He also sipped his wine, looking contemplative as he stared into the glass.
I dug into my steak, determined not to speak again until he offered me an explanation. It oozed with blood, just how I liked it. Delicious. I was more than happy to devour it until Thomas decided to speak. So that was exactly what I did.
Finally, he placed his wineglass down and began. “I loved you, Sage,” he said. “I still do. I wanted to marry you more than anything. But marrying you would be selfish. You were so young—you still are. It was my job to be the adult and make the responsible decision to let you go.”
I finished chewing, placed my utensils down, and blinked away tears. “I don’t understand.” I said, trying to swallow down my sadness with another sip of wine. “I loved you. According to what you said just now, you loved me. So why would marrying me be selfish?”
“Because you’re a shifter.” His voice raised, and he watched me with such intensity that I could barely move. “I’m a vampire. I know you want to believe that love conquers all, but in real life it doesn’t work like that. There are too many differences between our species for marriage to ever work with us.
“There aren’t.” I glared at him, anger blazing in my chest.
“There are,” he insisted.
“Is this about you being immortal?” I asked. “Because you said you didn’t care about that. You said you loved me no matter what, and that my physical age didn’t matter.”
“I meant it,” he said. “While that difference would certainly lead to challenges as you aged, it isn’t why I ended our engagement.”
“Then what is?” I was getting sick of him beating around the bush—he needed to be out with it already.
“Every shifter has a mate,” he said darkly. “By marrying you, I’d be stealing you of yours.”
“You wouldn’t be stealing me from anything,” I retorted. “You weren’t forcing me to marry you. You asked, and I said yes. It was my choice. And I chose you.”
“You were eighteen,” he said. “You didn’t know what you wanted.”
“I did know what I wanted.” I crossed my arms, as if holding them over my chest could stop my heart from hurting. “But even if I didn’t, it wasn’t your decision to make for me.”
“I had just as much of a right to break the engagement as you had a right to say yes when I asked,” he said.
“Maybe so,” I said. “But not in the way you did. Ignoring my calls, ignoring my texts, refusing to see me when I came to the hotel—you acted like you hated me. Do you have any idea how awful that made me feel?”
“I have a bit of an idea,” he said. “I read your texts.”
“You read them and you didn’t care.” I stared him down, daring him to contradict me.
“You’re wrong.” He held my gaze so intensely, like he was speaking straight from his soul. “I did care. More than you’ll ever know.”
“Then why didn’t you act like it?”
“I already told you,” he said. “I was protecting you.”
“Yeah, right.” I shook my head, unable to believe this. If that was protecting me, he had a very different definition of the word than I did. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have ignored me. Then I came here for help and you manipulated me into this stupid date. I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play, but I’m not falling for it. Not again.”
The words hung in the air, and we stared at each other, saying nothing.
Apparently, we’d reached a standstill.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he said sadly. “You were supposed to have found a mate by now. Then you would have understood why I did what I did. You probably would have even thanked me for letting you go. Because my letting you go had allowed you to find him.”
“You might be a powerful vampire, but you’re definitely not a psychic,” I said bitterly. “Because I don’t think I have a mate. I’ve never imprinted on anyone.”
Shock passed over his face, then doubt. “Have you tried?” he asked.
“I tried.” I smirked, hoping what I said next hurt him. “Once I realized you weren’t going to talk to me ever again, I was more determined than ever to find my mate. I was so convinced that finding them was the only way to heal my heart that I must have kissed every shifter in the state. But it never happened. By my age, every shifter has at least imprinted on one person by now. But not me. Apparently I’m destined to be alone forever.”
I’d hoped it would hurt him. Instead, it just sounded pathetic.
That was me. A big, ugly ball of pathetic that repelled anyone I was ever interested in dating.
I wished I could disappear into the floor so I wouldn’t have to look at his disappointment for a moment longer. With my food, of course. My love life might be nonexistent, but at least food was always there for me.
“Maybe you’re not destined to imprint yet.” He sounded way more convinced about it than he had a right to, considering it was my life and not his. “Maybe you aren’t meant to find your mate until you get to Avalon.”
I backed away from him, immediately suspicious. Because since arriving to the Bettencourt, I hadn’t spoken a word about Avalon. Neither had Noah. I wasn’t even sure if I was going to Avalon. Yes, I was helping Noah and Raven get there, but going to Avalon meant leaving my pack. I didn’t think I could do that.
How did Thomas know about Avalon? Could he have motives in bringing me here that went beyond wanting my forgiveness? Could he be working with the Earth Angel… or with Azazel?
I doubted the latter, but who knew how much he’d changed in the past few years? I certainly wasn’t the same person I was back then. Why should I expect the same from him?
“I never mentioned Avalon,” I said cautiously, not wanting to give too much away. “What do you know about it?”
“When I spoke with Raven privately, she told me she was heading there,” he said simply. “I figured you and Noah were going as well.”
“Oh.” I took another bite of my food, feeling like an idiot for jumping to the conclusions I did. Of course Thomas wasn’t working with Azazel.
He might be cold and dangerous, but he wasn’t evil. Well, what he’d done to my heart was pretty evil. But just because he’d dumped me didn’t mean he would team up with demons.
