Shaking his head, Danero tried not to think about what losing the blood lord would do to Victoria. He knew that she would be devastated. He was unaware of the details but Victoria must have developed feelings for the man at some point. It was a disastrous scenario, perhaps the worst he’d ever witnessed. But only Victoria could fall in love with the one man she couldn’t have. Not that Danero could blame the poor girl. The only men she had ever seen were those from her own pack and even then because she was practically obligated to. The only other individual she had ever taken to was Danero, and even then only as a younger sibling would to an older one.
However, losing the man she obviously had feelings for would probably break her. She had always managed to hold her own against Victor, but he wasn’t convinced that if the alpha took the man from her, she would ever recover. It would be the last strike before she broke down completely. Danero himself had loved and lost once, so he knew how that much emotional baggage can affect a person. He didn’t want that for Victoria. She didn’t deserve it.
Danero refused to even breathe until the huge house came into view, and only then he released some air, only to inhale again and hold it as he ran straight to the front door and pummeled his fists against the wooden frame so hard it cracked down the middle. Shoving the piece of wood aside, he hurried in uninvited, only to come face to face with the green eyed beauty from before.
As soon as she saw him, she hissed menacingly. “What do you want, wolf?”
Momentarily taken aback by her beauty, he simply stood there and gaped. “I need to talk to―”
“What are you doing here, mutt?”
Danero glanced up to see the vampire mistress slowly descending the stairs, a look of puzzlement marring her flawless features as she took each step.
“Why do you barge into my house like this?” she asked once she reached the end of the staircase.
“I apologize for barging in here, but what brought me here is urgent,” Danero stated.
She gave him the once over before saying, “I’m listening.”
Deciding not to waste any more time, he quickly said, “Your vampire friend has just been taken prisoner by the Bonvalet pack.”
He didn’t think it was possible, but the woman’s face grew even paler than it already was.
“Which one?” she asked.
“The one you wouldn’t tell Victor about.”
“What? Why?” She closed the distance between them. “Why on earth would Victor Bonvalet do such a stupid thing like that?”
“Victor is sure he knows where the missing princess is and he’s determined to pry the answer out of him no matter the cost,” Danero hurried to say.
“What is the deal with his missing daughter, anyway?” Madelia straightened and crossed both arms over her breasts. “Why is she missing?”
“I assure you that she left the pack willingly,” Danero stated. “But the problem lies in the vampire’s involvement with her.”
“Tristan doesn’t know where she is. How could he possibly know?” When Danero’s eyebrows went up, Madelia asked, “Does he?”
“He knows. That’s the problem.” Danero ran a hand over his long black hair. “And now Victor knows that he knows. The alpha isn’t going to stop until he finds the princess and you can only imagine how he’s going to force the truth out of him.”
“All for this missing girl?” Madelia barked. “Why would Tristan help her in the first place? This makes no sense. Only if they—” She stopped mid-sentence, a look of shocked disbelief crossing her features. “It can’t be.”
Danero allowed for the truth to sink in. Although he only suspected what had really happened between Victoria and this Tristan fellow, he’d seen enough to assume they were now a couple. And that of course, meant they were both in serious trouble.
“I’m not sure myself, but one can only assume that might be the case.”
Madelia shook her head. “This will be disastrous for them. For those of us involved. Because like it or not, we are now involved in this mess.” The woman sighed. “But we can’t turn our backs on Tristan. He’s one of us.”
“What are you going to do?” the green eyed beauty asked as she spun around to face her mistress. “How are we going to help Tristan?”
“Do me a favor, Catharina.” When the black haired vixen nodded, Madelia added, “Call Ademar for me. Tell him I need to speak to him right away. That the matter is important. Do not, however, reveal any information.”
“I’ll get right to it.” Sparing a glance at Danero, the vampire he now knew as Catharina, bowed her head slightly before sashaying toward a closed door at the other side of the foyer.
“I’ll see what I can do about Tristan,” Madelia said. “Leave him to me.”
“I thought that if I came here you might be able to do something,” he replied.
“You took a pretty big risk. We could have attacked first, asked questions later.” Her lips split into a seductive grin.
“I had to take the risk.” He shrugged. “Like you said, we’re now involved. And this has just turned into a race against time.”
Madelia laughed. “You’ve committed a serious crime by betraying Victor. I bet he won’t be too happy about it.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t really give a damn.”
She laughed even harder. “I know you don’t, which makes this mess even more interesting,” she countered. “What are you going to do now?”
“Go back to the pack and try to keep Victor occupied.” Danero spun with the intention of leaving but Madelia’s next words stopped him.
“I don’t get it.” Her voice went up a notch. “Why are you doing this?”
He frowned. “Do what?”
“Help one of ours.”
“I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing it for Victoria. If something happens to him she’ll be crushed and she’s been through enough.”
“That’s a pretty heartfelt thought,” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
“It’s not like that.” Danero frowned. “I love Victoria like a brother would a sister.”
