“Oh, cher.”
“In fact, Father contacted me earlier. Told me to give Mila the boot, or else.”
“And I suppose you told him to go to Hades.”
“You bet I did.”
She blew out a breath. “If you two could only see how much you’re alike…”
My spine stiffened. “The hell we are.”
“Mm,” she said noncommittally, and changed the subject. “You want to mate with Mila, don’t you?”
My brows lifted. Trust my mom to cut to the heart of the matter. I’d barely admitted that to myself. “Yes.”
“Oh, Gabriel.” She sounded sad. “Have you thought this through? At least your father could argue that you and your brothers were half-vampire. If you have children with Mila, they’ll be three-quarters human. They might not even be able to drink blood.”
I growled. “You think I don’t know that?”
A long pause. “Or, you could turn her.”
My heart lurched with a mix of trepidation and hope. “To dhampir?”
It had been at the back of my mind all day. But it was too risky. Only half the humans who attempted to transition to dhampir made it. The rest died a painful death.
“Unless she’d let you turn her to vampire.”
I expelled a breath. “She can barely stand to be in the same room as a vampire.”
“And she’s young,” Mom murmured. “She’ll want kids. As a dhampir, she’d have an easier time getting pregnant than she would as a vampire. Plus, she’d be able to have more than one.”
“I know. But I can’t lose her again. Not a second time.”
“Then set her free.”
I dragged a hand down my face. “I can’t.”
“You don’t know what you’d be asking, Gabriel. I went through it. You didn’t.”
I sucked a breath through my teeth.
Still, Mom was right. I hadn’t gone through it. But I remembered when she had—and I never wanted to go through anything like that again.
“And my transition came later,” she pointed out, quiet but relentless. “I was a good twenty years older than Mila is now. I’d had a chance to live, to raise you boys. Not that I was ready to die, but Mila—she’s what, twenty-five? Her life is just beginning.”
“You don’t know her,” I countered. “She changed, those three years she was gone. You should’ve seen her last night. She staked Stefan herself, and if not for her, Andre might’ve drained me until I was too weak to fight him off.”
“She’s strong, then. That’s good. She’d have a good chance of making it through the metamorphosis.”
“But what if she dies?” My voice cracked on the last word.
“Then set her free,” Mom repeated. “Because if you don’t, you might as well put her in a cage. You won’t be able to guarantee her safety otherwise.”
Mila, in a cage? I might as well clip the wings of a wild woodland bird.
“There has to be another option.” I was gripping the phone too tight. I forced my fingers to loosen. “I can’t lose her, Mom. Not this time.”
“Oh, cher. The way things are in the Syndicate right now, you may not have a choice. If you don’t lose her to the transition, you’ll lose her to another Andre Redbone.”
I growled. “You think I don’t know that?”
“I guess you do.” Mom sighed. “This is getting us nowhere. But whatever you decide, I want you to know you have my full support. Make sure you tell Mila that, too.”
“I will. And Mom? Thanks for listening. It…helps. I love you.”
“Love you, too, cher,” she said, and ended the call.
Shoving my hands into my front pockets, I stared at the floor. Turning Mila to a dhampir was the obvious solution. My father could hardly object to our mating when his own mate was a human-turned-dhampir.
But for a human, the transition to dhampir was a difficult, dangerous thing, with only a fifty/fifty chance of survival. Mila would have to drink a vampire’s blood while still fully alive. The vampire couldn’t bring her to near-death as when making another vampire.
My mother’s transition had been harrowing. After she’d drunk my father’s blood, he’d locked himself in a room with her while she’d undergone a painful, hours-long metamorphosis.
I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes, stomach churning.
My brothers and I hadn’t witnessed the metamorphosis, but we’d had to listen to Mom’s screams until Father finally emerged from the room with her unconscious in his arms. Together, we’d buried her in the dirt. No coffin, or she might not have been able to claw her way out once she came back to life.
For the next seven days, the four of us had stood vigil over my mother’s grave. Not knowing if she’d live or die. Like a virus, no one could predict if the metamorphosis would be fatal, or result in the birth of a dhampir.
I’d sworn I’d never ask anyone to go through that for me. I’d be smarter than my dad, choose a vampire mate. After all, as the Kral crown prince I had my pick of beautiful vampire females.
Then I’d met Mila.
Bile filled my throat. Lord, I’d been selfish.
But from the moment I’d seen Mila hovering like some faerie creature at the edge of my mother’s garden, I’d known I had to have her—and I’d pursued her with a single-minded ruthlessness that very few women could’ve resisted.
I turned back to my desk, but I’d had my fill of work for the day. I sent Mila a quick text to say I was on my way back to the penthouse, then leaned over to sign off my PC.
An encrypted message from Tomas popped up on the screen.
Need to see you A.S.A.P. You are still in the office?
I sank into my chair, dropped my hands into my head. Gods, the last thing I wanted right now was to deal with my father’s grinning lieutenant.
But I replied in the affirmative and sat back to await his arrival.
