Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2)

by Cat Miller

  The dark deeds in Derek’s past and the potential for even worse criminal behavior in his future made her fearful for Brandi. In the time they were connected during Brandi’s ordeal at the Council hall, Dani learned a great deal about the male that was drifting around in the evening shadows. She knew he had the potential to be a great man with the right influences. His willingness to risk exposing himself to search for Brandi spoke volumes about his feelings for her. When they were together Dani hadn’t felt the ominous cloud that surrounded him now. That also gave her pause to worry for her half-sister’s safety. No one had seen or heard from her since she walked away with Derek. If she wasn’t hiding out with Tessa, where was he keeping her?

  Dani had to tread carefully. Derek held the power to swing the advantage at the Enclave in their favor or against them. She wanted to try to relate to Derek on the only level she could, by using the most incredible fact that had leapt out of Brandi’s mind in her time of stress. Dani would share her history of humanity to bridge the distance between her and Brandi’s half-human love.

  “Thank you for coming.”

  “Tessa said it was important, so here I am.” He circled behind her in the shadows. It was against everything she learned in training not to protect her back but Dani felt like it was a test. So she held her spot and let Derek move as he pleased. Unfortunately for Dani, her anxiety had alerted Chase to her absence. He was pissed. She sent him love and apologies. Then she begged him to be quiet and listen so she could concentrate.

  “We need your help, Derek. All we want at this point is the release of the women and children. But you and I both know that isn’t going to happen without a huge loss of life.”

  “I think it will happen rather quickly if your Council hands you over. Apart from that, you’re correct. Sadly, the innocent ones will be the first to suffer.”

  There was real sympathy in that statement.

  “So help us. I want you to smuggle Wrath back into the Enclave with you. We need to sneak in and extract them quietly.”

  “Why should I help a bunch of power hungry elitists? They wouldn’t help me. They would turn up there prejudiced noses and move on,” he scoffed.

  “Being half-human is doesn’t negate the fact you are also half-vamp. I can help you through the transition into society. I know it won’t be easy, but my family and I will stand behind you.”

  Derek took a few steps back. She had surprised him. He took in the fact that his secret was out in the open and settled back into himself.

  “She told you about me, did she? I’m a little stunned by that.”

  Dani decided not to tell him Brandi didn’t need to inform her of his humanity. Maybe if he believed Brandi trusted her, he would too.

  “Look, I understand your fear of the future. I know how it feels to be rejected by people you care about, people you want to love.”

  Dani turned her face away. She didn’t want him to see her weakness. She had to be strong to encourage Derek to do the same. The memory of her experiences as a demi-vamp still haunted her dreams, the stress of constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and waiting for someone to realize you’re not who you pretend to be. She felt hurt when other vamps spoke of humans with disdain. The prejudice still stung her. Composing herself, she continued.

  “I feared for my life, I ached to be me myself and be loved anyway. I wanted to be recognized by my father as his child. I wanted Chase to love me no matter what or who I was born to.”

  Dani turned back and saw him watching her with a cocky smirk on his face. She longed to knock the look from his arrogant mouth. The sable depths of his eyes mocked her pain and discounted her effort to make him feel welcome and understood. She had to make him understand the way he was raised is not the only way. There are people who want to help him. His actions could bring the world down around their ears if he couldn’t be trusted. If he flipped on them, everyone would pay the price. Many lives would be lost. She had to pray that his need to be near Brandi, his wish to be a better man for her, would put him firmly in their camp.

  She stepped into his personal space and the alarms in her head began to sound. She’d been doing her best to block Chase but since their bonding, it had become increasingly difficult. He wanted her to step away from the dark man looming over her. He wanted her to get out now. This had not been a part of the plan. He was totally going to kick her ass. She tried unsuccessfully to project her feelings to Chase. He didn’t care about anything more than her safety. Derek may tower over her and even with all of her power, his darkness made her feel weak but, she knew in her heart he would never hurt her. Not without provocation. There was a light in his soul begging for release. Brandi had begun the process of peeling back the frigid shell around his heart and now the edges brightened with the hope she induced.

  Derek stepped away from her and began to laugh. Not an amused, happy laugh but a frightening, almost hysterical laugh. It made the hair on her neck stand up.

  “You think you know something about rejection? You think you know hurt and fear? You’re a damn joke!”

  He spat the words at her.

  “I’m supposed to feel sorry for you because you lived a lie for a few months? Did you get your feelings hurt by people who didn’t even know what they were doing? Should I feel pity for you because you’re hiding from a hunter out to steal your power?”

  He shook his head and turned away from her, taking deep, steadying breaths. Dani knew he tried to give the impression that nothing mattered to him and his life in hiding hadn’t mattered but, she knew better. When he turned back to her, the cold dead expression on his face scared her. This was the man who kidnapped their youth and delivered them to their deaths at the hands of the Rogue. The man stood up to vamps twice his size and took them out. He was an assassin and a dark warrior.

  His voice was a hiss of contempt when he continued.

