Page 54 of Don't Bite the Botanist
“They’re notmyweakness, you thunder cunt,” Derrick growled as he sent a dagger flying straight for faux Cora’s exposed back.
Renata dropped Saiden and dove to the side, allowing the blade to sink into Saiden’s gut.
“Derrick!” Saiden grunted, yanking the weapon out.
Derrick grimaced and mouthed, “Oops,” as he drew another dagger.
They both whipped around to resume their attack on Renata only to find her…
Gone.
They all scanned the surrounding area, and Tressa opened her senses, searching for any sound as to where Renata disappeared to, but there was nothing.
“We need to get out of here before she returns,” Saiden said, pressing his hand to the bleeding stomach wound. “I need to feed and let this heal.”
“I’m good on food,” Derrick said, “but my balls could use a break before we take her on again. That was not a love tap.” He rubbed his crotch gingerly, and Tressa rolled her eyes. Her cousin would be fine in a minute, he just liked to whine.
“My Aston Martin is down the road since someone ‘borrowed’ my McLaren,” Saiden told Tressa with a glare that didn’t hold much sincere anger. “We’ll head back over there, and I won’t leave until I see you drive past. Don’t take too long, though. We have no idea if she left or is just waiting.”
“Got it,” she told him, then took a step closer to examine the gashes on his neck. They were ugly, but not so bad that time and a couple blood bags wouldn’t fix him up.
Derrick clapped her on the shoulder and gestured to Ethan. “You know how you’re going to handle that?”
Tressa sighed. Every scenario she’d planned for telling Ethan went out the window when Renata had shown up. “Not really,” she admitted.
He grinned. “Well, if you need to know what he’s thinking, I could always—”
Tressa slammed a hand on Derrick’s mouth. “I’m in enough trouble as is, so don’t even think about using your Gift on him.”
Derrick shrugged and peeled her hand away from his face. “Suit yourself. I offered.”
He and Saiden started to walk away, and Tressa called out, “Hey guys?”
They glanced over their shoulders at her.
“Thanks,” she told them. She spared a quick look at Ethan, then turned back to them. “I… We appreciate it.”
Saiden studied Ethan who was resting against the car and rubbing his scalp where Renata had grabbed his hair. “That’s what family is for. Now get him out of here before I regret saving your ass. Don’t think I didn’t notice the dents in my car.” His voice was teasing when he mentioned the McLaren, but the order to get moving was still firm, so she nodded.
Her cousins blurred away, and she cautiously approached Ethan. The whole fight couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes, but every one of those minutes was visible in the hard lines of his face.
She would have preferred fear or shock or anything else. The urge to reach for her ability tugged at her, reminding her that she could smooth the worst of it over with a little calming from her Gift, but she couldn’t bring herself to use it. Not on her mate. Whatever happened, she wouldn’t lie to him again.
“Ethan?” she said, taking another cautious step toward him and holding out her hand.
He stared at it blankly, then pushed away from the car. His eyes fixed on hers, analyzing. Contemplating.
Judging.
“Please say something,” she whispered.
There was no love in his voice, no softness at all, when he said, “What do you want me to say, Tressa?”
She dropped her hand, accepting she might have lost the right totouch him ever again. “Anything. Please just talk to me. I’ll answer all the questions you have. I’ll explain everything. Just give me that chance. I swear I’m not a monster. I would never hurt you.”
He cocked his head to the side, and for a brief moment, she thought he might be willing to hear her out. But that flash of possibility disappeared with a blink, his slate gray eyes filling with cold, calculating anger.
“She mentioned my research,” he said after a long, bitter silence. “That’s why you saved me in the hospital, isn’t it? You weren’t there to make sure I was safe or help me get revenge. Fuck, I should have known with all that good vampire bullshit you spewed. You say you’re not a monster, but you’re just like her. Manipulating me for whatever endgame you have. Lying to me. Hell, my research got Jake killed, and you let me believe it was a random vampire attack. You never cared about me at all, did you?”