At least, I didn’t think he would team up with demons.
“And your journey to Avalon isn’t the most interesting thing I know.” He eyed me up, waiting for my reaction.
I didn’t give him one. “Care to inform me what is?” I asked, even though I could tell from his tone that he was going to.
“I have eyes everywhere, Sage,” he said. “And I know that Noah isn’t an average lone wolf. He’s the First Prophet of the Vale.”
Sage
I froze, unsure what to say.
The First Prophet—Noah—had played a huge part in opening the Hell Gate that had released the demons onto Earth. But he and the other shifters had been under the influence of a demon when they’d done what they did. The supernaturals that had been at the war in the Vale knew that.
But supernaturals throughout the world weren’t as understanding. Many of them thought Noah should be killed for what he did. It was why he’d been going under the radar for so long. And even though Noah was a common enough name for male shifters, it was part of the reason why we’d originally taken to using fake names on hunts.
“Noah can be trusted,” I told Thomas. “He’s on our side. He—more than anyone—wants to fight the demons until every last one of them has been wiped off the face of the Earth.”
“He’s the one who released them from Hell in the first place,” Thomas said.
“Not on purpose.” I sat straighter, determined to set him right. “He was being manipulated by a demon. He thought he was releasing the wolves’ Savior—not opening a Hell Gate.”
“Maybe he truly did think he was releasing some mythical Savior.” Thomas took another sip of his wine, like we were having a light convers
ation instead of discussing the beginning of the end of the world. “But no matter how you spin it, he led packs of wolves to murder innocent vampires.”
“The vampires of the Vale were hardly innocent,” I said, since Thomas knew this as well as anybody. “They kept humans as slaves. They turned humans into vampires against their will. The Vale was a corrupt and brutal place. Don’t say otherwise, because I know you agree. You’ve told me as much yourself.”
“All the vampire kingdoms—except for the Haven—are corrupt and brutal places,” Thomas said. “Their kings and queens are stuck in the old ways. But that doesn’t give a bunch of evangelical wolves the right to march upon the city and murder all the vampires that live there.”
I stared at him, feeling like I barely knew him. “When did you get to be so noble?” I asked. “Other than Mary with the Haven, you hate the way the vampire kings and queens run their kingdoms. I thought you would have been happy that Laila was taken down.”
“Oh, I am happy that Laila was taken down.” He raised his glass in a toast. “But the Earth Angel killed Laila before the wolves marched upon the city. The wolves had nothing to do with Queen Laila’s demise. Their attack wasn’t about wanting to hold a coup. It was about murdering all the vampires that lived in the Vale, plain and simple. And the First Prophet played a large role in that.”
“Noah tried to stop it,” I said. “He went to Prince Jacen to make a deal with him.”
“And how did that turn out?” Thomas raised an eyebrow, like he already knew the answer to the question.
“But by that point, everything was already set into motion.” I spoke faster now, needing him to understand. Noah’s life depended on it. “Noah couldn’t stop the wolves from marching upon the city—they were out of his control. But because of his deal with Prince Jacen, the citizens of the Vale had warning about what was coming. They were given the opportunity to escape. Many of them did. The ones who didn’t… well, they stayed there by choice. But Noah wanted them all to leave. He didn’t want anyone to have to die.”
Thomas didn’t look convinced. “You speak of the First Prophet fondly,” he said, not breaking my gaze. “Are you sure you don’t have feelings for him?”
“You mean romantic feelings?” I asked.
“Precisely.”
“I’m sure.” I laughed. It was tempting to remind him that I hadn’t had feelings for anyone since he’d broken my heart, but there was no need to bring that up again. “Noah’s like a brother to me. I trust him with my life.”
“Strong words from a shifter who already has a brother and a pack,” he said. “What did the First Prophet do to earn your trust?”
It didn’t go beyond my notice that Thomas refused to call Noah by his given name. Thomas didn’t trust Noah. Given Noah’s history, I couldn’t blame him. But Noah was currently in Thomas’s penthouse, which meant he was at Thomas’s mercy. To ensure his safety, I had to convince Thomas to trust him too.
“I met Noah at an underground shifter bar in LA,” I started, thinking back to when I first saw him at that bar. He’d looked so sad and lonely. And haunted. I’d never forget that dark, haunted look he’d had in his eyes that night. “He told me he’d come from the Vale, so I assumed he was one of the many wolves who’d suffered in the war up north. He eventually told me that he was on a mission from the Earth Angel herself—that he had to kill ten demons and present their teeth to her to gain entrance to Avalon. He’d killed his first demon about a week earlier, but he didn’t know where to go from there. He had no money, no connections, nothing. He was living on the streets. I felt awful for him—”
“Of course you did,” Thomas interrupted.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He smirked. “Just that you have a weakness for strong men in need of your help.”
“I fell for you, and you never needed my help,” I pointed out.
He cut a piece of his steak, chewed, and swallowed, his eyes distant the entire time. “I needed your help in ways you didn’t realize,” he said. “But go on. How did you help the First Prophet?”
