For now, whilst Ava was off to meet with Alora and Jude for lunch, I’d find out why Sam had asked me to meet with her. Only when the arena was empty apart from her and Jared did I finally approach. “Everything all right?”

Sam folded her arms across her chest. “I spoke to your Sire.”

“What did he say?”

“He claims to know a few things that could help us. He wasn’t very specific, though.”

Sounded like Will. “What was his price?”

“He wants permanent residence here with his mate and guard.”

That did not sound like Will. “I was expecting him to ask for something outlandish, like using your personal squad to do his dirty work on occasion.” Which wouldn’t have happened. “I wouldn’t have expected him to be prepared to leave his business and nest behind.”

“He knows I’ll be closing down his fight club, since I refuse to support the running of anything that that bitch is involved in.”

“You’re taking away a lot of her income,” I noted.

Jared grinned crookedly. “Oh yes. She no longer has money from the brothel, and I doubt she’s succeeding in blackmailing her clients any longer, now that the evidence is gone.”

Very true. “She’ll be pissed.”

“Angry people make mistakes.” And that was obviously what Jared was hoping for.

“What did you tell Will?” I asked Sam.

“I told him I’d think on it. I wanted to speak to you first.” She sighed. “I despised my Sire, Salem. He was a conscienceless twat, which was why I happily ended his pitiful life. If Antonio had asked for Victor to live here – a place I consider a haven, as well as my home – I’d have found it extremely fucking difficult.”

“Will isn’t like Victor. He’s not what anyone would call a good guy, but he’s not all bad.”

“I don’t trust him. You remember when I was first made a commander and your entire squad was being arrogant, high and mighty, and got stuck in a ‘we don’t want or need your help, we’re perfect’ zone?”

Yeah, we’d all been ignorant bastards to her; certain we didn’t need coaching because we’d passed the try-outs and been picked for the legion. We’d gotten all wrapped up in the honour of being selected, and had pretty much forgotten who we were.

“I contacted vampires from your lines, got personal, painful information about your pasts and hit you all with them. I wanted to snap you back into reality and make you realise that being accepted into the legion didn’t mean you got to forget all the experiences that made you who you are and gave you your strengths.”

It had worked. It had hurt, but it had definitely snapped us out of our zone.

“It was Will I spoke to about you, Salem. He sang like a fucking canary. Told me all about what happened to your parents that horrible night a long time ago before you became a vampire. If someone had called me, asking for that kind of info about you, I’d have told them to fuck themselves with a plunger.”

My mouth twitched into a half-smile. Much like Ava, Sam never failed to amuse me. “Thanks, Coach.”

“For that reason, I don’t like him, and I don’t trust him. But this whole matter is a lot bigger than me. Still, if it will be too hard for you, I can turn him down.”

Having Will around could be awkward, given that he was controlling and believed that, as my Sire, he had influence over what I did or didn’t do. At one time, I hadn’t cared. Now, though, things were different. “I’ll be fine if you accept his offer. Just as long as he doesn’t think he has authority over me.”

“You answer to only me and Jared. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll just have to learn to bloody deal with it.”

Jared stuffed his hands in his pockets. “His mate and guard, what are they like?”

“Blythe is exactly what Will needs: someone he can control, someone who’ll follow him blindly. His guard, Todd, is a quiet guy. Deadly, though.”

Jared twisted his lips. “We’ll do background checks on all of them before we agree. I just wanted a brief idea.” He cocked his head. “You’re sure you can deal with your Sire living here?”

I’d dealt with worse. “Call him. Accept his offer.”

“Be absolutely positive, Salem, because we can’t go back on our word,” said Sam.

“Accept his offer,” I repeated. “I’m fine with it.”

It was when I was at the exit that Sam called out, “Oh, and Salem? About Ava…She’s been hurt a lot, made to feel like she’s not good enough exactly how she is.”

“Who the fuck made her think that?” I demanded, totally pissed – which weirdly seemed to please Sam.

“Only Ava can answer that. Just make sure you’re one hundred percent serious about her, that you’re willing to take her just the way she is, before you attempt to start something with her. I don’t want her hurt again.”

“Neither do I.” And I’d ensure it didn’t happen.

She nodded. “Good. Now sod off, I’m busy.”

My mouth twitched again. “Right, Coach.”

CHAPTER FIVE

(Ava)

I doubted that anyone had experienced the kind of beach parties that happened at The Hollow…purely because they didn’t have Fletcher and his boyfriend, Norm, to organise them.

Sam told me that the guys had thrown beach parties before, but she claimed they had outdone themselves this time. And they had certainly succeeded in making the new squad members, Maya and Cassie, feel welcome.

A lot of people were under the huge marque, which was decorated by colourful lanterns that lit up the evening. Under there was a DJ, a bar, a table of finger foods, pool tables, and a makeshift dance floor – a dance floor on which Antonio and his mate, Lucy, were swaying together while frowning at a very drunk Max, who was dancing with an inflatable palm tree.

Most of the girls, including me, were relaxing in the large luxury cabanas or on the cream rattan sun loungers that were surrounded by tiki torches and had a huge bonfire as a centrepiece. Most of the legion, however, was either swimming, surfing, or making use of the jet skis. Of course, the more immature members – sadly this included Harvey and Damien – were building obscene sand-snowmen.

“Where’s Salem?” asked Alora.