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Cat cocked her head. “You told people what I was, but I bet they had trouble believing you. Everyone does until they see it. Want me to give them a demonstration? I mean, you’ve got all these guests, but so far, they haven’t seen anything exciting.”
Bones’s hands tightened into fists. No one around him noticed. They were too fixated on the spectacle below.
When I told you to be prepared for anything, I didn’t mean toinstigateit, Kitten!
“What are you offering for a demonstration, my lovely Reaper?” Ian asked, clearly intrigued.
“Bring out your strongest fighter,” Cat said. “I’ll beat ‘em with only what I’ve got on now.”
She even spun in a circle, billowing the wisps of fabric around her thighs to reveal that the skimpy top of her dress was connected to the bottom like a risqué leotard.
Ian’s grin was all too pleased as he watched. “And what do you want if you win?”
Cat stopped spinning. “One of my men back unharmed, and I get to pick which one.”
Ian’s gaze raked her. His sire wasn’t stupid, so he must realize that Cat had an advantage that wasn’t readily apparent. But Ian also knew that if he refused the challenge an unarmed, human-looking woman issued, he would appear weak.
“Agreed,” Ian finally said.
“Good, I’ll take Noah,” Cat said at once.
Ian’s tone hardened. “You have to win first.”
Bones stood. “Before this circus begins, I have an issue to settle with you, Ian. I would have skipped this event had you not commanded me to appear, and that is the rub. I wish to be under no one’s authority but my own, and it’s time. Release me.”
Shock leaked through their tie as Ian’s shields slipped. Then, it was gone, and Ian’s expression turned to glass.
“We’ll speak on this later, Crispin, when there aren’t so many distractions.”
Bones waved at the crowd. “There’s no better time than now, with all present to observe tradition. I want nothing when I leave apart from what is mine by right-the vampires I’ve created, their possessions, and all my human property. I’ve waited long enough, Ian,” he added when his sire’s expression turned mutinous. “I’m not waiting any longer.”
“And if I refuse?” Ian asked coldly. “Are you threatening to challenge me to win your freedom?”
Bones didn’t blink. “Yes, but why the need? Our paths go back to our humanity, and we shouldn’t part with one of us dead out of mere stubbornness. Release me by your favor and not by a fight, for that is my wish.”
With a pang, Bones realized it was still true despite all of tonight. Yes, he wanted to smash Ian’s face in for everything he was doing to Cat, but he didn’t want to kill him, and heshould.
Lucifer’s burning bollocks, had he actually come to love his smarmy sire? What rotten luck.
The crowd was so silent Bones could hear every beat of Cat’s heart. Ian stared at him, his expression giving nothing away while his shields remained locked down. Bones stared back, not a muscle moving even when Ian withdrew a silver knife and came toward him.
Was the duel about to begin?
Ian went up to Bones, his turquoise gaze glinting green and his aura blasting out until Bones felt like sparks were beating against his skin. Ian’s knife was between them, blade out, its tip mere inches from Bones’s heart.
“You disappoint me,” Ian hissed so low that Bones could barely hear him.
Bones’s shoulders flexed; the closest he could come to a shrug with all his energy coiled and ready to strike. “Not everything is about you, Ian.”
His sire let out a derisive grunt, but then the green left his gaze, and he flipped his knife inward.
“Go, then, and be Master of your own line,” Ian said in a newly loud voice. “Subject to none but yourself and the laws that govern all of Cain’s children. I, Ian, release you.”
Bones had to fight to keep his walls up so the vampires he’d made didn’t feel the relief gushing through him. Ian didn’t know it, but with these ancient, ceremonial words, he’d just released Cat, too.
“You all bear witness,” Bones called out.
Nods and calls of “we do” completed the ritual.
