Exes and Exorcisms by Keira Blackwood (uplifting book club books .txt) 📗

told Kelson for the third time since I’d arrived. Then I headed down the hill with my crossbow slung over my shoulder, holy water strapped to my belt, and a stake in my hand.

I could feel the gazes of the three wolf shifters on my back. They could watch if they wanted, so long as they didn’t interfere.

The first shreds of morning light broke through the canopy overhead. Tracks littered the day-old snow. A few of them were wolf prints, most were human—boot-shaped. None who had walked here had been careful, which meant either the vampire didn’t care if he was found, or he actively invited confrontation, or he was so far degraded he didn’t think at all anymore.

I followed the boot prints to a small cave. With the sun rising, the vampire was likely to be settling down to sleep. I headed in. The scent inside the cave was damp earth. There was enough light peeking in through the entrance of the cave and small breaks in the roof to light the way. I pulled my crossbow from my shoulder and entered a small room.

In the corner, a petite figure knelt down beside an unmoving body. It wasn’t a male, after all, but a female vampire about Kelly’s size. I had plenty of time to take the shot, but I didn’t. I hesitated.

Something grabbed me from behind—a second vampire I hadn’t seen before. I twisted from the vampire’s grip and kicked its legs out from under it. A second female. Half of her face was missing, and she snapped her jaw at me, like a brainless creature intent only on feeding.

Another came from the shadows, the male. “Kill him so we may feast.”

“Inconceivable,” I said, then squeezed the trigger, shooting him in the chest.

His eyes went wide before his body poofed to dust. The female on the ground tore at my arm, her broken jaw seeking flesh. My blood spattered across the decaying leaves on the ground.

I ended her as quickly as her companion, with a quick wooden bolt. As I rose to my feet, I felt myself sway. The wound on my arm was bleeding a lot. As a shifter, I’d be fine if I wrapped it soon.

One vampire left—the first I had seen. She was still feeding on the body and hadn’t noticed me. Her grip on the body’s leg revealed that she had six fingers.

Holy shit, I’d walked into The Princess Bride. I inched closer. She hissed and turned her head toward me.

“My name is Inigo Montoya,” I said.

She hissed again. No sense of humor. Obviously she had to die.

Any similarity I’d thought there had been between this monster and Kelly was erased in an instant.

“Wait your turn, wolf man,” she said before taking another bite.

“What are the chances you function in society?” I asked, knowing the answer.

She laughed and tossed a boot at me. Then she pounced, knocking me back before trying to bite my neck.

“Zero,” she said just as I pierced her heart with my stake.

Maybe there would be no simple, black-and-white view of vampires for me anymore. Not all vampires were evil.

That was it. The Redemption job was over.

I could return to Cincinnati, since there was no real job in Forbidden. But I didn’t like the way Kelly and I had left things. If she truly wanted me out of her life for good, she needed to tell me in no uncertain terms. Until she did, I could hold onto hope.

I would hold onto hope indefinitely, because I knew with certainty that Kelly was my mate.

Admitting the truth to myself lifted a weight from my chest. When we’d dated the first time, it hadn’t been quite right. I’d loved her, but it hadn’t been enough. I’d had to lose her to understand what I needed to change about myself. And I was a better man for it. She’d changed, too. She was stronger. If we both had been then who we were now, I wouldn’t have worried she would run away instead of telling me to sod off.

She’d say it to my face.

And I wouldn’t have smothered her the way I had done, trying to hold her too tight, afraid she would leave or get hurt. Loving someone as wild and free as Kelly had brought out the overprotective side of me. And I knew now that if we weren’t partners, both wanting the same things out of our relationship and respecting each other’s needs, we could never have anything lasting.

We were different, and we were meant for each other.

I just had to tell her, and listen if she told me no.

I wrapped my bleeding arm, then met with Kelson. I shared a meal with him at his insistence before driving back to Forbidden. I would tell Kelly that I loved her, that she was my mate, even if she didn’t feel I was hers. And I’d have to do it in a way that didn’t make her feel like I was pushing.

Patience, space. She needed me to respect whatever boundaries she built, and take it when she pushed me away. That was how we’d stop from repeating the same mistakes. I was ready. I hoped she was, too.

It was on the drive back that cell reception improved and my phone dinged with an unheard voicemail. It was from Kelly.

She said I was in danger, and she warned me about the nest I was walking into. I didn’t know where she’d gotten her intel, but it didn’t matter. The job was over.

Also, it wasn’t her words or the warning that struck me. It was the sound of her voice, the fear she’d felt over my safety.

It meant she cared. It meant I had a chance.

I tried to call her back, but she didn’t pick up. I wasn’t sure what kind of message to leave her. I’m okay. I love you. So I hung up. This conversation would be best had face-to-face, anyway.

The drive took a few hours, putting me back in Forbidden before