I wanted to ask Thomas what help he’d needed from me, but there was too much at stake to get distracted right now. I’d come back to it later. For now, I had to get back to convincing him not to kill Noah.
“I took him to the Devereux mansion and paid for Amber to do a tracking spell to find another demon,” I said. “The closest one she could locate was in San Francisco. Noah didn’t know how to get there, so I offered to take him.”
“Flint was okay with that?” Thomas asked.
“Flint’s my brother, not my keeper.” I rolled my eyes. “And the Montgomerys don’t have any enemies in California. And I definitely lied and told him I was going up there to see a friend. Which wasn’t a total lie, because I did stop by to see that friend. Just not until after helping Noah kill the demon.”
Despite everything, amusement flickered across Thomas’s face. “All right,” he said. “So, you helped the First Prophet kill one demon. How’d it get from that to you becoming his partner for the rest of his hunt?”
“I couldn’t just leave him on his own,” I said. “He had no money, no car, no ID—when I said he had nothing, I meant it. He’d lived his whole life in the wilderness of the Vale. There was no record of his entire existence. He needed a leg up. So when we got back to LA I connected him with someone who got him a fake ID, and I had enough cash laying around to buy him a motel room for a week. It was no Ritz-Carlton, but it was better than sleeping on the streets.”
“He’s the First Prophet.” Thomas stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Not a stray dog.”
“He’s a good hearted shifter who was in a bad situation, on a mission to join a noble cause.” I raised my chin, determined for Thomas to understand. “I wish I could have gotten him something nicer than that motel, but Flint checks my credit card bill each month, so I had to use cash. Luckily, it didn’t end up being an issue for much longer,” I continued. “Because the next demon we hunted down was in San Diego, and that one didn’t go nearly as smoothly as the first. Long story short—Noah ended up saving my life.”
“Ah,” Thomas said. “The good old shifter life debt.”
“Yep,” I said. “By saving my life, Noah made himself an ally of the Montgomery pack. So I brought him back to the Montgomery compound.”
“Just like that?” Thomas’s eyes bugged out, apparently thinking I was both crazy and stupid.
“He saved my life,” I said. “I trusted him.”
“You trust too easily,” he replied. “I know he saved your life, but what if everything else he said was a lie? What if he was never given the quest to kill ten demons? What if he stole the quest—and the heavenly weapon he’s using to kill the demons—from someone else in an attempt to get to Avalon and take it down from the inside?”
I blinked, needing a moment to take in what he’d said. “That’s one hell of a conspiracy theory,” I finally said. “Not only is it ridiculously far-fetched, but it’s also completely wrong.”
“It’s not far-fetched, given that this is the First Prophet of the Vale we’re talking about,” Thomas said. “You should have been more careful.”
“When I asked Flint if Noah could stay in the pool house, Flint said the same exact thing,” I said. “Which was why he only let Noah stay there after Noah took a truth potion to confirm his story. So he did, and that was when it came out about his being the First Prophet. We were all shocked, to say the least. But the most shocking of all was that Flint agreed to let him stay with us until finishing his hunt.”
“Of course he did.” Thomas didn’t look shocked in the slightest. “You know how your brother thinks. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”
“Noah isn’t our enemy.” I was determined to have Thomas understand this by the time this meal was over. If he didn’t… well, I didn’t know how I could help Noah if Thomas decided he wasn’t to be trusted.
Thoma
s was more powerful than the two of us combined.
“Maybe ‘enemy’ is too harsh of a term,” he said. “But the First Prophet is a wild card. Flint wanted him at the Montgomery complex so he could know what he was up to at all times.”
“Maybe,” I said, since he was right—that sounded just like my brother. “But you should have heard Noah when he told us about everything that happened at the Vale. He was deceived more than anyone. Now he’s determined to join the Earth Angel’s army and clean up the mess he unintentionally created when that Hell Gate opened. Making this right means everything to him.”
“Or so he said…” Thomas mused.
“He took truth potion,” I reminded him. “He couldn’t have lied if he’d wanted to.”
“He’s a strong supernatural,” Thomas said. “You know how truth potion works. If a supernatural has stronger magic than the witch who created the potion, they can resist it.”
“We gave him truth potion brewed by Amber,” I said. “The only supernaturals who would be able to resist that would be the original vampires, and maybe a few alpha pack leaders.”
“And maybe the First Prophet of the Vale,” Thomas said with a smirk.
“Ugh.” I cut into my steak to get out my frustration. All this talking was making my food get cold. “Noah can be trusted. But of course it would kill you to just trust my instincts about him, wouldn’t it? Even though he saved my life?”
“I’m grateful to him for saving your life—don’t get me wrong on that.” Thomas leaned back in his chair—I could tell by that irritatingly smug look on his face that what I said no longer mattered. He’d already made up his mind on what he was going to do next. “But I’ll only believe his story if he drinks truth potion brewed by a witch from the Haven and tells it to me himself.”
Raven
Thomas was about to send Noah in, and I had no idea what to say to him first. Because what Thomas had told me—about Noah being responsible for opening the Hell Gate—couldn’t be true.
The Angel Trap (Dark World: The Angel Trials Book 3) Page 7