Page 75 of A Vampire Bewitched
As theirleader.
And, the whole thing being his idea and all.
Cedric also stood, slowly and cautiously, not making any sudden moves. Although he towered over Nik by a good five inches, he nevertheless visibly braced himself against the wrath emanating from the vampire as he lifted his hands, palms out. “Now Nikulas, before ye go suckin' me dry, gimme a chance ta explain.”
Nik gave his head a quick shake. He couldn’t possibly be hearing this correctly. “Please, tell me that I misunderstood. Tell me myfriendwould never be stupid enough to purposefully putmyfemalein danger.” By the time he finished speaking, his entire body was shaking with rage.
“Nik, I didna ken those things existed. I swear it!” Cedric’s steady gaze proclaimed he was telling the truth. “I thought a few normal vamps would be guarding th’ walls. There would've beennodanger tae Emma wi' us there. And I didna ken she was yers 'til we had already taken her!” he insisted. “I thought she was just a normal human, 'n' thought we'd have a bit o’ fun.”
“Well, that was just a horrible idea,” Aiden piped in.
“That’s exactly whatIsaid,” Emma agreed.
Cedric rolled his eyes at Aiden. “Yer one tae talk. Ye would've done th' same thing. If na’ worse.”
Aiden recoiled dramatically at the insult. “Are you daft, man? I wouldn’t do something like that! That’s just crazy!” He screwed his forehead up, deep in thought. “Or maybe it’s completely brilliant. You did manage to flush out the guards and get us straight here at the same time. Hmm. Maybe Iwoulddo it.” He shook his head. “No, no, I would never risk…well?” He slapped his hands onto each side of his head. “Ahhhh! I just can’t decide.”
Cedric turned back to Nik, who’d never taken his eyes from him throughout the entire exchange. “Once I figured it out, it was even better!” He gave Nik a knowing wink. “I knew ye'd come after her. Bonnie lass that she is.”
Nik bared his fangs, a deep growl radiating out from deep inside him. He wasthisfucking close from taking out the alpha.
Cedric’s wolf nature reacted instinctively to the threat. Bowing up, he ground out, “We were aff to surprise ye! That we were 'ere tae help.” He slashed his hand through the air between them. “That’s all! Nothin’ happened tae her. She's braw. I would ne'er hurt a wee lassie! Ye ken that.” His lips pulled back, exposing his own lengthening canines. “Now git out o' mah face afore I lose my temper.”
Nik felt Emma’s hand on his back, rubbing small circles over the tense muscles. “Nik, they didn’t hurt me. And they treated me with the utmost respect. Well, other than throwing me into a bag and toting me around like a sack of grain.”
As Nick leaned forward aggressively, she grabbed his fist before he could take a swing, and hurried to continue, “but they didn’t hurt me! I promise!”
She stepped in front of him and finally managed to break up the pissing contest between him and Cedric as his focus redirected onto her. Locking eyes with him, she held his gaze until he calmed down. “Come on. They’re here to help, even if they did go about letting you know in a rather strange way.”
“Tha’ bitch has one o’ ours,” Cedric said over her head.
That got Nik’s attention. He noticed for the first time one of them was missing. They always traveled together in a pack. “Marc? She has Marc?”
Cedric nodded, his stance once again easy and relaxed. “Aye. She took him three weeks ago. She thinks we owe her a debt, 'n' took him as her pay.”
Duncan smiled roguishly. “We've come tae take him back.”
“What debt is that?” Aiden asked.
Giving Lucian a look Nik couldn’t decipher, Cedric shrugged off the question with a derisive smirk. “Nothin’ I'm wantin' tae get into right now.”
No other information seemed to be forthcoming, and they didn’t have time to try to pry it out of them, so Nik let it go. “All right. Well, as the rest of our guys seem to be MIA, we’d sure appreciate the extra manpower. Or wolf power, such as it is.”
“Who does she have o’ yours?” Duncan asked Nik.
“Luukas.”
“Luukas??” Cedric breathed. His mouth hung open in shock, and Duncan and Lucian echoed his astonishment. “That’s no’ possible! How can that happen? He’s a master vampire.”
“Luukas took it upon himself to go and confront her. Alone. He refused to let me or anyone else come with him. He never came back.”
“When did this happen??” Duncan asked.
“Seven years ago,” Nik admitted.
“Sevenyears?” Cedric breathed. “How did we no’ ken aboot this? I ken we’ve been busy, but seven years…”
“We may have had a bit to do with that,” Aiden said.
