Her eyes flicked behind him to his fourteen companions who all moved forward as one. The air shimmered in the same location in the loft and once they had all passed the spot, Thea felt their energy.
They were all vampires.
Pale and expressionless and all humming with the kind of cold dynamism that sizzled over Thea’s skin. They were old and powerful. Every one.
Fear Thea tried to hide clawed at her and she took a step back toward Conall, trying to place her body in front of his.
“You are wondering how you did not feel us here.” The tall vampire gestured to his companions at his back. “A little magic. To mask our energy. We knew you would feel us from outside if we did not enlist my favorite witch to cloak us.”
Thea studied him as her whole body rang with internal warning. He spoke with an accent, every word was precise and clipped, like he’d spoken a different language once upon a time and his English was just a little too formal to be natural.
“Vik,” Conall growled. “What the fuck did you do?”
“Viktor has been extremely helpful,” the tall vampire answered.
“I’m sorry, Conall.” Vik walked into view, standing near the entrance hallway. He couldn’t meet Thea’s or Conall’s eyes. “I don’t want the gates to open either.”
Realization flashed through them, their gazes locking in guarded horror before Thea turned to the vampire. “Eirik?”
He nodded, his dark eyes unreadable. “I was alerted to your existence, Miss Quinn, when word reached me at my home in Copenhagen that a human had enlisted the help of the strongest alpha of his generation.” His intense regard shifted to Conall. “Your reputation precedes you. Few wolves have a gift such as yours. Jasper Ashforth’s increasing desperation to find Miss Quinn, his dangerous bargain with someone as well known as you, led to my discovery of that which he coveted and attempted to hide from the world.” Eirik turned his regard back to Thea. “I hear we are not the only ones that hunt you.”
In that moment Thea wished she had telepathic abilities because she’d tell Conall to run. Instead, she tried to edge in front of him again without drawing Eirik’s attention.
It didn’t work. Eirik cocked his head at her movement and then frowned. He took a step toward them, which made Thea retreat into Conall and his hand came to rest on her back. Bizarrely, Eirik sniffed the air.
Surprise filled his expression and Thea got the sense he wasn’t often taken off guard. He cut a look to Vik. “I am afraid I cannot hold up my end of the bargain, Viktor.”
Vik swallowed hard. “You … you promised you’d spare the wolf. He’s my friend, Eirik.”
Thea felt Conall stiffen at the same time she did.
“And I am grateful for your loyalty, Viktor. I truly am.” Eirik sounded almost weary. “However, you are too young, your senses cannot detect what mine do.” He looked back at Thea and Conall, his black gaze moving between their faces. “Their scents have merged as one.”
Conall’s hand tightened on Thea’s back and she heard his soft exhale of shock.
What?
She glanced over her shoulder at him, but he was staring at Eirik, stunned.
“I …” She turned back to Eirik. “I don’t understand.”
“You would not. And your wolf was probably so focused on his tracking of you, he did not notice the change in your scent. Ironic.”
“Scent?” Thea snapped.
Eirik’s eyes narrowed. “You have mated with the werewolf, Miss Quinn.”
Thea felt a flush crest her cheekbones. How did he know that?”
Eirik chuckled softly. “Not sex. Anyone can have sex with a werewolf. Mated. As in true mates. Although I hear the mating scent only occurs after two mates first have sex.” He looked at Vik as Thea almost staggered back into Conall at the realization. “Like Adélie fucking penguins, the fae mate for life. They passed the ludicrous bond down into our bloodlines. Thankfully—unlike my brother who wasted centuries trying to return to his mate on Faerie—in all my years, I have escaped the disease of love and a lifetime of imprisonment to another.” Again, he said the words without venom. Just jaded fact. “I cannot allow the wolf to live. I am sorry. When I kill his mate, he will try to plague me until his inevitable death. It is better to kill him now and save him the pain.”
Mate.
Mate?
Mate!
Thea turned to Conall, and he stared down at her, not in shock or horror, but with such realization, such feeling, she felt like her heart might explode.
Mate.
The breath whooshed out of her.
“I am sorry it has to be that way. You are one of a kind, Conall MacLennan.” Eirik’s voice cut through Thea’s moment of overwhelming emotion. “I do hate to snuff out those who are particularly special.”
The threat was made with such casualness, it was almost like he was talking about what he would have for his dinner that evening.