Page 81 of The Donor’s Dilemma

“I’m a vampire, Verity. These things… sometimes…”

“Sometimes what?” she snapped. “Sometimes you need to beat the shit out of someone? What would happen if a human did that? Are you above the law because you’re a vampire?”

There was a beat before he said, “Of course not.”

“You hesitated!”

“No, I didn’t,” he said, slow and measured.

“You fucking did. You think that the rules don’t apply to vampires.”

“No. It isn’t like that…” he ground out.

“I guess that’s why no one cares that donors are going missing. You vamps…” It was an effort not to point, not to spit the words like the curse on her tongue, “you couldn’t give a fuck!”

“You really think that?” he snapped. He was in front of her in a flash, pushing her against the counter, a curved finger under her chin forcing her to look at him. His breaths were hot on her face, his body rigid as she braced her hands against his chest. There was no pushing him back. Her breaths came fast, thin, as he stared down at her with dark eyes filling with rage and… pleading. “You really think that I don’t care about you?”

“Not me,” she gasped as he leant into her, his body pressed against hers.

“I told him,” he murmured, lips not an inch from hers, “that if he ever touched you again, I’d kill him. And I fucking meant it.”

The words hung between them.

He would kill for her. The very idea of it seemed insane but there was a truth in that deadly gaze telling Verity he’d do it. She should be horrified. Terrified. But she wasn’t. If anything she trusted him more, at least she knew he was being honest.

“What about the others?” she whispered. “Would you kill for them? For the other donors?”

His head tilted a fraction. Another question he hadn’t expected. The fingers holding her chin moved up, skirting her cheek as he contemplated.

“Yes,” he said at last. “If vampires are taking the missing donors, if they are hurting them, or worse, then I would see them killed for it.”

His heart pounded beneath her fingers. He might be keeping his words calm and careful, but his heart raced just as fast as hers.

“Donors are the backbone of the whole system,” he said. “Anybody who takes advantage of their sacrifice would deserve it.”

Capital punishment had never been Havenshire’s way, but after seeing Georgie’s father, Verity found she wasn’t sure what to think anymore. So, she nodded, slight and a little unsure but knowing that Theo felt so… passionately about protecting donors gave her hope.

“So, there are other missing donors?” she asked, sliding her hands up until she ran a finger up the back of his neck, making him tense.

“The donor registers are a mess. I think some are fake, and some have been wiped, but it’s hard to tell which is which. There are fake names, names of people who’ve left, people who have never donated in their life. The numbers are totally wrong, and finding the ones who were donors… who there is no record of after their last donation…”

“How many?” she asked.

He pulled away, running a hand over his face before slumping onto a stool, drumming his fingers on the counter.

“This has to stay between us…”

“Theo. If people are in danger…”

“You will be in danger if you tell anyone. We both will…”

“But…”

“Verity,” he said, reaching for her hand again, unsure which he needed more: the distance or the contact. “I don’t know who’s doing this and if… if it’s the Roses and it gets out, it wouldn’t take a genius to trace it back to us. We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”

The Roses. Gods, if this went that high, if some ancient beast like Petra were behind this…

She nodded, offering a hand which he eagerly took, running his thumb over her knuckles. “Fine,” she said. “How many?”