"We need words from you, too," Mal encouraged her.
"I don't want her to go anywhere ever again." She pressed her lips to my cheek. "Don't."
"I have to…"
"Don't," she implored. Her bond gave a sharp jolt and the sensation of something wrapping around me gripped my torso. I hugged her and she gripped my shirt, tugging me harder than I think she ever had. "Don't do any of this."
"I have to. It has to end," my words trickled to whispers as her desperation ate at me. I'd caused her so much pain, gave her so many reasons to distrust me.
"I know," she conceded. "But no more."
I nodded, ending our embrace and taking a deep breath. I glanced at Mal. His knowing gaze tore into me the same way his mate bond did. He knew just as well.
"Here." I yanked the stopper off the flask and handed the base to him. "Don't let it out of your site. You've got the stakes."
"You mean the pencils," he jested, taking it from me.
I kissed both of them then pried myself from Vanessa's grasp. She let me go, tucking one leg up on the chair with her. Worry flooded our mate bond like sickening sludge. I swallowed the lump in my throat and moved toward Henry, gripping the stopper tightly in my hand.
"All right. Let's go," I said.
June and Vincent rose and joined us. Henry wrapped his arm around my waist as my pack looked on. Caden stood. I knew he wouldn't let me go far on my own. He'd keep watch, as he always did. My mother, with pursed lips, offered me the faintest nod. She wouldn't be far behind either.
“Don’t you dare do anything stupid without me, Nee," Xany lectured, her own way of showing concern.
"I won't." This time.
Sad, scared eyes watched me as June bended us out of the cabin.
***
Our feet hit the ground and it took several seconds for my eyes to adjust to the purplish light in whatever room we were in. Screaming music pulsed the floor beneath us as my heart began to race. The dark room reminded me too much of Ileana's chamber. I found myself holding tighter on to Henry than I'd intended.
"We're upstairs in the private rooms," June said. "We can't walk out together. I'll find a leech that carries her scent. You two need to act less suspicious. And way more cool."
"Are you saying we're lame?" Henry frowned at June.
"Yeah, I am. Now if you're going to stick on her hip, stick on it with reason. Be a fake couple or something clever." June fixed her hair in one of the filmy mirrors. Vincent stood silently by her side.
"Something clever. You're probably the least helpful person I've ever met." I glared at her. "And you," I rounded on Vincent. "Don't you talk, like, at all?"
"When it's necessary," he answered flatly. "I have nothing to say to you."
"Nice. Really nice." I looked up at Henry. "Remind me that this was my idea, would you?"
"This was your idea but no one said it was a good one." He laughed and sounded more like Hank than ever.
"Right. True. Shawnee has bad ideas. This is becoming a habit worse than getting kidnapped," I mumbled but he laughed.
"We're going first. Wait in here awhile, then come out. Look like you just enjoyed yourselves, would you? This isn't a karaoke bar," June said as she tugged Vincent from the room.
Henry and I stood there, two natives in the most unnatural place in the world. His blue jeans and red T-shirt stood out as awkwardly as my worn out trainers.
"So this is awkward," he said, releasing his grip on me. "When they find a leech that has access to the Ileana, what message are you going to give?"
"This." I held up the stopper.
"Clever." He nodded, shifting his weight uncomfortably.
"So…" I couldn't help but laugh a little at the situation. "Have you graduated high school yet?"
"Yeah." He laughed. "This past summer. I'm putting college off for a year. Dad's got too many dominant cubs running around. I don't want to leave them alone."
"Can you bend?" I asked.
"Sure, yeah." He shrugged.
"Enroll in school as a commuter. No one will question your disappearances as no one really pays attention to commuters," I suggested.
"That's not a bad idea," he said, rubbing his hand through his hair as if he never thought of it. "Dad wants me to take over the business though."
"So study business administration part-time." I grinned at him. "I've got an answer for all your excuses, kid. Keep trying."
"You're worse than mom."
"Now you're comparing me to your mother. How are we supposed to act together, like June said?" I laughed and so did he.
