Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2)

by Cat Miller

  How could he protect Brandi if he had no idea what was being planned until it was too late? He couldn’t. Derek needed to find his mother and get her out before Darren took everyone in The Nest down with him.

  “I’d like to know where you’ve been, boy?” the Master demanded.

  “I was looking for information on the pyro reported, but the Enclave is closed up tight. Nobody’s talking.”

  That seemed to appease the Master. He wanted the pyro.

  By the time Derek reached the Council hall, the battle was winding down, but the fire burned on. All but one of the vamps Darren took with him was killed in the raid. Darren had to have known that would happen. He was an ex-Wrath guard. There was no point to the exercise other than to cause death and destruction. What tactical advantage could come from attacking a mostly unoccupied government building? What could be gained by burning offices and empty holding cells? Hell, maybe he thought Dani would be there for the taking. Who knew?

  After witnessing his mother’s decline and Darren’s particular brand of crazy, Derek believed he had found a new form of mental illness. He would call it Mating Madness. If a vamp tied himself to another and they were separated for long periods, it would result in a sort of mania that could only be relieved by contact with their mate. He had been told that most vamps that lost their mates chose to wither away and follow their mates to the grave rather than live on without them. He supposed that was also a form of the madness.

  The scene was bad. Dead minions and warriors alike bearing large holes and severe burns littered the ground. Large caliber rounds were used in the battle and the evidence of their effectiveness covered the ground and dripped from the remaining walls. The area smelled like a funeral pyre. Warriors crawled over everything searching for timber to shore up the collapsing building.

  Night fell while Derek wandered around the property in search of Brandi or news of her whereabouts. A distinguished looking, but bloody, elder vamp was lifted into a truck for a ride to the infirmary. Derek ducked behind a tree to listen while the vamp denied all responsibility for the death of an uncontrolled child.

  “She wanted to say behind,” he told Gage Paris.

  “She died a noble death in defense of her father and the Council Griffin should be proud of the girl. It’s just a shame no one had time to teach her to control the flames. That was not my shortcoming you have to admit, Captain. I only did what was best, just as she did.”

  Derek fell to his knees in the dirt. It couldn’t be true. He couldn’t lose her after finally telling her the truth of his feelings. He refused to believe Brandi was gone. Somehow he knew if she were dead he would know it. His soul recognized hers and if it were gone from this world he would feel the loss. She was not his mate but the madness would have taken him too if the spark that lit his world was gone.

  Not caring if anyone saw him or not, Derek began to circle the smoldering building. She was still here and he would turn over every ashen timber until he found her.

  ****

  Buried alive. Buried alive. Brandi was buried alive. It was dark and hot in her little cubbyhole. The flames never burned her anymore. It was a part of her now. The heat wouldn’t kill her but the weight of the collapsing ceiling would have crushed her.

  Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl just before the ceiling caved in on her and her adversaries. She planned to block off all six entrances to the assembly room while the Councilmen, including her dazed father, made their way to safety. After all, the bad guys were after her, not the others. They would assume she and the Councilmen were trapped in the burning room while, in actuality, they would be slipping out under their feet. It was a simple last minute plan that had failed miserably.

  Everyone but Brandi was in the tunnel when she explained her plan to Councilman Stafford. While she spoke to him he watched her hands in fascination. She was still learning control and the stress of the sudden attack had her nerves frayed. When she looked down at her hands they were bright with rising heat that set her shirt sleeves on fire. She took a deep breath and pulled the heat back into her body. Someone was attempting to kick in the heavy wooden door to her father’s office.

  “I will cover the entrances to the room. They’re here for me. I’ll distract them long enough to give you time to get away before I follow. Please get my father to safety. He didn’t look good,” Brandi explained. She expected an argument but didn’t get one.

  “I will keep your father safe.” He nodded crisply.

  Councilman Stafford ducked into the floor and the door dropped into place. If she hadn’t seen it was there, Brandi never would have suspected the floor opened into a concrete tunnel that went on for nearly a mile. She hadn’t expected to hear the clank of a lock being engaged under her feet either. Brandi hit the board that would release the locking mechanism but it held tight. It was sealed from below. She was trapped.

  Panic flared and her hard won control slipped. Instead of wasting the surge, Brandi decided to improvise. Another hard boot landed on the door and the rogues were nearly on her. Her fangs dropped painfully and the room came into sharp resolution. Brandi let loose a wave of energy that pushed them back. Fire began consuming the area around the door.

  The vamp in front was badly burned but he didn’t seem to notice. It was the blast that moved him, not the heat. He landed inside of the room instead of the outer office with his friends. He came at her again, even though the only visible skin around his eyes was blistering. Mindlessly, he barreled down on her. His blank eyes locked in on his target. Brandi put out her hands defensively. She didn’t want to kill the vamp behind the mask but he left her no choice. Another door crashed in, admitting two more vamps that looked as stony and distant as the first. Their clothes bore charred patches from their first attempt.

