Page 33 of Tethered Fates

“They have Summer?” Kai kicks the sheets away so he can climb out of the bed.

I stifle the little kid inside me that wants to reach out for Kai to keep him close.

“Not Summer,” the silver-eyed man replies before moving aside as Vidar marches in with all the grace of a battering ram heading directly for Kai. “Something deadlier.”

Chapter Thirteen - Sen

Imove to block Kate, my shoulder brushing against Vidar’s. Luc’s forearm remains locked around the struggling blood mage. The tension builds in the stifling flat until the peculiar, scentless mage isn’t the only one struggling to take in a full breath.

Bran is dangerous.

He shifts between enemy and friend at the drop of a hat. When looking for a drinking buddy or someone to cause a little chaos, there’s no one more fun. But with Teagan’s life on the line, I want certainty, not an unpredictable vampire already ancient when he made Vidar a thousand years ago.

“You spend your days with blood mages now?” Vidar asks, his deep voice growling with distrust.

Bran grins, and I have to work to maintain eye contact. Something about seeing his handsome, youthful face stretched over bones that should’ve turned to dust a long time ago has always sent a shiver down my spine.

“I could say the very same for you, offspring,” Bran speaks like he doesn’t have a care in the world, and he’s laughing at anyone who does. “How is Astra Roth? She’s now the blood mage leader, if I’m not mistaken.”

“Did you just bite me?” Lucero asks out of nowhere, somehow sounding both uninterested and annoyed.

“Let me fucking go!” the mage chokes, enraged.

Luc shakes him like a wet ragdoll. “Do it again, and I’ll snap your neck.”

Behind me, I hear Kate shift. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s gearing up to arrest the vampire well over three thousand years old for breaking and entering. As entertaining as that would be, I’ve come here for one reason, so Kate and her sensible pantsuit will have to take a backseat.

“Cut the bullshit, Bran,” I say, impatient and ignoring Kate’s indignant sniff. “Why are you here? Does this have something to do with Summer?”

Bran’s intense brown eyes, shot through with flecks of yellow, slowly move to capture the whole of me. I square my shoulders. He might’ve convinced a village he was a living god eight hundred years ago for the fun of it, but the only way I’m getting on my knees for this psycho is if he cuts my legs off.

“Have you found your soulmate yet, Sen?”

Vidar nearly rips my arm off to keep me in my place when I go for Bran, rage hot and fangs bared. “What do you fucking know about him?”

Bran’s eyes glint with an emotion I’ve never seen in the ancient vampire. One that he hides behind his many masks so quickly, I could’ve mistaken the intensity of it for something else. But I’m sure it was… relief.

“Bran!” the blood mage barks. “Fucking help me out here!”

Bran’s lips quirk up. “Lucero, would you mind dropping Elio?”

No one speaks for a long time.

Vidar gives a single stiff nod.

Thump—Elio hits the floor, swearing while rubbing his bruised neck. He jumps up and storms to Bran’s side, glowering at the smirking vampire.

“What took you so long?” Elio snarks.

“You were doing so well on your own,” Bran replies, strolling towards the window covered in a fine layer of dust.

“Sen,” Kate hisses behind me. “What’s this guy’s deal?”

I clench my teeth, wishing Kate were anywhere else. It’d be so easy to compel her away. But my detective, with her moral code and steady determination that’ll one day get her killed, once made me promise never to play with her mind.

A promise I’ve upheld, and regretted.

“You should really leave, detective,” Luc drawls.