Herve snorted. “For god’s sake, boy, calm down. I’m not going to stake you.”
West bobbed his head jerkily.
“Come along.” Herve gestured then turned and strode away.
West hurried after him. Herve was very tall, and very thin, and his long legs carried him faster than any man should be able to walk with such dignity. West had to jog to keep up at times.
Herve entered his office and waited until West came in before shutting the door. “Sit,” Herve directed.
West did so while Herve walked around to his desk and took a seat.
Steepling his fingers under his chin, Herve studied him.
West squirmed in the chair, keeping his gaze averted.
“West,” Herve sighed. “I’m not pissed off, nor am I going to turn you and your brothers and sisters out. You are all now part of this coven. Making a mistake won’t change that.”
It was a relief to hear, but there was still the matter of Axel. West forced himself to look Herve in the eyes. “A-and Axel?”
Herve frowned. “Axel, what a name.”
“It’s a nickname,” West murmured.
“Good, for a moment I thought his parents just hated him,” Herve said. “So, what about Axel?”
It was West’s turn to frown. Was Herve just messing with his head, or trying to?
Herve leaned back in his chair. “Is he your lover? Or a fuck? Is he trustworthy? Will he expose us? How long have you known him? How
well
do you know him? Do you want him for your mate?”
West’s head spun from all the questions. He tried to tackle them one at a time. “I…I don’t know what he is to me. We’ve only just last night…” His face heated with a blush and he couldn’t contain his concern for Axel any longer. “I want more from him than that. Please don’t mess with his memory! He doesn’t deserve that.”
Herve shrugged. “Shit happens to people that don’t deserve it every day, every moment of every day. Life is not about fairness and who deserves what. Good doesn’t always win and love doesn’t conquer all. These are truths that you must learn to accept, West. We aren’t living in a fairy tale.”
West hated confrontations, and he appreciated all that Herve had done for them, giving him and his family security and a sense of normalcy—as much as was possible—but he couldn’t roll over on the subject of Axel. “I know we don’t, believe me,” West said with a trace of bitterness. He did well to suppress the brunt of it. “I wouldn’t be a vampire if we lived in a fairy tale. I wouldn’t be an orphaned son raising his siblings. I’d have my parents back. I wouldn’t even know vampires existed because I wouldn’t have been in that alley. But it did happen—my parents died. I took over raising my brothers and sisters. I went to a club and out to that alley because I was stupid and naïve and…and…” His face burned. “Lonely. It cost me, and maybe you think I should be over it already, but knowing I’ll probably outlive all of my family for many generations to come is terrifying. I can’t take much more loss, much more pain. How do I cope? I don’t know. I fake it, I try, I do what I can. Axel, he makes me
happy
. I feel safe and good, like everything isn’t so hopeless when I’m with him.” He leaned forward. “Please, don’t hurt him. Don’t mess with his mind, or any other part of him.”
Herve didn’t answer for what felt like a very long time. Then he grunted. “I want to meet him, to judge for myself. You are still quite naïve, but not, despite what you think, stupid, nor have you ever been, I would wager.”
“Thank you,” West said with heartfelt relief. “For not hurting him and for—”
Herve held up one hand. “Erasing his memory wouldn’t hurt him. I wouldn’t harm a human,” Herve rumbled. “Even when I feed from one, I bring only pleasure to them. If, for any reason, I believe this man is a danger to us, I will do what I must and no amount of pleading from you will stop me. If I do decide to give him a chance, you will have one week to convince him to join our coven and be your mate. If he doesn’t agree by then, he will be neutralized as a threat, and he’ll not know who you are eight days from now.”
Chapter Nineteen
Very aware that he’d have to be going home in a few days, Axel paced the room as he waited for West to arrive. There were still a million questions and doubts swirling around in his mind, but he’d decided not to inundate West with all of them.
If he wanted a long-term relationship with West—and he did—then Axel knew he’d have to extend some trust and faith first.
He’d had plenty of time to think about West, innocent, scared, lonely…and attacked viciously by a beast wanting to use him as a pawn in some stupid war of the egos. It made Axel’s chest hurt and his eyes tear up more than once when he envisioned West. He could imagine West’s terror even though he didn’t want to. The images wouldn’t leave him alone, and Axel felt scarred by them.