"Well, that's pretty easy. You're pretty hot as it is." He let out an exaggerated yawn, stretched, and put his arm around my shoulders.
"That was terrible. Try again." I shoved him off, trying not to laugh too loudly.
"If I grab your butt, Mal will rip off my arm." He stumbled back playfully as if my shove actually did something to him.
"I think Vanessa's a bigger concern these days."
"Shit, dude. Did you see that? She nailed June to the floor." Henry punched downward in celebration.
"First I'm mom, now I'm dude. This is going great." His antics cracked me up. In a way, he reminded me of Jaxon when we were in college. For the first time, pretty much ever, I wondered where he was and worried that Ileana would find him, too.
"Sorry! You're hot, I swear. And not a dude." He dropped back sitting on one of the sofas that lined the walls of the room.
"Is hot a good thing in your teenage language or am I just overheating this room with my poor planning?" I leaned against the wall as I watched him.
"It's definitely a good thing. If I ask you something, will you promise not to kill me? It's a typical guy question. We all think it but I'm gonna ask anyway." He put his arms behind his head as if he were sunbathing or something. Henry, no doubt, was going to be as dominant as his father. His confidence, demeanor, and all around personality told me just that.
"Yeah, I suppose you can ask me inappropriate teenage guy questions." I gestured in front of me. "Go ahead."
"So…" A wicked grin spread across his face. "You and Vanessa."
"Oh here it comes."
"Hell yeah. C'mon. The two of you! It's out of control. You must drive Mal insane. I can't even think about it without nearly dying."
"Why are you even thinking about it!? Henry!" I laughed as my face caught fire. "I'm not talking to you about this."
"How can I not think about it? Damn…"
"You're thinking about it right now, stop that!"
"What else am I supposed to do." He laughed, his brown eyes big and bold even in the dim light. "It's about the sexiest thing I ever heard about. She's hot, you're hot. It's the perfect recipe."
"Okay, conversation over or I'm telling your mother you called me hot like three times."
"Shit." He shot up out of his seat. "Don't do that, she'll kill me and make me change diapers for a month."
"Behave yourself. I'm an old lady." I laughed at his pleading.
"You're hardly old. What are you? Twenty-five?" He rolled his eyes.
"Yep. I'm twenty-five. That would make Xany about your age. Do you ask her these questions? She'll answer anything you ask, trust me," I jested. Henry made this whole ordeal a lot easier.
"Nah, she's always with Caden." He paused. "June's calling. We better go out."
"I don't hear her," I said.
"Of course not. C'mon." He held his hand out to me. "Remember, look couple-y."
"Couple-y, right." I took his hand as he mussed up his hair before opening the door.
Bass boomed and guitars screamed in the same way they had when I wandered in here on the night of, well, that night. The crowd below us shouted and danced in front of the stage. Henry led me downstairs as couples rushed past us toward the room we just left.
"Imagine how many people get drunk, sexed, or fed on in those rooms," he said, loudly against my ear.
"Don't remind me. Besides, you were the on
e who sat on the sofa." I laughed at the look on his face.
He tugged me through the crowd as I held tightly to his hand and to the stopper in mine. Hardly anyone paid us any mind save for a server or two that offered us something to drink. The topless girls in the cages grabbed Henry's attention and I punched his arm.
"Keep focus here, bucko. Quit ogling the goodies," I said.
"Aw c'mon." He laughed and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. At first, I thought it was out of context until I realized he steered me away from the leering eyes of a fanged man.
"Why are people so comfortable with vampires? I don't get it," I commented.
"It's a fetish thing I think," he said, still speaking close to my ear.
Up head, June danced with Vincent. The two of them swirling and gyrating along with the rest of the crowd. She glanced at us, her eyes lingering for a moment before flicking them toward the back staircase beside the bar.
"This way," Henry said, tugging me in the direction June indicated.
Around the side of the bar, the lights went from strobing purple to steadier darkness. The hall snaked downward as the music began to fade. At the very end of the hall in a rounded room with ornately carved red walls and purple sofas, a man sat at a desk. He twirled a pen inhumanly fast between his viciously tattooed fingers. His blanched skin made his pin straight black hair stand out even more. Half of his head was shaved while the rest of his hair hung to one side. Henry walked behind me. The man didn't look up from the desk when I entered.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
"Not hungry." The man waved me off.
