“Tell your parents she’s not coming back until she’s ready. We have more to worry about than Abby’s connection to me or her safety from those vamps. If Ronan finds out about any of this, he’ll kill everyone involved, including Vicky. He may kill me for not telling him sooner.” Abby’s breath hissed in behind him. “But I will deal with that after we find your sister. Until then, Abby stays.”
“You have no say in this. It’s a family matter,” Ethan replied.
“I have every say in this if you think you’re taking her anywhere she doesn’t agree to go. You are not taking her away from me.”
Ethan did a double take at Brian’s words. His jaw dropped open when Abby stepped forward and wrapped her hand around Brian’s arm. Tilting her head back, she stared defiantly at her brother.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Ethan blurted.
“Ethan—” Abby started.
“Is he your mate?”
Abby thrust her shoulders back. “He is.”
The amount of pride in her voice caused something to pull at Brian’s heart as he watched her unflinchingly stand up to her powerful sibling. Ethan turned away from her to glower at Brian. The muscles in his body tensed as he prepared for Ethan to attack him, but her brother remained where he was.
“You know what that means, Ethan,” Abby said.
“I know what it means,” he grated.
“You can’t separate us.”
Ethan’s face softened as he looked at her. “I wouldn’t dream of trying, Abby. I’d never knowingly cause you to suffer.”
The tension in Brian’s muscles eased at Ethan’s words. His love for his sister would keep him from fighting this, but Ethan didn’t have to say he’d hoped for better for his sister. Brian saw the truth of it in the sadness filling his eyes as he watched her.
“I’m not leaving without Vicky,” she said to Ethan.
“I know,” he said to her before focusing on Brian. “But I think you’re putting her in danger by allowing her stay.”
Brian felt a vein throbbing to life in his forehead. “I do too, but I compromised.”
Stefan’s loud burst of laughter drew lethal looks from everyone in the room. “This is kind of perfect,” Stefan said in between his laughs, “and more than a little shocking. You’ve seen each other before.”
“According to one of Ronan’s men, Declan, if she hadn’t matured yet, there would have been no connection. At least not on my part,” Brian replied. He didn’t think they need to hear that their teenage sister had affected him enough that he hadn’t had sex in seven years.
Their gazes all went to Abby. “What?” she demanded. “I don’t tell you guys everything. I didn’t even tell Vicky about him, and it’s not as if I knew for certain he was my mate at fifteen. I knew he was different from other men, but that was it.”
“We get the point,” Ethan assured her.
“Well, it looks like the family has grown some more.” Ian walked over to slap Brian’s shoulder. “Welcome.”
Brian wasn’t so sure about that. He’d barely come to terms with having Abby as his mate, never mind the entire Byrne clan as his extended family. He’d been flying solo for years; solitary was the way he liked things, and he couldn’t deal with the idea of losing another family. He kept those thoughts to himself; he’d already wounded Abby with his declaration of no more children. He wouldn’t turn away from her family.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Does Aiden know about this?” David asked.
“You’re the first ones to know,” Abby said. “I tried calling Aiden for help before I called Brian, but Ronan’s man at the training facility wouldn’t let me talk to him.”
Ethan glanced between them once more before rubbing his temples and turning away. Stefan’s face was turning red from trying not to laugh again. He finally lost the battle.
***
Brian didn’t acknowledge Ethan as he stepped outside and onto the relatively tranquil sidewalk. In the distance, he could hear horns blowing and the thump of music, but here there was also laughter and the murmur of conversations as the distinct scent of pizza and Italian food wafted through the air. Ethan tugged his jacket closer around him and folded his arms over his chest as he studied Brian.
“Is this going to be the protective big brother conversation?” Brian asked as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Because I am not in the mood.”
“No, I think you know what you stepped into with our family. You know what will happen to you if you hurt her.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Ethan’s head tilted to the side as he surveyed him. “Out of all of my siblings, Abby is the most tenderhearted and the dreamer. You’re not what I pictured for her.”
“And what did you picture for her?”
“A good man, a patient and loving man who wouldn’t crush her spirit as I believe you will.”
Brian almost crunched his phone in his hand. “I have no intention of crushing her spirit,” he bit out.
Ethan held up a hand. “Maybe you won’t mean to do it, but she’s… fragile.”
Brian laughed at that assessment. “I don’t think you know your sister as well as you think you do. Yes, she is the most loving and caring woman I’ve ever met. No, she’s not vicious, manipulative, or cruel, but she’s far from fragile.”
“She won’t take well to being pushed around—”
Brian released a harsh bark of laughter. “No shit,” he interrupted. “She kicked me in the nuts.”
The prideful grin spreading over Ethan’s face had him contemplating punching the younger vamp. “Really? Never saw that one coming from Abby.”
“She’s stronger than you’re giving her credit for.”
“She’s always tried to make everyone else happy, and I don’t want her to be buried by someone who has a stronger will than her,” he said with a pointed look at Brian.
