humanlike blood to be truly healthy. We must convince him to allow Devinshea to feed him. Perhaps if I speak to him…”
Marcus could be stubborn. “We can try.”
“Or I can agree to feed him as long as he’s here on this plane. I can make a deal with him,” Summer said. “I would like to meet my parents, and Kelsey has said she might help to train Dean.”
“I’m already in training,” Dean insisted. “I don’t need any more.”
I snorted. “You totally need more unless you want Myr…multiple bad guys to murder you.”
I wasn’t ready to admit I might know more about Dean’s “destiny” until I was sure I actually knew what I thought I knew. I also wouldn’t admit it in front of Dev. Bris was looking at me in a way that made me think he’d picked up on my subtle change of verbal course.
Luckily Summer turned her exasperated self on Dean. She pointed a finger his way. “Have you considered the fact that you need to get to the Earth plane? That we have no idea how to send you there and suddenly three powerful Earth plane beings fall from the sky? Have you considered the fact that apparently my father is now the ruler of the supernatural creatures of the Earth plane and could be invaluable in aiding your mission?”
“I won’t trade you for a mission,” Dean argued. “I’ll find another way.”
“You don’t have a choice. You don’t own me either, Dean.” She turned to Bris. “You don’t believe the vampire will hurt me or will attempt to push the boundaries of a negotiated relationship if I offer to feed him?”
Bris chuckled, a deep, sexy sound, but then he was an actual sex god. “Oh, he’ll try anything he can, daughter. But he will also protect you and yours with everything he has. Marcus believes you are his fated mate. He believes it in his soul.”
“Because of this prophecy thing?” Summer asked.
“Because of how he feels when he looks at you, when he is close to you. I can feel his emotions, they are so strong,” Bris corrected. “He has been waiting for you for hundreds of years. He’d almost given up hope.”
“I don’t want to be anyone’s fate.”
“Then I need to convince Marcus to feed off Dev, and we need to find him a hooker.” There was more than one hunger we needed to feed. “Earthbound vamps require sex to function properly, too. I would bet it’s precisely why Marcus hadn’t fed. He wasn’t in the mood to bump uglies with some rando, so he went on an ill-timed fast.”
“I can aid in this,” Bris offered. “I am sexual energy. I can focus it and Marcus won’t need sex for a while.”
Summer nodded. “Excellent. Then we’re going to do this. Dean, if you argue with me again, I’ll ship you back to Erna.”
Dean’s jaw tightened but he didn’t say another word.
Summer looked out to the forest. “I need to find him before he takes down something that could make him sick.”
Bris knelt and touched a hand to the grass. “Find the vampire.”
There was a line of grass suddenly greener than the rest, and where there was no grass, moss peeked from below the dirt, lighting the way as efficiently as any signpost.
“Summer, don’t do this.” Dean’s voice had lost its hard edge, and he sounded more like the young man he was. “We can find another way.”
There was resolve in Summer’s eyes. “Sometimes things happen for a reason. I’m going to find Marcus.”
“And then we should have a talk about the necklace you’re wearing, daughter. I would like to understand why you’ve bound your magic,” Bris said.
Her eyes flared and there was fear there, but she merely nodded. “Of course, Father. I’ll return shortly. Dean, see if you can salvage that book. We need it.”
She jogged down the path Bris had created.
Dean stared at the fertility god. “If he hurts her, I’ll find a way to pay you back.”
“Calm yourself,” Bris said, not unkindly. “But prepare because I believe those two will find their way to each other. They are intensely compatible. She will ease his loneliness in a way no other woman can, and he will be the supportive lover she has always craved. They will complete each other if they are allowed to bond.” He seemed to focus inward. “Yes, Devinshea. He will complete her. She has a hole inside her soul, and he will fill it if you allow him to.”