Nathan turned to look out the window over the sink as he digested her words. He should destroy her for what she’d done; she’d killed an innocent. Instead, he found himself contemplating how to ease the broken air surrounding her. “They drove you to that point.”
“Perhaps, but I should have been strong enough to resist and not given them the satisfaction of breaking me.”
“Vicky—”
“My family came for me,” she interrupted, unwilling to hear any sympathy or understanding for what she’d done. “By then, I’d given up hope of making it out of there alive. The stench of all those imprisoned with me, the pain of having my blood pulled from me unwillingly….”
Just recalling her blood being taken from her made her bones feel as brittle as glass again like when they were slurping her blood from her veins.
“Has a vampire ever forcefully fed on you?” she asked.
“No.” He inwardly recoiled at the idea of having one of them drinking his blood. Then, he wondered what it would be like to have her feeding on him, and his revulsion vanished as his pulse raced with excitement.
“It’s the most agonizing thing I’ve ever experienced. Often, I thought all my bones were shattering into pieces and it would finally be the end, but every time I would wake again to find myself in that place worse than death. A place Satan would have proudly called home.”
She lifted her wrist and rubbed her scar. “I think it remains because some part of me has willed it to remain as a constant reminder of the horrific thing I did. I deserve this, and more, for killing her.”
“You don’t.”
Vicky released her wrist. “As soon as I was well enough to start training to kill Savages, I did. I’ve been working with Ronan’s men, and Aiden, to get stronger all in the hope of destroying Duke.”
Feeling stable enough to face her, Nathan turned away from the window and leaned against the sink. He folded his arms over his chest and crossed his legs. She lifted her legs and hugged them to her chest again.
“And you did destroy him,” Nathan said.
“Yeah,” she murmured.
But now what? She didn’t feel ready to return home, to face her siblings and her parents, to hug her nieces and nephews. A part of her still felt too dirty or wrong or broken or whatever she was to do any of those things.
“You don’t smell like a Savage,” he said.
“It’s been seven months since I killed. My siblings said I smelled different to them afterward, but it’s faded.”
He studied her golden skin as a sinking realization settled in his gut. “Ronan told me the vampires who kill can’t tolerate the sun as much.”
“True.”
“You have a beautiful tan, Victoria,” he murmured.
A muscle in her cheek twitched.
“Are you punishing yourself by exposing yourself to the sun?” he asked.
“The sun doesn’t hurt as much as it used to,” she murmured. “Like the smell of rot on me, the pain of UV rays, and from a tanning bed, have faded.”
“You will stop that!”
The vehemence of his words stunned her. “Nathan—”
She didn’t have a chance to respond before he was in front of her. Vicky nearly toppled backward off the wall. Some vampires didn't possess the speed he’d displayed. Every inch of him exuded wrath as his hands slammed down beside her and he leaned over her.
“Back off!” She bared her lengthening fangs as he lowered his face until it was only inches from hers. His anger wasn’t directed at her, not really, but she’d be damned if any man got in her face.
“You did not deserve what they did to you,” he bit out. “And you have no reason to punish yourself. You will stop it.”
Before she could reply, or punch him in the nose, he turned and stalked away from her.
CHAPTER 9
Pacing before the sink, Nathan ran his hand through his hair as he shot her repeated disgruntled looks.
“News flash,” she said in a low, lethal tone of voice. “I’m not one of your demure little hunter women. I will not be ordered around by anyone, and certainly not by you.”
He stopped pacing to face her. Planting his feet apart, he stood and stared at her as he tried to calm himself. “You didn’t deserve what they did to you, and you don’t deserve what you are continuing to do to yourself.”
“I’ve always enjoyed being tan,” she replied flippantly, her anger with him easing as she realized his worry for her drove him. Vicky felt herself slipping back into a role she’d perfected since her freedom. The role of the carefree girl she’d once been, though she certainly didn’t feel like that girl anymore. “I’m known as quite the diva in my family.”
A small smile curved the corners of his mouth as some of his tension eased. “I never would have guessed such a thing.”
“I know, it’s shocking.”
His smile slid away as he studied her. “How do you feel now that Duke is dead?”
“Somehow, I expected more,” she admitted. “To feel relieved or vindicated or whole. Instead, all I feel is a strange emptiness, and now I have no purpose.”
She’d spoken his greatest fear out loud. Since Joseph ruthlessly slaughtered his father, he’d been driven by the mission to one day destroy the Savage, but once it was done, what would he have to live for? Fighting? Death?
It’s all he’d had before his father died, but for some reason, such a future seemed bleak to him.
The elder hunters would soon pick a wife for him. He suspected it would be Kadence’s friend, Simone, who was as demure as she was beautiful. Simone had been raised to be the perfect wife, and she’d excel in it.
Simone was the kind of wife he’d always wanted, a wife who wouldn’t give him any trouble, yet the prospect of wedding and bedding her enticed him as much as an earthworm. Having to spend the rest of what could be a long life with her, made him feel as if he were being buried alive.
