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Jacksonkeptalowprofile in Calgary. Like Dominique, he would be recognizable to any member of the colony. Unlike the Lord of Night, he didn’t have the luxury of cloaking himself in obscurity. So while Dominique shadowed Cassidy and Francesca as they checked in at Le Germain Hotel under assumed identities, Jackson kept Dominique’s swords company in the back of their hired ride.
For being so short—not even ninety minutes—the flight from Vancouver in the middle of the night ranked as one of the longest in Jackson’s life. The posh cabin of Garrett’s G450 had been crammed with seven vampires and four humans, and between Carly’s catatonic vamp state and Francesca’s mounting anxiety, every one of them had been on edge.
But the worst part for Jackson was seeing Cassidy so drawn and exhausted as she curled against Dominique’s shoulder. Some security he had turned out to be. The loss she and Dominique incurred because of Jackson’s carelessness sat on him like an elephant. Especially considering the other news he received today.
Being on this plane with Dominique didn’t help either. It wasn’t the same plane Jackson had trapped him in three years ago, but it was the same model with similar decor. Back then, he had been beside himself with rage over failing to kill Dominique. Now he was beside himself with guilt over having tried so hard.
The car’s passenger door opened and Dominique dropped into the seat. “They are settled,” he reported. “And there is no trace of blood-drinkers in the area.”
The driver, as thoroughly compelled as the pilots had been to hear and see nothing out of the ordinary, pulled the car out of the lot and merged into the early morning traffic.
“I called Sam,” Jackson said, toying with his phone and trying to purge the dark thoughts from his head before they hit Dominique’s radar. “She and Étienne will leave the house for a while. In case there are any more unwelcome guests.”
Dominique didn’t look at him. “I know.”
“Shit. Are you really in my head all the time right now?”
“Only when I want to be. Or when your thinking becomes exceptionally noisy.”
“Nice.”
Dominique turned in his seat. “Jackson. I do not blame you for what happened to Cassidy. She lives. Truly, that is all that matters. And I am eternally grateful for your help in keeping her that way. Again. You are making a habit of saving her when I cannot.”
“But—”
“But the plane,oui,” he said with a pained little noise and a mischievous glint in his eyes. “True. That I may never forgive.”
Jackson leaned back and plastered his hands over his face.Stop. Just stop.“I know what you’re trying to do, and it so happens that I don’twantto feel better, okay?”
“I would be a poor friend if I allowed that,” Dominique said, serious again. “Not with this waiting for you.”
“What? Is that…? Give me my phone.” He snatched the device out of Dominique’s unresisting hand. It was open to Ollie’s text message which had reached him while Cassidy was fighting for her life in the OR. “Look what we did!” his bride wrote along with a long string of excited emojis—and a black-and-white image of her first ultrasound. Jackson felt hit over the head all over again. Twins. They were going to have twin girls.
“Congratulations,” Dominique whispered.
Jackson wrestled with his emotions for the better part of a mile. He chewed his lower lip, rubbed his chin, the back of his head, but he didn’t trust his voice to utter his greatest fear.What if I fail them, too?
“You will not. I will not permit it.”
“You?” he croaked.
“Oui. Moi.They will needun oncle,non?” The mischief was back.
God help them, he thought, and put the phone away. “Maybe we should get out of this mess in one piece before we redraw my family tree.”
“We will,” Dominique said, sobering again. “The only way we can fail is if I end up at Adilla’s mercy. And that will never happen again.”
Couldnot happen again. Not if any of them were going to walk away from this. Jackson wondered if Dominique would try to sacrifice himself again to take them all down, if it came to that.
“I could try,” Dominique mused, turning back to the city lights sweeping past. “But Isao and his young ones would sacrifice themselves to stop me first.”
I would stop you, too, Jackson thought before he could stop himself and was grateful that this merited no comment beyond a twitch of Dominique’s lip.
As per plan, the car deposited them at a mall parking lot just off the Trans-Canada. One by one, Isao’s group melted out of the shadows surrounding a Canadian Tire store and formed a loose protective ring around their lord and Jackson.
Everyone was now armed, not just Isao and Makoto, the professional sword-slingers who had brought their weapons on the plane with them. Somewhere, the other four had found similar weapons in the past hour and now carried them with varying degrees of confidence. As they waited, Lyle tried to teach his sister how to handle her knife. Supernatural speed did not help the girl hold on to it as it continued to slip from her fingers. Should she end up in a confrontation with anything more than an ordinary mortal, Jackson pegged her chances of survival somewhere south of none. Dominique shifted beside him, and Jackson thought he heard the Lord of Night sigh.
The Sunseeker RV that lumbered into the lot was the size of a small, boxy bus and wore the dull patina of generous use. Garrett put it in park and opened the door. “Pool’s open.”
