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Opening it, he realized he hadn’t seen Ian in months. He’d missed the warrior. “Ian.”
The mastyr wore sunglasses most of the time, despite the complete lack of sunlight. He said they calmed him and if anyone needed calming, it was Ian. He had a battle fervor like nothing Zane had ever seen.
The brother took off his shades. The mastyrs with access points to the U.S East Coast had a wild reputation, a lot of it due to Ian who fought like a whirlwind when he faced the Invictus.
He had cause.
He’d lost more than one entire village to Invictus depredations over the centuries, which had hardened the warrior.
Ian narrowed his gaze and rubbed a hand over his c
hin. “You look … fit, Zane.”
He wasn’t given much to conversing.
Zane nodded. “And you look like hell.”
“That’s the plan. Might as well have the exterior match the shit inside.” He glanced at the house. “Regan doesn’t want to see me, does she?”
“No. Not even a little.”
Ian turned up the walk, moving away from the house a few feet. “Fine by me. We didn’t leave things on pleasant terms. And there are some things you never forget.” He looked off to the side, his lips compressed. “I wasn’t very kind to her.”
“As I recall, you’d gone through a bad stretch.”
“And you’ve just made one hell of an understatement. We’d lost Raven’s Overlook. But nothing about the situation could justify the way I behaved.” He huffed a sigh. “Well, fuck those memories and tell me what you need.”
He gave Ian a more thorough rundown of what had happened since Margetta had abducted him. He added details about the Dead Zone camp and of course, Olivia.
Ian listened intently, asking penetrating questions now and then. Zane hadn’t wanted to make a big deal about Olivia being a blood rose, but Ian let the questions fly until Zane was telling him just about everything, short of describing the sex.
Ian just shook his head. “Including you, I’m counting seven of the ruling mastyrs in all.”
“Looks like it.”
“Sweet Goddess. And there really is no more pain?”
Still in a state of disbelief himself, Zane took a moment to search his abdomen, wondering if a residual amount remained. But he couldn’t feel even the mildest twisting in his gut. “It’s gone. Centuries of pain, just gone.”
Ian grunted and scowled. “But in order to keep her, you’ll have to bond, which I understand is a permanent situation.”
“It is, which is why we haven’t bonded yet, or if we even will. But let me tell you, the drive toward a blood rose is beyond comprehension.” He told him about Ely at the Elf Lords Hideaway and how only Olivia’s intervention had prevented him from killing a fellow mastyr vampire.
“Then you’d best keep me away from your woman.”
“You’d better believe I will.”
Once Ian had run out of questions, Zane contacted Sawyer, letting him know Ian was now in Swanicott and the powerful mastyr would be heading to Helms Watch.
Zane gripped Ian’s shoulder and squeezed. “You ready for this?”
A slow smile overspread Ian’s lips. “Hell, yeah. Any chance to kill some Invictus.”
Zane grinned as well. “You got that right.”
When Zane released Ian’s shoulder, Ian nodded a couple of times, then put his sunglasses back on. A moment later, he took to the air.
Watching him fly, eased Zane. Part of him even started to relax a little, knowing another mastyr had his back.
