“Drained,” Ronan said, and the word punched me in the gut. Ronan gave me a moment to process this before continuing. “He fed on both of them, consumed by bloodlust. It was essentially an overdose—way too much, too fast, his system couldn’t process it all. Somehow he made it back to us, and we got him stabilized.”
“Speaking of feeding,” Darius said. “I don’t suppose either of you knows where a vampire like me could get a… bite?”
“But then he attacked a demon?” I asked, ignoring Darius. “Deirdre said something about it.”
“I came out of the hell portal with you, but Darius had already gotten through ahead of us. I found him feeding on one of Sebastian’s guards.”
“Nowthat’ssomething I do remember,” Darius said. “I’m not quite sure I’ll ever get the taste of that filth out of my mouth.” Darius laughed, a sound I’d never heard before. It wasn’thislaugh. It belonged to some other vampire, some other time, some other place.
It occurred to me then just how fragile everything really was—for each of us. Every day was like walking on the edge of a knife. One misstep…
We had absolutely zero control.
Yet somehow, we kept walking along that blade anyway.
“Let’s go.” Ronan tugged on my sweatshirt, careful not to touch my skin.
I jerked away from him. Better that he not touch me at all. “We can’t leave him here, Ronan. Not like this.”
“There’s nothing we can do right now,” Ronan said, his tone suddenly gentle. This was hurting him just as it was hurting me. I had to remember that. “He doesn’t know us anymore, Gray.”
Darius scoffed. “The fact that you’ve detained me against my will, dressed me in these bargain basement atrocities, starved me, and poisoned me with hawthorn tells meeverythingI need to know about you, demon.” He turned his gaze back on me, that same cold grin sliding across his face. “You, on the other hand…”
Darius closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose, inhaling my scent again. Naively, I waited for him to show me his real smile, to look at me with even the faintest glimmer of recognition.
But when he opened his eyes again, there was nothing. Only that icy smile that sent chills to my very core.
“You really are an absolutely lovely creature,” he murmured, his deep voice sliding down my spine like a caress.
I felt my body inching toward him, seeking his touch as if by muscle memory. I leaned in close to the wall, right to where his un-staked hand was bound, just close enough for him to graze my face.
Ronan stiffened behind me, but didn’t stop me.
Darius flexed his hand, reaching out to stroke my cheek with one elegant finger, his thumb pressing the dip in my bottom lip, and I shivered, my breath catching in my throat.
His touch was so familiar. If I closed my eyes, I could almost believe it was still him. That Darius was still with us. That he’d beaten the odds and regained his memories and—
“Gray.” A firm grip on my shoulder, the too-warm touch that quickly led to smoke, and Ronan was easing me backward, out of Darius’s reach once again.
Ronan released me.
I stood between them, Ronan at my back, Darius before me, and felt myself waver. Memories seized me, flashing images of our night together at the safe house, Ronan taking me from behind, Darius lying beneath me, touching me, bringing me endless pleasures…
I’d felt so loved, so cared for. So safe. In that moment, I’d known without a doubt that as long as we had each other, nothing bad could ever touch us.
If only I’d known that it was just that—a moment. Here, then gone.
That night, their touch felt like home.
This night, a touch from either of them could kill me.
Darius unleashed a faint moan, his eyes darkening with a look of pure, unadulterated lust.
“Whatever you’re thinking about,” Ronan told me, “whatever you’re feeling, he’s picking up on it.”
I felt my cheeks flame and forced myself to look away.
“Deirdre said she’ll brew something to ease his suffering,” Ronan said. “It should help neutralize the effects of the overdose and diminish the bloodlust—Emilio’s sister did the same thing before. But I’m afraid neither of them can do anything about his memories.”