  “I have lived my whole life in the shadows. I didn’t know the love and acceptance you lived with for the first nineteen years of your life, until I found Brandi. I starved when I was a kid because my mother wouldn’t let me feed and my Master wouldn’t let me hunt. My mother always believed what he told her. He said I needed discipline and I needed to be broken of my willful ways. I killed at ten years old in a mindless blood lust. It had been so long since I was allowed to feed, I was overcome. To this day, the people I deal with daily think I’m just like them and they make me sick! They hate humans. They treat them like cattle. Guess who helps them hunt the cattle they keep in cages? You want me to relate to your past because you were in hiding with the good guys watching your back? I would die within moments if the vamps at my back realized I’m part human. My life has been day after day of lying, killing, hunting, and hiding in plain sight. So don’t try to relate to me. You should be glad you can’t.”

  He paused then and looked at his boots before returning his gaze to hers. Something big was happening behind his eyes. He was gathering himself like a thunderstorm on the horizon, lightening flashing in those dark eyes. Derek turned away, backing into the shadows of the church yard. It would be easier to speak these next words in the dark where his vulnerability wasn’t so obvious. His words were no more than a whisper now and Dani ducked into the darkness herself. It felt like the right thing to do. It was a confessional and his sin of being in love would be easier to deal with if they couldn’t see each other.

  “You want to talk about Brandi? Good, I do too. I love her. I wanted her and yes it killed me to see her with that blonde bitch from California. I know you think I gave the Hypno to Candy to purposely drug him, but I didn’t. All I did was encourage my friend to pursue the guy she wanted. It just so happened that the guy she wanted was in my way. You should have a talk with Brandi and she’ll tell you they were having problems long before I came into the picture.”

  His smiled a wistful little grin and Dani knew he was thinking of Brandi.

  “I didn’t set him up, but I can’t be sorry it happened. I need her too much to car
e about what had to happen to bring us together. All I can do is hold on and be thankful for every moment I get to spend in her arms.”

  “If you love her why do you continue to serve the Rogue? What are your reasons, Derek? Why have you stayed when a man of your strength could easily get away? Why do you let him continue to blacken your soul? If you ask me, Brandi should be the only reason you need to help us.”

  A long uncomfortable silence settled before Derek stepped into the shaft of moonlight again. His athletic form was backlit. She couldn’t see his face, only the silhouette of a shattered man.

  “He has my mother. If you know I’m half-human, I’m surprised you don’t know that tidbit.”

  Dani learned from Brandi’s inner dialog that Derek had a good reason for his crimes, if there is such a thing, but she didn’t know what the reason could be.

  “He keeps her hidden away and I only get to see her once a month for dinner. I get all cleaned up and go to her as if nothing is wrong so she doesn’t worry. He watches the whole time. I don’t see him, but I know he’s watching. As long as he keeps her happy and healthy, he knows I will do his bidding. As long as I do his bidding, he will keep her that way.”

  “Why you, Derek? It seems like a lot of trouble to go to when he could use one of his other henchmen.”

  Derek stopped to consider that and came to a decision before he continued.

  “There are two reasons and in my opinion they both stem from my humanity. The first is that I am strong, even for a vampire. In the same way your human birth gifted you with off the charts psychic skills but little physical strength, mine lent me strength but no psychic skill, with the exception of enthralling my prey. I learned to fight at a young age, so I became his bodyguard of sorts.”

  “I don’t even want to know how you found out about my weakness. It’s not a publicly known fact.” Dani shook her head. Chase was doing some mental cursing.

  The Rogue knew more about her than she expected and that gave Dani a chill. Derek didn’t answer the implied question, instead continuing with his explanation.

  “I’m sure in the past your demi-vamp nature did interesting things to the people around you. He needs me to bring in the vamps. They aren’t stupid but the human in me draws them to the elusive scent of prey. They don’t realize it because my dominant vamp nature makes them want me for a lover or a friend. The humans don’t have an instinctual fear of me and are attracted to my strength as well. My humanity bleeds through and distracts them long enough for me to herd them away from safety. So you see, I am honey to any fly he wishes to catch, be they human or vamp.”

  Derek backed up again. This was hard for him and she knew it. She could feel Chase in her mind, silently taking in the scene, and she knew Chase understood exactly what Derek was talking about. Her scent had made him want to make love to her and drink from her all at once. The one-two punch of a powerful vamp and tasty human brought Chase to his knees.

  “I’m sure you’re wondering why I would care so much for a woman who abused me. You should know that my early childhood before we were taken in by the Master was pretty good.”

  Another long silence.

  “I’m about to let you in on the secret to end all secrets, a secret that I would be killed for divulging. I’ll give you the short version. My mother fell in love with a vampire who supposedly loved her too. But she didn’t know he was a vamp until the night he took her for his mate. Rather than risk her rejection, he bound them together knowing she would accept anything after his blood had been shared with her. They were happy for a time but then something went wrong. Her bond to him remained solid. His bond to her dissolved and faded as many human relationships do.”

  Chase was putting things together more quickly than Dani. He was becoming aware of something she hadn’t considered yet. He wanted her out of there before the end of the story. It was indeed a big secret and it called Derek’s loyalty seriously into question.

