Chapter 35 Manipulative Bastard
INDIE
Zade's gaze darted to me again, his eyes softer, though the tension still settled tight in his shoulders. He didn't speak. He simply crooked two fingers and slowly gestured at me to come closer. My feet moved me towards him automatically.
I was hyper-aware of Leon's golden eyes tracking every step and of the way the air between the three of us felt suddenly heavily charged.
When I reached Zade, he caught my wrist gently, tugged me forward, and guided me down onto his lap without a word.
My thighs straddled his, the hard muscle of his legs caging me in the same instant his arms came around my waist. One hand splayed low on my stomach, the other slid up between my shoulder blades until his palm cupped the nape of my neck. He pulled me in until my chest pressed to his and my forehead found the warm hollow beneath his jaw.
The moment our bodies aligned, warmth poured through me like sunlight breaking open a storm cloud.
It started at the point of contact—his chest against mine and his hand on my neck—and spread outward in slow, liquid waves. The venom's fire in my arm dulled to a low simmer. My muscles unclenched. Even my breathing evened. The sharp, stabbing ache that had lived under my skin for hours eased into something distant.
I melted against him right away.
My arms looped around his neck on instinct. My cheek settled against the side of his throat. I could feel his pulse there. It was steady and strong.
"Better?" he murmured, his lips brushing my temple.
I nodded, too overwhelmed to speak. Tears pricked behind my eyelids again, but these weren't from pain or fear. They were from sheer, stupid relief.
Across the room Leon let out a long, theatrical sigh.
"Look at you two," he cooed, his voice warm and teasing. "Supermodels. Actual supermodels. I'm the luckiest bastard alive."
Zade barely reacted.
Leon kept going, undeterred. "We should open a group chat. We can name it something terrible. I'll be the chaotic one who sends thirst traps at three a.m. You two can be the grumpy married couple who reply with 'go to sleep' and heart emojis anyway."
Zade's hand tightened a little on my neck. It wasn't painful. Just... possessive.
Leon's grin didn't falter, but he did tilt his head and pat his pockets with exaggerated confusion.
"Wait." His brows furrowed. "Shit. I lost my phone. Again. Probably left it in the forest when your people tried to turn me into a pincushion." He glanced at Zade. "You got a spare?"
Zade's voice was calm when he spoke.
"Get back to where we were," he said, each word hair-raising, "or I'll be forced to take back every privilege I've given you."
The playful light in Leon's eyes dulled—just for a second—but he recovered fast. He spread his hands in mock surrender.
"Fine, fine. You're no fun, you know that? I'm literally bleeding out, and you're threatening to revoke my guest privileges." He sighed dramatically, then leaned back and fixed those molten-gold eyes on me. "Anyway. Where was I? Right. The part where I'm the rarest hybrid you'll ever meet."
He paused for effect, clearly enjoying the tension.
"Vampire-witch," he said, rolling the words as if they tasted expensive. "Mother was a witch, a powerful one with an old bloodline. Father was... less sentimental. I'm a bastard child, technically. Born with both gifts, and neither family wanted the liability." His smile turned sharp.
"They tried to drain me for my blood. They said it was too rare and equally too valuable. One drop can heal almost anything—broken bones, organ failure, even the worst magical sicknesses. They were going to sell it by the vial. I didn't particularly like that plan, so I left. Violently."
My breath caught in my throat. His blood could heal almost anything.
The venom mark on my arm sent a painful pulse up my arm as though it had heard him.
I must have flinched because Zade's hand slid up to cradle the back of my head, his thumb stroking gently along my scalp.
"You're running a fever again," he murmured against my hair, concern slipping through the words. "You're burning up, Bunny."
Leon sat up straighter so fast the IV line tugged at his arm. His playful mask cracked, his golden eyes widening.
"Wait," he said. "Fever?"
Leon's gaze dropped to where my sleeve had ridden up, exposing the black cracks spidering towards my elbow.
"Are you sick?" he asked, his voice cracking. He pushed himself higher against the pillows despite the obvious pain it caused, the bandages pulling tight across his chest. "Indie, sweetheart, are you hurting badly? Talk to me."
