“I find out things,” I say mysteriously. Things I am not so sure I really want to know about. CK thinks I will abandon my child to be raised by Drake and that witch wife of his? I am not sure how I feel about that.
“Oh,” Sebastian says, unconcerned by the evasiveness. “So, we should probably try again soon.”
“Try what?” I ask, still miles away thinking about CK words.
“Aefre,” he says and clicks his fingers in my face.
I blink at him, still not used to him calling me that. CK is going to hit the roof when he hears him say my name that way. “What?” I ask.
“The baby,” Sebastian says impatiently. “We need to try again.”
I shake my head. “No, not yet. I’m not ready,” I say.
“When then?” he complains. “Thrace isn’t going to stand around waiting for you to be ready.”
“Seb,” I snap at him angrily, getting the attention of the two conspirators in the library. “I said, I’m not ready. Leave it.” I clench my fists at my sides, my nails cutting into my palms, holding onto my temper and the remnants of grief that still linger.
“Not ready for what?” Cole asks as he pulls me away from Sebastian and into his arms with a possessive kiss.
“Nothing,” I say and turn away into Cole from a furious-looking Sebastian.
“Aefre,” he says to me and everyone goes still.
No one even takes a breath.
I peek up at CK from my shelter of Cole’s chest and his eyes have done that glowy red thing again.
“What did you just call her?” he asks so quietly, but we all heard it like a scream in the silence.
Sebastian squares his shoulders and crosses his arms, facing his sire with no fear and no remorse. “You heard me,” he says, and I cringe. Does the man have a death wish?
Apparently so, because CK reaches out his hand for him and Sebastian drops to his knees. CK didn’t even touch him. Oh, shit on a stick, this is his scary arse Initial Vampire mojo at work. I pull Cole out of the way and put him safely into a corner before I turn back around to diffuse this situation.
“CK,” I say gently, but he completely ignores me.
He is strangling Sebastian by closing his hand into a tight fist, his claws digging into his palm as he extends them. The blood has me mesmerized momentarily as my stomach growls in hunger, but then I put my hand over his before he lashes out at Sebastian.
He turns his head to me slowly and I flinch at the color of his eyes.
“CK,” I say again carefully, as he has at least acknowledged me now. “Let him go.”
He blinks at me and his eyes go black. He is still mad, but at least he is more in control now. I can talk him down from this before he does something he will regret for eternity.
“Let him go,” I say again as I step closer to him.
He tilts his head at me as he relaxes his fist and holds his hand out flat and Sebastian slumps to the floor, completely bent to CK’s will. Holy Hell. This is what he tried to do to me in the Tower and I gulp as I remember the crushing evil.
“My love,” I say to him as he continues to stare at me with those empty black eyes. He blinks at me again and I put my hand underneath his outstretched palm and link our fingers together. He lets me pull him away and he releases his hold over Sebastian. I hear him gasp for breath and know he is alive and back under his own control, but I don’t look at him. Or at Cole. I keep my eyes firmly on CK and lead him into the library, closing the door behind me. By the time he has sat down on the sofa he is calm, and he smiles softly at me.
“Sorry,” he mumbles. “I am struggling with this.” He lets out a strangled noise that I know is because he is admitting a weakness. He isn’t used to weakness, and he sure as Hell doesn’t admit to having them.
“It’s okay,” I say to him, sitting next to him and taking his hand. “I am here to help you.”
He snorts with mirth and pulls me onto his lap. “And so, the master becomes the student,” he says, and I giggle.
We sit in silence then for a few moments before he breaks it. “Why does he call you that now?” he asks, as I knew he would.
“He thinks things have changed,” I say. I don’t want to throw him to the crazy Vampire, but if I lie CK will know and get mad with me. Every man for himself.