Page 44 of Firedrake Betrayal
I wonder if Isaiah knows how much Patten cares about him.
“I’m okay,” I reassure Shep. Before he can ask me why I’m frowning as I gnaw my thumbnail, I lower my hand and focus on the pale-looking vampire on the kitchen island. “Why haven’t you been feeding, Isaiah?”
Isaiah looks at Dominik, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t think he will tell anyone,” I assure him.
I hope.
“I simply do not care,” Dominik remarks coolly.
Patten’s back stiffens and his eyes narrow. “Thenwhyare you here?”
Dominik turns around and looks at me. “To protect Jade.”
“The way you protected her when?—”
“Enough, Patten,” Shep interrupts, crossing his arms as he leans on a kitchen counter. “Isaiah?”
Isaiah stares at Dominik, brow furrowed, and it’s clear he isn’t happy to be talking about this around Dominik.
I’m trying to think up a way to get Dominik to leave without causing an argument when Isaiah releases a long sigh and says, “I have not fed on a person since Amelie.”
The French harlot and the woman he loved.
“And you,” he continues, not quite meeting my eye, “but that was?—”
“Youfedon Jade.” Dominik straightens.
I glare at him. “Andyoukidnapped me and forced a permanent bond on me that you lied about. Or was that much better?” Patten is smirking at Dominik as I turn back to Isaiah, recalling what he said in Chicago. “You said vampires have preferred tastes and you are partial to OB-Neg.”
His smile is faint. “I did, didn’t I?”
“You were lying.” I stare at him as I process why. The guilt. His inability to look me in the eye. What he said on the short walk down the road after I confronted him about avoiding me. He told me the reason for killing Amelie was not as important as the act. “You said you drained Amelie. Is that why?”
Isaiah gives Dominik a long look of distrust, as if willing him to leave. When Dominik doesn’t go anywhere, he focuses on me. “Amelie belonged to a family of vampire hunters.”
Silence.
Patten laughs. “Are you for real? You fall for a girl and she’s ahunter?”
Isaiah glares. “Amelie was estranged from them, so I didn’t learn of her family until later.”
Shep is frowning. “And did she know you were a vampire?”
Isaiah shakes his head. “Not until my family starved me and locked us in a cellar together. It did not take long for my hunger to overwhelm me.”
I try to read his expression. “Did your family know you loved her?”
His smile is bitter. “Of course they knew. It was the reason they did it.”
Silence.
I’m not sure what compels me to look at Dominik. Maybe some slight movement, or it’s a need to see what he thinks after his accusatory tone earlier. He’s studying Isaiah with something that almost looks like pity. As if he feels my attention, I turn away.
“They don’t sound like they were a good family to you,” I say, trying to be diplomatic.
“They sound like cunts.” Patten doesn’t even try to be tactful.