23
Mila
After dinner, Joey and I watched an old Godzilla movie. Jessa had cleaned up and left us alone in the penthouse, so we made our own popcorn and sat on the couch, laughing as the monster stomped its way through a toy-like cityscape. By the end of the movie, Joey was slumped on the couch, lids drooping. As the credits rolled, he stood up and with a bone-cracking stretch, announced he was going to bed.
I nodded and followed him down the hall to his room. It was hard to let him out of my sight, even though I knew he was safe now.
“G’night.” He opened his arms and I went into them. He was bigger than when I’d left. Maybe an inch taller, but his shoulders had broadened.
My baby brother had turned into a man.
I bit my lip, trying not to get weepy. “Guess I can’t call you squirt anymore.”
He snorted. “Like anything could stop you.” His arms tightened on me. “Pleasant dreams,” he said, just like Mom had every night when we were kids.
I hugged him back, hard. “Pleasant dreams.”
Gabriel still wasn’t back yet, so I peeked in the master bedroom, on the opposite side of the study from my brother’s room. I sucked in a breath. It was the most romantic bedroom I’d ever been in.
Creamy walls reached to a ceiling that sloped inward at the top, so that it felt a little like I’d stepped into a billowing tent. The bed was a vintage bronze four-poster, its curved canopy draped with off-white linens. The windows were covered with soft, light-filtering cellular blinds, with more white linen swags draped over rods at the top. On one wall hung an enormous antiqued-gold mirror, and the rustic wood nightstands held small gold lamps, their metal shades punched out with stars.
The bathroom was all warm terra cotta tiles in browns and golds and greens. The tub was a long cream rectangle and the glass shower stall was shaped like a circle with a rainfall showerhead. Set in the ceiling was a smoky green skylight so you could look up at the Manhattan skyline.
Back in the bedroom, I sat cross-legged on the bed and took out my new phone.
I stared down at the
screen. I still hadn’t called my parents, but that was cowardly. Mom and Dad didn’t deserve that. And it had been so long since I talked to them. I ached to hear their voices.
I pulled up the keypad and entered Mom’s number.
She answered immediately. “Hello?”
I wasn’t prepared for the rush of tears at the sound of her voice. I brought my hand to my eyes, dragged in a breath.
“Mom?” I whispered.
A heartbeat passed and then she gasped. “Mila?” Her voice hitched. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” I managed to say. “Yes, it’s me.”
“Ohmigod. Chris! Chris—come here. It’s Mila.”
She put the phone on speaker, and then the two of us were sobbing while Dad kept saying, “You’re all right? D’you need anything?”
“No, no.” I sniffed and reached for a tissue. “I’m fine. Just happy. It’s so good to hear your voices.”
“We’ve been right here,” was my dad’s gruff reply. “It’s you who left and never got in touch.”
My stomach twisted. “I know. I’m so sorry. But I was afraid that if I had any contact with you, they’d hurt you.”
“Damn it, Mila.”
“No, listen.”
We spoke for over an hour while I did my best to explain everything that had happened from the day I’d left. I glossed over the bad parts of my three years on the run, but I could tell they were hurt that I hadn’t come to them for help. Like Joey, they couldn’t seem to understand that I’d done it to protect them.
Still, they were my parents. Warm, loving. They forgave me.
At the end, my dad said, “Well, as long as you’re happy, Camila.”
“I am,” I said. “I love him.”
“Then we’ll love him, too,” Mom stated firmly.
Tears welled in my eyes again. “I know you will.”
“So?” Dad asked. “When are you coming home? Your mom misses you.”
“Soon,” I said. “I promise.”
My dad grunted.
“Can we call you at this number?” Mom asked.
“Yes. Absolutely.”
Gabriel’s text came, saying he’d be home in a few minutes.
“I have to go now,” I said. “But I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Love you,” said Mom.
The tears pricked my eyes again. “Love you, too,” I said and ended the call.
24
Gabriel
Tomas’s smile was triumphant as he strode through my door. “We have found her. The slayer.”
I rose from my chair. “Who?” I demanded.
“Lougenia.”
I stared at Tomas. “No. I don’t believe it.”
“We have the proof.”
I shook my head. “Then there’s some mistake. There’s no fucking way Lougenia is a slayer. She practically grew up with my mom. Her mother works for the Fortier family in New Orleans.”
“Her family members also work for the Louisiana Coven.” Andre Redbone’s coven.
“Here.” Tomas shoved his phone across the desk at me. “See for yourself.”
I scrolled through the evidence. A photo of Lougenia speaking to Stefan on the streets of Manhattan. An encoded message from her phone to Redbone, dated a month ago. A large payment to an offshore account that Tomas had traced to Lougenia’s younger son.
“We have a mole. Trust no one.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Alone, no one thing was conclusive, but together, they were definitely suspicious.
I handed the phone back to Tomas. “I agree, it doesn’t look good. But any of this could’ve been planted. And Lougenia’s never even been to headquarters—she wouldn’t have the kind of access that whoever is behind this has.”
“But she could be helping them. I will look into it,” Tomas said with a decisive nod.
“No.” I was damned if I’d let the lieutenant question Lougenia. People had a way of ending up hurt when he was involved. “I can handle it from here.”
