The massive bouncer at the bottom stepped out of their way. “Now what do we do?” Abby asked as her delight over his laugh vanished and she realized they were no closer to finding Vicky than they had been before coming here.
“Now, I’m going to talk to some of the people and vamps here before we go. There may be someone who knows something.”
CHAPTER 11
Abby’s feet were screaming to be free of her boots by the time they returned to the hotel. She was going to burn the boots and her clothes as soon as possible, but first she was going to scrub herself clean of club Dracul.
Her fascination with the club had waned the more time they spent in it. By the time they were ready to go, she’d never felt dirtier in her life. It was a world she’d never known existed, never could have imagined. She was glad she knew of it now, but she never wanted to see anything like it again.
Unfortunately, she had a feeling they’d only encounter worse if they didn’t find Vicky soon. Brian kept his arm around her waist, his eyes shooting daggers at the man who turned to watch her pass. He’d spent the better part of the past two hours scaring off any man or woman who came too close to her, his mood had worsened with every would-be pursuer he chased off.
He hadn’t spoken to her since they’d left the club, and she was okay with that. She was too tired, dirty, and disheartened to have to deal with him on top of everything else. In the elevator, he released her and took a step away to hit the button. He stood, his platinum hair falling forward against one of his chiseled cheeks as he stared at the buttons.
The set of his shoulders made him look as if he were carrying the weight of the world. Her fingers twitched with the impulse to soothe some of the tension from him, but she kept them at her side.
Turning away, she watched the floors light up until they arrived on the twentieth. The doors slid open with a ding, but she found herself reluctant to step out of this elevator and go to her room, alone. Loneliness, like she’d never known before, assailed her. The urge to cry hit her so fiercely that tears burned her eyes.
I’m just overtired and stressed. She tried to convince herself of this, but she knew it was more. Gripping her coat around her, she forced herself to step from the elevator. Brian hesitated before following her into the hallway. Bronze sconces lined the hall, and lights danced from behind their glass casings as she walked toward her room and pulled her keycard from her coat pocket.
Abby’s fingers trembled when she slid the card into the slot. She held the door partially open as she turned to face him. “Thank you for your help tonight.”
His locked jaw jutted out as he ran a hand through his hair, watching her. The wooden step he took toward her indicated he’d been fighting against the action. He rested his hand beside her head on the door jam, and his chest brushed against hers when he leaned forward. The feel of his body so close to hers made her sigh with longing.
“Anytime,” he murmured, his head bending closer to hers.
Her gaze latched onto his full lips, her body thrummed with the need to feel those lips against hers, to taste him, to know if he would leave her cold like the others, or if he would set her body ablaze. There was nothing cold anymore about his usually icy blue eyes as they burned into hers.
She didn’t dare move, didn’t dare breathe, as he remained looming over her. His head bent closer to hers, and his breath warmed her cheek before she felt the heat of it against her lips. Then, his arm dropped and he took an abrupt step back.
That awful urge to cry rushed over her again, but she lifted her chin to stare at him. Confusion flitted over his face as he tugged at his hair.
“Goodnight, Abigail,” he murmured before turning and walking to the door next to hers.
Unable to stand there and watch him enter his room, she shoved into hers and hurriedly closed and locked the door before leaning against it. Her chest heaved as she struggled to keep her tears suppressed. She failed as one trickled down her cheek to drip off her chin.
“Pathetic,” she cursed herself as she wiped the tear away and stalked toward the bed. She tugged her coat off and threw it over the desk chair before jerking off the now-hated boots. “Idiot!”
She kept her voice low so he wouldn’t hear her, but she fought the urge to scream and kick and rant as she destroyed this room and everything around her. Instead, she yanked off her clothes, pulled free the chain around her waist, and stormed toward the bathroom.
“Keep it strictly business, Abby,” she muttered as she turned on the water in the shower.
She stepped beneath the stinging drops when steam began to swirl around the room. Standing under the punishing waves of water, she was torn between sobbing in misery and screaming in anger. It didn’t help that she was still aroused by the mere thought of what his lips against hers would feel like.
***
Brian stood in the hallway for a minute after Abby had closed her door. He took a step toward it, his hand resting against the wood as he fought the overwhelming impulse to knock on it and kiss her like he should have.
She’s too good for you.
It was no longer thoughts of her family keeping him from her; it was his own thoughts and fears that kept him away from her now. He wasn’t much in the mood for taking on the Byrne clan, but he could deal with them if he had to. He wasn’t good enough for her though. He wasn’t a man; he was a monster who relished delivering death to those who deserved it. The souls of many stained his hands, so many he’d lost count of the numerous lives he’d taken over the endless years.
There were too many out there who wanted him dead, too many who wouldn’t hesitate to use her against him if they thought they could. They’d be right too; they would be able to use her against him. Little had passed between them, and already he felt more protective of her than anyone else he’d encountered since becoming a vampire.
Abby had stared around the club in curiosity, but also with a burgeoning disgust that had darkened her striking eyes and had her pulling away from any who came near her. If that club disquieted her, what would his past do to her?
