Page 62 of Midnight Kiss

“That book that made you sick,” Mike said. “It’s cursed. And it has put that curse on you. It’s going to kill you if you can’t figure out how to break the curse, and he’s taken it to give it back to his coven. Do you know what that means, Em? He’s chosen himself over your life. You’re going to die because of him.”

I pressed my hand to my forehead. “I—No. How is that possible? The book is actually cursed?”

“Yes,” Mike urged, reaching over and taking the cooling mug of hot cocoa from my hands. He put it on the coffee table. “Look at me, Em. I know this is difficult for you to absorb right now, but it’s true. He used you. Come with me, and I’ll show you that it’s true.”

Mike rose, and I followed him out of his apartment and to mine next door. He produced a key from his pocket and unlocked it.

“What the hell, Mike? You have a key to my apartment?”

“Just in case you needed me,” he said, shrugging. “There was a vampire hanging around you, Em. Did you expect me to hang back and let everything happen? I had to keep you safe. Ugh.”

“What?”

“This place reeks of vampire magic,” he said. “Where did you leave the book?”

I cast my mind back, finding it difficult now that I was feeling better. “On the coffee table, I think.” I walked over to it, but the book wasn’t there.

It wasn’t in my bedroom either. Or in Morgan’s. Or in the kitchen or bathroom.

“It’s gone,” I whispered. “It’s actually gone.”

“He took it to give it to them,” Mike said. “And he doesn’t care if you live or die.”

I swayed on the spot, and Michael helped me sit down.

“Here’s the tricky part,” he said. “We’ve got to get that book back. It’s the only way to save you.”

“But how?” I asked, still not able to get over the fact that it was gone. That Mike was right.

Alexander had taken it, and I was connected to it somehow. Memories of working with the book came back to me, trickling in now that I’d remembered its existence. Like it had been completely unlocked.

I had read the book, translated it, and I had suffered from those strange nightmares.

“Em?”

I met Mike’s gaze. “Yeah?”

“You weren’t listening to me. You were somewhere else.”

“What do we do, Mike? What do I do?” I asked.

“We have to get the book back. I need to think about it, maybe talk to my superiors. They might be able to talk to the elders who head up the U.C. and discuss the curse. The U.C. are meant to be this humanitarian coven that cares about humans.” Mike scoffed as if he thought that was ridiculous.

“But Alexander’s a part of that coven, right?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“So that means that he doesn’t want humans dead. He?—”

“What does it matter whether he wants humans dead? He betrayed you, Em. He took the book, and he’d do it again to save his own skin and do what his task masters say. I told you to stay away from him, didn’t I?”

I palmed my face, hot tears gathering in my eyes. This was beyond embarrassing. I’d thought that he … that he loved me. That I was special to him like he was to me, and after last night, I’d been certain that was true.

“You didn’t tell me anything real,” I said. “You lied to me too.”

“I had to,” Mike said. “I had to, can’t you understand that? I had to do what was necessary to protect you.”

“And how do you know that Alex wasn’t doing that?”