Kadence had fled her impending marriage to a hunter and become the mate of the most powerful vampire in existence. As the leader of the hunters, Nathan had no such option. Whoever the elders chose for him, he would marry.
However, as he watched Vicky, he thought he might prefer a woman whose sole purpose wasn’t to please her husband, bear his children, and care for those in the compound. A woman who smelled of jasmine, killed vampires without remorse, and enticed him more than any other woman he’d ever encountered. A woman who would stand up to him and make her opinions known.
“You’ll find a purpose,” he murmured.
“Do you believe you’ll find one when Joseph is dead?”
He opened his mouth to tell her “Of course.” He had hunters to lead, a future wife, and hopefully children to raise. Instead, he found himself unable to feed her the bullshit line.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “My life has revolved around killing Joseph for far less time than it revolved around hunting, training, and protecting others, yet….”
“They all feel like nothing now,” she replied when his voice trailed off. “Or at least they feel like less than they did before.”
“Yes.”
“I understand.” She released her legs and let them down. Her heels kicked against the wall as she bit her bottom lip and a pensive expression crossed her face. “I’ll help you find Joseph.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she insisted. “Your one-man mission could get you killed. Besides, you know two sets of eyes are better than one to watch your back and look over the material you have.”
“Joseph is a powerful purebred vampire who has been killing innocents. He’s far more dangerous than Duke. I don’t want you involved.”
“He is far more dangerous than Duke, but you don’t have a choice.”
“Excuse me?”
Vicky slid off the wall to stand before him. “I’m going to help you whether you like it or not. I’m not going to go running to your sister or Ronan and tell them about your crusade, but I’m not going away ei
ther. I don’t have anywhere else to go right now, so I’ll help you get your revenge.”
“Sublimating one killing purpose for another is not going to help you find your way in life,” he said through gritted teeth.
“That’s not what I’m doing. You helped me; I’ll help you. It’s that simple.”
It was far from being that simple, she knew. She had no idea why she proposed this plan when the safest thing for her to do was run away from Nathan and never look back, but the idea of never seeing him again made her feel even more hollow inside. And if she ran instead of trying to help him, and he got killed, she’d hate herself for the rest of her days.
“I won’t risk you getting hurt,” he replied.
“You’re not risking it. I am. I have to help stop him. I know better than anyone the degradation the people and vampires that Joseph is capturing and turning Savage are enduring. I want to help stop it from happening to others.”
He stared at her; she stared back at him. Nathan wanted to insist she return to Ronan, or her family, or anywhere else. He could make her return to them. All Nathan had to do was reveal what she planned to Ronan or her family, and they would stop her. Of course, they would learn what he was up to also, and might try to stop him, but he could avoid them. She would have a harder time doing so.
If he did any of those things though, he would never see her again, and for some insane reason, he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her. He would keep her away from anything dangerous with Joseph, but he couldn’t deny an extra set of eyes would be helpful.
“The others will notice you’re missing,” he said.
“Aiden, Abby, and Brian are staying with my parents for another week. Ronan and his men don’t pay much attention to me. I have a hotel room in the city. Until my family returns, the two of us can work together to find Joseph. And we will find him.”
“So sure of yourself?”
“I always am,” she replied with a grin.
“All right, but we’ll work together under my terms and conditions. If I tell you to stay out of something, you stay out of it.”
“I’m not good at taking orders,” she admitted. “So, I’ll judge the situation for myself.”
“Not good enough, Victoria. If I—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll stay out of it,” she replied with a wave of her hand.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you’re not as stupid as you look, Nathan Holter.”
“You think I look stupid, Victoria…?”
“Byrne,” she supplied when his voice trailed off questioningly. “I’m one of the ten Byrne children.”
When she gave him a sweeping bow, she wasn’t faking her ebullient air this time. She also couldn’t deny that her happiness came from the idea of spending more time with him.
It dismayed Nathan to realize she’d buttoned the shirt all the way up when she dipped for her elegant bow. She swung back up, the smile on her pretty face causing her eyes to dance.
“And no, you don’t look stupid, Nathan. You look quite the opposite, but it is fun to tease you,” she replied with a wink.
Her vibrancy, independence, flirty demeanor, and candor were the exact opposite of every hunter woman he’d ever encountered, yet he found himself entranced by her.
“I have to return to my stronghold soon,” he said.
“Of course,” she replied. “You can drop me off at my hotel. I’ll change and head over to your apartment to look through everything you’ve gathered on Joseph. Maybe I can see something you’ve missed.”
“I might not be free again tonight to meet you.”
“No worries,” she replied. “I’m very good at entertaining myself. Now, please tell me you have some pants I can wear. I really don’t want to put my jeans back on or enter the hotel wearing them.”
“I do,” he murmured.
“Great.”
His eyes latched onto the backs of her legs as she sauntered away. Nathan knew he might have made a deal with the devil by agreeing to let her help him, yet he found himself hoping the devil was as sinful as he proclaimed to be.
