Rebecca Zanetti - Consumed

“I will.” Two words—yet an absolute vow from the soldier. “Though I don’t think you’re giving yourself enough credit. You wouldn’t hurt Kate.”

Jordan wasn’t sure. “The virus ... I’ve changed already.”

Conn rolled his eyes. “The virus has nothing to do with it. When did you know?”

Irritation had Jordan clenching his hands. “Know what?”

“That she was yours.”

Heat slid down his spine. “Never.”

“Bullshit.” Conn flipped a knife in his hand, the silver coming in view and back out. “When did you turn around and notice she was all grown up?”

Damn his friend. They knew each other too well. “When the Kurjans took her and Talen helped me get her back.” Jordan would never forget the sight of her in that hospital bed, so pale, so fragile. “It was like a kick to the gut.” Thank the fates she’d recovered perfectly. That time. Before she’d been infected by the virus.

“Yeah,” Conn said softly. “You sent her away, Jordan. To fight werewolves.”

He’d never been able to tell her no. “She needed to go. To grow and learn ... not be confused by—”

“By her feelings for you.” Conn tucked the knife away. “Been there, done that. It’s been ten years for you. I’m thinking the woman has had long enough to decide if she has a childhood crush or something more.”

“What’s the point?” Jordan shook his head. Yeah, the woman had kissed him like it was more—definitely more. But he’d spent over three decades protecting her, and he couldn’t stop now that he was dying. “She’s in every thought—I’ll take her, Conn. I can feel it.” He’d kill himself before he hurt Katie. He sighed. “A werewolf wouldn’t fight the attraction.”

“Neither should you.”

God spare him from happily mated vampires. “I appreciate you wanting to make my last days on earth full of love and sex, but get a grip.” He’d let Katie go a decade ago to find herself ... to learn to deal with her illness on her own terms. To become strong enough to deal with him. Too bad it couldn’t happen now.

Fate truly was a bitch.

Conn raised an eyebrow. Anger flashed across his cheeks, fury had his lips going white. “Did you just tell me to get a grip ?”

“Yes.” His friend had been pissed since the blood tests came back on Jordan. “Let it go—there’s nothing we can do.”

Silver shot through the green of Conn’s eyes. Vampires had a secondary eye color that came through during emotional times. “Stop fucking punishing yourself for what we did.”

Jordan didn’t need this shit. “I’m not punishing myself. The virus came from arrows shot by the Kurjans—and has nothing to do with my past.”

Conn shook his head. “I know you.”

Unfortunately, the vampire did know him. “So?”

“So, this lone wolf bullshit has gone on long enough. You deserve to lead and you’re an excellent leader. Nobody says you have to do it all alone.”

“Did you just call me a wolf?” Jordan forced a smile. What was it with happy vampires? They instantly wanted everyone else to be happy, too. Then if you didn’t go along, they tried to beat you up. Vampires were an odd species.

Conn rolled his eyes. “We’ll deal with your personal problems later. For now, I’m not giving up on curing you of the virus.” He leaned forward. “Maggie has been here for the last month, and I think Kane is close to some sort of antiviral.”

Kane was Conn’s older brother and the smartest person on the planet. Even so, with less than a week until Jordan turned into a monster, there wasn’t time for close . “Sounds good. Tell Kane he can experiment on me all he wants during the day.” Nighttime, well, nothing kept him from the moon.

“Your acceptance of this is pissing me off.” Conn’s jaw hardened.

Jordan shrugged. “You can be as angry as you want, so long as you keep your word.” They’d fought together during the last war three hundred years ago. Both assassins, close enough to be brothers. Which meant Conn was the only person he trusted to end this right. “When the time comes, you need to kill me.”

Conn went still. Even across the country, his tension emanated. His eyes flashed green to vampire silver. “ If the time comes ... I will.”

Katie tugged leather gloves on her hands, her boots clomping on the docks of the marina. Jordan had kissed her. Finally kissed her. Then he’d apologized. Fucking apologized .

Salt coated her skin, breezing in on the muggy wind from pounding waves of Lake Pontchartrain. Darn saltwater lake. After spending hours on the phone until the half moon rose, the truth remained the same. Jordan had been infected with the virus. “The Kayrs lab has a possible cure generated from Maggie’s blood.” Okay, not exactly what Emma, the Realm queen and chief geneticist, had said, but close enough.

Baye twirled a wicked knife in his hand, his gaze alert on the covered docks toward the south end of the lake. “If Jordan believed he’d be cured, he wouldn’t have set my brother up to lead and called me home.”

“I know.” But Jordan was a good leader and a true planner. He’d cover every contingency. “This is the first time the lab has blood tests from a male shifter just infected . That has to be good.” Usually the shifter didn’t know until the first full moon ... when he changed into a werewolf. Forever. At least humans got three full moons until turning into beasts for life.

Lance nodded, his gun at ready. “They’ll find a cure in time—they have nearly five nights until the full moon. I mean, counting tonight. So four nights.” The tiger had joined the New Orleans squad a year ago, his tracking abilities almost as good as Katie’s. He’d lost the two other members of his old squad in a werewolf raid and every once in a while suffered panic attacks. Post-traumatic stress disorder didn’t only affect humans, unfortunately. But he was a good fighter, and his intense protection of his current squad made sense. He snarled. “Pride is strong. Don’t worry.”

Katie gave him a grateful smile. Lance was always on her side. He topped out at six feet, long and lean, dangerously quick. Angular tiger features made up his sharp face, his mouth generous with a smile—usually. Better yet, Lance treated her as an adult, while Baye sometimes still saw the child she used to be.

Baye halted, sniffing the air. Shaking his head, he resumed the hunt. “Leave it to Jordan to feel a little weird and instantly order a blood test. Through arrows tipped with the virus. We didn’t see that one coming.”

“No. To be honest, I figured at some point the bug would go airborne.” The idea of the world being infected made her head ache. Only humans, vampires, and demons would survive. And maybe witches. Nobody knew if witches could be infected. Trials attempted in test tubes led to uncertain and odd results.

“All we need is an airborne killer.” Lance cracked his knuckles, his body staying tense. His lips turned down, and a dark frown settled between his brows.

Katie glanced at his tight features. “Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

This was more than Jordan’s news, considering Lance and the lion leader barely knew each other. Katie shoved hair out of her eyes. “Come on. What’s wrong? Is it Linda?” He’d been extremely cranky the last week after his girlfriend dumped him.

“I don’t want to talk about Linda.” He surveyed the boats on either side of the dock.

Katie sighed. She wished he’d snap out of it and be her jovial friend again. “Are you sure?” They’d spent the last week talking about the situation, with the tiger showing up drunk on her doorstep more than once. She’d force-fed him coffee to sober him up. The poor guy had passed out on her sofa several nights in a row, trying to snuggle with her to sleep.