She already knew much of who he was and what he did. She knew he’d killed humans, knew he was a mercenary for hire, knew he destroyed their own kind in order to gain power. Granted, they were the evil ones of their kind, but he still happily took their lives and hadn’t any intention of stopping. She deserved so much better than someone like him. The thrill of the kill and the power that came with it were all he had in his life.
He banged his fist against the wall before turning and entering his room. He listened to the sound of running water next door, his shoulders heaving at the image of her in that shower with the water sliding over her silken, bare flesh. To follow those beads of water with his tongue would be heaven. He’d nudge her thighs apart, his hand dipping between her legs to ready her for him, before he followed his fingers with his shaft.
His erection throbbed in his pants as he took a step toward the door dividing their rooms. She was on the other side of the door, nude, and oh-so willing. Too good for you.
It occurred to him that Issy had accepted Stefan knowing his past. Stefan had managed to keep her safe and protected from those who may also be hunting him. Maybe Abby could do the same for him, and he could keep her safe from those hunting him while she was with him; for he knew one time inside of her would never be enough for him. No, he’d take her repeatedly until he was branded on her inside and out, until every vampire in a hundred-mile radius knew to whom she belonged.
Shaking his head, he rested his hand against the door separating their rooms. He was thinking like a mated vampire, and he most certainly was not mated. They’d never kissed before; they couldn’t possibly be mated. Besides, from what he’d heard, there was an instantaneous pull toward a vampire’s mate when they encountered each other.
Yes, he’d barely been able to tear his eyes away from her since she’d opened her dorm room door to him. However, he’d seen her in that hotel years ago and felt no such pull. Yet
, when she’d called him, her voice alone had kept him fascinated enough to continue talking with her. All he’d wanted was to help her, to ease her distress.
Still, he’d seen her before, they’d met before now, if only briefly. Wouldn’t he have felt something then if she were supposed to be his mate?
His fingers dug into the wood of the door. She was a child then. A fifteen-year-old vampire who’d not yet matured when he’d first met her. She hadn’t been a woman who radiated innocence and sensuality in a way no other woman he’d ever encountered could. Vivian’s hair had drawn him in the day they’d first met; everything about Abby drew him to her and had him on the edge of breaking down this door in order to get at her and claim her.
He knew how the mated thing worked, but perhaps it was different with pureblood vampires, maybe they couldn’t be mated until they were older. He may not know the answer to that, but he knew someone he could trust who would. Forcing himself to step away from the door before he broke it down, he pulled his phone from his pocket and called Declan.
“Little late, don’t ya think?” Declan inquired, though he didn’t sound as if he’d been sleeping.
“New York never sleeps,” he replied.
“Thought you were going to play Mountain Man or some shit.”
“Change of plans.”
“Interesting. Woman?”
“How did you know?” Brian inquired.
“Only a woman could make a man go from the mountains to the city in a day.”
“If I ask you something, will it stay between us?”
“Do you have to ask that?”
“I do.”
“You know I don’t divulge secrets.”
No, that Declan didn’t do, and he carried more secrets than anyone Brian knew. Out of all of Ronan’s men, Declan was the one with the most baggage, and not just his own baggage, but also the baggage of others who had come and gone throughout his life.
“How does the mate bond work with purebreds?” Brian asked.
“Same as with you turned vamps,” Declan replied with a laugh. “Once you’re caught in the trap, it’s impossible to break free, or so I’ve been told. I’ve been lucky enough to dodge that bullet these six hundred years. Do you think you’ve been shot?”
What an accurate way of describing it. “The recognition of a pureblood mate is instantaneous?”
“The attraction is, yes, but that doesn’t mean love will follow it or ever come from the pairing. It only means fate thinks you’ll be a good match,” Declan replied slowly. “What’s going on?”
“Let’s just say, hypothetically—”
“Oh, of course.”
Brian continued as if Declan hadn’t spoken. “The first time two mates encountered each other, one is a purebred who is only a child and isn’t fully matured yet. Would there be an instantaneous connection then?”
Declan didn’t answer right away, but Brian heard the squeak of a chair as he settled in. “Are you attracted to children?”
“Of course not!” Brian snapped.
“Then no, there would be no recognition. Not to mention, she would be too young and unable to bear children. Purebred female vamps cannot get pregnant until they hit maturity.”
“I didn’t know that,” Brian muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.
“Few do. Don’t forget, most of you are turned and human women are different than our own, even after they become one of us.”
“So, the mate bond is to produce offspring?”
Declan chuckled, his boots thudding when he propped them on something, most likely his desk. “Perhaps that’s what nature intended it as, but few vamps choose to have offspring, so a lot of times it doesn’t end up quite working out that way. The mate bond may be a biological drive that recognizes another as being well suited to reproduce with, or it could simply be lust, or perhaps love at first sight. Like I said, I’ve been lucky enough to dodge the bullet, and I’m not looking for someone with a gun.”