CHAPTER 10
Nathan navigated his truck through the immense wrought iron gates of the newest stronghold. A ten-foot-tall, gray, stacked stone wall with electric wiring encircled the entire property encompassing one hundred acres of land.
The newest stronghold wasn’t as large as the last one, but closer to Boston, it offered an ideal location. They were able to purchase it quickly as the previous owner hoped to avoid foreclosure.
Gravel crunched beneath the tires as the gates swung closed behind him and he navigated a driveway the length of three football fields. From here, he couldn’t see the massive house at the end yet, only the two gray stone chimneys poking over the trees. Bradford pear trees lined the road; they would be beautiful when they bloomed, but their leaves were only beginning to unfurl now.
As he crested a small hill, the first trailers housing many of the hunter families until permanent homes were built came into view. Some of the men were outside working on the newest home they were assembling while some of the women strolled the property.
They paused to wave as he passed, and he waved back. They all wore the muted colors of gray, black, or white. Normally the lack of color in their world didn’t bother him; today, it grated against his already raw nerve endings.
He’d despised having to leave Vicky at her hotel. She’d bounced out of his truck with barely a backward wave at him, but he’d watched her until she vanished inside. It had taken everything he had not to climb out of the truck and go after her. The problem was, he didn’t know if he would be going after her to take her home, to stay with her, or to find out if she tasted as good as she smelled.
If she was a hunter woman, he would have dragged her back here, but if she’d been a hunter woman, he didn’t think he’d find her as desirable as he did. It drove him nuts when Kadence rebelled, but he liked how different Vicky was from the women here, how brazen, and headstrong. At one time, he would have killed himself before he slept with a vampire, but he’d done nothing but fantasize about her since first seeing her.
Instead of going after her, he’d shifted the truck into gear and reluctantly pulled away from the luxury hotel. He told himself he would see her soon, but more than likely there would be something here requiring his attention, and he might have to go out to hunt with the others tonight.
They rotated through hunting groups with some of Ronan’s men as they adjusted to working with each other. Because of that, he and the other hunters ended up with occasional time off from hunting. Some of the hunters loved this, it made some irritable, and others remained bitter about working with the vamps.
In the beginning, he’d kept his truce and alliance with Ronan from the other fifteen hunter strongholds throughout the world. But when, after a month of working together, everything was going well, and Joseph still hadn’t been destroyed, he’d told the other leaders about the truce.
Most were less than thrilled about it. Only Alejandro, in Mexico, was entirely on board. The others still made their disagreement with his decision known whenever he spoke with them.
It hadn’t happened yet, but he planned to integrate those other strongholds into a working relationship with the vampires in their areas of the world too. The number of turned vamps training with Ronan to fight Joseph had grown since Ronan had decided to branch out and train them more, but Nathan would incorporate the other strongholds at a gradual pace. For now, he remained mostly focused on stopping Joseph.
In the end, it didn’t matter what the other leaders wanted; he’d made his decision. They would obey it, but he was aware of dissension in the ranks, especially amid the elders. Some of them refused the idea of working with the vamps. They were apoplectic when he, the youngest leader to ever take control, overruled their veto on this alliance.
It was the first time he’d ever done such a thing. The first time any leader overruled the elders in any st
ronghold in almost fifty years. He hated doing it, but he had no choice.
He’d seen the number of Savages in the warehouse where Joseph kept innocent humans and vampires to twist them into monsters. He’d witnessed the adversity they faced and knew the hunters wouldn’t survive without help from the vamps.
Joseph would stop at nothing to accomplish whatever mission the bastard was trying to complete. Nathan would not allow old prejudices against vampires to destroy them because some hunters resisted changing their ways, and others were flat-out pissed Kadence jumped ship.
Some believed he might be a traitor in their midst too. But they hadn’t fought with the vampires as he and some of the others had. They still had doubts the vamps could be trusted. Nathan didn’t. He knew the difference between a vampire who killed and one who didn’t; he wouldn’t let innocent vamps die because the hunters were stubborn.
In the end, it didn’t matter; his family line had always been in charge of the hunters, and now he was. The other strongholds were led by men nominated by the elders within their group and approved by Nathan’s father. When the time came for a new leader, he would have to travel to accept them. This stronghold, and all the others, were his responsibility.
Feeling as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders, Nathan crested another hill, and the main house came into view. Though, he could hardly call it a house; the gray stone building was a mansion and unlike anything he’d resided in before.
Having been around for thousands of years, the hunter organization had amassed a fortune through investments, businesses, and smart financial decisions. Each stronghold had their separate wealth, and he was the only one who knew how much each of them possessed.
If all their income revenues stopped today, it would take them centuries of frivolous spending to go broke. Since all their revenue streams were stable and none of the leaders were foolish with money, Nathan wasn’t concerned that would happen.
This purchase was one he never would have made if they hadn’t been under the gun to relocate fast. The main house was too big and ostentatious for his liking. He missed his smaller, brick home as he often got lost in this place. However, all the single men had moved into the main house while the unmarried women resided in the guest house, the carriage house, and a few of the trailers.
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