Page 71 of The Vampire’s Temptation

He’d given it much consideration.

“She would never forgive me if I did not.”

Lawrence’s cup clanked on the table between them as he put down his mug.

“Your logic is faulty, Kenton. Either the Cheld are too dangerous to live, whether they choose to be hunters or not, or you admit the opposite is true.”

He wasn’t wrong. And yet, Kenton could not banish the memory of his mother’s death—or of the many other vampires who had been cut down by Alessandra’s kind. Some had not even posed a threat to humans, but the Cheld, like any other group, included members with extreme opinions.

“I don’t dispute you,” he said finally. “But here I am asking for your help nonetheless.”

Lawrence sighed.

“We will help you.”

He’d sensed Laria nearby. She crested the top of the stairs and sat in the empty chair beside her brother. Looking down at the town below, she said, “If your brothers know you’re here—”

“They don’t.”

“They will eventually.”

The Derrickson’s kept tabs on his family, as they did the Scots. Neither family stayed apart for long being on opposite sides of a mission, and she knew as well as he did that his brothers would eventually descend on Stone Haven too. It would not happen yet, though. They’d not contacted him in weeks, which told him neither Drake nor Rowan had yet realized Alessandra or her brother lived.

As the eldest in his family, it was usually he who sensed the Cheld’s presence first. Even so, if he’d not come across her in New Orleans, Alessandra may never have come in contact with a vampire. Might never have aroused. But now that she had . . .

“I wish you would reconsider your stance—” Lawrence began.

“I won’t.” That was not negotiable.

“What’s your plan?”

Hell had officially frozen over. He and the chief were on the same side. And they had to make it count. Alessandra’s life was at stake.

“I was hoping you would tell me. Obviously you’ve managed to cloak the Cheld from our awareness, otherwise—”

“They would all be dead,” Laria said, her tone flat.

He would make no apologies for that.

“Yes.”

“We need to think about this,” Lawrence said. “Find a way to help her without giving you the means to destroy our family.”

Kenton had expected as much. The Derrickson siblings had kept a secret, one Kenton had long since abandoned trying to solve, for over seven hundred years. He didn’t expect Lawrence to reveal the truth about how to cloak the Cheld to him now. They were enemies yet.

He stood. “I don’t know how much longer it will be. Her abilities grow—”

“And therefore so does our kind’s awareness of her existence,” Laria finished.

He turned to leave, pleased by the outcome even as dread filled his very core for what lay ahead. “Thank you,” he said.

He descended the stairs before he could see how they reacted, but he could well imagine it. Kenton Morley thanking the great chief of Clan Karyn and his sister for their assistance.

Shaking his head, he took a deep breath of the clean, small-town air, knowing his time here was coming to an end. Alessandra’s was as well, though she did not yet know it, though she would not likely wish to leave.

But now that he’d elicited the Derricksons’ help, he could see her again. The anticipation of it told him he had done the right thing. Alessandra Fiore had reached into his chest and grabbed hold of his heart. The question was, would she tear it out?