Right then, he honestly didn
’t. He was attracted to Syd, and he’d had no problem sharing her with Kellan. Could he do the same with Emily? If he sired Sydney—which he hadn’t even begun to really consider—would they become some sort of permanent foursome, living in a haze of sex and blood and embracing their complete ostracism from society?
“Why did you come back?”
Lucas hissed out a breath. “I had a feeling, okay? I’d barely landed in L.A. when the sense of dread hit. I tried calling you. You never answered. I even called Syd. Same response. By the time I got here, I half-expected to find both of you drained and past any hope. Instead, I found cable channel number sixty-nine, being reenacted in my own bedroom.” He shook his head. “You can’t be surprised at my reaction. Imagine you were me, walking in while Sydney was—”
“I didn’t touch Emily,” Kellan said evenly. “Other than the bite in the heart to bring her back and giving her my blood the first time, I didn’t even feed her. It was all Sydney. And Sydney didn’t have sex with her, either. Though if she did, I hardly see how that could be perceived as my fault. But apparently everything is. Nuclear warming, acid rain, global poverty. What else am I responsible for?”
“Oh, put a sock in it. And unlock these freaking cuffs. If I wanted to kill you, you’d already be dead.”
“That’s what you think. You didn’t kill me last night.”
“Only because your she-vamp nearly ripped off my head.”
A smile played around Kellan’s mouth as he pulled a key out of the pocket of his pajamas. “She was something, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, and that’s only at half-strength. Imagine her as a full vamp. We should warn all of Nettles.”
“Funny.” Kellan slipped the key into the cuffs’ lock, but he didn’t turn it. Instead he stared at Lucas. “You threatened to kill Sydney. That’s why I faltered long enough for you to get past my guard. It’s a powerful threat, the loss of one’s mate.”
“No kidding. And while I’m lying here shooting the shit with you, mine’s strolling off to God knows where to do God knows what, and neither you nor Syd seem willing to bat a lash about it.”
“You have to let her make her choices. I assume you told her about your being her mate while you two were alone in here for so long? We heard….” Kellan’s hesitation proved he’d heard quite a bit more than he was letting on. “So we went to take a soak, to give you some privacy.”
“A true gentleman.” Lucas swore as Kellan finally unlocked the cuffs and freed his wrists. He shoved up in bed and kicked aside the sheets, only then noticing his pants were still wide open and his boxers pulled down. Lovely. With a grunt, he pushed himself back into his shorts and zipped up, then leaped out of bed. “To answer your question, no, I didn’t tell her I was her mate. I’d kind of hoped she could discover that on her own as we spent time together, which of course we’ve barely done.”
Kellan let out a breath. “Normally, I would agree.”
“Oh, sure.” Luke snorted as he swapped his blood-stained shirt for another black linen one exactly like the first. “God knows you’re all about giving a woman choice.”
Kellan ignored him. “No woman wants to be forced into a relationship, especially when you start throwing words like destiny around.”
“Well, we wouldn’t have to throw anything around if they’d accept what they feel.” Lucas finished doing up the buttons and cast a look over his shoulder at Kellan. “They do feel it, don’t they? Just as strongly as we do?”
Kellan shrugged. “Having never been a female vampire, I can’t say. But my research says yes. Usually the loss of control around your mate is the first sign, but sometimes the signals are more subtle.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been all about the subtle. And today I got a ‘you frighten me’, which is as good as I’ve gotten so far.” He paced to the window and twitched back the curtain, hoping to catch a glimpse of Emily walking down the street. She didn’t have a car, and the window offered an unobstructed view of the road for quite a ways. But apparently she’d acquired vampire speed, because she was out of sight.
Either that or she’d deliberately run from him. That wouldn’t surprise him, either.
“Why would she be so desperate to become a vampire?” he asked softly, gazing out at the empty street. His retinas burned as the sun began to climb over the eastern horizon, but he didn’t alter his stance.
“Sydney won’t tell me what they are, but apparently Emily has her reasons.”
“And those reasons are what drove her out of here so early today?”
“My guess is yes. Lucas,” Kellan began when Lucas turned to retrieve the jacket hooked neatly on a peg beside his bed. “Maybe you should let her be.”
“Would you? Could you?”
“No.”
“All right then.” Lucas tossed a glance at the carry-on bag he’d dropped just inside the entrance to his bedroom last evening. No one had bothered to move it, and if his instincts were correct, he’d need a packed bag again sooner rather than later. “Where did she go?”
Another swift exhale from his best friend caused Luke’s eyes to narrow. “Where, Kellan?”
“Sydney thinks she’s headed to Budapest.”