Alphas.”
“Yes,” he choked out. “Gods help me, but yes, that’s what I thought. I’m so, so sorry, Tamsin. For a moment I respected them. I actually thought—”
“Oh, Darby,” I whispered when he broke down. I didn’t know how to gracefully pull him to me to hug and comfort him, so I crawled onto his lap and threw my arms around him.
He clung to me and let it out. “There’s no way my ma and Gram didn’t know. My whole family is so dirty. I’m sick that their blood is in me. I don’t even know what to do, agra. And he took you. He hurt you. I want to kill him. I want to brand him and drain him for what he did to him. I want to kill all of them for being part of why I lost you. I love you with all of me. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, and he took you from me.”
That made me cry too. All I had ever wished for was to be wanted like that. Now I understood what Mel had been trying to tell me, even pushing for.
“Please believe me and take me back, agra,” he begged. “I can’t do this without you. I can’t keep going on without you anymore. Everything is so empty without the light you bring to my life. I’ll do anything to get you back. I need you.”
And I needed him too. With all the crazy in my life—lots I brought upon myself and I fully acknowledged that—Darby was the strength and stability that cut through it and figured out how to push me forward.
“No more secrets,” I choked out.
“Then there’s something I need to tell you that you’re not ready to hear,” he rasped, his throat raw.
I flinched. “You’re still addicted to my blood?”
“No, I could give two shits about your blood,” he chuckled, giving me a sad smile when I lifted my head and couldn’t hide my confusion. “It’s a sign a vampire’s found our mate. You matter much more to me than your blood ever could. That’s a fucking miracle given what your blood is to vampires, but I want you, not your blood.”
“Oh,” I breathed, my eyes bugging out. “So how do we find out?”
He sighed. “It’s not like shifters or dragons. It’s not a set thing. It’s more… It’s really more compatibility and yin and yang. Witches and warlocks, it’s the ability to easily combine magic that highlights a good match, or souls that will join together for soulmates. Shifters—their animals give them a leg up to find their mates. Dragons too. I have no idea on fairies as many aren’t—you’re a comitessa.”
I worried my lower lips. “No more secrets.” I cleared my throat when he gave me a curious look. “I think I was born of a light fairy and a dark one.” I nodded when his eyes went wide. “I think that was why I was snuck out of Faerie. Someone could have found out during the war if my parents died. The fae dogs, who are used to dark fairies, work with me, but won’t swear to me.
“Everything I’ve read seems to very accurately split my personality and qualities down the middle between light and dark fairies. I might have noble blood on both sides or not, but it might also explain why I’m so powerful. I’m really powerful, even for a fairy so young.” I shook my head when he opened his mouth. “I am, Darby. More than you know. I should be a mess and stunted as an unknown, but I’m not.”
“Well, thank the gods you’re not, and if a banned match is what it took for you to have made it, then so fucking be it,” he whispered, hugging me to him. “I need to get my tattoo updated.”
“I’ll do it after we finished talking.” I nodded when he gave me another shocked look. “Yeah, I can do that too now. I did a lot of studying over the summer. Tons of it. There’s a lot you missed out on or will learn now.”
“I didn’t have a relaxing summer either.”
Yeah, because he’d been working on blowing his family apart and outing the network of sick vampires. I cupped his cheek and leaned our foreheads together.
“Please, please, swear to me that you won’t ever resent me for what you’re doing and what needs to be done later. That’s my biggest fear with getting back together. A year from now, you’ll hate me for all of