“You’ve lived in this world your whole life, but you don’t know what I am,” he said.
“You’re a purebred, male vampire fighting to keep yourself from becoming a Savage. I have brothers; I’ve heard what can happen, and I know it’s no joke.”
“They’re not the same as me.”
No one was the same as him, but she sensed there was something more to him. Something she’d never seen before and something terrifying, but instead of running from it as she probably should, her hand tightened on his.
“No one is the same as you,” she said honestly.
Thankfully he was saved from having to reply by Gus opening the door and stepping outside. He shaded his eyes against the fading sun as he squinted at them. “There you are.”
Gus descended the steps and strode toward them. Though Gus remained smiling as he strode toward them, Declan sensed his distress, and the lines around his eyes and mouth were deeper. The fight inside had taken its toll on him.
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yes,” Willow said. “Thank you so much for doing this for us.”
Gus waved his hand dismissively through the air. “No reason to thank me. I’ve got to report the problem anyway. I checked the phone before coming out, but it’s still not working. We’ll take my good truck this time.”
He hit a button on his keys, and one of the garage doors started to open. “Come on,” he said.
Willow didn’t let go of his hand as they followed Gus, and Declan didn’t release her.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
This truck was a lot more comfortable than the last one, Willow decided as she rested her head against the back of the seat. Her earlier happiness was starting to return.
They’d find a phone and be home soon, and once they were, she couldn’t wait to hug her family. She knew her parents would go to the compound to wait for her.
Most of her siblings would probably want to go too, but she didn’t think Ronan would allow so many outsiders in at once. She hoped Abby and Brian hadn’t cut their trip short; her sister was looking forward to their vacation.
Still holding Declan’s hand, she clasped it in both of hers and rested it on her thigh. She didn’t know what would happen when they returned to the compound. She suspected he might try to avoid her, and as much as the idea of that made her want to kick him, she couldn’t stop him. Fantastic orgasm or not, she wasn’t going to chase the stubborn fool.
Declan’s hand constricting around hers was how she knew something was wrong before she saw the problem. The murderous look on his face was completely out of place with the tranquil, twilit street.
“Gus, I’m going to need you to turn around,” Declan said.
The air crackled with a force Gus couldn’t feel as Declan took control of his mind. Declan’s power caused the hair on her arms and nape to rise, and the amount of it oozing from him made her wonder if he’d been right and she didn’t know what he was.
“Okay,” Gus said and turned on his blinker as they rounded a bend in the road.
Gus turned onto a street a few feet beyond the bend, but not before Willow saw a police car parked at the end of the main road. A couple of shadowy figures sat inside the vehicle. She sat up straighter as she realized Declan somehow knew that car was there before it came into view.
“What that’s all about?” Gus asked.
Willow suspected it was about them, but how was that possible? They’d lost the Savages in the woods, hadn’t they?
She’d never been so hot and cold at the same time. She was freezing as sweat trickled down her back, and a sense of impending doom descended over her like a downpour sweeping over the land.
The phones were down, one of the roads was blocked, and possibly the other two. She tried not to let her imagination run away from her, but right now, it was gallivanting down numerous paths, and all of them ended with Savages.
“Is that the only road out of town?” Declan asked.
“No,” Gus said. “There are two more, but they go in the opposite direction of the town where we’re going.”
“That’s okay. Right now, we have to get out of this town.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t turn around here,” Declan said when Gus started to pull into a driveway. “Is there another way to get to one of the other roads leading out of town?”
“Yes, but turning around would be faster.”
“It doesn’t matter. Take us another way.”
Gus didn’t speak as he navigated the road. Willow’s good mood was gone as she studied the shadows and searched for the enemy. It was only a fluke. It’s the only road that’s blocked. She kept telling herself this, but she wasn’t exactly buying it.
“How did you know something was there before we turned the corner?” Willow asked Declan. She didn’t worry about Gus hearing their conversation; Declan had control of his mind, and they would have to change his memories now.
“I can sense things,” he said.
Willow stared at him as she tried to ascertain what that meant, but he didn’t elaborate.
“What kind of things?” she prodded.
“Different things,” Declan said.
Willow stared daggers into the side of his head, but he was either oblivious to her death stare or ignoring her. She didn’t know which option was more annoying. She decided not to ask more about it now, they had a few more important things to deal with, but she would find out what those different things were at some point.
“What do you think is going on?” Willow asked.
“I’m not sure,” Declan said. “They could be doing roadwork, and the cop car was there to detour us.”
“There were no signs,” Gus said.
“What?” Willow asked.
“If they were doing roadwork, there would be signs alerting drivers to it, but there were no signs. Besides, whenever there’s going to be roadwork, everyone is discussing it in the town Facebook group for weeks beforehand. No one has mentioned anything.”
“Have they talked about anything else that might explain why the road was blocked?” Declan asked.
