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“You will have to drink a potion that I would make for you. It must contain your blood in hers and her blood in yours.” She shrugged as if this was no big deal.
“I’m not a fucking vampire! That’s revolting,” I snarled through gritted teeth.
“Aren’t you?” A single brow rose, and she smirked. “You steal memories, thoughts, experiences from those you touch. Is that so very different?”
“You think I enjoy it?”
“Of course not,” she scoffed. “But it is what it is.”
“The point of my going away was supposedly to give me, Jasmine, and Angel time to cool off. You also instructed me to work on gaining control of my abilities—which I did, by the way. So why isn’t that enough? I just need to make sure I keep them under control,” I argued, my frustration building.
“Impossible. There is no way you would maintain control in moments of great emotion. Anger, terror, ecstasy; they all rob you of the ability to control yourself.” She shook her head ruefully.
“So unless we do some crazy-ass ritual and drink each other’s blood like vampires, we’re doomed?” I asked as I shook my head in disbelief.
“Don’t be dramatic. I didn’t say that, but things will be as they are. Deal with it or try to change it. The choice is yours—well, and Jasmine’s. You must talk to her because the clock is ticking. It must be done before she has the baby.”
“Why?”
“Because it is the only way the baby will have immunity directly from its mother. Unless you changed your mind and you don’t want to touch your child without gloves. It matters not to me, young Nico. I’m only an old woman trying to help.” She took another swallow of my drink. The woman didn’t so much as flinch at the straight whiskey. She had me in awe.
“What about if we have other children? Will we need to do this every fucking time?”
“Language! And in answer to your question, no. The transformation will be permanent once it has been done.” She flicked a hand my direction, setting off the jingle of a wrist full of silver bangles.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, properly chastised.
“You cannot force this on her. Though you are fated to be together, she has suffered damage to her soul. That can sometimes sever even the closest of bonds. Decker saw this, and that is why you were sent away. Not only to keep you and Jude from ripping each other apart and to learn to control your abilities.” The woman rarely referred to any of us by our road names, yet when she came to visit, she stayed at the clubhouse in a guest room, not with Hawk and Julia or Voodoo and Kira. It was strange, but it was what she wanted, therefore she got it.
“If our bond has been that damaged, what’s the point?”
“The point is, I believe this is fixable. She has made great strides, yet she still believes herself unworthy of you or any man. It will be up to you to prove she is, because she must be certain.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“That has not been revealed to me yet.” She abruptly stood, the barstool scraping the floor. “You’re a smart boy. Figure it out.” Without a goodnight, goodbye, kiss my ass, nothing, she walked off. As she reached the entrance to the back hall, she turned. “Speak to Voodoo.”
Then she soundlessly went to her room.
The next morning, I woke feeling as if I hadn’t slept a wink. My sleep was plagued with nightmares of the wolf I always thought I saw when I was younger. In my dream, it killed Jasmine, then ate our baby. It was so horrific that I rushed to the bathroom and hurled until I thought my stomach would turn inside out.
When I was sure I was done, I stood on shaking legs and ran a trembling hand over my face before I rinsed my mouth, brushed my teeth, and used mouthwash twice. It took all that to remove the bitter taste of fear from my tongue.
Remembering Madame Laveaux’s instructions, I dressed. My eyes caught on the necklace I wore. It was such a part of me, I often forgot I wore it. I ran my fingertips over the smooth curves and realized my dreams might be because I’d always been obsessed with wolves. I laughed at my ridiculous mind for making me dream such stupid shit.
Once I had my keys, wallet, pistol, and had slipped on my cut, I went out to the common area. Not wanting to waste time, I went into the kitchen where several of the members were sitting at the long table. I grabbed a biscuit, loaded it with eggs, cheese, and bacon. As I passed the table, I swiped a piece of bacon off Ghost’s plate.
“Hey! There’s more right there!” He pointed to the buffet Reya was refilling. Her colored-contact enhanced green eyes looked over at me, and she gave me a once-over with a wanton gaze. It was no secret she thought she’d eventually become an ol’ lady and didn’t care who the patch was.
Not happening. She’d been with every brother here at one time or another, which was whatever, but that wasn’t ol’ lady material. She was also crazy as fuck, and I didn’t have time for her bullshit.
“Yours is better,” I said with a grin before I shoved the entire piece in my mouth and walked out to his grumbling.
Halfway to the door, I stopped when he called out to me. “Yeah?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Okay?” I drew out the word. “But I need to get going. I’m supposed to go see Jasmine.”
