The sun was setting when her mother brought her home, covered her with kisses and words of love, before promising to return in a few days so they could do it again. Callie climbed into bed with a stomachache, but she was happier than she’d ever been. She’d rambled on about her amazing day as her dad tucked her in and kissed her good night.
For the first time in her life, she would have both her parents around all the time. Her mother had promised to come back soon; she’d never done that before.
However, she never returned, and that was the last time Callie saw her alive.
A month later, the pictures they’d taken arrived in the mail. Angry her mother had once again abandoned her, Callie threw the photos in the trash. Most of the photographs were of silly poses and funny faces, but this one was the two of them beaming at the camera with the joy that only those who didn’t know what lurked around the corner could have.
After her father died, she discovered he’d rescued the pictures from the trash. While packing away his things, she found them tucked into one of his dresser drawers, and knew he’d kept them for her.
Her mother died two months after the photos were taken, and when she looked back now, the memory of that perfect day no longer angered or saddened her. She was glad she had the opportunity to have the memory of her mother. It was the only good one she had as most of her time with the woman was a blur lost to her younger years.
She was also glad her father had realized that one day his angry, six-year-old daughter would want pictures of her mother and saved them for her. It had taken her years to understand her mother hadn’t abandoned her because she didn’t love her. She did love her.
She recalled those hands cupping her cheeks as kisses rained down across her face and words of love poured from the woman. There had been something desperate and hopeful in her mom that night, but she’d been too young to see it.
She’d meant to keep her promises, but, in the end, her addictions and demons won.
Callie set the picture down and blinked away the tears in her eyes when Lucien returned with some more of the containers. His gaze traveled from her to the photo and back again.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“She was beautiful.”
“She was.”
“You look like her.”
Callie smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He cupped her cheek in his palm, and she turned her face into it to kiss him before pulling away.
“Tell me about her,” he said.
Callie wrapped the photo in a turtleneck as she told him the story of her one perfect day with the woman and her father’s foresight to save the pictures. When she finished, he hugged her as he cursed himself for not bringing her here sooner.
Yes, these were just things, and her life was far more important than them, but they were all she had left of her former life and her parents. No wonder she was so impatient to return for them.
“I should have brought you here sooner,” he said.
“It’s better we waited. I needed to have these things back, but I do not want to fall into the hands of the Savages again.”
Lucien rubbed her neck as they stood together for a long while.
“We should get going,” she said.
He reluctantly released her. “Maybe on the ride home, you can tell me more about your dad.”
She grinned at him. “I’d like that.”
He couldn’t help but grin back at her. “Good.”
When she started packing the next container, he lifted a full one from the bed. “I’ll bring the rest of the empties up and take some of these down to the SUV.”
“Okay, thank you.”
He left the room, and Callie listened as the door clicked before turning her attention back to packing. She finished encasing the picture of her and her friends at Burning Man. She wanted to call them and tell them she was safe, but she couldn’t answer the influx of questions that would follow.
She planned to write to all of them. She had no idea what she would say, but she couldn’t leave them hanging. If something happened to one of them, and she never knew what became of them, it would eat at her for the rest of her days.
They deserved better than a letter, but she didn’t know how to give it to them. She traced the contours of their faces in the picture; she was going to miss them all so much.
A creak caught her attention, and her head lifted. The hair on her nape rose as the unsettling feeling she was not alone came over her. Except, she didn’t sense Lucien out there. A Savage?
But no, that wasn’t possible. She would have had to invite them in. Callie stepped away from the bed and glanced around for something she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing nearby.
Her gaze returned to the bedroom door as a shadow fell across the threshold. Callie’s mouth went dry, and her heart doubled in speed. It wasn’t Lucien; she’d developed a kind of sixth sense when it came to his presence. She always knew when he was nearby; his presence was a balm to her soul, but there was no comfort right now.
Instead, her instincts were telling her to run and run fast.
Her eyes darted to her office doorway as a hand fell against the door and slowly pushed it open. Callie’s apprehension turned into full-blown panic when she spotted Carter looming in the doorway.
His brown hair was longer than the last time she saw him, and it curled at the collar of his shirt. His brown eyes burned as he glowered at her. With his shoulders hunched up to his ears, he looked like Frankenstein’s monster. She sensed a wildness about him that she’d only felt once before… when he was beating her bloody.
Memories of the past screamed into the present as a lump clogged her throat. She’d been training with the others, but she wasn’t as strong or as insane as him.
“Where have you been?” he snarled.
Callie gulped back the lump in her throat as her mind spun. She struggled to come up with a response, but words failed her.
“Where have you been?” he yelled.
Callie refused to answer him. It was none of his damn business. “You’re not allowed here, Carter.”
Her gaze returned to her office. She could make it there before he grabbed her. She was fast, and she was terrified, and those things would give her the advantage.
“Don’t you tell me what I’m to do, you whore!” he spat. “Are you fucking him?”