He hadn’t gone looking for someone with a gun either. He’d never envisioned another woman in his life—someone he could lose and who could shatter his heart yet again. And children… The idea of more children made his heart stutter.
Not one day went by that he didn’t think of Beatrice and Trudy and still grieve their loss. Their deaths had left a hole in his heart that could never be filled. Never had he considered having another child. He’d endured the loss of his children once, he wouldn’t do so again, and Abby was a Byrne, she would want children.
“What happens if the bond is never sealed?” Brian asked. “If no steps are ever taken to complete the mating?”
“How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?”
“Declan—”
“The world may never know as it’s never been done before, as far as I know. From what I understand, it’s an irresistible draw that only grows stronger until the bond is completed. If you’re asking these questions, I’m guessing you’re thinking you’ve been shot. It hasn’t even been two days since you left us, and you’re already calling me about this mystery woman possibly being your mate. That tells me there’s a definite connection. It’s not going to get easier. Do yourself a favor, get laid and enjoy the ride. It’s sure been long enough since you got yourself some.”
“That’s not going to happen,” he grated through his teeth, more annoyed Declan had talked so flippantly about Abby than the knowledge Declan already believed him defeated.
“By the way, when was the last time you had sex?”
Brian walked over to the bed and back toward the door as he mulled Declan’s question. He barely recalled the woman or the encounter, but it had been before he’d gone to Stefan for help, before he’d seen Abby in that hotel room. His breath rushed out of him when he realized it had been nearly seven years.
He’d often gone for extended periods without sex over the years. He hated the guilty feeling of having betrayed Vivian that always accompanied the act. He’d put it off for as long as he could until his body was consumed with the demand to feel a woman once more. When the sex was over, he would be filled with a sense of betrayal strong enough that he would go for years without it again before he turned to another once more.
It had been a constant cycle of self-hatred and desperation, but he’d never gone seven years before. Often he went three or four, once he’d gone five, but he hadn’t even realized that seven years had passed since the last time. He may have felt no instantaneous connection with Abby in that hotel room, but if she was his mate, something in him had recognized something in her as such. All signs were beginning to point in the direction of the two of them being linked in some way.
His lengthy periods of abstinence were something he kept hidden from others, even Stefan hadn’t realized that many of the women who had thrown themselves at him over the years had never made it to his bed. He’d never wanted anyone to know about this lingering, emotional hang-up. It wasn’t something someone could exploit, but he’d always seen it as a personal weakness, and weakness had no place in his line of work.
He should have known Declan would have figured it out or at least sensed something off about the way he was with women.
“Fuck,” he hissed.
“I already suggested that,” Declan replied with a laugh.
Brian’s teeth grated at his casual response. “Did you suspect I had somehow found my mate before this call?”
“I suspect many things and know nothing for certain.”
So true and extremely frustrating for Declan to have to go through life like that, Brian realized. “This can’t happen, not with her.”
“And who is she?”
“No one you know.” It wasn’t a lie. Declan and Aiden had met, but he’d never seen Abigail. “If she is my mate, I will not allow the bond between us to be sealed.”
“This will be interesting. Make sure to call me with updates on your progressing insanity. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the news.”
&nbs
p; “Asshole.”
Brian hung up the phone on Declan’s laughter. On the other side of the door, he heard the shower turn off. Drawn irresistibly back toward the door, he rested his hand against it and inhaled the scent of her shampoo on the air. A low groan escaped him when he also caught the musky and compelling scent of her arousal.
What he wouldn’t give to be the one to ease her.
He forced himself away from the door and over to the bed. Sinking onto the mattress, he scrubbed at his face with his hands as he contemplated Declan’s words. Maybe no one had resisted the bond before, but he would, he had to. If he didn’t, he would only end up destroying them both.
CHAPTER 12
Five days later, Abby was beginning to realize two things. One, Brian was a super dick, and two, they may never find her sister. Neither one of those things made her feel good at all about where she was now. She’d thrown herself into the search for Vicky, but every new lead smacked into a dead end. Her self-confidence was taking a pounding as Brian grew more and more distant and she continued to dream of him. She woke every night on the verge of tears as her body clamored for someone who didn’t want it.
Now, sitting on the park bench and absently throwing birdseed to the ducks, she felt as if she’d been run over by a truck, then backed over and parked on. Her eyes were heavy with sleep; her shoulders hunched forward as she tried to think of some other way to find Vicky and get Brian out of her life. One of those two things had to happen soon, before she completely fell apart.
A shadow fell over her, blocking the warm afternoon sun creeping toward the horizon. She didn’t have to look up to know who it was; her skin prickled at his closeness and her awareness of his body. Shading her eyes against the halo of illumination surrounding Brian, she tilted her head back to look at him as he towered over her.
The scowl on his face would have made a mortal piss themselves and a vamp run; she glared back at him. She was as annoyed with him for interrupting her time here as he was with her for whatever new reason he had.
Undone (Vampire Awakenings, Book 5) Page 11