Page 96 of Act of Brotherhood
“Viking,” said Auberi, his tone alarming. “Stand down.”
Confused, Garth glanced behind him to find the rotting-face hybrid was up and had Nicolette held off the ground, a clawed hand to the side of her head. Her eyes were moist, and she was even paler than normal. Fear radiated from her.
Grid’s words echoed in Garth’s head.
Mate and unborn babe?
Gasping, he stared at Nicolette’s stomach. She was expecting?
Auberi inclined his head as if reading Garth’s thoughts.
Garth’s hands trembled. “Step away from my mate or you won’t have to worry about botched science experiments being your downfall.”
“I shall assist,” said Auberi, wiping a hand over his face and flicking blood to the floor. “Harm her in any way and you will beg us for death.”
Grid laughed more. “Take her out the side to the truck. If either of them blinks, tear her throat out.”
Garth’s breath caught. “Grid, no.”
“Beg all you want, brother. She is coming with me one way or another. The people I work with can learn from her dead body nearly as much as they can from her alive. Maybe even more.”
Garth looked at his brother. “This is not what Mother would have wanted. Brother against brother. One of our mates threatened. Or to see one of her sons become the same monster Father had been.”
Grid’s gaze narrowed. “Do you think Mother would have liked knowing one of our mates was drained of her blood and turned into a night feeder—a vampire?”
Confused, Garth lifted a brow. “Nicolette has vampireinher but she’s not a vampire.”
Grid snorted. “I know what she is and what she’s made of. After all, I’m the one who was there when she was born. I’m the one who sensed something was different with her. That she had a connection to me somehow. I fully understand she is no vampire.”
“Then what in the hell are you talking about?” demanded Garth.
Grid’s hard gaze slid to Auberi. “He knows.”
Auberi shrugged. “I have no idea what the lunatic is going on about.”
“You made no move to stop your maker when he attackedmymate! When he drained her dry and then gave her his blood, bringing her back as something dark, twisted, without a soul!” said Grid, venom dripping from his every word. “She was like you—unfit to breathe the same air as the rest of us. Blood drinkers are beneath us in the hierarchy of supernaturals. You stood there, watching as your master drained the Fae girl of her life, and brought her back as one of you!”
Auberi gasped. “No. She was your mate?”
“Yes. I know you fucked her,” snapped Garth.
“I did not touch her in such a manner. My heart wept for her. She was caught up in a world she did not understand and had an innocence about her that was infectious.”
“Who are we talking about here?” demanded Garth.
Auberi sighed. “Garth, he speaks of the woman he defiled and slaughtered a century ago. The woman I tried to kill him over.”
Grid laughed, sounding even more insane than Garth knew him to be. “Woman? Hardly. Once her heart stopped beating and your fucking maker fed her his blood, she stopped being my woman! She became something else. And I was expected to claim her then? To accept her for what she’d become? No. I would never sink so low.”
Garth realized what Grid was saying. His brother had turned on his own true mate. He’d tortured and killed her, all because of his hate of vampires.
It was in that moment Garth saw their father in Grid. Their father’s hate, his prejudices, his savagery. “Grid, to harm a woman at all is unthinkable. To harm your mate?”
“I granted her freedom from the demon in her!” shouted Grid. “I ended her suffering.”
Auberi shook his head. “She was not suffering. She’d fallen ill. While she was Fae, it was a small, small amount, not enough to stop the sickness that had ravished her system. My maker did as she requested. He made it so she would have forever with her mate. I was not awareyouwere the mate.”
Grid tensed. “You lie. She did not ask to be a monster.”
