“What happened?” Declan inquired of Ronan. The knuckles of his hand on the banister were white as he gazed at Nathan and Ronan.
“A bar caught on fire last night in Plymouth. All seventy-two people inside died,” Lucien said.
“That fire is no coincidence following a Joseph sighting so close to it,” Saxon said.
“No, it’s not,” Ronan grated, and his eyes latched onto Killean. “Do you think you’re ready to return to the fight?”
When Simone’s apprehension rippled through his mind, Killean returned to her side and took her hand. “I am,” he said.
Ronan’s gaze ran appraisingly over him. “If you think you might require more time, you can have it.”
“I don’t need more time,” Killean said firmly. “I want that fucking prick dead more than you do.”
He glanced pointedly at Simone, whose lips were nearly white as she pressed them together. More than her terror for him was bothering her now, but also her terror of Joseph and what would happen if he found her. Killean would make sure Joseph paid for what he’d done to her and that she never had to fear him finding her again.
Killean looked back at Ronan. “I haven’t had any hallucinations in over a week, and Simone, as well as feeding every day, keeps my more lethal impulses at bay. I’m ready for this.”
Ronan glanced between him and Simone before replying. “I believe you, but I still can’t have you in the compound.”
When Simone’s breath hissed out, Ronan held up a silencing hand. “If it were only us, I would have allowed him back weeks ago, but the hunters are nervous,” Ronan said.
“They need more time,” Nathan explained to Simone. “You saw how well some of them handled it when I made my announcement about the Alliance and my decision to transition into a vampire. Even those who chose to stay with me after I became a vampire don’t like the idea of having a vamp who has killed innocents living amongst them and their children.”
Simone closed her mouth; she couldn’t start spouting off about how they should get over it when she left after Nathan’s announcement about the Alliance. The hunters who remained with Nathan were more accepting of his decision than her, and she couldn’t condemn them for balking against this when she would have done the same.
“They will come around,” Nathan continued, “and Killean fighting with us again will help them do so.”
“I understand,” Simone murmured. She didn’t like it, but she did understand.
“If I hunt with you tonight, Simone can’t stay here alone,” Killean said.
Her hand crushed the bones in his together when she squeezed it. “Killean—”
“You have to be somewhere safe when I’m not here,” he interjected before she could argue with him.
Killean still didn’t know if Ronan and the hunters had remained on the same property after he left or if they’d moved, but she would be safe wherever they were now. Though he was curious about their current location, he hadn’t asked, and he wouldn’t; they would tell him when they were ready.
“I’ll send men to pick her up before the sun sets and bring her to the compound,” Ronan said. “Or I can have some trainees come here to watch her.”
“I’ll stay,” Simone said at the same time Killean said, “She’ll go to the compound.”
“Killean—” Simone started.
“There is no discussion about this. I’m not entrusting your life to trainees. You’ll be safer at the compound, and you’ll be with Kadence and your mother,” Killean said. “You can return here afterward.”
CHAPTER 43
Over the next few days, two vampires and a hunter arrived to pick Simone up before sunset; the same three brought her back to Killean before dawn. They didn’t blindfold her as they drove her to the compound the vampires and hunters shared, but she doubted she’d be able to find the place again if she tried. She was too busy taking in all the things to see along the way to notice the route they took to get back and forth.
She spent most of her life behind the walls of a hunter stronghold. She’d been knocked out when Joseph took her, and too focused on fleeing with Killean to really absorb much of the human world. Now she took the time to notice how strangely fascinating they were.
She marveled at the various colors of their vehicles, homes, stores, and clothes. She couldn’t get enough of watching them walk the streets with their strollers and dogs. They watered their lawns while talking with their neighbors and ran or rode their bikes down the sidewalks and roads.
The humans were everywhere and so oblivious to the battle brewing under their noses that it amazed her. She almost envied them their peaceful oblivion and mundane lives, but not quite. If they were unable to stop whatever Joseph planned, the simple lives of these people might forever be altered, and they would never see it coming.
Every time they pulled through the gates of the compound, Simone couldn’t help feeling a little shocked when the mansion where the vampires resided came into view. Imposing was an understatement for the gothic estate with its peaks and turrets. The gargoyles on the peaks and outside the doorways looked about to come to life, and she had to stop herself from gulping whenever she saw them.
On the other side of the compound, some of the hunters resided in a beautiful mansion, but many hunters, including her mother, resided in the trailers parked on the lawn of the hunter estate. Some of the hunters, mostly the elders, had moved from the trailers and into the homes being erected on the large, grassy lawn. Eventually, every hunter family would have their own home, and the trailers would be gone.
Every night when they arrived, the hunter children were running around and playing with what she’d come to learn were human children rescued from Joseph. Those children and their caretakers, Duncan and Sister June, had been brought here to live under the protection of the hunters and vampires. After exiting the vehicle, Simone would stop to listen to the children laugh and squeal in delight while they chased each other during their games.
