Amaury's Hellion (34 page)

“Why then? Why make me his mate if that makes him dependent on me?”

“There’s only one reason why a vampire chooses a mate: he loves her and can’t live without her.”

Nina choked back a tear. How she longed to hear those words from him, even though they couldn’t be true. “But Amaury can’t love anybody. He told me so himself. He’s cursed never to love again.”

Delilah shrugged her shoulders. “Something must have happened. I can only tell you what I know from my own experience. No vampire takes a blood-bonding lightly. It is forever. And it is for love.”

Nina put her head in her hands. “Delilah, there’s something I have to tell you about me and Amaury.”

Delilah’s soft palm stroked over her hair. “You love him, don’t you?”

“Promise me not to tell Samson—I need to be the one to tell Amaury.” She paused. “If I ever get the chance.”

***

Nina jerked out of her sleep when she heard a sound at the door. She looked at Delilah who lay next to her on the stone floor, asleep. Nina remained still, pretending to be sleeping while she watched the door open. There was a sliver of light penetrating the dim dungeon, silhouetting a tall figure at the door.

She would recognize the man anywhere.

“Eddie,” she whispered and jumped up.

He looked behind him, then slipped into the room and closed the door. “Nina.”

A second later she wrapped her arms around her brother. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She swallowed back a tear. “How could you let me think you were dead? I buried you, I cried for you.”

Eddie’s familiar hand brushed over her curls like he’d done ever since he’d become physically bigger than her. “I couldn’t, sweetie. I wasn’t myself. The first few weeks were agony.”

She pulled away to look up at his face. “Did he force you?”

“Force me? Who?”

“Luther. He forced you.”

He held her a foot away from him. “Of course not. He would never force anybody.”

It didn’t make sense to Nina. Eddie would have never made her suffer like this without even trying to let her know he was alive. “I don’t believe you. You could have told me you were alive.”

Eddie shook his head. “I couldn’t. The days after the transformation were painful. I had to come to grips with the thirst. I had to learn how to control my urges and my strength without harming anyone. For the first couple of weeks I could barely think straight. I didn’t dare come near you. I was too afraid of hurting you.”

Nina recognized the sincerity in his voice.

“Why did you do it? I thought things started to work out for us. Why would you throw this away?”

“Throw what away? Just barely scraping by? Never quite making it? Always looking over your shoulder?” She could sense his anger and frustration.

“It wasn’t like that.”

But she knew her own protest was weak at best. They had struggled.

“It was always like that. Don’t lie to me, Nina. No matter how you tried to shield me from things, it was always like that. You can’t tell me you were happy the way we had to live.”

“But we had each other.” Her protest drowned in his angry huff.

“Yeah, we had each other. Because you always sacrificed yourself for me. Do you think I wanted that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I know what you had to do. I woke up that night. I heard what he did to you. You should have killed him. But you didn’t. Instead you stuck it out for me. You lived with this asshole day in and day out. Did you think I was blind? That I didn’t see how hard that was for you? And I couldn’t protect you. But now I’m a vampire, and as a vampire I’m finally strong enough to protect you from assholes like him.”

She shook her head. Disbelief coiled through her. He knew she’d stabbed their foster father? He was aware of the ghosts of her past?

“Yet you let me believe you were dead.”

“I was, for a while. But I would have come for you. I’m here now.”

She looked behind her at the sleeping Delilah. “I don’t call that coming for me. Luther kidnapped us.”

“He had his reasons. He wasn’t after you. Believe me, he was as surprised as the rest of us to find you there. All he wanted was that bastard Samson’s wife.” He tossed a look into Delilah’s direction.

“He can’t just go around kidnapping people. I can’t believe you’re on his side. This is wrong.”

Eddie looked at her as if she was crazy. “You have no idea what that man did to Luther. Samson destroyed his life. He killed his wife and child. No matter how you look at it, this has to be punished.”

“Is that what he’s told you? That Samson killed Luther’s wife?” Nina couldn’t believe her ears. That’s how Luther had convinced Eddie to help him, by telling him lies? By making him think that Samson was the bad guy?

