Thomas sensed a bolt of electricity shoot through him and felt the dark power physically now. It was all around him, cocooning him, keeping him safe, protecting him. It was all he could trust in now, because his trust in Scanguards and his old friends had vanished.

He put his hand over Kasper’s iPhone. “No. There’s no need.”

Kasper released a sigh of relief and let the tension flow from his body. It always took a lot of energy to influence another vampire without triggering his self-defense instincts and his fighting back with mind control. Luckily, he’d provoked Thomas long enough for his dark power to emerge, and thus given him a way in. Kasper had allowed his own power to connect with Thomas’s so his former lover would accept the thoughts Kasper had sent to his mind as his own.

It had only taken a little shove to push him over the edge.

When Thomas had continued to question him and his motives, he’d had to think fast to turn the situation around. Because despite the fact that Eddie had betrayed him, Thomas had still clung to his association with Scanguards.

No longer.

By the time Thomas found out that Samson hadn’t betrayed his confidence, he’d be so deep within the pull of the dark power that he wouldn’t find a way out of it anymore, even if he tried.

Kasper would make sure of it. Thomas would be surrounded by him and his followers day and night, and the collective dark powers that swirled around them would drug Thomas and make his own power stronger so that he wouldn’t have the strength to fight against it anymore.

Nothing would be strong enough to pull him back. He’d seen it before with his other protégés, the ones who’d fought against it at first, only to lose the fight. They had become loyal and docile, just as Thomas would. Maybe not docile, though, since for Thomas, he had other plans. Because Thomas was stronger than all of them together. Thomas just didn’t know it yet.

Luring Thomas back into his bed would take longer, but Kasper was nothing if not patient.

He’d waited over a hundred years for this; he could wait a few weeks longer. And once they had blood-bonded, Thomas’s power would be his, and together they would be invincible.

“Come home now, Thomas, where you belong.”

36

He hadn’t slept a wink all day. Thomas hadn’t come home after storming out of Quinn’s house. Eddie had waited up for him all day, pacing in the living room and listening for the familiar sound of Thomas’s bike approaching the property. But Thomas had not returned. With every hour, Eddie’s mood had turned grimmer. Had Thomas gone out to the Castro to pick up some willing human to have sex with?

Jealousy made his gut burn from the inside, when he knew he had no right to feel such emotion. After all, he’d been the one driving Thomas away, and most likely into the arms of another man. He hadn’t been prepared for Thomas’s demand to commit to him right there and then. It wasn’t the right time or the right place. He hadn’t expected Thomas to react like this and simply leave and stay away all day. Clearly he’d hurt Thomas more than he’d realized.

And one other thing was clear now too: he didn’t want his relationship with his lover to end.

And for sure he didn’t want Thomas to find another lover. At that thought, his fangs itched for a vicious bite. If he found Thomas with another lover, he’d rip that stranger’s throat out. He hoped for both his and Thomas’s sake that Thomas had spent the day in his office at Scanguards to cool off, rather than fucking another man.

As soon as the sun set, Eddie jumped onto his motorcycle and raced down the hill, ignoring all rules of traffic on his way to Scanguards’ headquarters. After parking his bike, he charged past the security guy at the door, flashing his ID, and took the stairs to the top floor, too impatient to wait for the elevator.

On the executive floor, he walked down the long corridor and headed for Thomas’s office.

The door was closed. Without knocking, he opened it and entered.

The office was empty. He sniffed, but there was no fresh scent that would indicate that Thomas had been here in the last twenty-four hours.

“Fuck!” he cursed.

He took a few steadying breaths and reached for his cell, then paused. Would Thomas even pick it up if he knew it was he? And besides, what would he even say to him on the phone? This was a conversation where he needed to look him in the eye. Frustrated, he shoved the phone back into his pocket and left the office, shutting the door behind him.

In the hallway, he rushed past Cain.

“Hey, Eddie, what’s up?”

Eddie didn’t even look back at him and continued walking. “Nothing. Gotta run an errand.”