“No, but if a tree did come down after the storm and take down the power lines, maybe it came down across that road.”
“Maybe,” Declan muttered. “Let me know when we're on the next road leading out of town.”
“I will,” Gus said.
Declan didn’t like keeping control of the man’s mind, especially since Gus was helping them, but he didn’t have a choice. He needed Gus to do what he commanded, and the man couldn’t remember any of this.
His thumb stroked Willow’s hand as he turned to look at her. The set of her jaw belied the fear he sensed within her. He hated that she was so scared and wished he could take it from her, but he couldn’t.
She would want to know more about him, and he would tell her, but he didn’t feel like discussing his strange ability in front of Gus. He also wasn’t sure how to explain it. He barely understood it himself; he didn’t know how to make another understand it too.
A flash of something in the shadows of a side yard caught Willow’s attention. Over Declan’s shoulder, she watched the creature lope across the yard before vanishing around a porch.
“Savages,” she murmured.
Declan turned to follow where she was looking, but he didn’t see anything. “Where?”
Willow pointed to where it disappeared. “It went into that backyard.”
“The other roads will be blocked too,” Declan said. “If they tracked us here, then they probably went to the police first.”
“What do we do?” Willow asked. “What about Gus and his family?”
“We find a way out of this. And don’t forget I changed the memories of the people at the camp. If the Savages talk with anyone from there, they won’t know we left with Gus. As long as no one knows we’re with them, they’ll be okay.”
“Some of the neighbors saw us, and we don’t know what he told them when he was asking about
their phones.”
Shit. “When you went to ask about the phones, did you tell your neighbors about us?” Declan asked Gus.
“No,” Gus said. “I just asked about their phones. If I’d told them about you, it would have taken more time as they would have asked for details. I planned on telling them later.”
“So, it’s only the woman with the bags we have to worry about,” Declan said. “And thankfully, she couldn’t call someone to tell them about seeing strangers at Gus’s house.”
He knew how small towns worked, and that could be a very real possibility.
“Someone else could have seen us,” Willow said.
“We’ll have to do damage control. There were only a few houses where anyone could have seen us. It will be fine.”
She hoped so, but her imagination was being a devious, taunting bitch that she’d love to punch in the face.
“How do we keep the rest of the town safe?” she asked.
“We shouldn’t have to,” Declan said. “They won’t destroy an entire town.”
Or at least he hoped they wouldn’t; he had no idea what the Savages would do anymore. At one time, he never would have expected them to enter a town and involve humans in the affairs of vampires, but that changed when they included the media in their hunt for Elyse.
That was when he realized the Savages weren’t playing by the old rules, and the demons would do anything to get what they wanted. He suspected they weren’t as concerned the humans would find out about them. That troubled him more than anything else they did.
Gus started drumming his fingers on the steering wheel; despite Declan’s control over his mind, he sensed the man’s growing unease. Gus understood his family was in jeopardy and wanted to be with them.
“Drive home, Gus,” Declan said.
“You got it,” Gus said and pulled into the driveway of a small ranch house to turn around.
Light from inside the house spilled across the wraparound porch and illuminated the red eyes of a Savage watching the truck. It was too dark for the creature to see into the cab, and it couldn’t know they were inside the vehicle, but it slipped from the shadows and jogged after them as Gus pulled out of the drive and headed down the road.
“There’s one following us,” Declan said.
Willow closed her eyes as she prepared herself for another battle. This was her life, it was what she signed up for, and she would do it until the day she died. However, there was so much death this week, and they’d been so close to getting free only to have it snatched away from them.
Releasing Declan’s hand, she reached into her jacket and ran her fingers over the stake tucked safely inside. The feel of the stake reassured her, but she’d much prefer a rocket launcher for these things. If she ever got her hands on one, she’d blow them all to pieces.
She glanced at Gus as he sat with a perplexed look on his face. “My family—”
“I’m going to keep them safe,” she vowed.
If it’s the last thing I do. They’d gotten them into this mess, and she would make sure they survived it.
“What is going on?” Gus asked as they drove beneath a streetlight that suddenly came to life.
The Savage slowed in its pursuit before veering off.
“Shit!” Declan hissed. “It saw us.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When the Savage tracking them vanished into a side yard, Declan snarled. He couldn’t let it report the vehicle they were in or their location. Declan released his control over Gus’s mind as he rested his hand on the door handle.
“I don’t have control over his mind anymore,” he said to Willow. “Take control of him and take him home. I’ll meet you there.”
Before she could respond, Declan threw open his door and leapt out of the truck. A scream of denial lodged in her throat as she lunged across the seat to watch him. He never missed a step as he raced after the Savage.
“Damn it.” She grabbed the door and swung it shut.
“What is going on?” Gus demanded.
Willow turned toward him as he pulled the truck to the side of the road and put it in park. “Keep going.”
“I think it’s best if you and your boyfriend aren’t around my family or me anymore,” he said with confidence, but his hands trembled on the steering wheel.
