The bedroom was empty when I finally woke up. I thought I would find Luc lying next to me, but he seemed to be long gone. I knew he had been there just as Laura had said because the pillows next to me were misshapen and creased like someone had been lying in the spot all night.

I wondered where he had gone. Was he still in the apartment or had he left to do other things. I pushed the blankets off me and slid out of bed. Tip toeing out the room I crept downstairs to see if he was lurking about. I walked into the living room and noticed a silver tray with a crystal decanter filled with blood and next to it a neatly hand written note lay.

I picked the note up and unfolded it. I recognised Luc's hand writing and read:

My darling wife,

I'm sorry to leave you alone this morning, especially after last night's antics. As you can see I have arranged some breakfast for you to enjoy while I'm away. My brother has summoned me to talk about what happened with Nico. I hope not to be too long – as you can imagine we have a lot to discuss about your little escapade.

Please note I've taken the liberty of having two guards posted outside your door. If you decide to try and leave the apartment, then they have been instructed to stop you. Understand that this is for your own safety.

All my love,

Luc.

"My darling wife?" I echoed reading the note again. God, he sounded so fucking sarcastic... and threatening. I shivered and wondered what kind of hell he was planning for me when he got back. The note made it sound like he wanted to have a casual chat, but I knew that it wasn't going to be like that. He probably had some kind of Spanish Inquisition style of interrogation lined up for me.

Fuck. I was in so much trouble.

I screwed up the piece of paper into a tiny ball and threw it into the fire, trying not to mither over what Luc may or may not do to me. I needed to use this time productively. I might not get another chance like this again. Wasting no time I ran into the reading room and began scouring the bookshelves for any books the name Colin in.

Systematically I scanned the spine of each book checking the title and author's name. The shelves were filled with predominantly expensive classic first edition novels that seemed out of place in private collection. Many of the books were rare, deserving to be housed in special museum or archive rather than my personal reading room. The temptation to stop and a read a couple of these treasures was overwhelming, but I had to remain focused.

There were several large book shelves that reached from floor to ceiling in the room, and each unit must have contained at least several hundred books. I spent what felt like an age going through each shelf and checking the title of each book. Eventually as I was coming to the end of the first shelf, I found a small collection of books relating to Irish and Scandinavian mythology. Luc's mother had been Irish and his father had been Swedish. I wondered to myself if the books belonged to them.

I reached out and touched the spine of a bright emerald green book that had in great big golden letters printed down the spine 'Great Celtic Legends of Ireland'.

"My mother used to read that book to me when I was little," Luc said, appearing behind me

I gasped, clutching at my chest in fright. "Holy crap, you scared the hell out of me!"

He had literally popped out of nowhere and was now standing in the door ... swaying with this blank expression on his face. I blinked twice to see if my eyes were deceiving me. What was wrong with him?

Wearily I asked, "How did you get in? I thought no one could get in without my invitation."

"No one could but when you decided to leave the apartment the spell stopped working, and we, or rather I since my number one has absconded, had to get the magic guys to come redo all of this," he said waving into the air, "And now I can come and go as I please."

There was something wrong with him. He was never usually this ineloquent and clumsy. Narrowing my eyes I asked, "Luc, are you drunk?"

"As always your skills of observation has cut right through me, and I can confirm that I am indeed drunk. The meeting with my brother did not go well at all."

"Great," I replied sarcastically, "I didn't think vampires could get drunk, but I guess I was wrong!"

"No, you are right. We technically can't get drunk. However we can take something, a special potion that weakens our abilities and allows us to get completely and utterly drunk if we want to."

"So you wanted to get drunk," I snapped.

"Yes," he nodded his head, "you see my wife tried to run off with the captain of my guards yesterday, and Louis was less than thrilled about that."

"Wait, you think - "

"Oh, and before that I caught her kissing one of my closest friends in my own damn SUV – you remember Jacques, don't you darling ... Ah, you see my love, this wife of mine loves everyone except me," he said suddenly taking a step towards me.

Coldness rippled over me and cautiously I mirrored his movements, taking a step away from him. Quietly I replied, "I think we should have this conversation later, when you're sober."

"No, I want to have this conversation now. So tell me, is it other men in general you enjoy fucking or just those two specifically," he asked.

"I've never slept with anyone else!" I yelled feeling disgusted by the accusation.

"Try telling that to my brother. When he heard what you did, he demanded that the paternity of your baby was tested the moment it was born. He said that if the baby was not mine, you and the child would be turned out onto the street. However, if the baby was mine then it would be taken from you, and you would be sent away on account of your immoral behaviour," He said.

I shook my head in dismay at what I was hearing. Louis had turned on me, just like he had always promised and now I was going to lose my baby. I froze to the spot, feeling the world suddenly spinning around me.

Luc gently placed his hands on my shoulders and said, "Do you see what he was going to do to us?"

"Luc, please, don't let him take our baby," I cried.

He smiled and pulled me against his chest. "Shhh- don't cry. You don't think I would really let him take you away from me? Even if you have screwed Nico and Jacques, I could never hate you or let anyone hurt you. I'm your mate."

His hand gently caressed my back as he held me close. He pressed a kiss on the top of my head and made soft soothing sounds. I guess he was trying to comfort me, but I found it impossible to relax. Stiffly I leaned against wondering what the hell was going to happen next. "Luc, what is going to happen to us?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied calmly.

"Your brother is threatening to take away our baby," I replied.

He heaved a sigh. "He was, but not anymore."

"Did you talk to him and get him to change his mind?" I asked curiously.

"No, Mia – I did not," he sighed, "I did what I had to do to protect us."

My heart stilled and got the feeling something was dreadfully wrong. "What do you mean?"

"There was only one way to protect you and the baby – you've got to understand I did it for you," he said, raking a hand through his hair.

I pulled away from him, looking him straight in the eyes and said, "Luc, what have you done?"

The colour drained from his face and he replied, "I killed him - I tore his heart straight from his chest the moment he threatened you and declared myself king."

**********

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