Irritation pricked at Brian’s skin. “You really should reevaluate your sister, or at least get to know her better. Do you honestly believe I wanted her involved in this still? The main reason I called Stefan was to get her out of here, but she was so mad and unhappy when she realized what I’d done.”
“So you agreed to let her stay?”
Brian contemplated how to respond to that; in the end, he went with the truth. “I’d agree to almost anything to make her happy. I may not like her being here, but I can keep her protected. I’ll destroy anyone who tries to harm her.”
Ethan’s head bowed before he met Brian’s gaze again. “Maybe I’m wrong.”
“You are.” Brian turned away and focused on his phone as he punched Garth’s number into it. “Is this Garth?” he asked when a man picked up the phone.
“No.”
The line went dead. Brian stared at the phone before turning to look into the restaurant where Abby sat with her family. They may not be eating the pizza cooking in the ovens behind them, but it was a much more comfortable environment than being crammed into her hotel room.
“He’s not going to talk to me,” he muttered.
Ethan followed his gaze to Abby. “I don’t want my sister talking to him.”
“Do you think I want that?” Brian retorted. “But the only way she’s leaving here is if we find Vicky.”
He might kill Vicky himself when they found her. If she was mixed up with drugs, Abby could be chasing her for the rest of her days or at least until Vicky was finally killed by Ronan, or some other vamp looking to put an end to the risk of exposure she represented. Abby would repeatedly put herself in danger to rescue her sister.
“What was Vicky thinking to get involved in this mess?” Ethan muttered.
“I don’t know,” Brian said. “But the sooner we find her, the happier Abby will be.”
Ethan’s eyes bored into him as Brian lifted his hand to wave Abby over to where they stood. Brian ignored him. He was aware of how powerful a pureblood vampire could be, and Ethan was larger than him, but he
would take Ethan down if he tried to intervene in his relationship with Abby.
She frowned but rose to walk over to them with Stefan close behind her. Brian grabbed hold of the door and pulled it open for her. He ignored the startled look on Ethan’s face and the smirk on Stefan’s.
“What is it?” Abby inquired.
“Garth isn’t going to talk to me,” Brian told her. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s been advised not to talk to any men he doesn’t already know, or if he’s always been paranoid, but a woman might be able to get through to him.”
“You want me to call him?”
“I do.”
She pulled her phone from her pocket as Brian counted to ten to keep from tearing it out of her hand. He was nearly to fifty before he felt calm enough to give her the phone number of the vamp who may have killed Marissa, a woman who had only been trying to help him in the hopes of immortality. Thousands of souls stained his hands; he didn’t like adding Marissa to the few he felt bad about.
“The number?” Abby asked for the third time.
Brian bit the number out from between his gritted teeth and thrust his phone at Stefan before he crushed it. Stefan looked as if he were about to start laughing again but wisely refrained from doing so. Abby turned and walked away from them as she waited for her call to be answered. Garth could do nothing to her through the phone, yet Brian hurried to catch up with her.
He hovered over her shoulder when she tried to wave him away. She glared at him, and he glared right back. “Hello,” a tired male voice greeted.
Abby’s mind spun, she hadn’t considered what she was going to say if the phone call was answered. Going on instinct, she blurted out the first words that came to her. “I’m looking for the party tonight.”
“We’re all looking for the party, sweets, but only the chosen few get in. What’s your name?”
“Vicky.”
Brian’s face turned red and his teeth clenched so hard she thought they might shatter. He was holding himself held back, but he wouldn’t let her talk for much longer. Through the line she heard some shuffling and then what sounded like boots hitting the floor. She strained to hear anything else, but Garth’s movements were the only ones she detected.
“Ahhh, Vicky, back so soon. You know the deal, no pic, no deets.”
Abby glanced at Brian before pushing him back a step. His hand grabbed for her phone before falling back to his side and fisting there. Turning her phone around, Abby held it far away from her and tried to stay as much in the shadows as possible. No one outside of her family, and apparently Brian, could ever tell her and Vicky apart, and her family sometimes still confused them. However, she had no idea what Vicky had been through and what kind of toll it may have taken on her; maybe she’d cut her hair, dyed it black, or gotten yellow contacts.
Taking the picture, Abby clicked a few buttons and sent it to Garth. She could feel Brian seething beside her.
“Pretty as ever, I see,” Garth said a few seconds later. “I’ll send you the locale. The party is already going.”
Did one thank their drug-dealing connection before the call ended? Fortunately, that was a question she was spared from having to answer as he hung up before she could stammer out a response.
A few seconds later, her phone beeped. She was rewarded with an address and one word, Bubblegum.
CHAPTER 20
“There is no way Vicky is in there,” Ethan said.
Abby stared across the street at the sagging warehouse with boarded windows and the faint sound of music playing within. The solid steel door on the front of the building was completely out of place with the rest of the crumbling, brick structure. She’d seen tombs more inviting than this place, but a couple of humans were practically skipping as they approached the door.
“A couple weeks ago, I would have agreed with you,” she replied. “Now, I’m not so sure.”
Brian stood beside her, his arms folded over his chest as he scowled at the building. “You’re not going in there alone.”