Callie edged away from the bed and toward the door. Like a wolf on the prowl, his eyes tracked her every move.
“Who is he, Callista? What is he doing here?” Then his eyes went to the containers on her bed. “And where do you think you’re going?”
Callie continued to edge away. Don’t let your panic control you.
Those words ran on a loop through her head. Willow had said them during one of their training sessions, and they’d struck a nerve with Callie. Now, she grappled with abiding by them as her pulse raced like a runaway thoroughbred.
At the time Willow said those words, keeping control sounded like such a simple, easy thing to do. However, faced with Carter standing there looking as if he planned to rip her face off, it wasn’t so easy. Looking at him again, she clearly recalled his blows while she screamed, but no one heard.
“Do you think you can leave?” he demanded. “Do you think I’ll let you leave?”
When he stepped toward her, Callie bolted for the door. Not only did she recall every bit of her training from the past few weeks, but she also remembered her track days. She put her head down, pumped her arms, and ran like fire nipped at her heels.
When she crossed the threshold, she grasped the office door and swung it shut behind her. She sprinted through the room and skidded into the kitchen. She realized her mistake when she slid to a stop in front of the locked back door.
Not only had Carter already locked the door, but he hadn’t followed her through the office. Instead, he’d retreated through the living room and was coming across the kitchen w
hen she reached the back door.
Her fingers fumbled at the lock as he seized her hair. Muscle memory from her training took over, and she swung back with an elbow. She jabbed him in the ribs at the same time he yanked her head back and smashed her forehead off the doorframe.
Stars erupted across her vision, and when something warm trickled down her face, she realized he’d split her skin open.
“You bitch!” Carter exploded as his hand twisted cruelly in her hair.
Callie bit back a cry as she struggled against unconsciousness. If she passed out, she’d never open her eyes again because he’d kill her. She did not doubt that.
Enclosing his hand around her throat, he dragged her away from the door and pinned her to the wall. Callie clawed at his hand as the starbursts cleared from her vision. Finally, she saw well enough to take in the rage contorting his features into something inhuman.
His fingers constricted around her throat until her breath wheezed in and out of her.
“Are you fucking him?” Carter demanded.
When she didn’t—more like couldn’t—answer, his fingers cut off her air completely. Knowing she was going to die, Callie pulled back her arm and drove her fist into his face.
CHAPTER 36
Lucien stacked the three remaining containers outside the door of Callie’s shed. He glanced up the stairs toward the apartment as he leaned against the doorframe. He’d give her a few minutes to herself and her memories before returning.
He studied the building before turning his attention to the other homes lining the street. Fences separated most of the backyards, and this one was no exception. The six-foot fence surrounding the property kept it neatly separated from the neighbors.
Lifting the two full containers he’d carried downstairs, he walked to the closed gate and set them down to open it. He used his foot to keep the door open while reclaiming the containers and strode into the front yard.
He stopped at the back of the SUV, pulled out his keys, and hit the unlock button. Setting the containers down again, he lifted the back door as, down the street, another door slammed shut. He set the boxes inside and closed the door before turning to discover Saber stalking toward him.
“Don’t you answer your phone?” Saber demanded.
Lucien frowned and slid his hand into his pocket. “It didn’t ring.”
He removed the device and checked the screen; there were no missed calls. It was no secret he despised technology, but he knew how to use a phone, and he held it up to show Saber before turning it back to him.
Then he saw there were no bars at the top. He glanced at the sky as if he could somehow see the waves, or signal, or whatever it was the stupid devices used to work, but of course, they weren’t visible.
“I don’t have any service,” he said to Saber. “Why? What’s the problem?”
“A human went inside a couple of minutes ago. There’s no sign of Savages, but we thought you should know.”
Usually, a human wasn’t a cause for concern, but Savages sometimes used them to do the dirty work they couldn’t during the day. He glanced up and down the street before lifting his eyes to the third-floor windows.
He kept his eyes on the windows as he opened himself up to Callie’s presence. Although they weren’t mated, he could still sense her moods. However, he kept her shut out so as not to intrude.
Now, as he opened himself up to her, Callie’s terror hit him like a bolt of lightning that seared straight into his soul.
“Shit!” he hissed as he bolted for the door.
• • •
“You whore!”
Carter’s spit and the blood from his broken nose sprayed her face as he lifted her off the ground. Callie kicked at him as white stars lit the blackness engulfing her. Her lungs burned, she couldn’t breathe, and instead of her punch knocking his hold free, it only infuriated him.
“Are you fucking him?” he shouted at her.
Carter had to realize she couldn’t answer him and that he was on the verge of crushing her windpipe, but it didn’t seem to matter as he continued shouting at her. Straining to maintain consciousness and her wits, Callie gathered what remained of her strength and lifted her feet. She planted them in his stomach and pushed against him.
