Page 81 of Guardians for the Vamp
I don’t need to explain. She nods, knowing the reason these two were brought into my life now instead of decades or centuries ago was to save me in my weakest moment. It was only a matter of time before the hunters caught up to me.
“Did Erebos not realize that you two would have been able to find me?” I ask.
“I’m guessing he believed the spells placed on the room would have prevented the bond tracker from working,” Thorne says, appearing in the doorway. He leans against the frame, arms crossed, looking so handsome in his black shirt and pants. “Normally, I can picture both of your locations in my head, but I couldn’t see you this time. Whatever spell was placed on the room made it harder to picture you but it’s as if our bodies knew where to go… as if following an invisible trail. It got stronger the closer we got to the abandoned building where they were keeping you.”
“An abandoned building? How cliché. Where was this abandoned building?”
“Near JFK Airport in Queens.”
Thorne walks into the room and joins us at the side of the bed. He palms my cheek.
“I heard your thoughts warning me about the knife. They were weak, but I heard them. You saved my life as well.”
“Did you capture him? The human who caught me?” I ask.
Thorne winces. “He got away. There were at least a dozen humans in this hunter clan. We killed half of them.”
“What I can’t understand,” I say, shaking my head, “is why they used wooden bullets in that first attack if they weren’t targeting Layla.”
“We managed to capture one human and get a little info from him before he broke the kill pill in his mouth. They wanted to kill Layla and incapacitate me so they could kidnap us both. Two for one deal. A gargoyle’s horns and a sphinx’s feathers. As for the second attack, Erebos planted the bomb in the SUV. The plan was to put Layla inside and pull you and me aside for whatever reason. Then the bomb was supposed to explode, killing Layla and causing a distraction and allowing the hunters to grab us. But when I stopped us just outside the door, sensing something was wrong, the hunters panicked, and they set off the bomb prematurely.”
“Idiots,” I grumble. “Is that all you found out?”
“Rory said they were also planning a bigger attack at the conference.”
“Rory?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Thorne chuckles, shaking his head. “Turns out I was right—he can read human minds. Some supernatural minds too, but they’re not as easy.”
I scoff. Rory is still creepy as fuck.
“Okay, if they were planning a bigger attack, then why the letter warning us to cancel it?”
“That’s the confusing part.” My mate shakes his head, clearly exhausted from dealing with this over the last few days. “My only explanation is that whoever put it there went rogue. There was never supposed to be a letter. Which is why we believe a witch is being forced to help the hunters. There are certain jewels that can be used to control witches, and whoever they have in their custody might have been trying to warn us.”
Layla gasps. “I’ve heard about those jewels. That's absolutely horrible.”
“It is.” Thorne sighs. “I hate that I couldn’t prevent this. I should have caught warning signs while vetting Erebos. He came highly recommended.”
“Everyone has secrets,” I say. “Even me.”
“Oh yeah?” Layla laughs. “Do you plan on sharing them with us?”
I shrug and the vampire rolls her eyes.
Thorne places a gentle kiss on my lips, then turns to Layla.
“We should let her rest.”
“I’m not tired,” I say and yawn.
Dammit.
“You can barely keep your eyes open,” Layla says, amused.
“Fine, but when I wake up, we’re going to have so much sex.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Thorne says, giving me a wink, “I have an idea for that when you wake up.”
