“Please, Killean,” she whispered.
He hit the green button.
“Killean.”
The unfamiliar, ancient voice made him think of cobwebbed crypts and sandstorms blowing across desert roads. Killean rested a blackened hand briefly on Simone’s knee when she started rapidly tapping her foot.
“That would be me,” he said.
There was a brief pause before the creature spoke again. “I’m going to make you a one-time offer. I’ll let you keep the girl. I’ll even let you keep her as she is and not turn her into a Savage if you return to me now.”
“And why would you make such an offer?” Killean asked.
“Because it’s you I want. The girl is a nonentity.”
Simone’s back straightened as resentment boiled within her. She’d lived most of her life as a nonentity, and she refused to be considered one by this thing.
“I’d prefer not to kill you, but I will,” the creature continued.
“And what would Joseph prefer?” he asked.
“Whatever I say he does.”
So this thing was the brain behind Joseph’s operation, but what was that brain plotting? Killean pulled his hands off the wheel and propped his knee against the bottom to steer for a little bit.
“And what do you want me for?” Killean inquired.
“You can bring Ronan to my side.”
Killean almost laughed at the notion this thing believed that could be a possibility. However, he suspected laughing might bring the full wrath of this creature down on them. It may prefer him alive, but it would also splatter him like a bug on a windshield, and it knew where they were.
“I see,” Killean murmured.
“And if you can’t bring him to my side, then you’ve at least been with him for a while, and I suspect you know more of his weaknesses than Joseph does.”
Killean opened his mouth to tell it Ronan had no weaknesses, but he wouldn’t reveal anything about Ronan to this creature. Besides, it would have been a lie, and he suspected this creature already knew that Ronan had one very big weakness in the form of his mate.
Killean glanced at Simone as she glared at the phone. He had one huge weakness now too.
“Plus,” the creature said, “you’re an extremely powerful vampire, Killean. I sensed it when we passed in the hall. If the girl is your mate, then you’ll be even more powerful, and I like power. You can keep the girl, as she is if you come to me before tonight.”
Killean stared at the road as he contemplated a response that wouldn’t get them killed in the next hour. “And where would I go to find you?”
Simone shot him a look.
“I’ll call back with a location; answer when I do.”
The phone went dead, and only the hum of the tires punctuated the silence.
“I’d rather be dead than have either of us under that thing’s control,” Simone finally said.
Killean winced at the mention of her death, but he wasn’t sure how to prevent it from happening. They were under a microscope right now. If he turned himself in, he would be handing himself over to become a monster, but they would keep Simone alive if only because they could use her to control him. To have her under the control of such a thing was unthinkable, but even more unthinkable was her death.
“Killean,” she said when he didn’t reply. She knew he didn’t want to be a puppet against Ronan, but he would do what he believed necessary to keep her alive. “I mean it, Killean.”
He shifted his knee and reclaimed the wheel with one of his barely healed hands. Even with the woman’s blood so fresh in him, he was weakening fast. When that thing came after them later, and it would, he wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight against it.
“If you turn yourself over because of me, I’ll never forgive you, and I’ll blame myself,” she said. “Besides, it won’t let me stay as I am, and we both know it.”
She was right. If he turned himself over, they would be allowed to live, but the vampires they were now would cease to exist. Though he would lay down his life for her, he couldn’t let them destroy her in such a way.
“Killean,” she said when he lifted the phone and punched in another number.
“I’m not calling them,” he assured her.
“Speak,” Saxon said after the third ring.
“It’s me, and we’ve got a problem.” Killean proceeded to fill him in on everything that had happened since they last spoke.
“Shit,” Saxon muttered when Killean finished. “Do you know the license plate number of that car?”
“Can you look in the glove box for the registration?” he asked Simone.
When she stared at him in confusion, he inwardly cursed the hunters for making her so vulnerable and asked her to pull the papers out. He spotted the registration as she sorted through everything. He had her hold it so he could read the plate number to Saxon.
“Maybe Declan can do something with it,” Saxon said. “Call you back at this number?”
“Yeah, and if you don’t hear from me again, it’s because we’re dead.”
Killean hung up before Saxon could reply and leaned back in his seat. The sun was sinking behind the horizon and his skin was burning at a slower rate, but this knowledge didn’t ease the turmoil churning within him.
Simone rested her hand on his knee and squeezed it.
Chapter Thirty-Four
When Saxon’s number appeared on the screen again, Killean answered the phone. “Saxon,” he greeted.
“Sorry to disappoint, but this is your friendly, vampire, computer guru,” Declan said. “And like Mighty Mouse, I’m here to save the day.”
Killean almost rolled his eyes, but he was glad to hear Declan’s jovial tone no matter how out of place it was. “And how do you plan to do that?”
“With a few strokes of my magic fingers.”
“I see,” Killean murmured.
“And I see that in two miles you’ll be coming up on exit thirteen,” Declan replied.