Willow buried the guilt rising inside her and resisted putting her hand on his shoulder. She hated everything about this; she’d joined the Alliance to protect people like Gus, not control them. He deserved better, but he also deserved to live.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured as she sent her power out to take control of him.
“Please get out.” He opened his mouth to say more, but Willow cut him off.
“Keep driving.”
His mouth closed, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the wheel. Then, he put on his blinker and pulled away from the curb. Willow searched the side mirror for any sign of Declan, but he’d vanished. Her fingers bit into her thighs; he shouldn’t have gone after the Savage alone.
When Gus turned onto another street, she spotted his house halfway down the road. The lights blazing from the windows spilled across the porch and onto the lawn as Gus pulled into the driveway. He pulled in beside a Jeep Cherokee that wasn’t there earlier.
“Whose vehicle is that?” she asked.
“It’s Junior’s,” Gus said.
“Okay.” She was glad his son was home safe, even if he was a little annoying with his blatant staring. “Does your dad live here too?”
“No, he and my mom have a house two streets over.”
“Good. Pull into the garage.” If Declan couldn’t catch the Savage, at least they could keep the truck hidden for a little while.
Gus hit a button, and the door rattled as it lifted and settled into place. He drove into the garage, turned it off, and hit the button to lower the door. Willow took in the shelves lining the wall beside her and the tool bench in front of the truck. Tools, parts, and containers lined the shelves and counter. An old pile of lumber was pushed against the wall beside the bench.
“Go inside and lock the doors. Do not open them to anyone except for Declan or me,” she commanded. “Do not tell anyone else they can come in your house. Do you understand me?”
“I understand.” He sat staring at his house with a perplexed look on his face. “Is my family going to be okay?”
“I’m going to keep them protected,” she vowed. “Go inside.”
Willow opened her door, and Gus did the same. She watched as he made his way around the Mini Cooper and into the house. Willow slipped out the back door and closed it silently behind her.
Instead of fresh-cut grass and spring, the crisp air now carried the faint scent of rot. She didn’t know if that was because a Savage lurked nearby, or if so many of them had infiltrated the town that their fetid odor now filled the air.
She checked to make sure no one was around before jogging to the neighbor’s house and ringing the bell. The woman with the bags and children answered after almost a minute passed.
“Hi,” Willow greeted with a smile. “I’m friends with Gus, and he sent me over to see if you had a cup of sugar.”
She was pretty sure humans did stuff like this, or at least she’d seen it in TV shows before. The woman smiled at her before turning away from the door. “Of course, come on in.”
Willow checked over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching before following the woman into the house and closing the door. The woman led her out of the foyer and down a hall. They started to pass the living room where the kids were lying on their bellies watching TV.
Willow stopped the woman before they passed the living room. Though it made her skin crawl, she took control of all their minds and changed their memories of earlier. If any Savages came here, these people would never remember her and Declan.
Her stomach churned when she went back outside, and keeping all her senses on high alert, she went to all the houses where someone might have
seen her or Declan. Apparently, the sugar thing was real, as none of them questioned her pretense for entering their homes.
She felt dirty when she finished, but also relieved. Not only would she and Declan be safer, but so would everyone she talked to. And where was Declan? She’d hoped he would be back by now, but there was still no sign of him. She buried her brief flare of panic. He would be fine; he was strong, fast, and ruthless. She didn’t have to worry about him.
Then why did she feel like screaming? She wasn’t stupid and was aware their relationship was different than any she ever had before, but she didn’t have time to sit down and analyze it. If they survived this, she could figure it out later, but until then, survival was the most important thing.
Thankfully, there were no streetlights on this road, so she stayed mostly hidden as she made her way back toward Gus’s house. The fresh air flowing across her heated skin tickled the hair on her nape as she ran.
She didn’t spot anything amid the homes as she slipped through a side yard. An unexpected feeling of unease filled her, and deciding to trust her instincts, she ducked behind an arborvitae next to the neighbor’s back porch. The plant’s crisp, almost pine scent filled her nose as she knelt behind it and searched the night.
A female Savage loped into view a minute later. The way the vamp’s head moved back and forth reminded Willow of a snake taking in its surroundings. The Savage moved a few feet away, but Willow waited to see if more of them would emerge.
When the creature was fifty feet away, and no other Savages arrived, Willow emerged from her hiding place. Moving with the stealth she was born with and the Alliance honed into a lethal weapon, she snuck up behind the Savage.
She placed her hand over the woman’s mouth and shoved the stake through her back. The weapon pierced her heart before she could do more than issue a startled, “Eh,” against Willow’s hand.
Willow released her, and the Savage crumpled to the ground. Willow glanced around to make sure no one witnessed what happened, before dragging the body into the woods and away from Gus’s house.
Bound by Torment (The Alliance Series Book 5) Page 14