  “My mother literally went crazy when he withdrew his love from her and put her out on the street. He was screwing anything that spread its legs and having a great time. As you know from your own mother’s sad story, my mother felt it every time he bedded another woman. She suffered for two months until she realized she was pregnant.

  It took her another three months to find him and sneak into his office. He let her weep all over him about how she was carrying his child and she forgave him for his adultery. She wanted them to be a family. He told her he no longer loved her but said he would take care of her and the child after it was born. Of course he didn’t mean it. He knew she would die in childbirth, if she made it that far, and the child would die along with her. Image his surprise when she returned, weak but alive with a baby boy she didn’t know how to feed. Vamp mothers have hemoglobin in their breast milk that provides for the child’s nutritional need for blood. My mother was feeding me formula and her breast milk wouldn’t have been any better. He told her to mix blood with the milk if she wanted me to live and again he turned her away.”

  Derek began to pace, odd for a man that seemed so controlled.

  “Have you figured it out yet, Wrath Angel? I know you’re too smart for the facts to elude you. The Master is able to control my mother because he is her mate. She would even neglect her only child to please him. The Rogue, as you call him, is my father.”

  Chase was still there in the back of her mind and he was doing his best to remain calm. He was trying to mobilize some men to search for her. He wasn’t familiar with the church at all. Dani sent him soothing reassurance that a rescue wouldn’t be necessary. She only hoped she was right.

  ****

  Derek came running to the address Tessa provided when she called insisting he go to an essential meeting with someone he would want to see. Of course he assumed she was setting up another opportunity for him to be with Brandi. He couldn’t find her today and neither could he feel her well enough to try searching her out that way. Either they hadn’t had enough time together to strengthen their bond, or his humanity was interfering. His biggest fear was that he would be cursed with his father’s inability to maintain a mating bond.

  He waited anxiously for the chance to at least hold Brandi in his arms. He stalked around the church yard, shooting hopeful glances at the gate he left open for her to enter. When footsteps approached, his heart rate ratcheted up. When a shadowy figure stepped into the yard carrying the scent of vanilla and lavender instead of warm honey and a campfire, his mood took a dive.

  Going back to her family for protection was Brandi’s only choice when he left her alone and vulnerable, but it was obvious she had opted not to reveal to her disapproving father or the rest of her family that she was now a mated woman. It was a slap to his pride as a male to know his mate was too ashamed of the man she chose to announce the happy news to her family. How happy could she be mated to a male who couldn’t even provide for her? Was she supposed to skip back into the big white house and inform them that it was her bondingday, but her mate had to run off and aid the Rogue’s efforts to destroy their lives? She didn’t even come with her sister to meet with him and it stung.

  “What do you think Brandi will do when she finds out I’m the mongrel son of a crazy human and a monster?”

  “I think Brandi loves you whether you’re a human or a leprechaun. She has seen you for the man you want to be instead of the deeds of your past. I think that has earned her the right to know the truth, don’t you? I don’t know how she will feel about your father’s identity, but if you let me you go with you, we can tell her together. Where are you hiding her? I hope she’s not alone on the Enclave without protection.”

  Dani begged with her clear-blue eyes for news of her half-sister. Derek stared at her confused and suddenly filled with worry for his mate. She had not gone home to her family.

  “I don’t know where Brandi is. I had to leave her when the call came in to report to the Enclave. I thought she was with you. When Tessa told me to come here, I hoped it would be h
er coming to speak with me.”

  “We haven’t even heard from her.”

  Panic was spreading across Dani’s features.

  “She told me she wanted us to go hide at your grandparent’s summer home. I think we should check there before we jump to conclusions. She probably just went on without me.” Derek was doing his best to think through this calmly. Brandi was a strong pyro and a smart woman. She had to have found her way to safety. Dani reached for her phone to make a call but it rang before she had it out of her pocket. She looked at the screen.

  “I don’t recognize this number. It may be Brandi. Let me get it.” She hit the talk button.

  “Hello,” she answered.

  Dani’s face paled and the hand holding her phone began to shake. The male voice on the line was speaking nonstop. Derek’s phone vibrated and he checked the screen to see Tessa calling again. He answered.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s time, Derek. The choice is now yours to make. The end is near. Will you help us or not?”

  He ended his call with Tessa and turned back to find a tearful Dani staring at her phone.

  “That was Darren. He has Brandi. He wants me or he’s taking her to the… to your father.”

  TWENTY TWO

  Griffin watched the split screen on the wall of Gage’s home office. One of the tech guys hacked into Enclave security and enabled the remote viewing options. They had an unobstructed view of the training facility where the mates of the warriors were being held, a large part of the barracks occupied by unmated warriors, and the front gates. There were guards that changed shifts every four hours in all areas with a heavier presence at the gates.

  Their best guess from the available footage was that they were up against approximately two-hundred Shade warriors. That’s what they were calling themselves. The Shade. Griffin agreed. They were certainly casting darkness over his people. At least half of them were known males that had turned their backs on the warrior class and the entire vampire nation. Every time Gage spotted one of his men, it cut him. He had a piece of paper on his desk that was filled with names of the traitors who had been like his sons.