Over three hundred hunters lived on the grounds. At one time there had been nearly four hundred, but some had left to work with other strongholds or marry women there, and others were killed. They were in a drought of sorts when it came to children with only a handful of them being under ten.
There were fifteen more strongholds such as this throughout the world. Some of them had more hunters, others less. All of them were run by hunters who were nominated by the elders within that stronghold and who his father had agreed to appoint. When the next new leader was required in one of those strongholds, Nathan would have to travel there in order to agree or disagree with the nomination. It was not something he looked forward to, but it was his role now.
He stopped pacing when his gaze fell on the archway the women had recently been decorating for Kadence’s wedding. The white ribbon covering it stood out starkly against the growing dusk.
No one had asked Kadence if this was what she wanted, he realized. But they’d never asked any of the women or men who were paired together when the time came. It was simply accepted that it would happen, as it had always happened over the years.
He spent enough time in the human world to know it was an archaic tradition. He’d never questioned if things should be different though. When a woman was ready to breed, they were to be married off as soon as possible, with the hopes that within the next seventy years, while she was still capable of doing so, she would conceive a child.
Some did not.
Nathan knew the elder men and women of the stronghold would choose a woman for him soon. Mostly, it was elder women who made the choice as few men lived to a hundred, never mind the two hundred that gave one the lauded status of an elder. If there were no acceptable women here, they would choose one from another location, but he suspected his wife would be Kadence’s friend Simone.
He would be happy with Simone. She was beautiful and docile. She excelled in her classes and would make a suitable mother and wife. She was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman.
He told himself this, but he could feel the noose cinching around his neck and he realized what Kadence was going through. When he married, he would at least be able to keep hunting and have freedom beyond these walls. Kadence would simply be locked away here for the rest of her life.
No wonder Kadence had rebelled; he certainly would have. However, none of that mattered right now. The most important thing was getting her back, and he was hell-bent on doing that.
Chapter Fourteen
Emerging from the bathroom after her shower, Kadence tied the belt of the robe she’d discovered hanging over the back of the chair around her waist. Not only had someone left the robe for her, but they’d also brought her a change of clothes and a toothbrush.
She didn’t know who the clothes belonged to, and she didn’t care. Her clothes weren’t so ruined she couldn’t wear them again, but the idea of climbing back into them after Joseph’s attack made her skin crawl.
She glanced at the bedroom door before retreating to the bathroom again. Ronan had been gone when she’d woken. She didn’t know when he’d come back, and the last thing she wanted was to be caught naked. Releasing the towel, she slipped on the white bra set out for her. The bra was a little too big on her, but fit well enough. Opening the package of underwear, she removed a white, cotton pair and pulled them on before sliding the yellow sundress over her head.
Wandering over to the sink, she lifted her wet hair to inspect the wound on her neck. It was mostly healed with only the two original puncture marks from Joseph’s fangs remaining. Her stomach turned at the reminder of the degradation she’d endured from his attack. She didn’t care what they all believed, female hunters should be trained better.
She discovered a hairbrush amongst the sparse toiletries set beside the sink. Her fingers trembled as she ran her fingers over the brush before the shaving cream can and a disposable razor that wouldn’t be much of a weapon. These were Ronan’s personal things. Standing here, touching his things, seemed almost as intimate as sleeping beside him all night had been—something she’d known he’d done, judging by the still warm dent in his pillow she discovered upon waking.
Her fingers settled on the hairbrush. She turned it over in her hand, admiring the fine ivory handle before using it to work out the tangles in her hair. Placing the brush down, she left the bathroom again.
Her stomach grumbled, but she ignored the food on the platter as she inspected the room. From its gray walls to the large armoire and chestnut head and footboard of the bed, there was no sign of any softness in the personality of the man who slept in this room or of anything personal.
She had more signs of her personality on her small nightstand at home—with its ever-present Shasta daisy from the greenhouses and the only photo she had of her entire family together, taken when she was five, before her mother had died from a fall off a horse—than this entire room possessed. Looking around, she would assume the man who slept here was cold and stern, that he was nothing like the man who had talked with her during the day and who stared at her with such heat in his gaze. Which side is the real him?
It didn’t matter; she wouldn’t get to know him well enough to learn the answer to that.
Padding over to the window, she ran her hands over the metal shutters covering them before spotting the button beside them. Pushing it, she stepped back as the shutters rolled up and folded themselves neatly above the picture window. Bars covered the outside of the glass.
Kadence stepped closer to the window to stare down at the large pool below. The puddles on the pool cover were frozen, and the shrubs encircling it were all weighed down with a layer of ice. It had rained sometime last night and frozen over again. Even the black, wrought iron fence surrounding the pool was covered in a sheet of ice.
The fence was high enough that it blocked her view of what lay beyond the pool area. Frustration filled her as she stepped back to survey the room once more. Nothing about the room or the outdoors gave any indication as to where she was, other than she hadn’t been transported to a tropical climate while she’d been unconscious.