  That’s when it dawned on her. These men were trapped just like her. They weren’t in control of their own minds. An outsider was pulling their strings. Flames snaked across the carpet and up the papered walls. The fire crawled along the ceiling while they fought to subdue Brandi. She struggle to reach one of the doors not yet engulfed, but they held her back as if her capture was their mission. Unfortunately, their zombie-like minds were not able to see the danger to their own safety. If Brandi were a normal vamp with no extra-elemental ability, they would have easily subdued her and carried her away.

  But she was not normal and it was far too late to save the men dragging her to the door of her father’s burning office. Her body was a living flame. Her clothes had long since burned away. The smell of burning flesh and hair made Brandi gag but the vamps still foolishly held on to her. If these men survived, they would quickly wish they were dead.

  The building moaned in protest before part of the ceiling crumbled to the floor. Loud cracking noises preceded a larger failure. In the doorway, Brandi held on to the frame. The vamp’s bodies were beginning to weaken without the permission of their minds. When the floor above finally collapsed on them, Brandi found herself wedged into a pocket created by the door frame and a large piece of fallen ceiling. The inferno raged around her but Brandi felt no pain.

  Up until that point, Brandi considered her power something she had to fear. It was a separate entity living inside of her. The power had control of her life and she had no choice but to see where it would lead. The strength that surrounded her now was not an enemy to be feared, but a vital part of herself she hadn’t been able to accept. She was the fire and the flames came from the pain, stress or joy of her soul. She accepted the flames and held on to them tightly for the comfort and protection she desperately needed. She started when pain suddenly seared its way up her leg and across her back. Maybe her body could only withstand so much heat? Brandi breathed through the pain until it comely subsided. She had a second to be grateful she was still alive before her body gave into an exhausted sleep while the arms of her power cradled and protected her from the hell storm.

  She woke long after the fire abated. A smoldering pile of rubble and ash now weigh
ing down on her body, Brandi took inventory of her situation. Eventually one of two things was going to happen because, after several attempts, she was not able to move even an inch from her current position. Either the remains of the building would crush her or she would starve from lack of blood.

  She would die there along with the vamps that came to fetch her and got caught in the blaze. It was a fitting end for her to die next to the men she killed. The guilt on her shoulders was heavier that the pressure crushing her body. Those men may have made a bad decision when they signed on with the Rouge, but it was obvious they were forced to fight and die that day. There was no callous intent in their eyes. The three vamps wore masks of emptiness as if the body that did the work had no soul. Like flesh and blood robots. Knowing they had no control only made her guilt grow. They were young guys with possibly hundreds of years of family, friends, and better decisions in front of them, but now, all their tomorrows were gone at her hands. Her burning hands. She deserved to die with them.

  Mason was correct when he assumed people would fear her when they learned of her extra-elemental ability, especially after they learned she burned down the Council hall and killed God only knew how many people in the process. She wouldn’t have to worry about people liking her only for her family connections anymore. She wouldn’t have to stand in her twin’s shadow anymore. Everyone in the vampire nation would recognize and respect her for her power and for being the first pyro in many generations. But, she would be feared above all things.

  Thinking of the destroyed building above her brought vivid memories of Derek flooding in around her. Unbidden, a smile spread over her dirty face. She remembered fearing him when they entered that secluded room on the upper level of the library what felt like years ago, but it had only been last month.

  Derek had the potential to be a good man, if he only had someone to love him through it. He was the kind of man that survived being abused and neglected from a young age, but didn’t allow the memory of it to twist his mind. He lived a solitary life of crime to protect the mother that led him into that life. He went out of his way to protect the people he cared for, even if it meant punishment for him. There was so much she didn’t know about Derek but she did know that he had the core of a great man in spite of his upbringing. It was a shame Brandi would never get to see the man he could become in time. Her smile faded. What would happen to him now? Would he blame himself for her death? Would he remain with the Rogue after she was gone? Would Derek end up like one of the vamps that lay dead and buried around her? Derek had professed his love for Brandi just hours ago and she knew he would hold himself responsible. He would stay with the Rogue as punishment for not protecting the woman he loved. He would end up dead or worse after she left this world. Brandi couldn’t let that happen. She loved him. It was crazy and impossible, but she knew Derek was going to be her life, her love, and the best of friends.

  She struggled to free herself from the wreckage but nothing she did helped. Every time she moved, the rubble moved in more tightly around her body. Brandi fought for every breath that was been squeezed from her lungs. She had to find her way back to Derek. He belonged to her and Brandi wasn’t giving up on him or the life they were meant to live together without a fight.

  ****

  Dani straddled Chase’s lap on a dining room chair. She fought to suck air into her lungs while she came down from a shattering climax. Chase lapped at her neck to close the vein he had opened in the heat of passion. Dani shivered and held on tight to the mate of her heart.

  “You will kill me one of these days, Lovely. But I will die a very happy man.” Chase sent the praise telepathically because he was beyond words at the moment. Dani giggled. He hadn’t seen anything yet. Chase was still firm inside her body so she wiggled and had the satisfaction of hearing him groan and feel him harden further.

  “I’ve decided we should die together.”

