Free Promises to Keep by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes Page A

Her sudden intensity was unsettling, and brought to mind
     Xeke’s warning that this was not a woman who distinguished what or whom she did or
     didn’t have a right to possess.
    Jay gently but firmly extracted his wrist. “My apologies, Lady Brina, but I need to
     tear myself away from your company for a moment.”
    “Jay.” Arms wrapped around him from behind as a familiar mind and body snuggled against
     him. “Dear Brina, you don’t mind if I steal Jay for a while, do you?” Xeke crooned.
     “I’m sure he’ll have time for you later, but you know how boys are.”
    Brina bit her lower lip, then said, “If you
insist
.”
    Xeke looked at the trainer and nodded a cool greeting.
    Something passed between the two men, something Jay almost wanted to analyze further,
     before he realized that Xeke felt he was protecting Jay from a double threat.
    “Jay here is one of Kendra’s guests,” he said to the new vampire. “He was invited,
     with the full knowledge of his pedigree, and has behaved himself perfectly well. And
     now we’re leaving.”
    With an arm firmly around Jay’s waist, Xeke led him away, thinking furiously,
What kind of idiot are you, witch? Do you want to be her lapdog?
    “She can’t—”
    “
Witches
are freeblood,” Xeke hissed, “as long as they violate none of Midnight’s rules.
Hunters
are an entirely different matter, especially once they put themselves in our territory.
     You were invited here and weren’t shy about what you were, so you’re marginally safe,
     but if Jaguar had decided you were a threat to Brina, he could have handed you over
     to her in a heartbeat, and not a person in this house would have objected.”
    Why does he have so much power in Kendra’s home?
Jay wondered, just before Xeke swatted him upside the head, in a semi-playful yet
     very serious fashion that distracted him from pursuing the thought.
    “What are you doing back here?” Xeke asked.
    “Why shouldn’t I be here?”
    Xeke gave a long-suffering sigh before saying, “I don’t think you came back to see
     me, and I hope you didn’t come back tosee Brina, which means you put in a great deal of effort to find a place that you’re
     not supposed to find.”
    “Who is the woman from the woods?” Jay asked.
    Xeke turned around and, in one smooth movement, slammed Jay up against the wall hard
     enough to knock his breath out, effectively distracting him from hearing Xeke’s first-thought
     response.
    “I don’t know,” Xeke answered honestly while Jay’s eyes were still wide with surprise,
     “and I don’t
want
to know. And you
shouldn’t
want to know. If she’s unconscious, maybe she’s better off that way. If she wakes
     up and she wants you to know who she is, she’ll tell you. So drop it, okay?”
    “And if I won’t?” Jay asked.
    “Then I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Xeke said, words clear and precise,
     “and remind you that a hunter who trespasses on our land violates his freeblood privilege.
     I don’t think you’re crazy enough to risk that.”
    “Xeke,” Jay said, “you have no idea how crazy I can be.”
    “You like risk. That’s fine; I like to play games too,” Xeke said with a brilliant
     smile. “Trust me when I say you don’t want them to be real.”
    “You wouldn’t keep me.” Jay knew that for certain.
    Xeke’s response was chilling. “It wouldn’t be up to me—this isn’t my territory. You’d
     go to Kendra, or Jaguar, or probably Brina, given the sheer number of people who want
     to give her shiny baubles to keep her happy and placid. I don’t have the clout to
     claim you as my own.”
    This time, Jay could find the thoughts related to Jaguar.
Midnight. Slave trade
. Jaguar wasn’t discussed much by hunters these days, but Xeke’s caution made it clear
     that the trainer had regained at least some of the power and influence he had once
     had. That meant Midnight itself had become stronger than the hunters had begun to