Keeping Secret (Secret McQueen) - By Sierra Dean Page 0,16
on it, to have two members attempt to kill each other wouldn’t do anyone any good. The potential for a power vacuum was too great, and as such it was out of the question for one member to challenge another.
Juan Carlos knew the rules better than anyone. Thankfully, so did I.
“But I would.” He wasn’t looking at me now. Instead he focused on straightening the cuffs of his Armani shirt. When my silence spread past the point of comfort, he proceeded. “If I wasn’t who I am, and he hadn’t forbidden it.”
“He?” I didn’t want to continue this conversation. I didn’t want to be alone in the hall with him a moment longer than I needed to be. But still, there was something compelling about what he said. “You mean Sig?”
“Yes. Your benefactor. He is the only reason you’re allowed to keep that precious little pulse of yours.” He looked up, his black eyes bright with contempt.
“Sig… He… I…” I was flustered. I’d always known Sig had a special interest in me, but I’d never understood what it meant. Hearing Juan Carlos tell me that Sig’s attention was the only reason I was still alive was a little jarring. I liked to think there was more to my success in the Tribunal than the threat of its leader.
“Yes.” A cool voice joined us in the hall, though I hadn’t heard the door open. Maybe it hadn’t. “What about Sig?” The man himself was leaning against the wall a few feet behind Juan Carlos. His pale skin glowed slightly in the dim light, his bare chest almost serving as its own milky-white illumination.
“I’m leaving,” Juan Carlos insisted, turning to go, but Sig took a small step away from the wall and barred the way. If Juan Carlos’s physical presence was enough to unnerve me, then Sig’s was enough to make anyone else uneasy. He was over six and a half feet of lean, taut muscle and liquid predatory grace. Seeing Sig move was like watching a wild jaguar hunt.
“We’re having a little chat,” Sig said. “I think it only fair you stay to finish what you started.”
Juan Carlos turned back to me and snarled. “I’d love nothing more than to finish it.”
“I see you two are being calm and rational about this…” Sig waved a hand between me and Juan Carlos, “…tension.” He smiled, laughing at his own private joke. Neither Juan Carlos nor I were amused. “Let’s have it out. Juan Carlos, you claim I am the only thing keeping Secret out of an early grave, is that what I am to understand?”
Juan Carlos was hesitant to reply. He watched the Scandinavian master vampire warily before he spoke again, and when he did, his voice was low and empty of its former heat. “Yes.”
“I disagree,” Sig said. “I believe Secret has held her own as a member of our Tribunal. Certainly, my…favoritism had its benefits when she was our hunter, but now she is our equal.”
“She will never be our equal.”
“Whether you choose to accept it or not, old friend, she has earned her place here just as you and I have. You must learn to respect her.”
They spoke as if I weren’t there, like parents arguing about how to discipline a naughty child. I wanted to wave my arms and cough loudly to remind them I was still present, but common sense won out. Besides, I was relieved to have Juan Carlos’s attention diverted elsewhere.
“I cannot respect her.”
“You must.”
“You ask too much.”
“No,” Sig said, shaking his head. “You yield too little, and that is your real problem. You are stubborn, and she is stubborn, and together you are two foolish asses with one yoke, pulling each other in opposite directions.”
I began to protest when he called me a foolish ass, but at the first burble of noise from my mouth Sig shot me a warning glance that said more than any words could. Silence would be my best course of action here.
“You cannot expect me to treat her as an equal.”
“I do. And if you cannot, then you are the problem here, not her.” Sig placed a hand on Juan Carlos’s shoulder, but the darker man jerked away, flashing his fangs.
“I said it to her, and I will not say anything different to you. It is only your interest in her that keeps her alive. The moment she no longer captivates your attention, old friend, she will cease to be my problem or anyone else’s.”