The answer seemed to satisfy the blonde vampire. “I see. Well, thank you for stopping by. Even if you did break my door.”
Danero smiled. “Sorry about that, but I was in a hurry.”
She dismissed him with a swift hand gesture. “No worries. It can be replaced.”
Nodding, he muttered, “I gotta go,” before taking off out the door toward the Bonvalet mansion.
Chapter Thirty-One
Victoria awoke to the sound of tapping on the bedroom door. Tired, the last thing she wanted to do was get up, especially after the conversation she had with Tristan moments before. Her mind was still on the problems waiting to be resolved but she couldn’t bring herself to lose the man she loved. And that’s exactly what would end up happening eventually. Even when she had made a point of saying she wouldn’t hide forever, now it felt as if it was the best thing to do.
At the incisive knocking, her eyes popped open and she quickly noted she was alone in bed. The side of the mattress Tristan had been lying on was empty. Pulling the sheets up to her chin, she sat up and allowed her gaze to wonder across the room.
“Where in the world is Tristan?” she murmured.
Slightly confused, she called out for whoever was at the door to come in and was instantly relieved to see Emelina open the door.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but…” she glanced around the room as if looking for someone, “there is a man in the living room that insists on speaking with you.”
Victoria was instantly bombarded by a strong sense of dread. Something was wrong. She couldn’t exactly tell why, but she had the sinking feeling that her life was about to take a turn for the worse. That sensation increased when she couldn’t find Tristan.
“Who is this man?” she asked as she wrapped the sheet around her before slipping out of bed.
“He’s a friend of Mr. Garland’s.” And by friend Victoria knew what the woman was refer
ring to. The man waiting downstairs was a vampire. “He’s visited Mr. Garland a few times over the years.”
Quickly stepping forward, Victoria asked, “Are you sure he wants to talk to me?”
Emelina nodded. “Yes.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Victoria said, more to herself than the other woman. “Have you seen Tristan?”
Emelina shook her head. “No, I have not.”
Confused, Victoria didn’t try to make sense of why a stranger would want to talk to her and instead, she shrugged. “Well, tell him I’ll be down in a moment.”
“I will do that.”
Before the woman could leave however, Victoria gently pulled on her arm and asked, “Is he alone?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Where can I find him?”
“He said he was going to wait for you in the library.”
“Thank you, Emelina.”
“No problem.” Emelina quickly exited the room, closing the door behind her.
Rushing to the closet, Victoria quickly dressed, choosing to wear a simple outfit of a pair of faded jeans, a white blouse, and white boots. After rearranging her hair back into a pony tail, she hurried out of the room to the first floor library, where she hesitated by the door for about five minutes while she debated whether facing the unexpected visitor was the right thing to do.
Tristan hadn’t told her what to do in case someone stopped by. Because he had pointed out earlier that the elders would be angered by their mating, she wasn’t sure what her next move should be. Even when she was unsure, she still found enough courage within herself to open the door and step into the room.
The man sitting on a black leather chair across the room wasn’t exactly what she was expecting. Though he did appear to be old for a vampire, his appearance was anything but. Even with the man sitting down she could tell he was tall, possibly as tall as Tristan himself. He had short brown hair; caramel colored eyes, pale skin, and was undeniably attractive.
As Victoria strolled inside the room, she kept her gaze focused on the stranger. Although she didn’t sense any hostility from him, she wasn’t about to trust easily. He could be measuring her up, trying to determine how or when to take her down. And since she had no idea who he was or why he was there, she decided that the best thing she could do was be extra cautious.
“Well, the rumors are true then.” The man gestured her forward.
“Rumors?” Victoria shut the library’s door and sauntered in, directing her strides toward the huge mahogany desk siting within arm’s reach of the newcomer.
“Yes, well. My sources were not specific but now that I have seen for myself…” He left the rest of that sentence trail off but she caught the gist of it just the same.
“Does this so called source have a name?” she tried.
The man smiled. “Why, yes. Of course she does.”
Victoria walked around the mahogany desk and sat on the wooden chair behind it, facing the newcomer, looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and interest.
“It wouldn’t be Madelia, would it?” she inquired. She didn’t know why, but she had the feeling that woman was somehow involved.
“Oh, so you know her?” The man leaned back against the chair and tapped his right knee with the back of his right hand. The movement reminded her of an old habit her brother, Darius, had whenever he was nervous.
“Tristan has mentioned her before,” she added simply.
“Yes, I imagine that conversation must have been uncomfortable.” The vampire lord chuckled softly as if he recalled some inside joke. “For him, at least.”
Ignoring his remark, Victoria said, “If you’re looking for Tristan, he’s not here.”
“Speaking of which, you wouldn’t happen to know where he is right now, would you?”
Victoria shook her head. “When I woke up he wasn’t here.” And she wondered at that. She knew he had agreed to talk to her father but he did promise to be back before she woke up and he obviously wasn’t. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure where he ran off to.”
