“WHERE’S DAMIEN?”
My coffee mug slipped from my grasp and fell onto the ceramic floor, black liquid splattering.
“Waleron.” God, I hated when he Traced into a room behind me.
“Mmm,” he replied, looking from me to Xamien, who casually pushed back his chair from the kitchen table and stood.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Xamien said.
“A misunderstanding?” Waleron strode toward us, stopping a foot away. “Your friend, an unpredictable rogue assassin Scar who has no qualms about killing anyone who pisses him off, blatantly told Danni Abby’s alive.”
“There was an incident and—” I began.
Waleron cut me off. “Damn it, Delara. No incident surpasses my word. What am I supposed to do now? Tell me. Because I’m at a loss. Now, the Toronto Talde knows, and if Trinity hears or the Wraiths….” He ran his hand over the top of his shaved head. “She is considered a danger to the Scars, humans, witches—a liability. And she broke the law.”
The Wraiths finding out Waleron had never killed Abby would solidify that he acted irrationally, and he’d lose his Taldeburu.
“Then why did you let her live?” I asked quietly.
Waleron stood silent, but I’d known him intimately—and that twitch in his temple told me he didn’t have an answer. At least not one he’d care to share.
Damien’s words played in my mind and I wanted desperately to not give up on Waleron. But it was nearly impossible when he kept so much of himself a secret.
I would fight for his Taldeburu. No way in hell were they taking away his Taldeburu.
Xamien said, “Abby remains unnoticed by the Wraiths due to a spell on the house. They cannot detect her here.”
“Where is Damien?”
Xamien gestured to the back stairwell. “With her.”
Waleron approached the stairs.
“Tac.” No, he couldn’t take Damien away from her again. I scrambled after him. “Tac, please. Let them have time together.” I gripped his forearms and his gaze lowered to my hands holding him.
When his eyes met mine, they were cold and harsh—pure ice. His coldness penetrated and I shivered, releasing him and stepping back. “Damn it, Waleron, let me in.”
Waleron ignored me and his eyes snapped to Xamien. “What is Abby’s condition? Is she stable?”
Shit.
Xamien tensed. “If you’d asked me that a few days ago, I’d have said good. Now….” He sighed, mouth pulled down in the corners. “She attacked Max. Bit her neck. It’s been the only incident since she’s been here though.”
Waleron nodded and turned to go up the stairs.
He might not believe in love, but I did, and Damien loved Abby. “If you separate them, I’ll never forgive you.”
God, it felt as if I was fighting for us through what he’d done to Damien and Abby.
He paused.
“Kitten, perhaps this isn’t—”
I ignored Xamien. “There will be nothing left of us.” The muscles in Waleron’s back tensed, but he didn’t turn around. “I said I didn’t trust you. What I meant was that I don’t trust that you’ll never leave me, but I do trust that you will never physically harm me. I trust that no matter what you say or do, you care about me.”
He spun around, brows lowered, jaw clamped. The scent of rage emanated from his skin and I pinched the sides of my legs as he approached me.
“Waleron,” Xamien warned.
I swallowed, shifting back until the backs of my thighs hit the table.
He reached me and his hand grabbed the back of my neck, fingers digging into me cruelly. “Like this,” Waleron growled.
“Jesus, Waleron. What the fuck.” Xamien came toward us, but stopped when Waleron shot him a threatening glare.
“You won’t hurt me.” I repeated as the snake Ink on Waleron’s neck awakened, red eyes beaming and the sleek body slithering across his skin. “I know you. I know you won’t hurt me.”
“You know nothing about me anymore. If you did, you’d hate me.” Waleron released me and I collapsed against the table.
“Xamien. Office.” Waleron walked out of the kitchen.
I followed Waleron into my study and shut the door. “What the hell was that?” Fuck, Delara didn’t need this shit from Waleron. She already had Tarek threatening her.
“Leave it, Xamien.”
“I’ll say this once. You hurt her, we will have a serious problem between us.”
“I said, leave it.”
“I’ll leave it as soon as you acknowledge what I’m telling you.”
Waleron nodded, then walked over to the window, parted the curtain, and peered out into the garden. “If the Wraiths find out Abby is alive, they will hold you responsible as well.”
“I knew that the second you asked to bring her here. They’re trying to find an excuse to take away your Taldeburu and this would be the catalyst. But it might have a positive outcome. I suspect the majority of Scars will be in favor of Abby remaining alive. They’ll stand behind us.”
“And if it goes to the Deaconry?”
“Mariana, Genevieve and Zurina will side with you.”
“I’m uncertain what Zurina will do anymore. She fought me on Tarek’s execution. He is free today because she believed he deserved a second chance.”
“Yes, but I understand she stood behind your decision on Balen’s release. Zurina detests death. Just as she fought against you for Tarek’s death, she will stand behind you on Abby living.”
“Until she learns that Abby drank the vampire’s blood on purpose. It was not an accident.”
Now that I hadn’t known. “Why the hell would she do that? Word was it was a drunken mistake.”
Waleron half turned toward me, his expression grave. “It matters little why. But if the Deaconry find out, there will be no judge and jury.”
“Christ,” I said, walking over to my desk and leaned against it, arms crossed. “I’ll attend the Deaconry if it comes to that.”
Waleron’s brows rose. “You have refused to sit on the Deaconry for centuries. Why is this so important?”