She was able to watch them because a large section of the wall originally dividing the two properties, had been torn down to combine the estates. She’d been to the hunter side a couple of times, but though her visits were brief, she couldn’t deny a more relaxed air encompassed the hunters. Most of the women had forsaken the dull gray, black, and white clothing they’d always worn in favor of the cheerier colors Nathan’s mate, Vicky, brought into their lives.
She’d never expected anything to ever change for the hunters. Seeing so many changes at once was a little overwhelming for her at first, but they were good changes and ones the hunters all seemed to be embracing.
She found those hunters who weren’t too afraid to speak to her—now that she was a vampire and mated to the “killer,” as she’d heard some of them whisper after she passed—were happier.
Kadence had informed her they would also have to build more homes on the vampire side of the property for the growing number of vampire recruits they were gathering. They still had a lot to do, but the hunters and vampires had coalesced into a finely tuned army Simone never would have imagined possible when Nathan first made his announcement to combine forces.
While here, she spent her nights with her mother and Kadence. One night, Vicky also joined them. Her pregnancy still wasn’t showing, but Vicky glowed with happiness as she revealed the maternity clothes the hunter women made for her. The vivid colors and designs were beautiful and would be flattering on her.
Simone mostly wore jeans now, but though she loved the colors of the clothes the others wore, she still preferred black and gray for her shirts. However, she had started wearing more dark blues and greens over the past couple of weeks. Maybe one day she’d feel comfortable enough to don the vibrant reds, yellows, oranges, and purples Vicky and Kadence wore, but Simone wasn’t going to rush it.
Her first night away from Killean, Simone chewed her nails down to the nubs; something she’d never done before, but her terror for him mounted with every hour they spent apart. W
ould he be okay amid all the blood and death if he ended up in a fight again? What if the hallucinations came back while he was out there? What if the temptation to kill an innocent became too much and he lost control? Would the others forgive him if he did? Would she be enough to bring him back if the darkness trying to claim his soul overtook him?
Even though she could feel Killean’s strength and reassuring presence through their bond, that first night apart was the longest of her life. When she climbed back into the SUV, and her protectors drove her off the grounds, she spent most of the ride mentally urging them to go faster.
When they arrived at the asylum, she hadn’t waited for the vehicle to stop before throwing open the door and running into Killean’s waiting arms. She’d been so focused on him, she barely noticed Declan and Saxon slipping away to their waiting vehicle.
The more time passed though, the less she worried Killean wouldn’t be able to handle returning to his old life, but she still loathed being separated from him.
• • •
“They never switched locations after I left them to find you,” Killean said after he’d been working with the Alliance again for a week.
Simone lay in his arms, staring at the ceiling as he ran his fingers through her hair.
“I don’t know if they did or not,” she admitted. “I never asked.”
“Ronan told me last night they never relocated.”
Simone craned her head to peer up at him. “What does that mean?”
“I think it means that no matter what I did, they still trusted me not to reveal their location to Joseph.”
The note of awe and hope in his voice made her heart ache as she realized he still didn’t have confidence in himself. “You’re not a monster, Killean. You never were no matter what you believe.”
“I believe no one as amazing as you could ever love a monster.”
“I’d love you no matter what you did or became. We’re in this together for eternity.”
Killean pulled her close and kissed her forehead more roughly than he’d intended. “We are, but you will never have to love a monster, Simone. I promise you that.”
She listened to the reassuring thump of his heart beneath her ear as she nestled closer to him.
“It also means,” he said after a few minutes. “That they’re confident the compound is strong enough to withstand an attack from Joseph.”
“It looks like it is,” she said. “I don’t know all the security they have there, but I know it’s vast, and they work like an army together.”
“They’ve become more comfortable with each other in the field too and more lethal.”
“That’s good. Did you encounter any Savages tonight?”
“Yes.”
His pulse raced as he recalled the rush of battle and the thrill of the kill. He’d always excelled at dealing out death, but now he thrived on ending the life of another as it helped keep the darkness at bay by satisfying his more brutal impulses. He could never go back to the man he’d been before killing innocents, but Killean was learning to embrace the man he was becoming. He was a more lethal fighter yet, because of Simone, he was also kinder.
“Are you still doing okay?” she asked.
He hated the nervousness in her voice and the broken fingernails marring her delicate hands. She tried to hide those bitten nails, but he saw them. “I’m fine, love. Having you is all I need to bring me back should I ever feel myself teetering, and I have yet to feel that way.”
Her fingers bit into his skin, and though his craving for pain lessened when he returned to killing Savages, his cock stirred in response.
“Good,” she said. “Would you let me know if you did?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t keep something like that from you; we’re in this together.”
“And don’t forget it.”
Rolling her over, he nudged her thighs apart and settled between them. “I never could,” he assured her.
He brushed the hair back from her face as he kissed her while slowly entering her.
CHAPTER 44
Simone gazed eagerly out the window as the vehicle bounced over the ruts in the road leading to the asylum. The two vampires in the front seats and the hunter beside her in the back were loudly debating the use of a designated hitter, whatever that was. She’d mostly tuned them out as what they were discussing sounded absurd.
