The ride back to Twenty Exchange Place was mostly silent. Even Griffin remained uncharacteristically quiet, and it was all I could do to keep the tears at bay until I finally escaped into the apartment. Everyone had been right. I wanted to blame myself for the situation with Colin.

But he knew I was never interested in him. I had been up front about that from the beginning. And his misconduct inside his apartment, when I caught him coming out of the shower bare-assed, that was all on him. Wasn't it?

I set down the slices of zucchini bread Bianca had sent home and crouched to greet the whippets as tears streamed down my face. It wouldn't be the same without Colin living next door. He was the wise cracker to Vincent's straight guy. Whenever Vincent was acting like a maniac, I could count on Colin to make me laugh. I knew without question that if Colin and I had hooked up, I would not have been able to stay away from Vincent. So, I totally got where Colin was coming from, and it made my heart ache for him.

A text chimed in from Vincent, and I wiped my eyes to read it.

Heading home. No luck with Dmitry. Fill you in when I get there.

I walked into the bedroom and climbed under the covers. Of course, Bonnie and Clyde had to join me, curling up at the foot of the bed like a pair of fuzzy socks. Although my thoughts kept me awake for what seemed like an eternity, it wasn't long before Vincent's warmth woke me up.

I threaded my fingers between his where they rested on my hip, relishing in his scent and his rhythmic breathing against my neck. Surely, he knew about Colin and Claudette's plan. He was the magister. Maybe he'd even told everyone to keep the news from me due to my condition. Before meeting Vincent, I'd never needed anyone to fight my battles for me. Now here I was, a gollum with the ability to severe arteries with my teeth, and my mate wanted to protect me from everything. Even from worry.

The irony almost made me laugh, and I didn't realize I had until Vincent stirred behind me. "Baby, you okay?" he whispered.

"Yes. I'm glad you're home safe."

"Ditto." He pressed his face into my hair, and I felt a gentle nibble on my shoulder. "How long have you been asleep?"

"I'm not sure. Not that long."

"Then rest. Don't let me disturb you."

"I want to know about your visit with Dmitry."

"We can talk about that later."

I lifted his hand and spun around inside his arms, placing it back on my hip as I claimed his mouth. My lips felt dry and chapped, but his were soft and inviting, and he slipped his tongue inside. His sensual touch ignited a fierce chill, and I shivered as I pulled him closer.

"I love you." I spoke the words as I stared into his eyes through the dim light, getting lost in their silver-gray shimmer. He looked tired, but he also looked hungry, and I knew he wasn't thinking about Bianca's zucchini bread.

"Ditto, baby."

I let him work my mouth over until he broke away to breath heavily into my ear, sucking on the lobe like it was a tender piece of steak. "So, if you don't want to talk about Dmitry," I said. "Then let's talk about Colin."

As expected, Vincent's body went rigid inside my arms, and he pushed back to look at me. "You want to talk about Colin right now...while I'm kissing you?"

"You kissing me has nothing to do with it. I visited Adele and her new baby today, and I had a talk with Bianca and your mom while I was there. They told me about the situation with Colin and Claudette."

His jaw became an unyielding block of granite, but he managed to talk in spite of it. "What did they tell you?"

"They told me Colin and Claudette are moving to an apartment on the upper east side."

The silver in his eyes flared as he continued his questioning. "Did they tell you why?"

I swallowed, suddenly wishing I hadn't brought it up. But this was important, so I pressed on, ignoring his attitude. "Claudette believes Colin won't be able to focus completely on their relationship if they're living next door to us."

Vincent's hold on me had slowly increased, and when I tried to wiggle free, he tightened his grip. "And...? Did they explain why that is?"

"You know why. I know you do. You're the magister."

His breath was hot against my face as he exhaled deeply. "I want to hear you say it."

Did this guy get-off on torturing himself? Sometimes I wondered. "Because Colin has strong feelings for me, and it might cause problems for the domus down the road."

His eyelids lowered, and he pursed his lips. "One job. I gave him one fucking job." Vincent held me captive, his fingers tightening possessively around my arm. This made it difficult to take a full breath.

"Baby, you're suffocating me."

He locked me in a hard stare, looking both hurt and furious. "How else do you want me to behave? The minute I let you out of my sight, he's got you seduced."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about, Vincent. But if you don't loosen your grip, I'm going to pass out."

I felt him swallow against my head just before his grip loosened completely, and he rolled onto his back, staring daggers at the ceiling. I laid my arm across his chest, hoping my touch would soothe him. Clearly, I'd picked the wrong time to bring up the topic of Colin, but it was going to come up sooner or later.

"I'm still trying to understand the nature of gollums," I explained softly. "And I've experienced first-hand how passionate they can be. But we're all intelligent adults here. Colin must realize what he stands to lose. He just needs to do a better job of practicing self-control."

Vincent turned his head, pointing his silver daggers at me. "First of all, even the most mentally trained gollum will not be able to practice restraint all the time. That's why we have safe words. And secondly, both Colin and I suck at self-control. As you said, you've seen it first-hand."

"I feel slightly insulted that you would think I'd let Colin seduce me."

"You've already proven you suck at it, too."