Killean glanced at the GPS screen. “Yes.”
“You’re going to stay on the highway when you get to that exit, but your GPS is going to show you taking it and following a new route along some back roads. In other words, your navigation system will be useless to you soon. I’m going to keep rerouting the car’s GPS through different back roads, so stay to the highway as much as possible. We can’t have your route accidentally intersecting with the GPS. When we hang up, throw out the phone, and you’ll be off their radar for a little while. They’ll eventually figure it out, but hopefully, you’ll have a new car by then. Good luck.”
Declan hung up before Killean could reply. Snatching up the phone, Killean rolled down his window and waited until they were almost to exit thirteen before heaving it out. In the side mirror, he watched it shatter and spin across the highway.
They should have at least an hour before Joseph and that thing figured out something was off; they might have even more time, but he was only going to give himself an hour to come up with a new plan.
* * *
Killean searched for cameras monitoring the parking area and the brick building in the center as he drove around the perimeter of the lot, but the only cameras he saw were focused on the building. He had no intention of going anywhere near it.
Driving around to the back of the lot, he took the road marked for trucks instead of cars. Turning off his headlights, he maneuvered through the dozen or so large trucks parked in the lot. Some still had their running lights on, but others were completely dark.
“What now?” Simone asked.
“Now, we catch a ride.”
He parked between two of the idling trucks and turned off the car. When he flexed his knuckles, the fresh skin on the back of them broke open, but no blood spilled free, and the blisters were healed. He removed the blanket from his shoulders and tossed it into the back seat. By now, Joseph and that thing probably had Savages scouring the highway and video feeds for this car, but hopefully, they w
ould be far from here before they were detected.
Opening his door, Killean climbed out. The chilly night air soothed his burnt skin as it flowed over him. He watched the back of the brick building, which was five hundred feet away, while he walked around to Simone’s side of the car. A few people lounged outside of the bathrooms, but most scurried back and forth to their cars. None of them looked at all suspicious, and he didn’t smell a Savage on the air.
Killean opened Simone’s door and took her hand to help her out. She stretched her back while she gazed at the building. When he squeezed her hand, he drew her gaze and nodded to one of the idling trucks before leading her over to it. Climbing onto the step of the truck, he released her hand and banged on the window.
From within, he heard the drone of voices from a TV or radio, but no movement. He banged more loudly on the window and was rewarded with a muffled curse. The cab of the truck shifted when someone stirred inside.
A minute later, a craggy face appeared in the window and then the door was shoved open. If he’d been human, Killean would have been knocked on his ass by the door, but he was quick enough to avoid it as he hopped onto the pavement.
“What do you want?” the woman who opened the door demanded.
Not at all what he’d expected, Killean gazed up at the petite black woman who glowered at him from eyes the color of a doe’s. Gray hair created a curly cloud around her wrinkled face. Though her hair was gray, her skin was remarkably unaged except for the frown lines marring her forehead. She wore a baggy T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that looked more like pajamas.
“We need a ride.” Killean ignored the gun in her hand as he sent his power forward.
“And I’m supposed to care?”
“You’re going to give us one,” he commanded as he took control of her mind.
For a second, she rebelled against the command, and then her eyes glazed over and her face grew slack.
“Let us in,” he said.
The woman shifted back, and Killean helped Simone climb inside. Simone slipped into the sleeping area with a single twin mattress and a tiny TV playing an old sitcom at the back of the cab. A half-eaten sub and a bag of chips sat beside the TV.
The woman remained kneeling on the driver’s seat as Killean climbed into the truck. He slipped into the back with Simone before crawling out again to sit in the passenger seat. He studied the shifter and the numerous buttons on the dash before focusing on the woman.
“Close the door,” he commanded. “And sit down.”
She shut the door and settled behind the wheel where she sat with her hands in her lap and a blank expression on her face. As much as he disliked humans, he didn’t enjoy the emptiness that came over them while they were under the control of a vampire.
“You’re going to take us to the Mass border,” he said.
He didn’t know where they’d go from there, but he would figure that out when they arrived. Until then, they had a driver and the perfect cover from any cameras or tolls in this truck. He didn’t expect it to last as eventually the Savages would discover the car and realize what he’d done, but they’d make it to Massachusetts first.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Less than an hour after crossing into Massachusetts, Killean ordered the woman to pull over on the side of the highway where he was sure there were no cameras. If the Savages discovered which truck they’d taken, he didn’t want them to learn where they rode the truck to, but then he wasn’t entirely sure of their destination.
He had no idea where Ronan and the others were anymore, but he had to find a safe location for Simone. Even if the Defenders didn't take him back, they would take her, and he would get her to them.
Climbing out of the truck, he clasped Simone’s hand and helped her down. He instructed the woman to forget everything that happened and return to what she was supposed to be doing before closing the door and leading Simone into the woods.
