by Jane Ederlyn
He bit his wrist open and squeezed. Blood fell on her lips, but she didn’t stir. He gently pried her lips apart and squeezed drops directly into her mouth. Still nothing.
The limo’s door opened. “Etienne, I need you to get her child, then meet me at the airport. Do not come back empty-handed.”
Etienne hesitated, torn between not wanting to leave Marie alone with Anton and knowing he was right. Marie needed Abby.
He glanced down at her tortured face and stifled the rage and frustration that gripped him. He’d loved Marie since the day he met her. Although she didn’t reciprocate his feelings, they were still the same as they were that evening in London. While in Italy, he’d heard about her liaison with Odin, but he hadn’t given it any weight until he returned and saw her. She was different and in love.
Anton tapped the glass and the limo came to an abrupt stop.
Etienne carefully transferred Marie from his arms to the seat and arranged the coat until it covered her nakedness.
“You are wasting time. Get out,” Anton ordered.
“I will kill Stormda for this.”
“No. Stormda is not your concern.”
Etienne hesitated, but Anton reached across him and pushed open the door.
Etienne glanced at Marie again and reluctantly climbed out.
“To the airport,” Anton ordered, and his driver raced out in a screech of tires. “I hope you have learned your lesson, my love. I just hope it has not been too costly.”
Her eyes fluttered.
“You are so strong, Marie. Do not fret. We are going home to France and you, Abigail, and I shall be a happy family.” Anton snipped his finger open and rammed it into Marie’s mouth. The invasion elicited a gag, but he held her head back as he counted drops and followed their flow down the tunnel of her throat.
Her jaw contracted and righted itself. He pulled his finger out, licked it, and kissed her lips. “That is enough for now. My blood is very potent and it wouldn’t do to have you heal too quickly. Where is your beast lord now, Marie, when you need him the most?”
Chapter XLI
Odin drove like the devil was chasing him. Lightning flashed straight across the sky in a display of silver veins and landed, unheard, somewhere in the distance. As he neared the compound, charcoal clouds crawled toward him. He put his wipers on and drove into the wall of weather.
He skidded to a stop at the back entrance of the werewolf buildings. He pressed the automatic door opener, but the gate didn’t budge. He got out of the SUV and pressed the security bypass code. The gates still didn’t open. He looked up at the moon. Raindrops fell on his face. Why? He savagely tore off his clothes and transformed. He heaved, filling his chest up with air, and howled over and over, calling his kin and enemies, before jumping the wall.
He sniffed until he found her scent. It was faint but present. Dropping to all fours, he followed it to a trail of dead werewolves discarded like breadcrumbs. He changed directions, catching another whiff, and ran toward the garden. The smell grew stronger and stronger. He buried his nose in the coral rock indentions of the fountain and smelled vampire and lavender and blood, lots of blood.
He looked up and catching sight of the red fountain, his heart broke. Hoping to be wrong, he stuck his nose in the water, then immediately fell back on his hunches. Marie’s blood. Could a vampire sustain such an injury, lose that much blood, and survive? More importantly, who had attacked her?
He shook his head and shifted into human form. “Marie!” he called with a hoarse voice. “Marie!” he repeated, her name melting into a howl that caught the wind. But no reply returned.
More lightning zigzagged past. Something glittered in the water and caught his eye. He sank a hand in the fountain and felt around the bottom. Closing his hand over a small object, he brought it to the surface. Moonlight touched diamonds and gold and their sparkle bounced across the darkness. Marie’s cross. She would never have taken it off. Nor would she go anywhere without Abby. Where was she? And what was wrong?
He brushed wet hair from his face as he tried to make sense of his confused impressions. Pressure built in his head. Stormda! Odin considered ignoring the pull, but it was time to get answers and he suspected his father was at the crux. He closed his hand over the cross, the edges digging into his hand, and marched into the house.
“Why do you bother?” Stormda stepped out from the shadows. “She’s not here.”
“I know she is. I can smell her,” Odin gritted through clenched teeth.
“Your loyalty to that bitch disgusts me. You are my son, my eldest, my heir. How can you betray me?”
He actually sounded hurt. Odin flexed his shoulders to ease the tingling rushing down his back. “Where is she?”
“What if I told you she killed your brother?”
Odin bared his teeth in a growl. “I would say there must have been a reason. Where is she?”
“She’s dead.”
Odin felt like a building collapsed on his chest. “I don’t believe you.”
“Believe what you want.”
“She can’t be. Vampires are immortal.”
“So are we, but we can still expire.”
An image of a blood-soaked garden and courtyard blazed in his mind and he had to bite down his rising panic.
“She was upset about that incident with her human. She killed your brother and attacked me. Things were better in the old days when vampires stuck to cemeteries and caves.” Stormda smiled and rolled on his feet, as if he were merely discussing the weather.