"Not what I'm here for," I shot right back. That caught his attention and he looked up, flicking his tongue over the piercing in his bottom lip. I averted my eyes quickly to his forehead. His lack of eyebrows would've caught me off guard if I hadn’t expected his bizarreness to carry on.
"What do you want?" He glanced at Henry who hung back a few steps.
"I have a message for your boss," I said, taking one step closer into the makeshift office. Unlike the rooms upstairs, this one had a cleaner appeal to it. On the desk, a nameplate that read "Fino" faced the entrance.
The leech set the pen down, folding his hands on top of it. His long black fingernails had me fighting a smirk. At least Ileana looked like a regular person. This guy looked like Goth overkill.
"And who do you think my boss is, might I ask?" He tilted his head to the side in the same jerky stop-motion manner that Ileana did. Henry tensed behind me but I remained steadfast.
"Ileana," I said. He rose from his seat at the sound of her name. "I need you to take something to her along with a message."
"Now, why would I do that?" Fino stepped out from behind the desk.
"You know who I am? Play the game, Shawnee. Fino nodded. “Then you know if you don't, she'll rip your head off." I kept my eyes trained on his forehead.
Fino hesitated. Even behind his contacts, I saw his eyes flash red.
"What is it?" He conceded, licking his lips as his nostrils flared.
“Give this to her." I held out the stopper. "And tell her to meet me at the place where her ashes lie. At sundown tomorrow."
Fino stepped forward, extending his languid fingers to grasp the stopper. His clammy skin grazed mine and I fought a shudder. He dropped his gaze, focusing on the beaded necklace that sat on top of my shirt.
"Message received," he said, rolling the stopper between his index and middle finger. At a glance, it almost looked like he rolled an eyeball.
I nodded, backing my way out of the room. Henry grabbed me by the waist of my jeans and tugged me out of there like the place was on fire.
Chapter Thirty-Two
We returned to the cabin without June or Vincent. Henry let me go beside the table. I nearly walked into Caden as he and Hank appeared beside us a second later.
"Well it's about time." Xany huffed from her spot beside the oven. The entire cabin smelled of cookies.
Mal hopped up, poised with the flask in one hand, a tiny stake in the other. "I'm ready," he joked. I laughed and made my way over to him. He kissed my cheek as Vanessa rushed in from the hallway. She bombarded me immediately before I could return Mal's kiss.
"I'm okay, baby." I hugged her as she tore at my clothes, both pushing me and pulling me away. "I know, I stink like the club. I'll change."
"First fill us in already," Xany pressed as she slid a plate of cookies on the table.
"A'right," Henry exclaimed, snatching up a hot cookie and juggling it in the air.
"We found someone to give her the message. Tomorrow night, at sundown, we return to where we killed Izzy. We'll need to draw a protective barrier there at that spot so that Ileana can't cross." I looked over at Mom and Adia.
"I'll take them there," Caden said.
"We best start now," Adia said, hopping up from the floor and swooping over to Caden.
"Why are we going there?" Vanessa asked, her fingers continuing to tear at my clothes.
"Easy, baby." I gripped her wrists, tugging her hands away from me before I ended up naked in front of everyone. "Listen, listen to me," I said, lifting her hands to my face. When our gazes met, she calmed. "Go in our room and I'll meet you there, okay? Let me shower first and I'll be right there." Vanessa's frenzy continued, our mate bond raged until she heard me. Her desperation cooled and she nodded. "Go on." I kissed her cheek, offering her a cheeky smile.
Reluctantly, she let me go. I watched her walk off down the hall, glancing back at me as she disappeared into the bedroom. I turned my attention to Mal while Henry filled everyone in about the happenings at the club, minus his teenage shenanigans.
"I'll see you in the morning," Mal said, kissing me softly.