“I’m not,” she said. “David has agreed to come with me.”
“I am going with you,” Brian insisted with a menacing look at David. If he’d considered protesting Brian’s words, he wisely decided not to.
“You can’t go in; they know who you are, and I’m not about to orphan any of my nieces and nephews if something goes wrong, so you three are out,” she said with a wave at the others.
Brian’s eyes turned red at the possibility of something going wrong. Abby geared herself up for a big argument from all of the men hovering around her. This was not going to be easy, but she wasn’t about to back down.
“What if Vicky is already in there?” Brian demanded. “What if she had contacted him before you, and Garth was only setting you up to try and draw you into whatever she’s mixed up in? Did you think of that?”
She had thought of that, but there was only one answer for it. “It doesn’t matter. She’s my sister, if there’s the smallest chance she’s in there, I’m going.”
“So am I,” Ian said.
“No, the three of you have children and mates, or you’re soon to have children. If something goes wrong, I’m sure David and I will figure out some way of letting you know.” Her attention turned to Brian when he stepped closer to her. “Please don’t make me break my promise to you. This is Vicky. I can’t… You don’t know how much she means to me. It would be devastating to me if something were to happen to her.”
There went his plans for throttling her sister, but he still didn’t like the idea of her going into that building with only one other vamp. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends of it as he wrestled to keep himself under control.
“Abby, you’re not keeping us from going inside,” Ethan said.
Abby turned to face him. “If you die, so will Emma. Maybe she’ll be able to last until your child is born, but she would follow shortly after.” Ethan flinched at her words as his eyes flickered red. “Besides, I’m sure it will be a lot easier for me and David to get in there without an entourage of large male vamps following us.”
Ethan, Ian, and Stefan looked completely torn, but she’d struck on the one thing none of them could ever sacrifice, the life of their mate.
“And what about me?” Brian inquired. “If something happens to you in there, what happens to me?”
Abby winced, her heart twisting as tears burned her eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to me.”
“Abigail—”
“I won’t,” she insisted. “If I think there’s any threat to my safety, you will come first. I’ll leave immediately, but David can’t get in there without me, and if we all go storming in there, it could get someone killed; it could get Vicky killed. This is the safest way, and if I wasn’t your mate, you would happily use me as an option.”
“But you are my mate.”
“And I am still the best option.”
Brian’s breath exploded out of him as he swung away from her and paced toward the corner of the building. She hated the stress she could feel radiating from him, but she couldn’t back down. Spinning away from the building, he stalked back toward her. She braced herself for him to toss her over his shoulder and carry her away from here. Her brothers wouldn’t protest the action; they’d probably happily follow along, smiling at her the whole time.
Abby shifted her stance as she prepared to punch him and run for the warehouse. He stopped before her, stress radiating from the lines etched around his eyes, but an amused quirk lifted his mouth as he took in her fighting stance. “Can you wait an hour?” he asked.
She folded her arms over her chest as she tried to figure out what his ploy was. “I’m not going to change my mind.”
“I don’t expect you to. I’m just going to get you more help.”
“Who?”
“Aiden.”
“They wouldn’t let me talk to him before.”
“They’ll let me.”
“Where he is?”
>
“They have a training facility outside of the city. He can be here in no time. Either that, or I will take your brother’s side in this, and I will remove you from here. If you’re willing to break your promise, so am I. I compromised, it’s your turn.”
Abby felt the body heat from her brothers and Stefan as they closed in around her. She barely managed to keep herself from rolling her eyes, men.
It was only a little longer before Aiden could be here, and she had to admit she’d feel a lot better having someone else to go into that building with her and David. If Brian could compromise, she could too.
“Call him,” she said.
***
Aiden arrived less than an hour after Brian called him. They’d waited until he joined them before filling him in on the rest of the details of what was going on.
“Will you get in trouble for being here?” Abby asked anxiously as she embraced her brother.
Aiden’s strong arms wrapped around her, and he pulled her close. “Family comes first, always.”
“What did you tell them in order to get out?” Ethan asked.
“I was meeting my brothers for some drinks, so you have to buy me a few rounds when this is over. I can’t be a liar.”
“Deal,” Ian said.
“They let you out for that?” Abby asked.
“The complete lockdown portion of my training is over.” Aiden’s gaze turned to the run-down building across the street. “There is no way Vicky is in there.”
“We’ve already established it’s a possibility,” Abby said as she stepped from her brother’s embrace.
She couldn’t believe how much he’d changed in the past six months. He’d always been muscular, but now he was solid muscle and broader through the chest and shoulders. His black hair had been shaved into a buzz cut; his leaf green eyes were assessing as he studied the building. He looked like he’d joined the Marines, but then she supposed Ronan’s men were the vampire equivalent of the military.
“There’s no way they’re going to believe you’re an addict,” she said to him. “You look far too healthy.”
“Hate to break it to you, Abs, but you’re not looking like shit tonight either.”
Undone (Vampire Awakenings, Book 5) Page 18