“Why didn’t you say that before?” Cassie asked. “Do it. Do it now. Use my blood.”
“She didn’t tell us,” Troy said, “because there’s a catch. Why didn’t you tell us this earlier?” Aylia licked her lips nervously. “There are risks. Cassie, or the wolf who completes the blood bond, could potentially be infected by the virus.”
His hands tightened on Cassie’s shoulders. “So she could become a Red Wolf and end up on the chopping block with me.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes,” Aylia confirmed.
“I don’t care,” Cassie said, facing him, her hands on his chest. “I’ll do it. I have to do it. We have to do this.”
“No, you don’t,” Troy said. “We don’t. We aren’t.”
“We are.”
His hands framed her face, his expression tender. “You risked your life for me back in Reno and then again today by giving me your vein when I was out of my mind. I owe you so much and I’ve done everything wrong with you. I can’t ever make those things up to you. I won’t allow you to risk yourself for me again.”
“Yes,” she said. “You can make it all up to me because we’re doing the blood bond.”
He shook his head. “No, Cass. No. Unless Aylia can come up with an option that doesn’t put you at risk, this is a closed subject.”
Cassie turned to Aylia, and she immediately shook her head. “This is the best I can do without the original spell that is cast into the necklace.”
“The necklace,” Cassie repeated. “You’re telling me you can undo this with the necklace?”
“If I had the necklace, then yes, I could bind the Red virus in Troy and give him control without any risk to you or anyone else.”
Cassie stood there as both hope and hell seemed to claim her at once. Nico was her brother, and she loved him. He was honorable, a warrior of warriors. But he had Aylia’s necklace. He’d met with Andres more than one time. Nico held Troy’s life in his hands and to save Troy, she had to face the fact that she might lose Nico. Or worse, she could lose them both.
“I need… some air,” Cassie said, as a sudden rush of adrenaline overcame her. She shot for the living room and the front door.
“Cassie!” Troy yelled and she heard him say something to Marcus, but she didn’t tune into what. Her thoughts were too loud, too consuming.
Cassie was at the front door, and outside in seconds. She started to run, but didn’t know where to go. Thunder rolled overhead, no doubt, extending the darkness of night. But it didn’t matter – dark or light. The sun would rise soon, but the idea that vampires could not stand sunlight was a myth. Troy would follow her.
Her mind raced with options she weeded through and discarded. She yearned to shift, to escape with her wolf, to run and work through her emotions. She could dash for Nico’s place and confront him, demand he give her the necklace, but knew that wasn’t a smart plan. Not if she objectively considered what she knew of his meetings with Andres, and of him holding the necklace in his possession. That meant she couldn’t go to her house, not when Nico would surely be looking for her there after Troy had carried her off from the hotel. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to go and she found herself at the back fence behind the apartment complex, thankful for the dark that hid her from watchful eyes. She fell against the wooden surface and slid down to the ground, letting her forehead rest on her knees.
She felt Troy a moment before she knew he wa
s standing over her. She had a decision to make that was tearing her up inside. Did she try to deal with Nico on her own, or did she tell Troy and trust him to give Nico the benefit of the doubt?
Chapter Eleven
Troy bent down in front of Cassie, touching her hair. She lifted her eyes to his. “I can’t let you die,” she whispered.
“Oh Cass, baby,” he said, sitting down next to her and pulling her into his lap. Her words touched Troy like few others had in all of his many years, perhaps even more than the confession of love he wanted from her, but knew he didn’t deserve. “I’m here now. That’s what counts.”
“Now isn’t enough.” She maneuvered to straddle him, her hands going to his face. “I won’t let you die.” She pressed her lips to his. “I won’t.”
“No,” he agreed. “Now isn’t enough but it’s all we have for certain.”
“That’s acceptance,” she said. “That’s giving up and you aren’t a quitter or you wouldn’t still be here.”
He twined his fingers into her hair and kissed her, tasting the pain, the desperation, the passion on her tongue. Desire flared inside him, hot and fiery. But it was her emotion, and all the things he’d left unspoken for far too long, that had Troy tearing his mouth from hers before he lost himself in how damn good it felt to hold her, to not feel guilt or fear for doing so. He didn’t want to lose her when he’d just truly found her. “If ever there was a reason for me to stay here and keep fighting, it’s you, Cass. I don’t want to leave you again. Not ever.”
“Promise me you mean that. Promise me you aren’t just going to accept this as the end.”
She made him want to fight. She made him want to believe he was strong enough to overcome the virus. She made him a man again, not some monster destined for destruction. And right then, holding her, he meant his vow as he spoke it. “I promise.” He dropped his forehead to hers. “For you, I promise. For you… ” Emotion tightened in his chest. “There is so much I need to say to you. And I swear, I say and do everything too late, and at all the wrong times, but this can’t wait. It has waited too long.” He leaned back to look at her. “I’ve been so unfair to you. I need you to know that you not only have my trust, you always had it. It was me I didn’t trust. I told myself I was afraid I’d be blind and allow others to be hurt, but the truth is that I was a coward, afraid of getting hurt myself.”
“Sarah messed with your head and your emotions.” Her fingers splayed softly on his cheek. “You loved her and she betrayed you. I understand what that did to you.”