“Because that’s the truth.”

“Luther is lying. It’s not how it was.”

“How would you know? You weren’t there.”

Eddie’s stubbornness reared its head again and reminded her of the time when he’d insisted as a thirteen year old that he was better at driving than she just because he was a boy.

“Neither were you,” she retorted. “Your Luther is not the hero you make him out to be.”

“You don’t know anything about Luther.”

“And neither do you.” Nina braced her hands on her hips and challenged him with a stern glare.

“I know enough to know he’s not as corrupted and evil as Samson and his men are.”

“Well, then maybe you should ask him why he sent those goons after me.”

“What goons? He sent nobody after you. We were out to get Samson’s wife. You just got in the way.”

Nina waved her hand impatiently. “Not tonight. He tried to have me killed several nights ago. By Johan and some other vampire. Why don’t you go and ask him?”

“That’s not true.”

“Who’re you gonna believe? Your sister or your new friend? I have no reason to make this up.”

“I don’t believe it. Luther told me you’ve hooked up with this bad-ass Amaury. Has he brainwashed you?” Eddie grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Has he?”

“It’s not like that. He hasn’t done anything.” Well, Amaury had done quite a bit, but none of that she was willing to discuss with her brother. Their issues were private and she’d sort Amaury out later. If she ever made it out of this place.

“Don’t lie to me. Luther said you’re his woman. Is it true? Are you his? Is that why you’re on their side?”

“No! I’m on their side because they are the good guys.”

“Don’t kid yourself. There are no good guys.”

“You’re wrong,” she insisted. “There are no bad guys, just people living with misunderstandings.”

“Nina. Wake up. I can help you. I can guarantee that nobody harms you, but you’ll have to trust me. I know what I’m doing. Don’t you see what Luther has granted me? A new lease on life, a new start for something bigger and better. We’ll never be poor again. You’ll always be safe with me.”

Funnily enough, it was the same thing Amaury had promised her, to keep her safe.

“But you can’t interfere anymore.”

He pointed at Delilah who still appeared to be asleep, even though Nina suspected she was only pretending by now. Their argument was getting heated, and no normal human would be able to sleep through it.

“I can’t let injustice happen. How can you expect that from me? Don’t you know me at all? Do you think that after what happened to me when we were young, I would allow another innocent to be harmed and just stand aside? No, if that’s what you want me to do, then I don’t have a brother. Because my brother would not force me to act like this. My Eddie would never do that.”

She glared at him furiously. Yes, he was a big bad vampire now, but he was still her little brother, and if somehow she could get through to him, maybe she had a chance of turning this situation around.

“You don’t know what you’re saying.”

Eddie turned on his heels, and before she could come back with anything else, he stormed out. She heard the door lock behind him.

Damn vampire speed!

With her next breath a sob dislodged from her chest.

“I’m sorry, Nina,” Delilah’s voice came from the floor. “Give him some time. He’ll figure it out. You planted some doubts in his mind. He’ll come back.”

She turned to her and watched her sit up. “Eddie has always been a stubborn kid. I think he’s turned into one hell of a stubborn vampire.”

Thirty-five

Amaury carefully slid the silver dagger into its sheath and strapped it to his hip, before he looked back at Samson. They were gearing up in Samson’s basement arsenal. The others were busy loading up the vans with everything they’d need.

“I don’t think it’s any of your business if I’m communicating with my mate.” He would not be censured by Samson, no matter what. That Nina had so far thwarted all his efforts to get in touch with her was beside the point. If anything, it made it even more important that he should get through to her, to make sure she was alright. Maybe she didn’t know yet how the telepathic communication between blood-bonded mates worked and was confused.

In the sleepless hours he’d spent waiting for sunset, he’d been going through scenario after scenario of why she didn’t reply to him. For his own peace of mind he’d settled on the one where she was unaware or confused about the skill and didn’t know how to apply it.

“It’s my business when she could jeopardize the rescue mission. If you give away what we’re planning, you’re putting Delilah in danger. Is that what you want?” The warning tone in his friend’s voice gave him pause.