The big lieutenant folded his arms over his chest. “Your father asked for me to take care of her.”
I leveled a stare at him. “No,” I repeated. “My housekeeper, my problem.”
A shrug. “He contacted me. We talk of many things. He has heard about you and Redbone, and he is not happy about this thing with Mila.”
“I know,” I said shortly.
But Tomas wasn’t finished. “He says that if you keep the woman, he will strip your title and rank, and name one of your brothers as the heir.”
I scowled. “The hell you say.”
Trust my father to up the stakes. Not only was he going to renege on the deal to promote me to oversee the southeastern covens, he was going to strip me of my position as crown prince. And probably demote me from enforcer back to soldier.
My stomach burned. I’d earned that promotion, and my designation as an enforcer. But if Mila was the price, then he could take his threats and choke on them. Mila was staying. That was non-negotiable.
“Let him try,” I growled. “Zaquiel doesn’t want it, and Rafe won’t do the job I can. He’s a tracker, not a businessman.”
“As you say.”
Tomas was being too agreeable. A terrible suspicion tightened my chest.
My switchblade jumped into my hand. I leapt over the desktop. Tomas took a step back, but didn’t try to evade me.
I touched the silver point to his throat.
“Touch Camila Vittore,” I said, low and deadly, “and you won’t live to see another moonrise. I’ll stake you myself. I don’t care what your fucking orders are.”
Tomas’s hazel eyes narrowed to cat-slits. “You are the ass.”
“Yeah, you already told me that. But Camila is mine. Stay the fuck away from her or I’ll carve your heart out.”
A curt nod. “But I will handle Lougenia—Karoly’s orders.”
I released him. “Agreed.” I didn’t like it, but Father was the Primus. “But only to question her. None of this is proof Lougenia’s a slayer. It’s not even proof she’s working for them. Until I get to the bottom of this, you’re to treat her like she’s your own goddamned mother, understand?”
Disdain flickered over Tomas’s broad face. I could almost hear him thinking: Spineless half-breed.
After all, the housekeeper was merely a human, and a servant at that.
And we both knew that at the first opportunity, he’d report my deficiencies—in detail—to my father. Well, fuck them both. I refused to condemn Lougenia without a fair hearing. If that made me weak, then so be it.
And I was damned if I’d give up Mila or let my father strip me of my rank. I might have been born the crown prince, but I’d more than proved myself over the years.
Tomas’s mouth twitched up in an insolent curve. “We are done here?”
I jerked my chin in assent.
“I will leave for Montauk, then.” He turned on his heel and left.
I stared after him, going over the conversation in my mind. But although Tomas had nodded when I told him to stay away from Mila, he hadn’t actually agreed not to touch her.
Holy Dark Mother.
Fear sank icy claws into my nape. My father wouldn’t dare set Tomas on Mila. Would he?
But he had three years ago. What made this time any different?
Retracting the switchblade, I shoved it into my pocket while with the other hand, I punched out a call to one of the guards stationed in my penthouse.
“Lock down the apartment—now. No one gets in—even Lieutenant Mraz. Especially Mraz. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Cutting the connection, I strode into the outer room and told my P.A. to order me a limo. “And I want it now.”
Shanice was a human in her fifties with cropped gray hair and warm brown skin. Nobody and nothing rushed Shanice, and yet she got things done faster and more efficiently than any of my past three P.A.s.
One look at my face and she set down her coffee to pre
ss a button. “The boss wants a limo A.S.A.P.”
“Five minutes,” was the reply.
“Make it three,” she returned and reached for her coffee again.
I took the stairs to the surface at a run.
The two bodyguards charged after me. “What’s up, boss?” one asked as I reached the surface and looked around for the limo.
I chose my words carefully, unwilling to accuse my father and Tomas without proof. “I’ve received intel that someone might target my new thrall.” That was close enough to the truth, and as vampires, that was something they’d appreciate.
The guards nodded gravely. They might not understand love, but they understood possession. No self-respecting vampire would tolerate another man messing with his thrall, especially one who’d accepted the blood bond.
The limo arrived and we piled in, one of the bodyguards in the back with me and the other riding shotgun in the front seat.
As we pulled into traffic, I called Airi and gave her the news about Lougenia.
“You’re sure, sir?” she asked. The enforcer didn’t have much use for humans, but even she trusted Lougenia.
I massaged the bridge of my nose. It had been a long day, and it was about to get longer. “Actually, I think she’s been set up. But we can’t take any chances. Take her into custody. Tomas is coming out to interrogate her. See that she’s treated well.”
“Of course. And sir? We found the bug in the system that allowed O’Brien to let in Redbone and his men. I have our best tech working on it right now.”
My brows lifted. “Good work. But you’re on probation for the next thirty days. Any further fuck-ups, and you’re gone.”
“I understand, sir. Not to excuse myself, but it looks like the bug was planted. A virus inserted remotely into our security system.”
“Hm.” It wasn’t Airi’s fault then, but I didn’t rescind the probation. She should’ve instructed our tech team to watch for something like that.
Pursued: A Vampire Syndicate Paranormal Romance (The Vampire Syndicate Book 1) Page 20