Page 78 of A Vampire Bewitched
“Yeah. NO. I won’t risk you. You’ll stay out here until it’s safe for you to come in. I’ll find Keira personally, and make sure she’s not harmed. Once I know it’s safe, I’ll bring her to you.” He should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.
“Oh, really? And who’s going to protect me when the wolves run off, hmm? I’ll be out here all alone. What if there are more of those?” She pointed where the last remaining pieces of the victims of Nik’s temper were flaking away. “And they find me?”
She was playing dirty, and he knew it, but there was no way in hell he was bringing her.
Nik wasn’t going to let her sway him. “Once Cedric and the guys get in there, it’ll be over quickly. You will stay outside, hidden, where it’s safe. This is not up for discussion.”
She agreed. “You’re right. This is not up for discussion. Because I’m coming with you.”
“Let her come, Nikky-boy,” Aiden told him. “It’s all right. There won’t be any fighting. She’s expecting me.”
Nik was confused. “She’s expecting you? Who’s expecting you?”
Aiden grinned. “Leeha.”
Once again, Nik was struck speechless by the words coming out of his friend’s mouth. “Leeha.Leeha—the bitch from hell—isexpectingyou.”
“Yes.That’s what I’m telling you.”
Nik glanced around at the others, but everyone else looked as confused as he did. “And why, exactly, would she be expecting you, Aid?”
Hands on his narrow hips, Aiden rolled his grey eyes heavenward. He spoke slowly, enunciating each word carefully. “Because. She rang me. And invited me over.”
Nik stared at Aiden blankly for a long moment. Opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Opened it again, and then shook his head.
He had nothing.
Duncan exchanged knowing grins with Aiden. “Aye. So ye've been keeping in touch wi' th' lassie.” He gave a shrug of one brawny shoulder. “Canna say that I blame ye. Bonnie as she is.”
“Wait a minute. Hold everything.” Something had just occurred to Nik. And it didn’t bode well for his buddy. “You mean to tell me you’ve been keeping in touch with the bitch who’s been doing God knows what to my brother all this time? And you never told me?” He barely managed to get the words out between his gritted teeth.
Please, tell me Aiden is not so stupid as to let Luukas suffer all this time for nothing.
The smile slipped slowly from his face as Aiden held his hands up, palms out, in front of him. “Nikulas…mate…she didn’t ring me all that often. And she never, ever, gave me any idea where she was. I tried to get it out of her, I did! I’m not a complete arse. But she never slipped. Not once.” With an admiring tone, he admitted, “She’s quite a crafty little twit, that one is.”
Sometimes, Nik had to wonder if he really knew Aiden at all. “She’s had your number, your secret cell number you’re not supposed to give to anyone, all this time.”
“Yes, and no,” Aiden hedged. “She has a cell number, but only to my prepaid phone, not my super secret one. That’s how I knew she was back here.” He looked Nik directly in the eye, and his grey eyes pleaded with Nik to believe him. “I’ve really been trying, mate. She has a thing for me, you know, and I was hoping to get some info out of her about Luukas, but no dice. I would’ve told you, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up unless I’d actually gotten something useful out of her. I didn’t. I’m sorry.” Pushing his hood off of his head in frustration, he scratched the top of his dark head until his short hair stood straight up.
Nik didn’t know what to say.
Emma looked back and forth between the guys. “Good. Then it’s settled. I’m coming with you.” And with that, she turned on her heal and started following the creek downstream. Aiden smiled broadly and fell in behind her, leaving Nik little choice but to follow them.
Walking fast to catch up with them, Nik looked back over his shoulder at the three wolves. “Stay hidden. I’ll give a whistle when it’s time.”
He broke into an easy jog to catch up with Emma before she tripped over something in the dark—she was really pretty quick for a human when she wanted to be. He didn’t look back again as the wolves dispersed into the trees, completely trusting them to not fuck up the plan.
He hoped that trust wasn’t misplaced.
Traveling at human speed to accommodate Emma, the vampires were silent as they approached the area Nik had drawn out in the dirt.
At Aiden’s insistence that “truly, she’s expecting me”, they didn’t sneak inside, but followed the creek, striding boldly up to the opening at the base of the snow-capped mountain. It loomed over them ominously.
Nik glanced around surreptitiously as the tunnel closed in around them. The creek narrowed once inside, the sound of the water picking up speed as it rushed over the smooth bed it had cut out of the rock over time. Something didn’t feel right, but he didn’t see or hear anything unusual.
Still, the hair rose on the back of his neck. They were being watched.
Indicating for Aiden to lead the way, he kept Emma close to his side and slightly in front of him, peering back over his shoulder every few feet or so.
