dent in.

Then in three years I’ll go home and do what has to be done.

“How do you keep your faith, Wolf?” I murmur as I consider all the little red crosses on his map, each one indicating a place he’d combed for his missing sister. Thousands and thousands of crosses marking centuries of searching.

“I know what I know,” he shrugs. “I loved her then, I love her now. I want her back. Is that so hard to understand?”

“No,” I murmur, downing my drink. “I understand more than you imagine.”

‘Because even now I crave my wife. As she’d rested her head against my chest and begged me not to hurt her baby I’d railed inside that it wasn’t mine, but I knew I’d never hurt her or any part of her, even as she ripped my heart out. Even then.’

“You know, the Queen won’t be put off for long,” Wolf says quietly, looking up to meet my eyes before flicking his attention back down to the map. “She wants to see your heir.”

“I know,” I grit my teeth, “Mother will parade the thing and give an Academy Award-winning performance of being a proud grandparent. Only those closest to me know I don’t actually have an heir.”

“Your mother will do for now,” he nods. “But the Queen will want you back in court before long. She’s said as much to you. She’ll want Angie. You’ve put that off longer than anyone imagined you could.”

I scowl.

“The child will do for now as a placeholder, but Angie will not go to court — I’ll present one wife, and one wife only. I’ve already forewarned Mother that this child will go to Jaguar, once weaned. In the meantime, I’ll marry again.”

“How? When your wife is alive?”

“A rumour that she died in childbirth, or something to that effect,” I shrug. “To be honest I haven’t thought through the whole plan, I just needed to get the fuck away to clear my head.”

“You’re in the clear here,” he murmurs. “But how are you going to find your next wife if you’re hiding away in my cellars?” He looks up suddenly from the map, his eyes mischievous. “Going on The Games again?”

“Do you want me to throw you into the fire?” I scowl.