West had to feel much, much more so. Yet he’d been brave enough to reach out to Axel.
Axel was flattered and honored, and quite enamored of West. Yes, he was a vampire. That was frightening. But West was more than a vampire. In fact, that was only a small aspect of who he was.
Axel had had hours to reflect on West. He was the kind man in the desert, who’d protected Axel and comforted him. He was the tender lover, the timid, innocent lover, the dutiful son, the caring brother, and so much more. Axel had barely begun to discover all the intricacies that made up the man, and he wasn’t going to walk away from him.
But West might not return. That was what Axel worried about as he paced. If West decided Axel wasn’t worth the trouble, if he had time to think about the way Axel had reacted, the fear and mistrust that had taken Axel over for those first minutes upon realizing that West was a vampire.
“If, if, if!” Axel groaned and shook his head. He was angry at himself, though he knew he hadn’t overreacted. If anything, he’d been a lot calmer than most people would have been in his situation. Maybe.
A knock on his door had Axel’s hopes soaring until he recognized the cadence of it.
Jukie. Damn it.
Jukie always knocked in his rhythmic way. It used to amuse Axel but now it just irked the shit out of him.
Axel strode to the door when Jukie began knocking again. He knew the man well enough. Jukie wouldn’t just go away.
“What?” Axel snapped before he even had the door opened all the way.
Jukie was jittery, his eyes darting everywhere. “I—I think—” He gasped then coughed.
West wanted to shout at him, but his anger turned to fear when Jukie’s eyes rolled back and he dropped to the floor like dead weight. “Fuck!”
Axel flung the door open and dropped to his knees. Jukie was frothing, his body convulsing. Axel didn’t know where to touch, what to do. “Help!” he shouted before scrambling up so he could grab his phone off the coffee table. Even leaving Jukie for that long scared him.
He didn’t know if it was drugs or booze or both—or something else entirely—that was causing the seizure that racked Jukie’s thin form.
Axel dialed nine-one-one as he returned to Jukie’s side.
Down the hall, a couple of doors opened and voices reached Axel. He ignored them as his call was answered and he began describing Jukie’s condition.
Someone knelt across from Jukie and rolled Jukie to his side.
Axel glanced up and relief flooded him as he saw that it was West. West didn’t look at him. Instead, he felt for a pulse and lifted Jukie’s head from its awkward angle.
More people came out and gathered around. They were gawkers, Axel thought angrily. Fear tended to make him unreasonable at times, and as he watched Jukie’s limbs twitching and shaking, as he heard the wet, thick breaths slow more and more, Axel learned a new kind of fear.
He and Jukie weren’t close, but they had been at one time, and he’d thought, somewhere in the back of his mind, that they’d have a chance to mend their differences and be friends again.
He only realized it in that moment, when Jukie’s eyes widened and bulged, and his entire body shuddered, then went still.
“No!”
West did something to Jukie’s mouth. Axel’s vision blurred and a great, painful sob was wrenched from him. He could make out West’s form hunched over Jukie, heard him muttering, counting.
And Axel began to pray, fervently, honestly, to any god that would listen.
When the EMTs arrived, West moved back and to Axel’s side.
Axel was dimly aware of the fact that he was still crying. West pulled him into a strong embrace.
“They have a pulse,” West murmured in his ear.
Axel hadn’t heard anyone say that, but he’d hardly be able to, considering his current state. He struggled to calm down, knowing he needed to be alert and aware of what was happening.
With West offering comfort and support, Axel got himself together before Jukie was wheeled away on the gurney.
“Where is he being taken?” he got out, his voice a bare thread of sound, his throat raw and sore.
“Memorial, about a mile away. Do you know what he took?” one of the EMTs asked.
Axel shook his head. “No. His room is beside mine, if someone wants to go look for…for whatever might have caused that.”
He needed to call Yolanda.
He needed West. It was probably too risky for West to come with him to the hospital. There’d be reflective surfaces, windows, things like that.
West seemed to know what he was thinking. “I’ll be there. Just give me a few minutes.”
