Blind Rage (Clearnight Haven Book 3)

by Maggie Walsh

  B.B. filled the lonely space inside him. Gave him a life full of laughter and love. Even though he knew his mate was afraid of taking that final step to their claiming, he also knew B.B. wanted it. He could see it in B.B.’s eyes, feel it in his touch, and the way he responded to Silas’s every attention. Silas still wasn’t sure what it was exactly that was holding Barnabas back, but he figured it had to do with things from his past, and B.B. would tell him about it when he was ready. He would never push his man to do anything and would show B.B. how patient he could be. He would prove to his man that he would never regret trusting Silas with his heart.

  He had such a frustrating day, running around town, talking to coven members and digging around in Malcolm Dean’s old businesses, trying to find even a glimmer of a lead and finding nothing, that all he had dreamed about all day was going home to B.B. and holding him tight.

  Whenever he wasn’t with his man, Silas worried about B.B.’s safety too. Not that Silas thought his mate was in any danger in his home, but Silas was terrified for B.B. to ever step foot outside their door. With everything that had happened to Atty and now Jasper being gone, and that sick bastard Diego still out there somewhere, Silas was terrified that Diego would come after his mate too. B.B. had been on the list of Viscardi’s slaves offered on that sick trafficking site, and Silas wouldn’t put it past Diego, or anyone else associated with their business, to try to get their hands on B.B. and others to continue their sick business.

  Silas sighed as he grabbed B.B.’s pillow and hugged it close, drawing in a deep breath and luxuriating in his mate’s scent. He closed his eyes from the warm, loving feeling the scent filled him with, and craved to have B.B. there right now, so he could hold the real thing, maybe make love to his man.

  Finally a thought hit him and Silas cursed himself. He had been so wrapped up in what his day had been like and what he missed and wanted, he never even stopped to think about where the hell B.B. was this late at night, well, early in the morning. What a piece of crap mate he was. Barnabas should have been his first thought.

  Silas opened his eyes and sat up, then switched on the light and looked at the clock. Four fifty-seven. The sun would be coming up soon, so where was his mate? Since he and B.B had talked about mating and their relationship, and B.B. said yes to Silas about moving into his room, his human mate had been so wonderful and had changed his life around. B.B. had not only moved into the coven house and into his room with him, but had also switched his awake/sleep schedule to fit the rest of the house, and now B.B. was up when they were and slept during the day with him. So then, where the hell was his mate?

  When Silas came in, he only saw Saber as he was heading up to bed, but other than that the house was quiet and dark. He had assumed B.B. had gone up to bed too. Then being so lost in his thoughts of the day, Silas hadn’t even realized that he didn’t hear B.B’s heartbeat or the softness of his breath as he slept when he had come into the room.

  Had his mate stayed up waiting for him like he had most nights, but had maybe fallen asleep somewhere in the house while he waited? Was B.B. curled up in a chair in the library, or media room maybe? Crap, he needed to go find him and bring him to bed.

  Silas jumped from the bed and quickly put on a pair of sleep pants and a tee, then went in search of his man.

  Nowhere. B.B. was nowhere. Silas had checked every corner of the house except for Saber, Kalen and Fabian’s rooms, but he knew B.B. wouldn’t be in any of those. He even went to the suite that Raven and his men had been staying in and listened to hear if they were still here, or if they had gone home to Italy. After hearing nothing coming from the room, Silas had gone in and found that too was empty. So where was B.B.?

  Silas went to the kitchen and stood in the middle of the room as he thought about where his man could have gone, but when no answers came, he began to panic. Fear gripped him and had his heart rate increasing. Surely B.B. wouldn’t have gone out to wander the grounds alone at night, and if he had, Silas knew his brothers wouldn’t be sleeping peacefully in their beds. None of his siblings would let B.B. go out on his own, or just disregard his safety and go to bed.

  Shit. Shit. Shit. Where the hell was B.B.? And what was Silas going to do?

  “Brother, what is it?” Fabian said from the doorway, as he walked in dressed for bed, but didn’t look like he had been asleep. “I could hear you running around the house. What’s going on?”

