All I could see was the vampire’s broad-shouldered silhouette as Carter and I rounded the corner of the gardens and plunged between the stalks of towering sunflowers and something else Mrs. Rossi had called Heliconias. Their blue petals glowed in the darkness. I used them as a reference point to keep from getting lost in the labyrinth of tropical fauna. Up ahead, the stalks shook as the strange vampire passed through.
Carter was right on my heels. Neither of us made a sound and I was grateful that if anyone had come with me, it was him. He was one of the few who could move as silently in human form as he could as a wolf.
The stalks fell away and we entered the grove of trees that lay beyond the gardens. Mrs. Rossi had pointed them out on the tour but we hadn’t come this far back. She’d said it was a mix of cherry and pear trees—I’d wondered then why vampires even cared about growing human food. Now I knew it was to keep their “staff” alive.
Without the low branches to track the vamp’s movements, I slowed, careful to keep his pale flashes of skin in sight as he darted among the trees.
Carter caught my hand in his and I startled. Now was so not the time for hand-holding. But he brought a finger to his lips and motioned me quiet. Then he let go of my hand and pointed to himself and then out to the left. I nodded and pointed to myself and then to the right. He nodded back and we split up.
My pulse thrummed in my ears. The urge to shift was strong as I left Carter behind to circle our prey. It would’ve been so much easier to catch him had I been a wolf. His scent alone would’ve made him easy to find. I wouldn’t even need to rely on watching for branches swaying. But I couldn’t risk being found in wolf form on vampire territory. Not with the treaty in place. They’d only see it as a threat, or worse, as a betrayal of our agreement. If I was going to start a war, I’d rather not do it in vamp-ville while my dad sat upstairs getting drunk with the king and queen bloodsucker.
I darted around trees and underneath low branches, keeping to the arc I knew Carter would follow. It wasn’t long before I caught the distinct scent of undead. My hackles rose but I bit down on the growl building in my throat. I knew I was close if I could smell him.
Something moved from behind a narrow tree trunk and then the man appeared in front of me. Reflexively, I jumped back out of reach and heard my breath catch as I swallowed my scream. I didn’t even have time to swing out before Carter materialized behind the man and grabbed his arms, pinning them behind his back.
The man grunted but didn’t struggle against Carter’s hold. I stared at him, suddenly unsure of the situation. It had all been too easy.
“Let him go, Carter.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Carter asked, eyes wide in the darkness. “He’ll run off.”
“No, he won’t,” I said, forcing myself to straighten and relax my shoulders. I fixed my gaze on the man. His smooth jawline, broad shoulders, and razor-sharp eyes. He stared at me right back, completely at ease despite the fact that he was captured and outnumbered.
“How do you know?” Carter demanded.
“If he was going to run off, he wouldn’t have let himself get caught in the first place,” I said.
The man’s eyes glittered in agreement.
Carter frowned, considering my words. Finally, he let go of the man’s arms. He walked over to stand next to me, watching the vamp warily. I could feel the tension still pulling his muscles taut and knew he wasn’t completely convinced.
The vamp seemed not to notice. He shook his arms out and then brushed the hair out of his eyes.
“Why did you let us catch you?” I demanded the moment our eyes met.
“What makes you think I let you?” he asked. If he hadn’t been a vampire, I would’ve called him friendly. His stance was relaxed and open, the opposite of someone prepared for assault. Still, I didn’t let my guard down. He’d correctly predicted danger not hours before Charlie was targeted. He wasn’t off the list of suspects just yet.
“The stalks moved when you passed. That was careless,” I said.
“Very astute of you.” Instead of offense at my tone, his eyes sparkled with some private amusement.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I demanded, hating the discomfort I felt underneath his study. It wasn’t threatening—it was much more personal than that.
“You are so like her,” he murmured.
“Like who?” I asked, but I already knew.
“Your mother.”
My eyes narrowed. I felt suspicion wash over me anew. Not because I didn’t believe him—but because of how intimate his voice had become when he spoke of her. Unease rippled through me. “You have no right to talk about her …” My chin rose and I added, “Unless you’re here to confess to her murder.”
Carter moved to my side and adjusted his footing. I knew he was ready for whatever attack my words provoked.
The man drew a deep breath and blew it out slowly, purposefully. “I could never hurt her,” he said quietly. “I told you the last time we spoke, we are on the same side, you and I.”
“I saw you following me and Charlie that day in town.” I was bluffing my way through, but he didn’t deny it, which I took as admission. “How do I know it wasn’t you with the heart, too?”
His expression hardened. “I followed you through Paradise to protect you. There are rumors, quiet talk. I fear whoever killed Myra will not stop until they’ve done the same with her legacy. Those fears were confirmed at the Test of Strength.”
His words sent a ripple through me. Rumors? From where? My people or his?
“Charlie isn’t Myra’s daughter,” Carter pointed out.
“But she’s willing to broker peace, just like Myra did,” the man said. “Which makes her a prime target. Your people want war with us. They couldn’t get it with Myra as alpha so they removed her.”
Despite their callousness, I didn’t like that his words made sense. I didn’t want to believe him. If he was telling the truth, I was after someone much more dangerous and traitorous than a rogue vampire murderer. And I couldn’t be angry he’d just called my mom a sort of roadblock, not with the pain of her loss so evident in his expression.
“They went after Charlie because she’s easier to rattle than me,” I said finally. The man nodded and my shoulders fell. This was real. He wasn’t lying. I pushed them back again, determined not to let him see me affected. “Who are you?” I demanded.
“My name is Valentino.”
My eyes narrowed. “I’ve never seen you before. How did you know my mother?”
He hesitated a second before explaining, “Your mother and I were friends many years ago. Before the war between our people escalated to violence.”