Axel didn’t question it. He believed West, and that told him again how important the man was to him.
Chapter Twenty
“Thanks, Terry.” West blinked at his reflection. With the sunglasses on, he looked like a normal human being. The makeup felt really weird, though.
“You look fine. Go.” Terrence pushed him toward the hotel door.
“Thanks.” West slipped out, knowing that single word wasn’t adequate enough to express his gratitude. Terrence had appeared within minutes of West’s call, carrying a bag of ‘beauty supplies’, as he’d called it. Ten minutes after that, and West was on his way to the hospital. He made a mental note to thank Terrence fully later.
Even knowing he should pass muster, West was nervous as all get-out. He entered the hospital and tried to avoid looking at anyone else. He knew the floor Axel was on, since Axel had texted him. West found the bank of elevators and waited impatiently with several other worried-looking people until one arrived. People filtered out much slower than the ones that entered.
West hated being packed into such a small area with so many bodies. He could smell their blood, and either he was imagining it, or he could pick up hints of fear and regret, happiness and relief. He’d ask Herve about that later.
When the elevator stopped at the third floor, West murmured, “Excuse me,” as he wended through the people on the elevator. The waiting room was down the hall and to the right.
“West,” Axel said, coming up out of the chair he’d been sitting in. A few people looked at them.
West didn’t care. He hugged Axel and stroked his upper back. “Any news?”
“Not yet. I can’t get hold of Yolanda, either, and Jukie’s parents… I don’t even have a number for them.” Axel sighed then stepped back. “I think we’re going to have a long wait.”
West suspected the same. “Do you want something to drink? There’s a vending machine down the hall.”
Axel shook his head. “I’m too nervous. I—I—” He bit his bottom lip and the tip of his nose began to turn red.
“Come here.” West led Axel out into the hall, away from the majority of prying eyes. “It’s okay. Cry if you need to. Jukie’s your friend.”
“Not anymore,” Axel rasped. “We haven’t been friends in a long time.” Tears pooled in his eyes.
West knew how to comfort. He had done so many, many times for his siblings. Taking Axel into his arms, he whispered reassurances that he hoped would come true. There was unfinished business between Axel and Jukie that would tear Axel up if Jukie were to die. West didn’t think Axel was carrying a romantic torch for Jukie. He wasn’t worried about that. But unresolved anger and hurt could poison the person left behind.
If the worst happened, and Jukie died, West would do everything he could to help Axel deal with Jukie’s death.
Everything he could do in a week.
West needed more time. Herve wasn’t going to give it to him. Herve’s number one concern was the safety of the coven, not West’s romantic life or Axel’s pain.
West held Axel until he stopped crying, then West led him to the closest bathroom so Axel could clean himself up.
Axel blinked a few times as he looked at West’s reflection in the bathroom mirror. “How—”
“Makeup,” West answered. “Terry fixed it.”
“The sunglasses cover your eyes.”
West nodded. “Yeah. There’s no makeup for them.” And he wasn’t going to take off the glasses and let Axel see that in the mirror. It freaked West out big time to see it himself, and he thought he might even have nightmares from it.
He really didn’t know how he could accept all the weird changes in himself, but not trying meant being defeated by what he’d become. That wasn’t happening.
Axel didn’t ask him to remove the glasses. They left the restroom a few minutes later and it was only once they were in the waiting room, with no reflective surfaces, that West dared take them off.
An hour passed as he and Axel sat speaking in muted voices. They talked of mundane things—mostly it was West sharing bits of the children’s days and funny stories.
The second hour dragged by.
Axel sighed and rubbed at his temples. “I’m hoping it’s a good thing if the doctor hasn’t come to tell us anything yet.” He took out his phone. “Let me try Yolanda again.”
West wasn’t sure what the long wait meant. He just hoped that, whatever happened, he could be there for Axel.
Chapter Twenty-One
Yolanda arrived about half an hour after Axel finally got a hold of her.
“This is my fault,” she started in. “I fucking knew he was using and I should have dragged his ass to rehab!”
“You can’t make someone go to rehab,” Axel told her. “Jukie’s an adult and he’s the only one who can save himself.”
If he survives this. Jesus.