  Frantically, Silas replied, “My baby is gone, Fabian! Where the hell is my mate?”

  Fabian walked further into the room, coming to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m guessing asking if he’s in your room is a stupid question, as well as if you have checked the house, because I know you have, what about outside? Maybe he couldn’t sleep and went for a walk?”

  Silas shook his head. “No. I thought of that, but I know B.B. wouldn’t do that alone, or at least without telling anyone. He knows how serious this situation is right now, Fabian, and that his name was on that list as well. We’ve talked about it and him staying in the house where it’s safe. B.B. wouldn’t do that.”

  “Okay, so... maybe he went back to his old place? Did you have a fight or something?” Fabian asked.

  Again, Silas shook his head. “No, we didn’t have a fight, and he wouldn’t go back there with Atticus being here. Plus, we moved all his stuff out the day we burned Atticus’s old house down. There’s nothing there for him to go back to, not even a bed.”

  “Well, maybe he was tired of you being an asshole all week,” Kalen replied, as he strolled into the room looking aggravated, like he had been rudely awakened. His hair all mussed up like he had been asleep.

  “What are you talking about? I haven’t been mean to my mate. Hell, we’ve hardly had any time together since Jasper was taken,” Silas defended.

  “Exactly. Asshole,” Kalen said, as he moved to the counter and started putting coffee on. “As much as B.B. has been a good mate and understands what’s going on, and has been more than patient with you, you’ve pretty much ignored him all week, man. That has to suck for him, and maybe confuse him and make him feel bad or lonely. Shit, Silas, our world is new to him as well as mating, and now he’s trying to figure it out alone without you. When he needs his mate most, you’ve been MIA.”

  Silas’s eyes widened as his heart shattered. Kalen was right. He had been so lost in his own misery and guilt that he hadn’t been there for his mate when B.B. needed him the most. Fuck, he sucked as a mate. Silas went to the table and dropped down into one of the chairs. “Shit, Kalen’s right. I’ve been the worst mate. Has B.B. left me? Have I run him off? Gods, what am I going to do?” Silas leaned forward, his elbows on the table as he dropped his head and thrust his fingers through the top of his hair, his body drooping in defeat.

  Fabian came over and sat beside him, placing a hand on his back and rubbing softly, trying to comfort him. “I don’t believe that, Silas. Yes, you’ve been preoccupied this week, but I do know that B.B. understands and wouldn’t leave you over this. Give your mate more credit than that. Barnabas may fuss over his appearance, but he’s not shallow, Silas, He’s a good man, who is just as worried about Jasper as the rest of us, and also worried about you.”

  “What’s going on, guys? Why is everyone up?” Atty asked, walking into the kitchen and looking all cute with bed-tousled hair, rubbing his eyes, as he shuffled his feet.

  “Silas can’t find B.B., sweetness. Did he say anything to you earlier?”

  Atty shook his head as he moved to Fabian and crawled onto his lap. “No. He was just really worried about you, Silas, and Jasper. He was frustrated, because he wanted to help, but couldn’t figure out what to do. He looked exhausted, so I sent him to go rest and told him that I would wake him for dinner. When I went up and knocked, he didn’t answer, so I left him alone. I figured he was asleep, which I was happy about. B.B. hasn’t been sleeping well with everything going on and he looked dead on his feet, so I just let him be. Then when Raven and his men were
leaving I wanted to go wake him to say goodbye, but Ciro, Jareth, and Joel told me not to, just to let him sleep and they would call him when they got home.”

  “So, no one has seen him since what time?” Silas asked.

  “That was around midnight when I sent him up,” Atty replied.

  Just then Fabian’s cell rang and he pulled it from his pants pocket. “Fabian Valentine.”

  Everyone looked at Fabian anxiously. It was too early in the morning for anyone to call and with them and most of their contacts being vampires, they were all heading to bed, or there already, so who could be calling? This could only be bad news, Silas was sure of it.

  They watched as Fabian’s eyes widened and his gaze shot to Silas. Suddenly his gut dropped and his heart filled with a sense of foreboding. Something was terribly wrong and Silas knew his world was about to change.