He’d instructed the woman to let them off near an exit with signs for food and lodging and bordering on the edge of a forest. They made their way through the woods and into what turned out to be a busy town with cars idling at stoplights and neon signs broadcasting everything a traveler or local could want.
Killean avoided anywhere cameras might be located on traffic lights or buildings as the predawn travelers drove down the road.
“Where are we going?” Simone inquired and stifled a yawn.
“We’ll find somewhere to stay before sunrise and figure out our next move.”
He led her to the closest motel and used his mind control to procure a room at the back of the building.
“Are there cameras here?” he asked the clerk.
“Two out front and two in the back,” the man replied.
“Closed circuit or do they feed into somewhere?”
“Closed circuit.”
“Let me see the video.”
The clerk led him to the recording equipment. Killean removed the tape and destroyed it before shutting off the TV and turning off the cameras. When he finished, Killean took the key card from the clerk. He led Simone out of the office, down the walkway, and around the corner to their room where he opened the door to reveal a dingy room with tan walls, brown carpeting, and a king-sized bed.
Simone couldn’t stop her nose from wrinkling at the hideous, flower-patterned comforter on the bed. She’d never seen anything so ugly as that blanket or so wondrous as the bed beneath it. The events of this day had left her drained; she wanted to crawl onto the bed, place her head on those pillows, and sleep for a week.
But the Savages might be coming for them.
“Could they track us here?” she whispered.
Killean wished he could assure her they were safe here, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know how Joseph located them in the truck, the motel had probably been easier, but Killean still hadn’t been expecting them. He couldn’t shake the notion Joseph and that other bastard were toying with them and following their every move. They were the mice trapped between the paws of the cat, and it was only a matter of time before the cat delivered its killing blow.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “But I think we’ve lost them.”
Simone slumped onto the bed and dropped her head into her hands.
“The Alliance will take you back,” he said.
It took a few seconds for his words to sink in. When they did, she lifted her head to stare at him. “And what about you?” she demanded.
“I might not be welcome there.”
“I’m not going back without you.”
“Simone—”
“No, we’re bound together. I was well aware of what a life with you might entail when I allowed it to happen. Besides, we can’t be separated.”
“We can,” he said. “It won’t be easy on either of us, but we can live separately and see each other when we can.”
She forgot her exhaustion when anger rolled through her. “And you would be okay with only seeing me when you can?”
“I didn’t say I’d be okay with it, but I’ll do whatever’s necessary to keep you safe.”
The reasonable tone of his voice only infuriated her more. “And you know what would be best for me?”
“On this, yes.”
That was it! All her years of proper behavior vanished as a haze of red shrouded her eyes. Her fingernails bit into her palm until they pierced her flesh as she rose to stand before him.
“Everyone in my life has always believed they knew what was best for me, and they’ve all been wrong.” The calm tone of her voice amazed her, considering she wanted to claw his eyes out. “And you’re wrong too.”
Fury radiated from her like a beacon from a lighthouse. Killean hadn’t expected her to be capable of exhibiting so much of it, but his little hunter was full of surprises.
“When it comes to keeping you safe, I will do whatever is necessary,” he said.
“All while you remain somewhere unsafe?”
“I’ll minimize my
risk of death.”
“You’ll minimize your risk of death,” she murmured in disbelief. “You are such a… a… moron!”
Killean couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “We really have to teach you to swear.”
That was it! The red shading her eyes became so sharp she could barely see him as the blood rushing through her veins thundered in her temples.
“I will not be locked away again!” The calm tone of her voice vanished, and she sounded like the shrew who needed taming, but she didn’t care. “I am not a dolly! I am not the perfect, little obedient woman I was born and raised to be! I won’t be that woman for the hunters, and I certainly won’t be it for you!”
“I’m not asking you to be.”
There was that reasonable tone again. She didn’t think he had any idea how maddening it was, or he’d be guarding the privates she was contemplating kicking into his throat.
“No, you’re asking me to be caged again, and it won’t happen,” she said.
“Being caged is better than being dead.”
“Is it?”
Killean started to tell her of course it was, but the words died on his tongue. Was it?
“You wouldn’t be caged with Ronan and the others,” he said instead.
“I’m not going back without you, and even with you, I won’t be what I once was. I’m in this fight now, a part of it, and I’m going to stay that way.”
“You don’t know how to fight!” he snapped as his composure started to unravel. The most important thing to him was keeping her safe, and she was making it more difficult than it had to be.
“And that will be remedied as will my lack of driving skills. It’s my life to live, and you have no say over it.”
“I am your mate; I will keep you safe,” he grated through his teeth.
“You are my partner, and you will share in my life, not control it. Also, there will be no more feeding on other women in front of me, and you can’t hurt people like you did with that woman! I don’t like it, and I won’t tolerate it.”
Bound by Darkness: The Alliance Series, Book 3 Page 22