Inspecting the walls, she frowned as she noted the patches of darker gray paint on them. It took her a minute to realize the patches with their outlines were where photos or paintings had once hung. Now that she was looking for them, she also saw the holes in the walls from the nails that had been removed. There were at least ten places where something had been taken off the walls.
What had happened to it all? She didn’t think Ronan was planning to redecorate—she had a feeling he didn’t have much time for color schemes—but then why had all the paintings or photos been removed?
In the long run, it really didn’t matter what had happened to them all. However, her curiosity was piqued.
When her stomach rumbled again, she walked over to the tray and picked up a piece of bacon. Why vampires had food in their house was another thing she didn’t know how to explain, but she happily ate the bacon before grabbing another piece and biting into it.
She doubted any weapons remained in her coat, but she still searched its pockets to confirm it. Dropping her coat back over the chair, she rotated her shoulder, relieved to find she no longer felt any discomfort.
Lifting the navy blue cardigan that was set out with the dress, she slid it around her shoulders and buttoned it. She really didn’t want to go through Ronan’s things, but with nothing else of use in view, she saw no other option.
She pulled open the heavy wood doors on the armoire. The crisp scent of cedar met her as she gazed at the clothes hanging neatly within. Most of them were jeans and button down shirts in an assorted array of colors. There were some black pants of the cargo variety and a black, three-piece suit she bet Ronan looked striking in.
The idea of peeling that suit off him to reveal all the ridges and carved muscles of his chest and abdomen made her mouth water.
Stop it! She was no longer missing at least two pints of blood and could no longer blame
her strange attraction to a vampire on that. She had to plan her escape, not stand here wondering what it would be like if Ronan kissed her. She’d broken free of the stronghold; she could figure this place out too.
Although, it had taken a lot of plotting before she’d succeeded in breaking out of the stronghold. In a book she’d once read, the detective used baby powder to uncover fingerprints, so she’d decided to give that a shot. One night, shortly after Nathan and the hunters had gone out, she snuck out to use the baby powder on the keypad by the gate. All the numbers had fingerprints on them, as the code was changed once a month, but she’d used the four most visible fingerprints to figure out the right combination of numbers.
Over the years, she’d spent a lot of time with Roland, the man who ran the security system at the stronghold. She’d never sat with Roland with the intention of escaping. She resented the plans for her life, but she’d never thought she’d do anything other than what had been laid out for her. She’d spent time with Roland because he was one of the few elder men alive, and his stories were fascinating.
However, during all the time she’d spent with him, she’d also watched the cameras as they talked. There were no cameras on the homes or the massive garage with all the vehicles. No one saw any need for that. All the cameras were focused on the outside world.
Eventually, Kadence had realized that the three cameras covering the gate and roadway had a minute, every hour, at the twenty-three mark when none of them were focused on the gate. That minute had been enough time for her to run up and punch two new combinations into the pad every night after the hunters left.
Over her years in the stronghold, she’d learned that three wrong combinations in a twenty-four-hour period set the entire system off. Two wrong tries went by unnoticed though. She had hoped and prayed no other hunters entered the wrong combination on their exits and entrances after her; they would have known something was wrong then.
It had taken her weeks of patience and wrong tries before she finally lucked out on the right combination. She’d closed the gate before it could open more than an inch and fled.
She’d broken free the next night and ended up in the hands of a vampire.
With a sigh, she closed the armoire and turned back to the sparse room. She wanted to know where Ronan was and what was going to happen to her, but she couldn’t walk around this place without some kind of weapon.
If I’m not locked in…
Her gaze went to the door as the possibility occurred to her, but she’d leap that obstacle if she came to it. She could only handle one thing at a time right now. Walking away from the armoire, she bent to peer under the bed. There wasn’t even a dust bunny under there.
Sitting back, she rested her hands on her knees as she surveyed the room again. Her eyes fell on the metal serving cart and the platter of food before returning to the room. Unless she planned on destroying some furniture, there was nothing she could use in this room to defend herself with against a vampire. The only thing she’d be able to break anyway was the nightstand, and that would defeat the whole purpose of being secretly armed.
Rising, she walked over to the cart and snatched the butter knife laid out neatly next to the fork. The silver knife may not kill a vamp, but she could at least inflict some damage with it. She slipped the knife up the sleeve of her cardigan before snatching the rest of the bacon. She greedily ate it as she walked to the door and grabbed the handle. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself for it to be locked.
The handle turned within her grasp and the door inched open. Stepping forward, Kadence pressed her eye against the crack and peered into the hall beyond. She couldn’t see much of what was on the other side, but she heard no movement and detected no one out there. Feeling like a thief in the night, she slid out of the room and closed the door. Thick, dark wood doors lined the long hall before her.