“Because the girl deserves to live.” I paused and then added, “And because Delara would ask it of me.”
The sound of the curtain ripping filled the silence. Waleron let the material go and walked to the door. His hand was on the handle and the heated fury radiated from him. Regardless of whether or not Delara and I fucked, she was a friend and I’d stand by her.
“Damien has one day with her. I need him back in Toronto to hunt Tarek. We’re down warriors with Kilter and Rayne on the island and Delara here.” Waleron opened the door. “After Tarek is caught, it will be decided what will be done with Damien and Abby.”
“My brother won’t go willingly and I won’t help you. I suspect he will be put in Rest before he gives Abby up this time. Damien should remain here with her.”
“No. Abby is not ready. We agreed to this. When she is trustworthy, then she can be released and join us. Until then, she remains here without him.”
“We agreed to that when Damien didn’t know she lived.” Even though Waleron was able to mask his emotions from me, the tension in the air was thick. “My brother is going to hate you more than me come tomorrow.” I shrugged. “If you’re staying, there are five empty rooms on the second floor. Take any room you please—except Delara’s, of course.”
Waleron flinched. Then he Traced.
The warm, fresh blood rushed through his veins and his heart thumped against my cheek. With every inhale the iron scent of blood invaded my nostrils as he held me.
It was Damien’s blood. Sweet, succulent blood I’d tasted once before and craved ever since.
Damien’s Ink, Simian, had been the only thing that was able to control me that day. I’d been a newly turned vampire and starving. The undeniable appetite had eaten away my sanity. There was nothing that could stop my madness except to feed. I’d cursed, screamed, fought, salivating for the taste of blood.
I was so stupid. I’d fallen in love with a woman-hating Scar who was famous for hunting and killing vampires. And I wanted every part of him. Had from the moment I’d seen him picking out a peach at the grocery store. It seemed like an eternity since that day.
Now he was here. Where I’d never wanted him to be, but denying Damien in my arms was impossible.
We sat in silence for a long time. Him holding me, his hand gently caressing my hair, down my back, then back up again.
“Abb. Why? Why the fuck did you leave me?” He kissed my temple with the familiar, plush lips I’d dreamt about for the last eight months.
His hands on either side of my head, he forced me to look at him. I closed my eyes, afraid of what I’d see.
How could I look at him? Face the contempt. The betrayal. The hurt lingering in his dark eyes.
But at one time there’d been love. I’d seen it and heard it in his voice that day he’d begged me not to go, begged Waleron to kill him, too.
He kissed my brow, the tip of my nose, the corner of my lips, and the guilt over the pain I’d caused him magnified.
“Babe, please talk to me.”
Oh God, the gentle harmony of his voice made my skin tingle and my heart race.
His thumb wiped the stray tears under my eyes. “Open your eyes, Abb.”
Not yet. I didn’t want to face reality yet.
Then the plush velvet touch of his mouth on mine, and I gasped then sank into his slow, sensual kiss.
Damien groaned, deepening his kiss.
The magnetic pull between us ignited as the urgency and hunger we’d been denied for months took hold.
My thirst for his blood washed away as I tasted him another way. Damien’s kiss. This man who’d saved me and yet… I’d never wanted to be saved. I’d never wanted to live like this.
A monster. A killer. A vampire.
He drew back, scowling. “Damn it, Simian. Fuck off.”
His Ink. My protector. He wanted to be released.
Damien’s thumb rubbed over my swollen lower lip. “Abb, please say something.”
Were there any words? Painful truths, maybe; but couldn’t he just hold me? For a little while before—before what?
I hated who I was. Hated vampires more than anything in this world for what they’d done to my mother. Yet, now I was one. And Damien hunted monsters like me.
“I don’t care, Abb. I don’t give a fuck if you drink blood.” Damien kissed me again, this time fierce and bruising. “Please just talk to me.”
He didn’t deserve this. Me. What I’d put him through. But I’d been blinded by one night in his arms. Had drowned in him, never to surface again. He owned my body. My soul. I was his completely, and for that reason I could never be with him.
I shifted from his arms and finally opened my eyes. I was met with pure anguish and concern, but mixed with that was my Damien, the arrogant Scar I’d met and fallen in love with. “I asked you to kill me and you didn’t. I never wanted to live like this.”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Abb. How could I ever kill you? How? Fuck, babe, that wasn’t an option. It never was, I told you that.”
He reached for me, but I did what I knew would force him to keep his distance—I hissed, revealing my fangs.
“Don’t do this,” he said. But he lowered his arms.
“Waleron was supposed to kill me. Instead, he brought me here to live locked away like a wild animal.”
He reached for me again. “Abb, let me—”
I hissed again.
“Fuck.” He shook his head and sighed, leaning against the wall.
My voice was crass and rough as I spoke. “I hate. Not just myself, but everything. I hate this place. I hate Waleron. Xamien. I hate every single thing that lives in this world. Even you, Damien. I hate you for loving me.”
The muscles in his cheek twitched and the sorrow I saw in his eyes was replaced with wrath. That was what I wanted. To make him hate me.
“Abb, don’t you dare fuckin’ do this.”
But I had no choice. He had to hate me enough to kill me or… be tricked into releasing me from this cage so I could get someone else to do it.
One way or another, I was leaving here today.