Violet Forsythe has finally found peace.
She successfully escaped a coven of malignant vampires, worked hard to get an education, and has actually managed to pull herself together.
But, as old acquaintances begin to resurface, the life that Violet w...
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Alec was far from pleased.
In fact, he was downright livid.
He and Demetri had been tracking Violet in the woods for the past thirty minutes or so with no results. Time was of the essence, and Demetri was wasting it.
"What is taking you so long?" Alec snapped. "I thought you were supposed to be good at this."
Demetri and Alec had paused for moment, yet again, while Demetri used his senses to detect Violet.
"I know where she is," Demetri said calmly, staring deeper into the depths of the woods. "It's not a matter of where she it, it's about how we capture her."
"What is there to contemplate? You will find her, and I will handle the rest."
"Your gift creeps. She'll see it coming a mile away."
"I'm not referring to the veil," Alec said haughtily. "Violet and I have a special bond. She could never hurt me. Mates protect each other; they don't fight."
"You saw the look in her eye. She'd kill both of us, and she wouldn't think anything of it."
"I disagree."
"Fine," Demetri said, frustration hovering at the edge of his voice. "If you're so sure you're safe, then please, be my guest. Handle her yourself."
"Well, if you would lead me to her, I would," Alec retorted.
Demetri looked at Alec with detached amusement. "Right this way."
"What do you see in her, anyway?" Alec asked Demetri as the continued through the woods, walking instead of running.
Demetri didn't humor Alec with a response.
"You're a horrible couple," Alec pressed on, undeterred by his silence. "She's gifted and beautiful. She's completely out of your league."
"Is that all you see in her?"
"The intricacies of my relationship with Violet are none of your business. You're a dirty pervert and a whore. She deserves so much better than you."
"Your insults are uninspired and contrived," Demetri said, unbothered. "Perhaps if you quit recycling them you'd actually be able to land a blow."
"Why bother? I don't need fresh insults to put you in your place," Alec smirked.
"Right. You just need your sister to pin me down for you. I wonder how Violet will feel once she catches wind of that."
"I'm not concerned. She may still have some residual connection to you, but it will fade the longer she's immortal. She'll forget all about you."
"You say that was such confidence. Though, if you were really that confident, you wouldn't have felt threatened enough to gang up with your sister and jump me."
"You needed to be reminded of your place," Alec sneered. "You have no place in Violet's life other than being the help, just as you are to Jane and myself. You have no business interacting with her unless she's giving your orders, like the dog that you are."
"You're fantastic," Demetri said facetiously. "Violet must be the luckiest woman in the world. You're quite a catch."
"I have so much more to offer her than you."
"Not that that matters, right?" Demetri said pointedly. "Since she doesn't get a choice in the matter."
"Oh, she chose me," Alec gloated with a wide, smug smile. "She chose me thoroughly."
"Did she? You're a manipulative little shit. You turned her and cornered her. It isn't her fault you're a cold, calculating man-child. She has failed to see you for what you really are in the past, but I have a feeling that it won't be long until she figures you out."
"How dare you?" Alec glared.
"What are you going to do?" Demetri asked coolly. "Tattle on me to your sister?"
"I don't need Jane to kick your ass."
"Sure," Demetri smirked, before turning away.
Alec reached out and grabbed Demetri's shoulder and spun him back around to face him before lifting his fist to punch him in the face.
Demetri, undisturbed by Alec's advance, coolly knocked his arm out of the way mid-swing, before punching him in the face, and subsequently sending Alec sprawling to the ground.
"You seem to keep forgetting that I have centuries of fighting experience, Alec. Far more than you. Without your sister here to back you up, you're nothing," Demetri said before turning to continue on his way again.
Unwilling to give up so easily, Alec jumped up and threw another punch at Demetri, that time at the back of his head.
Demetri immediately ducked and turned around, swinging a punch at Alec and hitting him in the stomach. Alec grabbed Demetri as he got hit, and dragged him backwards with him as he went staggering from the blow.
Demetri, in turn, grabbed Alec by the front of his shirt and hit him in the face twice, before Alec was able to throw a punch and successfully hit Demetri square in the jaw.
Demetri shoved Alec backward, slamming him into a large tree trunk before stalking after him with cold, deadly focus.
Just as Demetri stepped close enough to throw another punch at Alec, Alec released his fog on him, depriving him of all of his senses.
Without wasting any time, Alec shoved Demetri, who couldn't he was coming, to the ground before dropping down on him and removing the fog. As soon as Demetri regained his senses, Alec began repeatedly hammering him with punches in the face and head without relenting.
Demetri, thoroughly angered by Alec's trickery, reached up and grabbed a handful of his hair before yanking him off of him with extreme force, and hurling him several yards away.
Both men leapt into fighting stances, but froze when they heard rustling from somewhere nearby.
Just then, Violet, her bright crimson eyes still wide and flat, dropped down from a tree and emerged from the thicket.