If his father started whistling, Odin would hit him. But Stormda’s eyes were red rimmed and his cheeks flushed. He was not as unaffected as he pretended to be. “Where is she?”
“I had to defend myself.”
“Where is she?” Odin threw his head back and roared.
“Her Frenchman took the body away.”
“Etienne?”
“No, her Master. I don’t know what he plans on doing with it.” Stormda shrugged. “Bury her in the ground where she belongs, I assume.”
Odin raised his hand to strike Stormda but stopped himself. As much as he wanted to rip him apart, limb-by-limb, he wasn’t worth the effort. “I’m leaving”
“You can’t. You have obligations to the pack.”
“I want no part of you or this pack. I’m done.”
“You brought this upon yourself, Odin. Don’t blame this on me.
“Choose someone else to do your bidding and don’t send anyone after me. If you do, I’ll kill them.”
“You’re as much a disappointment as was your mother. She was always a weakling. Go away, go into hiding, stick your head in the ground, and ignore your responsibilities. You won’t be missed here.”
Odin’s heart raced and his breathing quickened with rage that wanted out. “Do not speak of my mother or Marie again,” he roared.
Stormda shrunk back.
Odin reined his emotions and turned to leave, but paused when he recalled the fate of his brother. “Leidolf is dead. Tonight, you’ve lost all three of us.”
His phone rang and he answered with a curt, “What?” Disappointment squashed an involuntary bubble of hope. Not Marie. When would he wake up from this nightmare?
Egon and Abby sat in the waiting room. Egon fidgeted in the uncomfortable, too small, plastic chair while Abby paced, sat, wrung her hands, and paced again. Finally, he reached out and covered her hands with his. “Worried about Marie?”
“Why hasn’t she called? Please try her again.” The pleading in her eyes nearly broke his heart.
“I just did. She probably forgot to charge her cell phone and you’re worrying for nothing. You know how she is with technology.”
The visual brought a smile to her lips, but it quickly disappeared.
“Something is wrong. I can’t feel her.”
He wasn’t sure how their bond worked, but that couldn’t be good. Not knowing what to say, he squeezed her hand.
“I feel helpless,” she said.
Lagmann appeared at the inner door, and they stood.
“Is John okay?” Abby asked.
Over her head, Lagmann exchanged glances with Egon. “He’s stable. I need to see you alone.”
Egon turned to Abby. “I’ll bring you coffee?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’ve never known you to turn down coffee.” He rubbed her shoulders hoping to infuse her with his heat. “You haven’t had anything to eat or drink?”
She leaned fractionally into him. “I can’t right now.”
“You need to stay strong, Abby.”
“I know. Later.”
“I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
She nodded.
He dropped his hands from her reluctantly and turned to follow Lagmann, his empty hands fisting and unfisting.
“Well?” Egon asked from inside the curtain sectioning off John’s bed.
“He’s definitely infected,” Lagmann said. “Right now, he’s drugged to help with the pain and stop any shifting.”
Egon glanced at the sleeping John, attached with tubes and cables to IV medications and a beeping monitor. “What next?”
“I called Odin, but he isn’t answering his phone.”
“Now that we’re sure, we need to move him before they run more tests. Our blood isn’t exactly human.”
“I know. Elliot is on duty and he’s working on it. He’ll sign John out and we can sneak him out the back.”
Egon took a deep breath, grateful that a packmate was the resident on call and that their connections in medical records could erase all trace of John’s admittance. “Are you taking him to the compound?”
“No, Odin wants to take him back to his house.”
“There’s no sense keeping Abby here then. If you don’t need me, I’ll take her to Odin’s and meet you there.”
Egon returned to the waiting room to collect Abby, his gaze automatically went to the corner where he’d left her. She wasn’t there. He’d told her not to move, but knowing Abby, she probably changed her mind about coffee and decided to get it herself. He strode to the snack room. The room was empty and there was no trace of her, only the lingering smell of burned coffee and fake creamer. She was a coffee snob. Maybe she was at the Dunkin Donuts outside the trauma doors? When he didn’t find her there either, apprehension twisted in his gut.
Maybe they had crossed paths. Maybe he had missed her. He scanned and sniffed the area; looking at every face with and without a lab coat, before retracing his steps back inside the hospital. He could smell her in the waiting room, but she had physically disappeared. He ran his hand through his hair as panic mushroomed.
“Are you looking for that pretty brunette?”
Egon whipped around to glare at a dark-haired man clutching his side.
“Yes. Did you see where she went?”
“She looked pretty distraught. Left with a guy in a fancy suit.”
“Did she say anything?”
He shrugged. “Not that I heard.”
“Thanks.” Egon released the breath he was holding and burst through the emergency doors. Taillights blinked at the top of the street. He sprung forward, but jumped back as an ambulance barreled in and stopped in front of him.
The rush of adrenaline brought his wolf to the surface. He shut his eyes to control it. The last thing he needed was to shift in front of witnesses. It took him precious seconds before he was in control again. He opened his eyes, stepped around the ambulance, and ran to the top of the block. Nothing. In either direction.