"Maybe sooner." I returned his kiss, slipping the flask from his hand. "I'll hold onto this."
"You do that." Mal lifted a brow at me, offering me one of the skinny stakes. "Just in case."
I nodded, hugging him tightly before escaping the packed kitchen.
The fastest shower of my life followed soon after and I snuck across the hall in nothing but a towel. Flask and stake in hand. I closed the bedroom door behind me and set the vampire heart down on the nightstand. Vanessa sat on the bed, staring at her bare feet.
"You okay?" I said, stepping in front of her.
"I am now." She yanked my towel away, leaning her head against my stomach. I ran my fingers through her hair. It felt softer than usual, if that were even possible. Thicker and longer.
"Thank you for not locking me in place before. I hate that."
"I know." She kissed above my navel, then looked up at me.
"C'mon," I said, guiding her into bed with me. I lifted the blanket and she slid in beside me, her clothes disappearing a moment later. As soon as we were skin to skin, our mate bond relaxed and so did she. I tucked a bit of hair behind her ear. "Can I tell you something?"
"Mhmm." She gazed at me as if looking away would be the most painful thing in the world.
"It might sound bad but, I kind of like when you get all crazy possessive over me," I said, biting my lip as I smiled.
"When Mal does it?"
"Oh yeah, I like that too. It makes me feel… wanted? Maybe that's not the right word. Claimed? Valued even." I struggled to find my footing but hoped she understood what I meant.
"You are wanted, valued, and claimed, Shawnee. You always have been," she said, tracing her index finger along my bottom lip.
"I know, and now I can feel it too." I kissed her fingertip. "Feel better?"
"Mhmm. Yeah," she said, dropping her hand to caress my side, resting it on my hip.
"Good. Tomorrow night, we can end this and go back to our lives again," I said, caressing her ever-rounding belly. "We've got some big changes coming."
"Are you going back to work at the hospital?" The words dripped from her lips, rich with worry. She'd asked this of me many times before. After everything with Ileana and the baby on the way, how could I?
"Not fo
r a while I don't think. Maybe if there's an emergency that they need me for but not regularly, at least not right now," I said, answering her honestly for once about my feelings over work. "Ness, we don't even have diapers yet." Relief flooded our link and she laughed softly.
"We'll get them. How long do I have left?" She said, her voice finally relaxing into complete sentences.
"About six weeks if Kat's timeline is accurate. You can't hide your belly anymore, have you noticed?" I traced a finger around her bellybutton and she squirmed a bit.
"Only when you sit in my lap. And I can't pull my knees up anymore," she said, placing her hand beside mine on her stomach. "Can you see her?"
"Maybe." I closed my eyes, focusing on the scanning procedure my mother taught me. A few kicks met my hand, but no image came to mind. "Not this time. It seems more spontaneous than anything. But I can feel her moving."
"Me too. It's weird, not being alone in my own body. When we had a preliminary bond, it was like a warning system. Then it was gone and I was alone again. Then it came back and now it's complete. So I had you in me, but this is different." She glanced over my shoulder then back to me. "I can hear her heartbeat when I lay down to sleep. It beats faster than mine."
"That sounds pretty amazing," I whispered, her delicate words brought tears to my eyes as I thought about it. I wouldn't get to truly know what she meant, but the emotions she pressed through our connection were almost as strong as experiencing it myself.
"Yeah, I think so, too."
"I thought about Jaxon today. I’m worried that Ileana would hurt him. Do you know where he is?" I asked, the question blurting out of my mouth.
"He moved back to England after college. I haven't heard from him in a while. I think he writes stuff, books maybe. He sent me one a long time ago," she said, kissing my forehead. "You're so worried about everyone else when we're all here worried about you."
"I know. It's the kind of messes that I get us into." I leaned into her touch, she rolled onto her back and I placed my head on her shoulder. Vanessa pulled me close to her and I draped my leg over hers.
"Messes have a way of finding us on their own," she said.
"True." I yawned heavily, closing my eyes as my thoughts of the day continued to spiral. "How's the magic on that flask?"
Bound (Legacy Series Book 4) Page 32