Page 3 of His Eternal Temptation

“Of course not. This isn’t my blood. I was called in to deal with a feral vampire and had to take him out, but he isn’t the real problem.”

Of course he wasn’t. That would be too simple.

Rowan kept the comment to himself, remaining still and impassive, his frustration firmly locked down so it wouldn’t show. He wasn’t upset with Felix, so why bother him with the emotion?

Feral—for lack of a better term—vampires weren’t common, but dealing with them was rather straightforward. “What’s the problem, other than the obvious carnage? I assume the feral’s sire was too bereft to put him down?” It was understandable, but meant that any deaths were blood on the sire’s hands, which Rowan would need to address.

“His sire wasn’t there.” Felix gave up on the towel and discarded it on the bar. “The poor guy seemed coherent, so I tried to talk to him. After I stopped him from tearing people apart. But I was wrong. He kept repeating the same words as he clawed at me, eyes glowing white and already frothing at the mouth. Eventually, he couldn’t form more than growls. Once I realized how far gone his mind was, there was nothing I could do except put him out of his misery.”

Rowan winced. It didn’t pay to be a complete wall of stone, and any vampire could sympathize with such an end. Feral vampires were the result of botched transformations, whether done accidentally by an inexperienced sire or deliberately to create a monster. There was no cure.

“What did the vampire say?” Rowan asked.

Felix’s expression turned grave, his strong brow cutting a sharp line of disapproval. “He said Rowan Valero turned him.”

Rowan’s stomach dropped, the unfamiliar swooping sensation more jarring than he liked. He pressed his lips together, the only outward sign of shock he allowed himself.

Well, he hadn’t seen this coming.

“We know you didn’t turn him,” Felix said.

Cecile muttered, “Obviously.”

Felix went on, “It must’ve been a deliberate feral transformation with a lie like that planted in his head. It was as if Rowan Valero turned me were the only words he knew. He couldn’t even tell me his name.”

“Someone’s trying to give the impression I’m creating feral vampires and setting them loose on the city?” Rowan’s jaw clenched. He was sick to death of rival covens coming for his position. This was a new angle, no doubt there, but it was a sloppy, deadly, and an unnecessarily cruel way to start a territory war.

No one Rowan respected would believe he was behind a botched transformation, no matter what the feral vampire claimed, and the opinions of Rowan’s enemies didn’t concern him. Shearwater Landing was his city. Other people in the magic world answered to him, not the other way around.

There was a frantic knock, and the office door flung open for a second time. “Sorry, boss,” Kai said, his expression drawn. “We’ve got a guy about to keel over from a curse, and he’s asking for you.”

“Keel over?”

Kai nodded. “Don’t know what’s wrong, but it doesn’t look like he’s gonna make it. He showed up at the club to find you.”

Rowan headed for the door. It was one of those nights, it seemed, with everything fucking up at once. And he’d thought he’d have time to relax. “Go clean up, Felix, then see what else you can find out about the feral vampire with Cecile. Maybe whoever called for help knows something. I’ll handle this.”

They agreed, and Rowan hurried after Kai.

“Do we know this guy?”

“Don’t think so. I didn’t recognize him.” Kai frowned. “He said his name’s Lane.”

Rowan stopped short. “Lane Blackburn?”

Kai’s steps faltered. “Shit. He didn’t even cross my mind. I stayed with the guy while Jack fetched Hunter. He couldn’t get many words out, but now you mention it, I can’t swear it’s not Blackburn. He isn’t looking good if it is.”

Rowan followed Kai down the stairs. Not recognizing Lane Blackburn was impossible to imagine, but Kai and Rowan’s experiences with the weasel were vastly different. Could it be him? No, Rowan was jumping to conclusions. There was no way that Lane would return after what happened.

“What’s he hoping I can do?”

“No clue. Hunter is checking him out, but he can’t do much more against a curse than the rest of us. Nicole is on her way if we can wait twenty minutes.” From the sound of it, Kai didn’t think they could.

This wasn’t good. Rowan kept several witches on retainer, Nicole included, but emergency life-saving magic wasn’t why he hired them.

“Lane’s a witch. I sensed his magic.” Kai sounded uneasy now. “Blackburn should have come to mind sooner, but I haven’t thought about him or his coven in years.”

“Don’t worry about it, I haven’t either.” Which was true, so why was Lane’s youthful face so clear in Rowan’s mind? “Lane Blackburn wouldn’t come to us for help.”