Page 75 of Undying Thirst

I sighed, rubbing my palms on his arms. He was freezing. How long had he been standing outside in front of the burned remnants of my place?

“Brother-in-law.” Asher’s grin widened, sprawling on the couch next to Peter.

“What are you doing?” I hissed and twisted his shirtsleeve.

He only winked.

This was all wrong. My brother spoke to the vampires when I worked my entire fucking life to keep him away from the danger chasing me.

Peter blinked repeatedly, sputtering.

I shook my head vehemently at Asher.

My hair fluttered from the sudden appearance of a vampire swooping in front of Peter.

“Who do we have here?” Ren said, leaning into Peter’s face.

“Leave him alone,” I spat out so fast I was surprised it came out in a cohesive string.

Ren didn’t ever listen though, that was the problem. He gripped the back of my brother’s neck, forcing a grunt from his mouth.

“Stop!” I lunged and gripped Ren’s hair, managing to grab as much of the short strands as I could to yank him.

Ren hissed, but I didn’t let go as I clung to him.

Peter let out an ear splitting scream, focusing on Ren’s distended fangs.

“Please, let him go!” I begged, close to tears, but still holding on. “Please.” I slammed my clenched fist into his shoulder.

Peter’s mouth clamped shut and his eyes rounded on me and then Ren. His chest heaved, but he no longer screamed. Numbness spread to my fingertips. I wanted to grab Peter and run.

Ren tilted his head to peer into my face. He studied me. I didn’t move my eyes from his, putting as much plea into my expression as I could.

His bicep flexed and there was a grunt as Peter’s weight dropped to the floor, but I could only assume because I hadn’t looked away from Ren.

“You should have said so sooner.” A spine chilling grin tilted the corner of Ren’s lips and he straightened with me still hanging onto him.

My toes scraped against the wrinkled carpet that had lifted on the wooden floor at my desperate lunge. I loosened my grip so my heels settled on the ground. My breaths puffed from my lips. How could I not be huffing and puffing with my life flashing before my eyes like that?

“Ren.” Tobias’s voice rang through the sound of my breathing. I whipped my head in his direction. There was an edge to his tone and his gaze was fixed on the vampire I held onto. Tobias shook his head just slightly and the bicep I gripped onto twitched. They exchanged some look I couldn’t read and Tobias nodded oh so slightly.

I clenched my teeth, not liking the secretiveness, but it also went far in reminding me that they’d been together centuries and knew each other well. On top of that, Tobias read minds, so there had to be some sort of communication going on I wasn’t privy to. Peter only had me to protect him, so I couldn’t let my panic win. Taking a deep breath, I tried to focus on calming the tremble of my hands because dropping and curling into a ball wouldn’t help anyone.

I could do that later once Peter was far from here.

At least my lungs weren’t betraying me and giving out. It was the only perk of ingesting blood . . . well, not the only perk, but I’d let myself be a little delusional.

Ren’s palm settled on my tight grip, and I dropped my hands quickly. I’d been tugging and grabbing at him like nothing. My face heated and I cleared my throat, but kept my mouth shut. I couldn’t apologize for protecting Peter. But what surprised me was that Ren didn’t look like he’d tear my head off, he just looked contemplative.

The usually combative vampire took a step back and retreated. “I’ll handle Bastien.”

I sucked in breath. I’d forgotten about him still in the kitchen. While Ren could reign in the crazy, Bastien would only react.

Peter huddled on the ground, his back against the couch. His eyes kept bouncing from me to Tobias, then in the direction Ren had disappeared, Asher going with him.

I clung to Tobias’s sleeve. His gray eyes settled on me, cold and calculative. A vast difference to the lust and desire I’d experienced in the garden.

“Compel him to forget.” I squeezed his arm. “Make him forget, please Tobias.”

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