Her bare feet made no sound on the plush, red rug lining the hall as she walked. She was halfway down the hall when her step faltered, and she stopped to take in the bare, white walls. The walls were lit by dim, candle-flame-shaped bulbs housed within the glass sconces lining the walls. Those small bulbs illuminated the numerous places where things had once hung on the walls.
What is up with this place? She wondered as her fingers touched against the handle of the knife. The weapon gave her zero reassurance.
Despite the electricity, she felt as if she’d stepped into the eighteenth century as she continued onward. She saw no bare spots or stains to indicate the rug was anything other than brand new, but something about it, or maybe it was the vibe of this whole place, made it feel ancient.
She crept forward until she came to a large, curving staircase at the end of the hall. The mahogany banister shone in the light spilling from the chandelier above. The hundreds of bulbs within the chandelier created a rainbow of colors amongst the crystals that danced over the white and gray marble foyer below. She had no idea who changed those bulbs when they burnt out, but she didn’t envy them their job.
The dome of the ceiling had been painted with an exquisite landscape. Animals were gathered within a beautiful meadow as the sun shone down on a glistening lake. It was an outdoor scene she was certain none of the inhabitants of this place had seen, at least not by day. She hadn’t asked, but she assumed since Ronan had been born a vampire that he’d never seen the sun.
Feeling ridiculously saddened for his inability to feel the warmth of the sun, Kadence turned her attention to the stairs. She tiptoed down the steps so as not to make a sound.
Her feet became instantly chilled when she stepped off the wood and onto the marble. Pausing with her hand on the banister, she glanced left and right, uncertain of where to go from here. Her gaze went to the front door across from her, but there would be no walking out of it as a heavy metal gate blocked the way.
Voices drifted from down the hall on her left. Kadence crept toward the voices, her hand slipping into her sleeve to grip the knife handle. Arriving at a set of sliding double doors, she stopped when the voices within became louder and more distinct. The doors had been mostly closed, but a small crack ran down the middle of them to allow the light from within to spill out.
Moving closer, she stepped to the side of one of the doors to peer in at the large men gathered around the ten-foot-long table within. Ronan was on his feet, his arm resting on the mantle of the gray stone fireplace at the far end of the room. His dark hair was disheveled, and an air of angry tension surrounded him.
“She cannot stay here,” Killean said, his hands flattened on the table before him. His scar stood out more starkly in the glow of the small chandelier hanging over the table.
Ronan had been focused on the wall, but his head turned toward Killean when he spoke. “I never said she could. However, I am not going to turn her out on the streets and hope the hunters find her or that she can find her own way home. She’s been secluded her whole life; she may not survive on her own.”
Killean shrugged. “I don’t see anything wrong with a dead hunter.”
Kadence winced at his callousness, but she knew her brother would have the same attitude if the roles were reversed. She had the same attitude about Killean. She may not want to see anything bad happen to Ronan, but Killean could bite it for all she cared.
Ronan’s eyes became redder as they narrowed on Killean. “I do,” he grated between his teeth.
Killean bowed his head before speaking again. “So we’ll arrange a meeting with the hunters and release her somewhere.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” Saxon inquired.
“She has to know some way to get in touch with them,” Killean replied. “We should arrange something tonight. The sooner she is out of here, the better off we’ll all be. The hunters will be out in force and far more of a nuisance to us while searching for her.”
Kadence’s heart leapt in her chest and disappointment crashed through her. She opened her mouth to shout, no, before closing it again. She should be elated they d
idn’t plan to kill her, didn’t plan to use her as leverage over her brother and her kind. Instead, she felt… deflated.
She wanted to see her brother and friends again and let Nathan know she was safe. He had to be told she was fine. He would go crazy with worry otherwise, and the hunters would be out looking for her. Someone could get killed because of her.
However, she wasn’t ready to go back yet. She was free—well, as free as she could be while being held by her enemies…
Not my enemies. She didn’t understand how it all worked yet, and it would take her time to get used to the idea, but these vampires were not her enemies.
Ronan wasn’t going to just turn her loose. However, she felt freer here than she’d ever felt at the stronghold. There were no expectations for her to be docile here. No looming marriage. No sequestered, endlessly boring days where she sat idly by while her brother and the others went out to make a difference in the world.
And Ronan was here. Her eyes ran over him again. There could never be anything between them, but she couldn’t help admiring the way his maroon shirt molded to his broad shoulders and chest. Her gaze lingered on the jeans hugging his powerful thighs and taut ass.
He stepped away from the mantle, drawing her attention back to his face. His gaze was focused on the crack in the doors. She gulped when she realized he knew she stood there.
Chapter Fifteen
“Come in,” he ordered.
She didn’t pretend to hide or duck away. She’d been caught. Releasing the knife, she made sure it was tucked securely away before pushing open one of the doors and stepping into the dining room. Like the rest of the walls she’d seen in the house, the white walls within here were also bare.
[The Alliance 01.0] Eternally Bound Page 10