Shit. What now? I scanned my brain for anything that Vincent might have misconstrued as a seduction. "If you're talking about the kiss in the rec room, I told you, he kissed me."

"I'm not talking about that." He bolted upright and climbed out of bed. "We need to stop talking about this. Are you thirsty? You need to stay hydrated." He walked out of the bedroom before I had a chance to answer, and all I could do was shake my head at his back. He was moodier than a pregnant female.

Just then, my phone rang, and I glanced at the screen. It was Christoph. Perfect. Now Vincent could get pissed about Christoph calling. But since we were waiting to hear from him, I answered.

"Hi, Christoph. What's up?"

"Hey, Reese. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

Hmm. Better not give him the truth. "No, why do you ask?"

"I don't know. You just sounded off when you answered."

"I'm good."

"Okay. Well, I said I'd call and let you know if I could get the message to your friend's niece in the Dakota hive, and I think I've got it covered. When will you need me?"

I laid back on my pillow and released a long, obvious exhale. "Well, we finally heard from Dmitry aka the asshole with the power, and he's put us off until summer solstice."

"What? He's making you wait until the summer before he shares the cure with you? That's bullshit. Aren't you due this summer?"

The fact that he remembered when I was due made me smile. "Yes, but he claims the funky magic I'm infected with won't harm me or the baby."

"Again, that's bullshit. If I were Vincent, I'd be ramming my fist down the guy's throat." I had to hold the phone away from my ear as Christoph growled into it.

"Calm down, tiger. Vincent paid Dmitry a visit today, but he hasn't shared the details with me yet. I'll get him on the phone. Just a sec."

I put the phone to my chest and spoke as if Vincent was standing around the corner, because I knew he was. "Vincent, I've got Christoph on the phone. Will you join me, please?"

Vincent huffed, and I heard it loud and clear before he entered the room. He held a glass of water in one hand while the other was clenched at his side. He set the water on the table next to me as he sat on the edge of the bed. I put Christoph on speaker phone.

"Okay, Christoph. Vincent is here. He's going to share with us what he found out at Dmitry's." Feeling brave, I lifted my eyebrows at my pouty husband, but when he hit me with those Don't fuck with me eyes, I wanted to shrink down to the size of a pea and hide under my pillow.

"I didn't get to talk to Dmitry," he snapped. "He's gone for the season. Apparently, he does that. All we found were a few servants cleaning up after him."

"Did they say where he went?" I asked.

"No. They were given instructions to act ignorant, but I suspect he's somewhere in Russia. I have someone working on locating his residence there."

"So, have the plans changed, then?" Christoph asked. "Will you be needing me to..."

"No. We won't be needing you. I'll be in touch if anything changes." Vincent stood and left the room. I could tell he was barely holding it together, which meant I needed to hang up with Christoph and attend to my savage beast.

"I think that's all we're getting out of Vincent," I said. "He left the room."

"He sounded pissed. You said I didn't call at a bad time, but I interrupted a fight, didn't I?"

I wanted to tell Christoph it was none of his business, but I couldn't get over the fact that he was spot-on, even without being in the room. "He's just upset about Dmitry being a royal asshole and the fact that his wife and child are infected with voodoo."

"I can sympathize with him, Reese. Honestly, if either of you need me to hunt this guy down, I'm there. I'd like to get a piece of him, myself."

"Geez, all you boys want to do is pound things."

"It's in the job description."

"Thanks for agreeing to help. I know you've taken a lot of risks for us."

"That's not exactly true. I've taken risks for you. So, don't let it be in vain and take care of yourself."

"Yes, sir. Signing off now, sir."

Although I wasn't looking forward to talking to Vincent while he was behaving like a cantankerous grump, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy. If some asshole had infected him with crazy magic, I'd be a miserable bitch too. I grabbed my water and walked out to the kitchen where I found him heating up tomato soup on the stove.

I opened the cupboard and took out two bowls. Then I rummaged around the pantry until I found the whole wheat crackers. The whippets stood in the foyer watching the two of us move silently around the kitchen. Then Bonnie walked to the door and sat in front of it. After pulling spoons from the drawer and setting them out, I watched Clyde stroll over and join Bonnie.

"The dogs are ready for their walk," I said. "Should we do that before we eat?"

"I'll do it. You stay here and eat." He pulled the pot of soup off the stove and started ladling it into the bowls.

"I'd like to go with you. I enjoy our walks."

Vincent looked up from his task. His eyes were bloodshot and glassy. "Do you really want to be with me, right now? I probably won't be the best company."

"Vincent, if I only wanted to spend time with you when you were on your best behavior, what kind of mate would I be?"

He didn't take his eyes off me, and I didn't flinch under his searching gaze. I just waited for him to come to a decision. Finally, he returned the pot to the stove and poured the soup from the bowls back in. Then he took me by the hand and walked me to the foyer. As I pulled on my boots, he grabbed our jackets and the leashes.

Once we were bundled up, he stopped me at the door. Lifting his hands to my cheeks, he held my head gently and stared at me. "You make me a better gollum. I don't deserve you, but I'm damned grateful you chose me."

"We chose each other. And we're going to get through this little scrape like we've gotten through everything else..." I rose up onto my toes and kissed him. "Together."