The first time they picked her up from the asylum, the vamps had introduced themselves as Felipe and Edgar; Felipe was driving. The hunter was Sully, a young man of about twenty-five, who she’d known before leaving the stronghold. He was new to being allowed out on the patrols with the other hunters and vampires, but he’d been training since childhood to kill Savages.
Resting her head against the window, she gazed at the woods crowding the sides of the vehicle. They’d only been apart for eight hours, but the closer she got to Killean the more butterflies of excitement fluttered in her stomach. Some of Killean’s friends would be waiting with him; they usually stayed until she arrived.
They rounded a corner, and though Felipe was busy waving his hand in the air as he declared the other two idiots, he still braked when someone stepped out of the woods two hundred feet in front of them. Simone didn’t have time to brace herself against the lurch of the vehicle’s tires coming to an abrupt halt. The seat belt caught and pulled her back before she smacked her face off the seat in front of her.
“Who is that?” Edgar muttered.
Simone leaned over to stare between the two seats and out the windshield. Three hundred feet in front of them, an imposing figure blocked the road. They were on a straightaway in the road, but the spill of headlights barely reached the figure and cast shadows over its face. Ice replaced the blood pumping through her veins when she realized who it was.
“It’s Joseph,” she breathed as the hair on her nape rose.
A sense of impending doom descended on her like an avalanche bearing down on an unsuspecting skier. She loathed tearing her gaze away from the powerful vampire standing in the middle of the road, but she couldn’t deny the sensation of eyes boring into the back of her head. Stealing her nerves, Simone slowly turned to gaze out the back window.
Standing behind the vehicle, with their faces against the glass, stood three more Savages. The blazing red eyes of two of them were joined by the white-blue eyes of a turned hunter. The worst part was, she recognized the hunter.
“Dallas,” she breathed.
“Shit,” Sully muttered.
Dallas, the hunter who established his own stronghold in New Hampshire, the one she’d followed to get away from Nathan’s leadership, leered at her as he tapped his forefinger against the glass.
“Hello, Simone.” His fangs distorted Dallas’s words, but they were still intelligible.
“Floor it,” Edgar said.
“I don’t think that prick is going to get out of our way,” Felipe replied.
“There are more Savages in the woods,” Sully said. “And they’re closing in on us. If we don’t move now, they’re going to surround us.”
“Floor it!” Edgar commanded.
Felipe slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. Dirt and stones clattered and banged off the underside of the vehicle as the tires spun on the road before catching. When the SUV lurched forward, Simone was thrown back against her seat.
The pitted road had kept their speed to ten miles per hour, but now the speedometer climbed steadily toward twenty and on to thirty. Simone bounced in her seat, and her teeth clattered together as they crashed in and out of the potholes while their speed crept toward forty.
Despite the vehicle rocketing toward him with increasing speed, Joseph didn’t move. Instead, in the beams of the bouncing headlights, his smile widened, and an evil smugness radiated from him. Simone had the feeling they were playing right into his hands, but they had no other choice. They couldn’t just sit and wait to be surrounded by his followers.
The SUV closed the distance from three hundred feet
to two hundred to one hundred. When they hit a rut at fifty miles per hour, all four tires left the earth, and the vehicle soared for a few feet before crashing down with a grinding screech. Simone waited for the tires to explode or pop, but somehow they remained intact.
“Oh, shit!” Felipe cried.
Felipe stomped on the brake and gripped the wheel until he was rising out of his seat at an almost half-standing position behind the wheel. Plumes of smoke shot up from the tires, and the rancid stench of something burning filled the air as the backend of the vehicle swung to the side.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the following scene emblazoned on Simone’s mind in vivid detail. From within some of the potholes, metal glinted in the headlights and the SUV continued its slide toward holes as Felipe jerked the wheel to try to avoid them. With the backend of the vehicle almost even with the front, Simone watched the jagged edges of metal drew closer.
When she rested her fingers against the glass, she realized she’d done so in a subconscious gesture to push the metal away, but there was no stopping the inevitable. The SUV lurched to the side as the passenger side tires slid into the potholes first and then loud pops resonated through the air.
The vehicle sagged further as air left the tires, and Simone realized what was coming before the ground rushed up to smash against the window beside her. When the window shattered, she threw her arms up to protect herself from the beads of glass raining over her.
The inexplicable sensation of time slowing abruptly ended as the SUV rolled across the ground at a perilous velocity. The seat belt dug into her shoulder and lap while her head bounced back and forth. The roof dented in with a screech of metal before the vehicle went airborne once more.
A scream lodged in her throat as one echoed endlessly in her head.
Killean!
• • •
Leaning against the front doorframe of the asylum, Killean searched the road for an approaching vehicle. The road was so long he never saw them coming until they were only a couple of hundred feet away. And even then, he heard the engine before he saw the lights.
Bound by Darkness (The Alliance, Book 3) Page 27