Carter grunted, and his grip on her lessened, but it wasn’t enough for her to draw air into her brutalized lungs. She was going to die; this asshole was going to kill her. She’d been so anxious about Savages that she never considered this monster might return.
A roar filled her ears, and she thought it was the blood thundering through them as she experienced the last few seconds of her life. And then Carter was torn away from her.
Startled by the abrupt freedom, Callie hit the floor on her ass. She wheezed as she tried to inhale, but her constricted lungs refused to let in oxygen. Her head bobbed down before snapping up. When her lungs finally eased, oxygen flooded her system, and she gasped in air.
Red filled Lucien’s vision as wrath pulsed through his veins with every rapid beat of his heart. This man… this thing had tried to kill her.
He scented Callie’s blood on the air seconds before he sank his fangs into the bastard’s throat. The man’s arms flailed before the agony of Lucien’s bite ceased his movements.
He’d never intentionally inflicted pain on someone while feeding, but he gladly did so now. He could have protected and sheltered the man from the pain; he didn’t. Instead, he made sure he knew nothing but suffering while he fed.
He’d almost drained him dry before pulling away and twisting his head to the side. The crack of his breaking neck reverberated through the kitchen. Lucien would pay for killing a human with increased sensitivity to the sun, but he’d gladly kill him a thousand more times.
Callie’s head bobbed down before popping back up. She blinked at Lucien as he released the body, and it hit the floor with a thud.
“Callie? Callie, look at me,” he commanded as he knelt before her.
Blood spilled from the lump already forming in the center of her forehead. Her skin was turning black around it. A trail of blood ran down the center of her nose and fell off to splatter on the ground. She blinked at him but didn’t reply.
His gaze fell to her brutalized throat and the finger marks standing starkly out against her skin. When he cradled her cheek in his palm, she lifted her eyes to his before they fell away again.
“Callie, who is this?” But as he asked it, he already knew the answer. “Is it Carter?”
Callie opened her mouth to reply, but only a small croak came out. Her brutalized throat and spinning mind wouldn’t allow much more to slip free. Swallowing, she winced when the movement caused fresh pain in her brutalized throat.
“Yes,” she managed to whisper.
Lucien bit back a curse as he glanced at the lifeless body behind them. He wished the asshole was still alive so he could make his death far more painful. It had been too quick and easy for him.
Lucien leaned closer and kissed her wounded forehead before cupping her cheek. “Are you okay?” When her dazed eyes met his, he saw her shock and terror. “He’s dead, Callie. You don’t ever have to worry about him again.”
Tears filled her eyes as her lower lip trembled. She sobbed and then winced when the movement jarred her brutalized throat.
“Hey,” someone called from the living room. “Is everything okay in there?”
Callie wiped away her tears; she refused to let anyone see her cry. She refused to let Carter be the cause of any more of her tears.
“It’s Saber,” Lucien said. “Can you invite him in? I need help cleaning this up.”
“Yes,” Callie croaked.
Lucien helped her rise, and keeping his arm locked around her waist, he led her around the body. He held her face in his chest so she couldn’t see Carter. When they entered the living room, he spotted Saber standing in the doorway; Logan stood behind him, but Asher must have stayed with the vehicle.
“You can both come in,” Callie
rasped.
The sound of her brutalized voice caused a muscle to jump in Lucien’s cheek. Carter had gotten off too easy.
“Is everything okay?” Logan asked as his pine-colored eyes ran over Callie before settling on her forehead.
“There’s a body to dispose of,” Lucien told them.
Saber stepped into the apartment. His face was expressionless as his cobalt blue eyes ran over the room before settling on Callie. His face remained distant. Lucien had no idea what to make of the man, but then, that was nothing new. He hadn’t known what to make of Saber ever since he started working with them almost five years ago.
Saber shifted his attention back to Callie as she kept her chin raised and her eyes focused on the window across from them.
“We’ll take care of it,” Logan said as he entered the apartment.
Callie didn’t move as the two of them walked past her toward the kitchen.
“This way,” Lucien said and guided her through the living room to her bedroom.
When he settled her on the bed, she clasped her hands together in her lap. Inhaling a shaky breath, she leaned forward and put her head between her knees as she tried to calm her racing thoughts.
“You shouldn’t have killed him,” she murmured to the floor.
“I should have killed him slower,” Lucien said as he sat beside her on the bed and rested his hand on her back.
“He was human.”
“He was a monster.”
“Yes, but his death will affect you.”
“It was worth it.”
Tears burned her eyes again, but she blinked them away. Taking a deep breath, she sat up. She couldn’t hide from what happened here today, and she refused to let herself fall apart.
Lucien rested his fingers against her brutalized throat. Red fingerprints were visible against her skin, and they were already darkening to a deep purple hue.
“Let me give you some of my blood,” he said. “It will help you heal faster.”
Callie blinked at him. “Will it… will it change me?”
Bound by Danger (The Alliance, Book 6) Page 21