  After a few a-hu’s and a thanks, Fabian hung up and stared at him. Silas’s heart sank. Something had happened to B.B., he just knew it.

  CHAPTER 8

  “Well?” Silas huffed when Fabian only sat silent.

  Fabian met his gaze and Silas could see the strain in his eyes. “That was Memphis at the club. They closed up for the day and with him always being the last to leave he checks the lot to see if there are any cars left behind, and he found your car parked in your spot.”

  Silas frowned not understanding why his car was at the club. “Okay, and?”

  Fabian gave him a duh look and Silas wanted to smack his oldest brother. “So, if you’re here and your car is there, how did it get there? But before you answer that, Memphis already did. B.B. came to the club at around two o’clock and Memphis showed him where to park, then escorted him inside through our private door and told him how to get to your office and the club. Once he locked B.B. inside, that was the last he saw of him. Once Memphis spotted your car still there, he quickly went back inside and looked in every nook and cranny but couldn’t find him. He’s getting the surveillance videos for the night all keyed up and thought we may want to know. He said he would wait for us to get there if you want.”

  Silas jumped to his feet, his chair tumbling backward and crashing to the floor. “Of course I want to be there,” Silas yelled, as he ran for the door leading into the garage.

  Kalen sighed as he looked to Fabian. “Who wants to remind him that all I have to do is link us to the club’s surveillance and we can watch it with Memphis from here?”

  “I’ll go,” Atty volunteered as he stood.

  “I’ll have the coffee waiting,” Kalen said, then turned back to the counter.

  “Good, I have a feeling we’re going to need it. I’ll get some blood bags and meet everyone in the office,” Fabian said and went to the fridge.

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  Silas rushed back inside and headed to the office. How could he be so stupid as to not remember the sun was up and he couldn’t go outside, as well as forgetting about Kalen being able to access the club computers? Fuck, he needed to get his head on straight if he was going to find his mate. How did he not even realize his car was gone when he got home? Was B.B. in trouble? Had his mate gone out to find someone else?

  That thought caused him such deep pain it was as if someone had stabbed him in the heart. No, his B.B. wouldn’t do that. Sure, they had only known one another for a few weeks, but they had already learned so much about one another, and Silas knew that cheating was not B.B.’s style. Even with him being such a jerk all week and them not technically being bonded yet, B.B. wouldn’t just go out and find someone else.

  Silas walked into the office with Atty close behind to find Fabian had already made himself comfortable on the sofa and there were bags of blood lying on the table in front of him. Atty went right to his mate and cuddled up against Fabian’s side. Silas grabbed a bag of blood, grumbling under his breath, then plopped down into a chair.

  He had spent most of his life drinking from a live source, but had switched to the bagged stuff about twenty years ago, and solely fed from the damn things now. But, finding his mate had given Silas hope that he would soon never have to again. Once a vampire found their true mate and claimed them, they could never feed from another again. Any other blood source would make them sick.

  Except for vampires who also had a vampire mate, like Fabian and Atty. A vampire feeding from their vampire mate wouldn’t get enough of what they needed to keep them at their best, so they each had to drink at least a pint of bagged blood every day, then they could drink their fill from their mate, which was the most pleasurable thing in a vampire’s life.

  Drinking from a live source was wonderful and made both parties hot and horny, but to drink from one’s true mate would make the experience a million times more pleasurable and hot. From the stories Silas had heard from Raven and now Fabian, drinking from your true mate was like pure heaven, and the desire to fuck and join them in another way was too much to fight.

  They said that when drinking from your true mate, a vampire had no control over himself and needed to be joined by flesh in that moment more than they needed the blood. It was supposedly euphoric beyond measure. Damn, Silas really wanted to experience that with his B.B.

  He sat in the chair and groaned in frustration as his cock began to thicken with the thought of taking his mate’s body and blood at the same time. Gods, he didn’t know how much longer he could wait. Frustrated with that thought, Silas twisted the small cap off the bag then brought it to his lips and drank. It wasn’t as fulfilling as the thought of drinking from B.B., but he needed it for nourishment and survival. Not to mention to keep up his strength, so he could go find his mate.

