Page 2 of Clash of Sin and Secret

When Zane finishes and steps down from the dais, the crowd moves to converge around him. I’m content to remain in the back.

Tucker leaves his father with the crowd and navigates the outer edge of those gathered until he works his way around to join me. When he’s close enough, he reaches behind me, presses a massive hand at my back, and pulls me forward into his embrace. “How are you holding up, beautiful?”

“I’ve had better days.” I draw a steadying breath and let the magic arcing between us ease me. When Tucker was conceived, his father carried the same squire powers I now carry. We think that’s why any physical connection between the two of us feels so incredibly right.

Either that or we really are fated mates.

“I’m sorry you had to stand here all alone.”

I squeeze him tighter and ease back to look up at him. He’s got a foot of height on me and with his massive, muscled frame, he’s twice as wide. “Don’t worry about that. I grew up as a human within a vampire seethe. I’m used to standing on the outside looking in. Besides, Jack still doesn’t look like he should be out of bed. I’m worried about him.”

“You and me both. I would’ve thought Zane’s healing would’ve had him back on his feet in fighting form a week ago.”

Yeah, me too.“I’ve been thinking about that. I wonder if commanding magic for decades somehow made him less responsive to the magical healing properties of Zane’s blood and saliva.”

“Whatever the reason, his recovery is taking longer than it should.”

“Which is why he should be in his quarters resting.”

Tucker grunts. “He’s got the ‘can’t be told’ gene.”

I laugh and roll my eyes. “He’s not the only one. There’s something in the water, here in the compound.”

Enveloped in the muscled frame of my shifter lover, I close my eyes and let his heat chase away the chill of grief I’ve been carrying for weeks. “Da and Francesco deserve to be at rest, too.”

“They do. And we’ll make that happen sooner rather than later.”

I hope so.Zane and I agree Francesco shouldn’t be sent to the afterlife incomplete. We must recover the king’s head and sendhim off whole. Until we make that happen, he and my father will remain in a magical stasis.

I watch Zane addressing the crowd. His frame is rigid, his hands clenched at his sides. To others, he appears collected—every bit the royal leader taking command in a crisis—but I see the storm brewing behind his calm façade.

Blood will spill in the days to come.

And I will be right there with him to bathe in it.

Zane

“We will find every last bastard responsible for this atrocity. We will find them, and we will end them.” My voice cracks with the last words of my tribute to those lost, my fury slipping from my control.

The gathered vampires bow their heads in respect, but the weight of not properly being able to lie my father and Bran to rest sits heavy in my chest.

It’s not right. After the life they lived, they should be able to pass to the afterlife with honor.

Lazarus Kaza and his spawn deprived them of that.

I scan the crowd, nodding as citizens offer their condolences, but with my attention locked on the back of the group. Scottie is finding comfort, wrapped in Tucker’s massive arms. The pinched line of her brow has eased, and the tension has drained from her shoulders.

Scottie ismineto comfort.

Mineto love.

She ismine.

My fangs ache at the sight. She looks so small against his broad chest, her blonde hair catching the dim light of the candles lighting the hub.

Before the endless line of well-wishers thins, I thank the remaining mourners and excuse myself. I can’t maintain the façade of me being their gracious leader when her contentment is thrumming over our shared bond.

Tucker easing her heartache tears at something primal inside me. It’s not his place.

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