He ran to the entrance of I-95, guessing whoever had taken her would get on the highway, but there was only a sea of undistinguishable red lights. He inhaled, again and again. He rubbed his nose and resumed sniffing and dissecting. Vampire and werewolf scents lingered, but nothing made sense. He couldn’t pick up a trace. She’d vanished.
He threw his head back and growled, devastated, and no longer caring what people thought. “Abby,” he groaned. What would he do if something happened to her?
Odin didn’t know why Marie had gone to the compound, only that she wouldn’t have gone without reason or provocation. She’d wanted to leave immediately and because of him, she’d delayed. What had his father or brother used to lure her? Had they threatened Abby again? It didn’t matter now. The only thing that mattered was that he’d lost her. He’d promised to take care of her and Abby, and he’d failed on both counts. How was he going to live with that?
It was time to fulfill his destiny. He needed to find Abby, and when she was tucked away and safe, he would allow himself to mourn the loss of his mate. Then, when he was ready, he’d return for his pack.
He shook his head. How could he have been so foolish to think his father would relent and let them live in peace, when he’d never thought of anyone other than himself? How could he have been so naïve to think family and pack meant more to him than ego?
Stormda deserved to be stripped of his Alpha mantel and banished. Soon enough. Meanwhile, his father would live with the consequences of his actions. He was childless and leader only until Odin returned.
At sunrise, they ascended on the beach and searched every known vampire property, prepared to siege and retrieve Abby no matter the consequences. They found nothing, not even a trace to suggest she’d ever visited. They regrouped, split into two teams, and combed every inch of South Beach. They worked in daylight and kept watch at night. Again they found nothing. Working against seasonal showers diluting their scents and with all leads exhausted, they returned to Marie’s house.
Before, Odin had been too crazed to notice the full extent of damage wreaked by his pack. Now, in the gray hue of aftermath, he was astounded by the destruction and look of abandonment that settled over the house. Anger rippled along his spine and he clenched his jaw. His family and pack brothers had done this to the house, to Marie, their Alpha’s mate, and the betrayal formed a lump in his throat he couldn’t swallow.
“I’m going to fix it. They loved this house and I’m going to make sure it’s exactly as it was before.” He bent down to pick up a pebble on the once pristine deck and threw it across the pool. It skipped twice on the water and sank. “This was our doing. The least I can do is fix it.” It would help to do something with his hands. It would give him closure and keep him too busy to think. But first, he needed to find Abby. Time was not on their side.
While he searched for a lead, he made mental notes. The roof needed a tarp. Most of the windows on the bottom floor and some on the second floor were broken, but the shutters appeared to be functioning well enough that he wouldn’t need to board them up in the interim.
Inside, lavender was thick in the air and Odin imagined Marie and Abby emerging from the kitchen as if everything had been only a nightmare. A broken frame creaked under his foot and Egon turned at the sound, his mouth stretched in a grim, taut line.
“Nothing yet. I’m going upstairs,” Egon said.
Odin nodded. “I’ll continue looking here.”
Dried blood streaked the walls and overturned furniture, lamps, and decorations were broken and piled on the floor like trash. The art still on the wall was sprayed with the residue of battle and the paintings on the floor looked like rags on stakes. He turned over one of the broken frames and discovered the painting he had given Marie. She loved it and he vowed to restore it for Bee. “We need a starting place. See if you can find addresses for properties they own.”
Egon nodded. “We have a connection at the airport that can give us info on outgoing private and commercial flights. We can compare the list to any addresses
we find. We should call Etienne. They were friends.”
“We need to do this on our own.”
Egon grimaced and turned, taking the stairs two at a time.
Odin watched him disappear noting that the banister and landing window also needed replacing. His eyes shifted, falling on the closed door of Marie’s bedchamber. His hand slipped into his pocket, enclosing over Marie’s necklace. It was cold to the touch, as if it held her essence. When energy pricked at his conscious, Odin released the cross and whirled around.
Bartolommeo, Etienne’s second, stood in the doorway, flanked by two vampire guards. As if on cue, all three cocked their heads and spoke in unison. “Good evening.”
Odin pushed out with his mind, silently calling Egon and instructing Lagmann to stay back. A breath later, Egon rushed out and leapt to land behind him.
“Etienne isn’t answering my calls?” Odin said.
Bartolommeo stepped forward. “We are here to clean up the mess you and your brothers made.”
“Marie was mine,” Odin said harshly. “I’ll take care of whatever needs to be done.”
“This is a vampire’s house. You are trespassing.”
“What about Abby?” Egon interjected.
Bartolommeo’s gaze shifted to Egon and back to Odin. “We do not know.”
“You’re lying,” Egon said.
Odin raised an arm to silence him. The last thing he needed was a war with the vampires when he might need their help. “I am executing Marie’s wishes.”