  “Yeah, Memph, I got it. Hold on and I’ll take control of your computer from here and walk us all through the videos,” Kalen said, bringing Silas back to the moment.

  The large monitor over Kalen’s head that was mounted on the wall flicked on with a list of commands. A small arrow moved around the screen, clicking on a few things, then suddenly a shot of the club came into view but the club was empty.

  “When is this?” Fabian asked.

  “This is live. Hold on one minute while I get the surveillance feed from last night up. Okay, Memph, you said B.B. arrived around two?”

  “Yeah, it was a few minutes after, maybe two-five,” the disembodied voice came over the speaker.

  “Okay, I’m backing it to one fifty-nine and the VIP parking lot. Can you see it, Memph?”

  As Memphis answered the screen filled with a shot of their private parking lot. It was dark and only Saber’s motorcycle sat in the lot. As the minutes clicked away on a time clock at the bottom of the screen, they saw that at two-four bright car lights pulled into the main lot. They watched as Memphis directed Silas’s car into the private lot, then as he spoke with B.B. and showed him inside.

  Silas’s heart clenched and pain engulfed him as his gaze fell on his sweet B.B. Gods, his arms felt empty without his mate.

  The screen went fuzzy for a moment, then changed to view of the club in full swing. Bodies undulated together on the dance floor, men made out with other men, vampires bit willing humans as they fed in the darkened corners, and all while the lights flashed and the music played.

  Silas sat forward and narrowed his eyes as he saw the door along the far wall leading to their offices, opened. The bright light of the hall flooding the outer area for a moment and his mate stood in the doorway. B.B. quickly moved into the club and closed the door, then made his way across the room to the bar. Once there he got the attention of one of the bartenders.

  They watched as the two talked for a moment and the bartender shook his head as he pointed over his shoulder. B.B. nodded then moved around the bar and went to the other side where the other bartender worked getting orders for their patrons. B.B. waited patiently then slid onto a stool and smiled as the bartender came to stand in front of him on the opposite side of the bar.

  B.B. placed an order and waited as his drink was made, his gaze focused solely on the bartender.
A few guys approached him, lust clearly in their eyes and Silas growled low and dangerous. From his peripheral he saw his brothers shoot glances at him, but he didn’t give a shit, those men were trying to make the moves on what belonged to him.

  Silas then smiled as he watched his baby decline and turn his back on the men. When the bartender brought over his drink, B.B. smiled bright and batted his eyelashes, causing Silas to growl again. What the fuck was his mate doing?

  “Hold on a second, Kalen. Go back to when Cliff first saw B.B. It was a few seconds before B.B. sat on the stool,” Fabian said.

  Kalen did as their brother asked and rewound the footage then hit play. They watched again how B.B. waited for his turn, then Kalen froze the video again and zoomed in to Cliff, the bartender’s face, then Kalen started the feed again.

  Silas gasped along with Atty. “What the fuck? Did you all see that?” Silas asked, as he jumped to his feet and moved closer to Kalen and the monitor.

  “I sure did. Memphis, did you catch that?” Fabian asked.

  “Yeah. Fucking bastard. I’ll ring his goddamn neck when I see him,” Memphis ground out, and Silas knew the man had to be grinding his teeth.

  “Look at his eyes when they land on B.B.,” Fabian said, as he too moved closer.

  They watched as Cliff’s gaze landed on B.B. and his eyes widened a fraction, then a sinister smirk drew the side of his mouth up.

  “Keep it only on Cliff, Kalen. I want to see his every move,” Fabian ordered.

  Instead of seeing the full view of the club and B.B. talking with the two guys trying to pick him up, Kalen focused on Cliff. He took B.B.’s order, then turned and made his way to the far side of the bar and pulled his cell phone from his pocket then tapped the screen a few times. After he spoke for a few minutes, Cliff hung up and turned back then grabbed a glass and began to pour a drink. He slipped something that looked like a small vial from his front pocket and twisted the cap off. Cliff looked around over his shoulder both ways, then tipped the vial, pouring the contents into the drink and stirred it with a straw as he pocketed the vial again. A moment later he turned and headed back to B.B., a big friendly smile on his face, and placed the drink down in front of him, then hurried away.