“Our history with your kind has always involved violence,” Carter shot back.
Valentino shook his head sadly. “Not always. The catalyst, yes, involved death. Thill’s parents … but it was an accident. A misunderstanding. We are a peaceful coven. You’ve seen the way we feed and live with humans. We respect life. When the pack settled here and realized we weren’t the threat they thought it was too late for Thill to admit his mistake. Discord remained. Strife always at the surface. But no violence. We had no quarrel with you, but the pack elders couldn’t be reasoned with. Thill was determined, and so we have been at odds. But not war.”
Valentino eyed me and then looked away, his gaze lost in the grove of trees behind me.
“What changed?” I asked, caught up in the story of politics before my time. It had always fascinated me even when I’d been little and pushed out of the room before secrets were spilled.
“Your mother,” Valentino said after a beat. He turned back to me and then Carter. “Myra wanted peace, and for a time, there was hope that goodwill would last. Relations were …. different then. I was ambassador for the Rossi family. Myra and I became friends. Times were easier and for a while we thought…” He shut his eyes, anguished by some memory I couldn’t reach. “Someone else on the council found out about your mother and I. Someone tried to do her harm. I intervened, which exposed our friendship. I was removed from my position at the main house. Sent here to the orchards. Myra married shortly after. I heard she had a baby so I stayed away. The peace talks died and the fighting began.”
He sighed as if the story itself was a heavy burden. “A year ago, I was walking through the forest. A familiar path of ours. I found a grove of plants I’d never seen before and, standing inside it, your mother.”
“I don’t understand. So you rekindled some sort of secret friendship with my mom? How would that get her killed?” I asked.
“It was more than that,” he said and his voice gentled the way people did just before they delivered horrible news. Beside me, Carter’s fingers fluttered against mine, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Dread was winding its way along the outer reaches of my heart. I thought I knew what was coming—and I didn’t want to hear it.
But Valentino had clearly come here to say it. “Myra and I were in love.”
My throat closed up. My hands and feet went numb. I vaguely felt Carter’s arm come around my waist and the pressure increase until he was all that kept me standing. After a moment, I gasped. Air rushed into my lungs fast enough to make me dizzy.
“Regan? … Regan?” Carter’s voice in my ear was low and insistent. “Should we go?”
Valentino hadn’t just seen my mother that single day in the woods, I realized with sickening awareness. He’d kept seeing her. They’d had an affair. And it had gotten her killed.
“I know this is a shock, but I promised your mother I would do whatever was necessary to keep you safe. For a time, that meant staying away, but now…I think you need to know the truth. Someone found out about us and they killed her.”
My temper flared. It was either that or let the grief and betrayal drown me. I glared at Valentino with everything I had. “I don’t need your protection,” I spat.
His face hardened again, the same way it had when he’d said that he loved my mother. Not angry, just protecting himself from the pain. I hated that he could do that and I couldn’t. “I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for her,” he said.
I blinked, speechless. I didn’t know how to respond to that.
“So you’re not the one who left the bloody heart in Charlie’s room backstage?” Carter asked. But it was more speculation than question and I realized he believed Valentino’s story too. That made it worse.
“No.” Valentino shook his head and a frown creased the corners of his mouth. “I didn’t even know the details of it until tonight. I only knew there was a disturbance. They kept it quiet. To protect you, I think.”
“And to ferret out the traitor,” I murmured, my mind working faster as I finally processed things beyond the hurt of my mother’s lies. “But there’s a hole in your theory. A vampire bit her, drained her of blood,” I said. “And they didn’t get in without help.” I turned to Valentino. “How did you get into my room?”
“When was he in your room?” Carter demanded, and I winced as I remembered I hadn’t told him that part.
“I jumped,” Valentino said with a shrug. “Same way I left.”
“But my mother’s window wasn’t open,” I said, thinking back to the little I remembered of the night she’d been killed.
“Brent and the other house guards didn’t see anyone coming or going,” Carter added.
Valentino opened his mouth then closed it again, shifting gears before saying, “There was the hidden hallway.”
“The … how did you know about that?” I asked, my tone sharp—mostly because I was embarrassed I’d forgotten. I’d only been inside it once during a game of hide and seek and Mom had yelled at me so bad for it, I never went inside again. Besides, it hadn’t been used in decades. Probably sealed for all I knew.
“I used it myself,” Valentino said and I decided I didn’t need to hear this after all.
“Never mind,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.
“But someone would have tipped them off that your mom was alone, right?” Carter said. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t know your dad was out. My dad was gone that night. And you too. Rare for her to be so alone. Someone had to have sent a message.”
I sighed, hating that we were pointing fingers at our own. But he was right. It made sense. And the heart—no vampire could have planted that. Not without a werewolf noticing.
Behind us, voices spilled out into the night, coming from the direction of the house. Carter’s hand tightened around my waist. I didn’t shake him off. My feet felt steadier now that the initial shock had worn off, but his hand there was comforting.
“We need to get back,” Carter said quietly.
I ignored him and looked at Valentino. “I’m not saying I believe you, but if I did, which vampires would be trying to hurt Charlie and I? I need to know where to look on your side too.”
Valentino shot a glance toward the house, then back at me. “I don’t know. I’ve been out of the loop for too long,” he said.
Somewhere in the garden, someone laughed. A rich, deep sound that I suspected belonged to Mr. Rossi—if he was capable of a good mood. My muscles tensed.
Valentino darted a glance over my shoulder. “It’s not safe for us to be seen here,” Valentino said. He took a step back, toward the encroaching forest.
“How will I find you again?” I asked.
“When you need me, I’ll be there,” was all he said. Then he turned and ran.