LITMIR.BIZ

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may I be frank with you?” Julian asked, as if he hadn’t been so already.

      Max steeled himself for whatever the man would say next. It probably wouldn’t be something he wanted to hear.

      “You are not one of us. My daughter has feelings for you, and whatever is between the two of you is enough to earn you my mercy. But my concern for Bella’s safety, eh, trumps, I believe is the word, any concern for her happiness.” He steepled his fingers at his mouth and appeared to consider his next words. “I will not remind you of my responsibility to the pack, and the consequences that would befall them if this Soul Eater were to come after the baby.”

      But you just did, Max thought irritably. “I understand your concern. But Jacob can’t use the baby until he’s become a god. He wants her for her destiny, and I’m guessing that destiny won’t come into play until at least preschool, right? In the meantime, I don’t understand how my leaving Bella when she needs me most will ultimately benefit her. I mean, there is no one in this pack who will fight harder to keep her safe.”

      Julian’s face turned to stone. “I do not think that is correct.”

      He hadn’t come to argue. But he was sure as hell not leaving Bella behind. “No. If I go, she leaves with me.”

      “Maximilian, this is not permanent.” Julian laughed, as if it had been clear from the very beginning and Max had just been too stupid to figure it out. “If you say this vampire will have no interest in my grandchild until after he’s become a god, then I believe you. But I wish for you to see that even this small victory for him is prevented. If he is defeated, and if you survive, then you will be welcome to return to my daughter.”

      So that was it. He was being shipped off in the hopes that he wouldn’t return. “I’m not a vampire anymore. I’m a werewolf. Vampire hybrid,” he added quickly, before Julian could shoot him down as an outsider. “How do you know anyone is still going to want to include me in their plans?”

      Julian spread his hands and smiled, as if he knew he had his prey cornered. Not cornered. Served on a platter. “I trust that you will be able to find a place in this fight. Besides, did you not just assert that you would do anything to keep my daughter safe?”

      Max didn’t have an answer to that.

      “Your plane will leave in the morning. Try and break the news gently to my daughter.” And then Julian left. Left Max standing there in the cavernous room, left him holding the bag. How was he going to tell Bella that her father was sending him away to die?

      On the other hand, Max thought as he stalked angrily back to Bella’s room, there’s no way Nathan and Carrie won’t be involved in this thing. And if Julian is making noise about it right now, something is going on.

      He couldn’t stand by and let his friends finish what he’d helped to start. But he couldn’t leave Bella.

      Of course, he knew what she would say if he told her. Go, help them, go where you are needed. Go and be the warrior you are supposed to be. It was a big argument for just not telling her. The argument against not telling her was that he respected her, damn it. It didn’t make sense, considering that a few short months ago he would have liked nothing more than to jam a screwdriver into her ear, but now she was the mother of his child. Also, the love of his life. Hell, even memories of his sire had begun to fade gently into the background since Max had realized how much he loved Bella. He had to tell her why he would be leaving, because he couldn’t lie to her.

      He came to their room just as two of Bella’s aunts were on their way out. They gave him shifty looks as he entered and one muttered under her breath, probably complaining that he hadn’t knocked on the door, but they looked relieved at the same time. It was starting to appear that his outplacement was a group decision.

      Bella was on the balcony, still clothed in her white nightgown, but wrapped in an equally pristine terry cloth robe. Her long, black hair was unbound, spilling down the sides of her face and over her shoulders in dark slashes.

      “The wind off the lake is cold,” he said, and she didn’t startle at his sudden reappearance.

      “I like to be in the sun. And the cold does not bother me.” She wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach and smiled up at him. “And she is warm enough in here.”

      She’ll be in piss-poor shape if her mother dies of pneumonia, Max thought, but he didn’t say it. He didn’t want to spend some of what could be their last day together arguing. “Listen, I have to talk to you about something.”

      “Oh?” Bella gestured gracefully to the other lounge chair, closer to the railing.

      Max pulled the chair up close to Bella’s, though he wasn’t sure he’d ever be close enough to her. The thought of spending mornings away from her, of not waking to her beautiful smile, her warm, clean scent…He pushed those grim thoughts aside. “You know, he’s still out there.”

      He saw her chest hitch in a sharply drawn breath, but she caught it before it could make a sound and pretended—badly—not to comprehend. “Who?”

      Better to do it like ripping off a Band-Aid. “The Soul Eater. He’s still out there, and he’s still going to go through with the ritual that will make him a god.”

      “What does this have to do with us?” Bella’s voice held a note of steel, as if she could will Max’s past to vanish. “You are no longer one of them. It is not your concern.”

      He smiled and pushed some of her hair off her face. The very first time he’d seen her, she’d been wearing her hair back. She’d always worn it that way, scraped back from her face so severely that her skin had looked tight. It had made her seem hard, and she was, to people who didn’t know her. But now Max knew her, and he saw the currents below her deceptively smooth surface. She was frightened for him, and for their child, and she looked as vulnerable and young as he knew she was.

      “You’re right. I’m not one of them. But I’m half of them,” he reminded her, and he dropped his hand to place it over the bump of her abdomen. “And she’s half, too. I don’t want to take the chance of his goons waltzing in here and grabbing you. I’m going back to the States to get this all sorted out.”

      She whipped her head up sharply to glare at him. “You will leave me here?”

      “I’m not going to drag you into a war zone. I’m sorry.” He looked away, to the vast expanse of black water on the lake. “If I don’t go, and he becomes a god, I’ll be here, trying to protect you from a god. If I go, and we can beat him, yeah, I’ll be away from you, but you’ll be safe.”

      “My father put you up to this.” She said it flatly, providing no room for him to argue.

      And it was damned tempting to say, “Yeah, your father is a real prick and he’s sending me to fight the Soul Eater knowing that the odds are pretty good I won’t be coming back.” But what good would that do? He’d still get sent away, still might die, and then Bella would be estranged from the one person who had the power to protect her. Not that her anger toward her father would stop him from watching over her—in fact, it might make her a virtual prisoner for the rest of her life, and that was something else Max just couldn’t accept.

      “He didn’t put me up to it. We talked out this solution together.” It ground his guts to have to make the man look decent through a lie, but Max forged on. “Besides, you know that Nathan and Carrie will still be involved. They’ll need me.”

      “If they are still alive,” Bella snapped, then her expression softened. “I am sorry. I do not mean to speak evil thoughts out loud. But you do not know where they are or how they fared in their mission. And you cannot do this thing alone.”

      They sat in silence, both staring out at the lake, the occasional foam cap peaking on the dark surface. The wind had picked up. Bella’s hair whirled in it and slapped against her face.

      “Let’s get you inside,” Max said quietly, and before she could argue

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