“You know full well that I would never do anything to put Delilah in danger. But Nina is my responsibility. I love her.”

The realization sank in deep. Love? Was it possible after all these years, even with the curse? Had he beaten it? How? There was no rhyme or reason to it other than the knowledge that it was the truth. He loved Nina. Loved her beyond the bond, the lust, the sex. His heart felt too big for his chest, as if it had expanded, enlarged to make space for her. The warmth spreading within it extended throughout his body, seeped into every cell and tingled on his skin. Amaury was in love.

“If you loved her, you wouldn’t have bonded her without giving her a choice,” Samson snapped.

Fury reared in Amaury. “What are you saying?” A tiny twinge of something he couldn’t identify flicked through his stomach, but was gone just as quickly. He took a step closer, almost butting heads with Samson.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Why don’t you tell me?” Amaury surprised himself with the menace in his tone. His loyalty to his old friend was overpowered by his love for Nina

“You didn’t tell her what the blood-bond entailed. Nina had no idea what she was getting into.”

“That’s not true.” Samson’s accusation stung. At the same time, a little ball of guilt settled in his gut.

“If it’s not true then why was Nina so shocked when Delilah made a comment about your blood-bond to her? And why do you think Nina is so pissed at you?”

Pissed? She was upset with him? Was that why she hadn’t replied to his telepathic calls?

“You can’t be serious,” Amaury tried to deny his friend’s statement.

Samson nodded and gave him a hard look. “Delilah told me Nina didn’t know you were blood-bonding her. You did it without her permission.”

Amaury took a step back and braced himself against the wall. “But I asked her. I told her.” He had—well, he’d sort of asked. It hadn’t been that explicit, but he was sure she’d understood.

“What exactly did you say?” Samson’s voice was calmer now, more controlled.

“I asked her if she wanted to be mine, and I told her I would be hers.”

Samson
tsk
ed with disapproval. “And from that you thought she’d get that you wanted a blood-bond?”

Amaury’s heart contracted painfully. He’d been so sure about her that night. The way she’d looked at him, how her eyes had gazed at him with longing, with want. She’d begged him to take her blood, and there’d barely been a hesitation when he’d asked her to drink his. Nina had wanted him, he was certain. They belonged together, they were right together. This was no misunderstanding. It couldn’t be.

“But she wanted me. She …” His voice trailed off. Maybe she’d wanted him last night, but for how long? This couldn’t be happening.

Amaury felt his friend’s hand on his shoulder and looked into his concerned face. “You are aware that she can bring this up to the council.”

He was aware of the council, the powerful body of vampires from across the country who acted as a tribunal of sorts and dealt with serious infractions within their race. Blood-bonding a human without consent was a severe crime.

“Or she can just leave you.”

Amaury nodded. Neither option would free him from the bond. Either case meant death. But he wouldn’t think of this now. He couldn’t let this distract him from the task at hand.

“Whatever she wants, she can do it. But I have to save her. I can’t let her die at Luther’s hands.”

A world without Nina was unacceptable, and whatever it took to save her, he would do it. By bonding with her he’d pledged his life to her. And he wouldn’t hesitate to fulfill the pledge if it was asked of him.

Thirty-six

Luther gave her the creeps. The coldness in his regard made Nina cringe inwardly. The gray of his eyes looked like ice as they stared at her and Delilah without any expression in them. Did he still have emotions, or was his heart a frozen wasteland?

A chill went through the dungeon with his presence. Nina shivered and felt Delilah grasp her hand in reassurance. But even the knowledge that she had a friend at her side did not diminish the eeriness of his visit.

“Finally the time has come. I would have never guessed it to be so easy in the end. And for Amaury to hand you to me on a platter, priceless.”

“You know they’ll come for us,” Delilah claimed, her voice ringing with unerring certainty, steady and without a tremble.

Luther twisted his mouth into a thin smile. “I’m waiting for them. I promised myself that they shall not miss your deaths. I want them to witness the moment you die—to feel the pain, the agony, the despair. To know the exact moment their grief will grip them.”