  Dani lifted her body and dropped it down Chase’s length and he hissed. She giggled. He groaned. She sank her fangs into his shoulder and let the connection between them open wide. They shared each other’s ecstasy. He felt the pleasure of her heat wrapped around him and her returned rapture at being filled by him. The bite was a hot point of bliss and with her mouth sucking and licking, Chase’s mind and body blew like a fuse. He threw his head back and screamed her name. Dani ground herself against her mate and followed him over the edge.

  She didn’t remember getting into bed but some time later she woke there wrapped in Chase’s arms. Dani looked around the room. A sound in the darkness had pulled her from sleep. Chase slept on when she climbed out of bed to stand at their bedroom door. If there were an intruder in their home, she would destroy him before he touched her sleeping mate. Dani stretched out her telepathic sensors in search of a mind that didn’t belong. She felt nothing. Just when she started to believe she had imagined the sound, a scream of sorrow ripped through her mind. Dani fell to the carpet, gripping her head. She fought to narrow the telepathic path she opened in search of the earlier intrusive noise.

  Chase leapt from the bed, disoriented and furious. His bond with Dani allowed him to hear the scream on a muted level. His first thought was someone was launching a telepathic attack on his mate. She was crumpled on the floor sobbing. Chase lifted her from the ground and forced his way into her mind. He gave her his strength of mind and together they focused on fighting the scream back out of her sensitive mind. The sound was heartbreaking. The sheer misery of the source dug at his gut.

  When Dani was able to open her eyes the crystal blue he loved so much had been swallowed by the blackness of the sorrowful wail echoing between their minds.

  “Call Mason now, I need every telekinetic he can find to meet us at the Council hall.”

  Dani left him confused and fighting the urge to scream in sympathy along with the voice in his head.

  NINETEEN

  Derek watched Brandi’s family climb into the back of a long, black car. The driver ran around the car and climbed in behind the wheel. They had given up on finding Brandi alive but Derek refused to believe she was gone. It was obvious that Councilman Griffin Vaughn had no idea who he was when Derek strode up and informed him that he was Brandi’s mate. Okay, he was her future mate and he knew she was still alive. Mr. Vaughn looked surprised but, he listened. He wanted to know exactly how Derek knew she was alive.

  “Are you telepathic?” Griffin asked.

  “No. I have no extra-sensory ability, but I can still feel her.” Derek laid a hand over his chest, “I feel her here.”

  Griffin gave him a sympathetic nod and wrapped an arm around Derek’s shoulder.

  “I don’t know how you knew my baby girl. I was under the impression she had a boyfriend that I know wasn’t you.”

  Tears filled Griffin’s already red-ringed eyes.

  “To be honest I’ve seen so little of her lately I have no idea what was happening in her life,” he sniffed, “but it’s obvious you cared for Brandi.”

  “I didn’t just care. I don’t. Not past tense, I do love her and I know she’s still in there,” Derek interrupted.

  Mrs. Vaughn was already walking to the car and Brandi’s sister eyed him suspiciously. She had seen him the day he helped Darren abduct Dani. It was only a matter of time before she recognized him and blew his cover.

  The tears in the Councilman’s eyes spilled over when he looked at the destroyed remains of the building. He patted Derek on the back.

  “Yes, son, Brandi is still in there.”

  But he meant her body was still there. Not the person she had been.

  ****

  Dani had quite a few surprise revelations in the last hour. What she first believed to be a telepathic attack had actually been her half-sister crying out for help. The mournful wail brought both her and Chase to their knees. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t opened her senses wide just before it hit full force.

  The pyrokinetic ability Brandi had hidden for over a year was now a fro
nt pager in the black-eyed freak tabloid gossip mill. Something catastrophic happened at the Council hall and the ensuing fire was caused by a trapped Brandi. Dani got all of this information though her telepathic connection to Brandi. Normally Dani could find a way to communicate with others telepathically but Brandi was so mired in her own thoughts and fears that Dani simply couldn’t get her attention.

  Dani learned a lot about her half-sister’s life of late through her thoughts and not all of it was good. It was obvious that Brandi had built up a very successful shield in her mind for Dani to have never seen the stress and loneliness before. Brandi was in a serious relationship. That wouldn’t have been a shock but the man’s identity was. He was a minion of the Rogue. She was in love with a rogue, but he wasn’t a willing accomplice to their enemy. He was protecting someone else.

  A large part of Brandi’s current pain was a direct result of her fear for the life of the man she loved. Brandi seemed convinced that he was on the scene and searching for her. That put him in danger of capture again. Well, Dani would be doing some serious fact-finding as soon as her sister was free and safe. She was also going to have a talk with her father and father-in-law regarding the fact that she and Chase were being left out of the loop on important events. She was furious that no one bothered to call and inform her that they believed Brandi was dead. Mason claimed they feared it was a trap to bring her out in the open and if it was, it worked because she was surely not going to sit at home and wait for news. She was trying to get a feel for exactly where in the rubble Brandi could be.

  Dani stood on one side of the collapsed building with three low to mid-grade telekinetics behind her. Brandi was a mid-level telekinetic but she wasn’t very controlled in her talent. Dani had spent her time honing her telepathic gifts. She feared moving material from the wrong place and would cause the remaining debris to crush Brandi. Griffin was on his way back to the hall as fast he could get there. Dani believed between she and her father, they could lift Brandi out.