“I figured as much.” The man bobbed his head up and down. “Well, it’s because of Tristan that I’m here.”
“Oh?” Victoria’s gaze wavered. “Is there something I should know?”
“This is a complicated subject to discuss. When I was called out of a meeting I wasn’t expecting to hear about one of our own breaking such sacred rules, and risking our existence by defying nature and therefore, possibly starting a war.”
Victoria’s heart sank into her stomach. “Why were you called?”
“Oh, forgive my manners. I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Ademar, and I’m a member of the elder’s council.”
She quickly realized that Tristan’s fears had come true. The vampire elders had found out about them. “I see,” she mumbled. “So, you’re here to either kill me or take me back to my pack. Is that it?”
The man known as Ademar didn’t reply right away, instead, he gazed at her for a few seconds, his expression completely unreadable. After a moment however, he finally opened his mouth to say, “You’re correct. I am here to take you back to your pack.”
She nodded absently. “Of course.” Victoria tried her best to hold back her tears. Even after everything she’d been through, she would still end up back where she started. After knowing true love, tasting freedom, and getting to know the most amazing person she had ever known, she would still lose it all.
“You see, your father is convinced Tristan had something to do with your disappearance and because you haven’t been seen in days, our dear old friend is being held responsible.”
“What?” She bolted out of the chair. “What happened to Tristan?”
“As far as I know he was taken to the Bonvalet mansion to answer to the council members,” he stated. “And you can make up your own mind how they plan to spill his guts.”
She really didn’t have to guess. She already knew what the Bonvalet pack might decide to do to him. For a man like Tristan, who had been through the agonizing process of being tortured before, going through it again would probably do some pretty heavy emotional damage.
“God, I can’t let them do that to him,” she whispered. “How do you know—how does Madelia know he was taken prisoner?”
“According to her, some other mutt—” Ademar cleared his throat uncomfortably, “—Uh, I mean, a werewolf told her.”
The rhythm of her beating heart picked up pace. There was only one person who would dare go against the alpha in order to help her and that was none other than Danero.
“I need to go back—I have to—” She stopped short. How exactly was she supposed to go home? Tristan’s mode of transportation was, to put it best, unique, unusual, unorthodox. “Tristan brought me here. I don’t know how to get home. I would need a passport; identification papers, money, and I don’t have any of that.”
Ademar smiled. “Yes, well, the way Tristan gets around is quite unconventional, isn’t it?” He got to his feet. “Fortunately for you, we elders have our own ways of getting around. You don’t get to live this long and not have your own way of doing things. I have everything you require to get back home,” he said. “Papers and such. We have means to provide all of that.”
Victoria instantly became suspicious of his easy going behavior. For some reason, it made her uneasy. “Why are you helping me?”
Pinning her in place with a stern look, he said, “I’m not helping you at all. I plan to make a trade. I will hand you over to the Bonvalet pack and get Tristan back. After the trade is made, you will answer to your council members and Tristan to his.”
But of course, she thought. Why else would he even bother with me? He didn’t want to help her, just punish her. Well, she deserved to be punished. Because of her, Tristan’s life was in danger, and if he got destroyed, she would have nothing else to live for.
Raising her chin, she met Ademar’s eyes. “I don’t care what price I have to pay. As long as
Tristan is okay, nothing else matters.”
The vampire elder nodded. “We should get going then; every second that ticks by is vital, and since the trip will be a long one, we might as well be on our way. Our mode of transportation is not as fast or as specific as Tristan’s, but we will get there eventually.”
Victoria refused to reply but deep down she hoped that eventually didn’t turn out to be too late.
***
The next few hours were the most intense and mind consuming she’d ever been through in her entire life. During the ride to the elders’ private airport, she’d been consumed by worry over Tristan’s welfare. During the flight she’d been on pins and needles, thinking only about making it back home on time to prevent an unnecessary torture her beloved didn’t even deserve. During the drive to the Bonvalet mansion however, she could barely keep still. It was suddenly too much for her. She could hardly stand the tension in the car and even though Ademar spoke to her often to keep her mind occupied, she ultimately decided to ignore the man.
In fact, she couldn’t focus on anything but Tristan. She wanted to know that he was okay. That he was still alive. That he hadn’t been hurt.
As the driver pulled up to the tall metal gates in front of the Bonvalet mansion, she could scarcely hold herself back from jumping out of the car and running inside to look for Tristan. Of course, doing so would mean certain death for him, so she held her desperation in check and waited.
“Now that we’re here, it’s your job to make sure Tristan is released.” Ademar’s tone of voice made it clear he expected no less of her. “However, heed what you say. Make sure that your father understands that an elder of the vampire council is waiting for Tristan just outside the metal gates and if he’s not delivered safely to this very car, there will be hell to pay.”
“What if my father refuses to give him up?” Victoria asked, concern etched in her face.
“This is a matter of war. If he wishes a direct attack, which will happen since we know where his lair is, he better release Tristan in one piece,” Ademar warned.
Fierce Awakenings Page 23