Zade still hadn't moved. There was no growl. No snarl. No possessive lunge across the room to rip Leon's hand away the second he reached for me.
Nothing.
And that nothing was louder than any threat he could have made.
Leon stretched his bandaged arm towards me, palm up, his fingers trembling just slightly. "Come here. Please. Let me see."
I stared at his open hand like it was a grenade.
My instincts screamed at me to hide the mark under my sleeve again, to lie through my teeth until I could figure out how to kill Enid without Zade finding out.
But Leon's eyes were glistening now, with actual tears collecting at the corners, and the sight punched straight through my ribs.
He looked... broken.
As if the thought of me dying was already tearing him apart even though we'd only just met.
My throat tightened.
Leon's fingers closed gently around mine the second I held out my hand. His skin was cool, almost fever-chilled despite the bandages, but his grip was careful. He turned my arm slowly, exposing the black veins crawling up towards my elbow.
A tear slipped down his cheek.
"No," he whispered. "No, no, no—don't do this to me. I just found you. You can't—" His voice cracked. "Please don't die and leave me alone with the grumpy alpha."
The laugh that wanted to escape came out as a choked sob instead.
I looked over at Zade.
He was watching us with that same unreadable calm. No jealousy in his posture. No murder in his eyes. He was only just ... waiting.
And then his gentle voice slipped straight into my head through the bond.
'Tell him, Bunny.'
I jolted.
My gaze snapped back to Zade's face. He hadn't moved a muscle. His lips hadn't even twitched. But the words had been unmistakable.
He'd done this on purpose.
He'd asked me to come here to stay here with Leon just long enough for the vampire to see the mark, to react, to cry—because he knew I wouldn't be able to keep lying if I saw tears.
But how did he know that Leon would react this way?
Manipulative bastard.
My chest squeezed. Part of me wanted to be furious at the fact that he'd played me like a damn fiddle. Again. But the other part... the other part saw the desperation hidden under the calm. He wasn't hurting anyone. He wasn't threatening Leon. He was just... giving me the push I needed to confess. So that he could help.
I let out a long, shaky breath.
"Okay," I whispered.
Leon's grip tightened, his golden eyes searching mine. "Okay, what?"
I looked between them—Zade's patient, predatory stillness and Leon's tear-streaked hope—and made the choice.
"Varak," I said, my voice shaking. "He spoke to me. In my head. After the venom mark appeared on my arm."
Zade's shoulders eased a little.
Leon sucked in a sharp breath. "Varak? The Varak?"
He knew about him?
"He said the mark is a countdown. If I don't kill Enid before the venom reaches my heart... I die." My voice cracked on the next words. "And Zade dies with me."
At first there was only silence. Absolute, suffocating silence.
Leon's hand spasmed around mine. Fresh tears spilled down his cheeks, but he didn't wipe them away.
Zade held me closer.
“He said I'm the only one who can do it. The venom is... alive. It's feeding off my power. Giselle confirmed that there's no cure. I have only a few days left. Maybe less."
I looked between them.
"I didn't tell you because..." My voice cracked.
"Because if I told you, you'd never let me do it. You'd try to find another way. You'd sacrifice yourself instead. And I can't—I can't lose you, Zade. Not after everything."
Zade's eyes closed for one long second. When they opened again, they shimmered.
Leon watched him warily but didn't say anything.
Zade studied the black cracks on my arm like they were a personal insult.
"You think I'd let you become a murderer to save me?" he asked softly.
I swallowed hard. "I think you'd die before you let me carry that weight."
He exhaled through his nose, letting out an almost amused sound.
"You're not wrong."
He pressed his lips to the inside of my wrist, right over the worst of the cracks. The contact stung, but his warmth pushed back against the venom for a moment. Zade's voice was very soft when he spoke.
"I'm not letting you kill Enid," he said against my skin. "And I'm not letting you die."
"I can kill whoever this Enid person is," Leon suggested, and Zade inhaled deeply.
“We would be playing right into Varak’s hands if we did that,” he said.
“What? Why?” Leon asked.
Zade gently lowered my arm. “Because Enid is Varak’s leash, and he wants that leash broken.”