Rubbing my nose against his, I said, “You have to trust me not to hurt you.”

“I don’t trust me not to hurt you. I won’t mean to do it, Imani. I never mean to.”

“We’re gonna fight, Butch. It would be unhealthy if we didn’t because it would mean that either we were trying too hard to keep each other happy or all the passion was gone.”

He frowned, not understanding. “But I want you to be happy.”

“And I want you to be happy, but not to the extent that I neglect my own wants and needs. The same should go for you. There has to be a balance.” I slid my arms around his neck. “There’s no right or wrong way to have a relationship. We’re still trying to find our way. Even when we find it, we’ll still piss each other off, and we may even hurt each other. But we’ll work it out and we’ll move past it.” I kissed him. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not like them.” Not like the others who walked away.

“I know.” He didn’t even need to ask who I was referring to.

“But you expect me to leave you.”

“I don’t expect you to leave. I’ve just never had anything that was important enough for me to care if I lost it. Not good at dealing with that yet.”

“Okay. But let me reiterate, I’m not going anywhere.”

His eyes bore into mine, searching. He nodded, apparently satisfied with whatever he found there. “Now you need to feed. Then I’ll drink a few more NSTs, and we’ll leave.”

And hopefully our talk with Joel would lead us in the right direction, or I’d seriously lose my shit.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

(Butch)

Outside the grubby apartment building wherein Joel Sanders lived, Jared instructed Denny, Stuart, and Damien to scope out the place. There was a chance, though it was slim, that Marco had led us into a trap, the dick. We needed to be prepared for that. So Denny reduced his body to liquid, Stuart burst into molecules, and Damien went astral walking.

“If the guy makes good money out of what he does,” began Imani, “you’d think he’d live in a better place than this.” Her nose wrinkled at the stench of mould and cigarettes.

“He could afford it,” I conceded. “But then his neighbours would wonder where he got his money from. People who live in places like this don’t ask those kind of questions.”

She tipped her head. “Fair point.”

In a matter of minutes, the puddle of goo returned and reformed into Denny. “It’s not a nest of vampires,” he told us. “The place scents more strongly of human than vampire.”

“Any guards inside?” asked Sam.

“None at all.”

Damien’s head snapped up, and he took a long breath.

“Good to have you back,” Chico told Damien.

“Anyone guarding the perimeter?” said Jared.

“No,” replied Damien. “There are some humans round the back dealing drugs, but that’s all.”

We waited in silence for Stuart to reappear. It didn’t take long. In a blink, the cluster of molecules were once again Stuart. “No vampires are lingering in the woods behind the building,” he said. “Was the interior clear?”

Denny nodded.

“Well it would seem that Marco hasn’t led us to our deaths,” mused Sam.

“That doesn’t mean he hasn’t sent us on a wild goose chase,” Jared pointed out.

Personally, I didn’t think Marco had done so. Not this time. He wouldn’t want Imani to be angry with him; he’d want to impress her with his knowledge. He wanted to be in her good books. Setting us up wouldn’t achieve that.

“The place might seem safe enough,” said Sam. “But I won’t take any chances. I don’t trust Marco as far as I can throw the wanker. That means I want a number of people monitoring the exterior of the building, keeping an eye out for trouble.” She fell into a pensive silence. “Reuben, weaken Chico’s gift just enough for his darts to make their target dizzy.”

Neither male protested as Reuben did as ordered, though they both looked confused.

“This bloke can’t be held captive, which means there’s a good chance I can’t restrain him. That’s why Jared and I will need Imani, Chico, and Max to come inside with us—if he makes a run for it, use your gifts to distract him and slow him down. There are ways to pin him in place that don’t involve restraints.”

Sam was right. If Max took away the guy’s senses, Imani played with his blood-bond, and Chico shot him with darts that caused dizziness, Sanders wouldn’t get far. “Coach—”

“I know, I know, you want to be with Imani. As I’m currently feeling uneasy and she tired herself out earlier, I’m good with that. The rest of you guard the perimeter and telepath Jared if there’s a problem.”

With that, Jared teleported Sam, Max, Chico, Imani, and I right outside Joel Sander’s apartment.

I half-expected Sam to kick the door open, but she actually knocked. Maybe she wanted to seem friendly and nonthreatening. But there was really no way that a visit from the Grand High Pair wouldn’t unnerve someone.

I could hear whistling as footsteps approached. The door opened, revealing a tall, skinny Keja that I recognised from the photo that Sam provided.

Her smile was wide but a little forced. “Hello Mr. Sanders.”

His startled eyes darted around, taking in Jared and the vampires at the pair’s back. Then he tried to slam the door shut. Like that would work. Sam just pushed it open, allowing us all to enter. He was heading for the window of the living area when he abruptly fell to his knees, cradling his head and groaning through his teeth. I knew exactly how much that hurt, since Imani had once played on my blood-bond like it was a damn guitar string to show that her gift could be effective in a fight.

To his credit, Sanders tried crawling toward the window. Chico’s darts embedded themselves in his back, making him collapse on the floor mere seconds later.

We all gathered around the fallen Keja, whose mouth was open in a silent cry of pain. Apparently Max had taken away his ability to speak.

After plucking the darts from his back, Sam rolled him over with a frustrated sigh. “That wasn’t the best move, was it?” She gave a subtle signal to both Imani and Max. Like that, Joel sagged in relief.