Roger chuckled to himself. Honestly, he didn’t care if they deserved it or not.
Chapter Nine
Claire was seriously pissed. If she was being honest, she was also more than a little nervous. Roger pulling her from patrol could be nothing more than his fear that she’d be hurt before he could use her at the big council meeting—a meeting she was beginning to suspect would never happen. Roger had to be suspecting that, as well.
“Uh oh,” Nate said as he moved up beside her, walking fast to keep up with her angry pace. “Someone is in a bad mood today.”
Claire snorted. She’d known Nate as long as she could remember, and he was one of the few people in this world she trusted. His parents had both died of a terrible illness almost a year ago, and he had no family. That was the one thing everyone in her little band of rebels had in common. No one with a family would be willing to go up against Roger. For the most part, Roger knew nothing about those beneath him and preferred to keep it that way. He only learned what mattered to underlings when he wanted to use it against them. For that reason, Claire often worried about Nate spending so much time with her in front of others.
“Gonna tell me what’s wrong or not?” Nate asked.
Looking around, Claire realized she needed to avoid revealing too much. There were many people who would report anything suspicious to Roger. “I got pulled from patrol today, so I can’t search for the traitors.”
Nate shrugged. “Roger probably doesn’t want to risk you getting hurt with traitors running around. I’m sure you’ve got plenty to keep you busy around here.”
Translation—Nate hadn’t been able to talk to the others in their little rebellion about Danny. He was on patrol today, so he probably thought it was best that she stay behind to keep an eye on the Danny situation.
“Did you hear they captured one of the humans from the born vampire settlement?” she asked, drawing the attention of several people they passed.
“Wow!” Nate said, faking surprise pretty well. He knew about the capture but not Roger’s plans since Claire had just learned of them. “Bet he’s sorry he wandered into our territory.”
“He won’t be for long,” Claire said. “I guess Craig was infecting him when I sent a guard to get Roger so I could tell him about the traitors.”
Nate paled, but quickly recovered. “I’d better go meet up with my team. Any idea who’s taking your place on patrol?”
“Roger is letting me assign someone,” Claire said. They’d just walked out of the main building and into the courtyard, which was surrounded by crumbling little shacks that housed most of the people there. Claire looked away from those houses. In a simpler time, she’d been one of the masses Roger didn’t know or care about. She’d lived with her family and dreamed of more. Now, she lived in the main building, and she wished she could go back in time to when her parents were still alive.
Her luck must be changing, since she saw the other three vampires on her team lounging against the wall of the main building. Their small numbers were part of the reason they hadn’t been able to do much damage.
“Take one of those three,” she said, pointing to their team and pretending she didn’t know any of their names. “They all look like they could use the exercise.”
Nate waved at Patrick. “You, come with me.”
Patrick made a big production of looking annoyed, which almost made Claire laugh in spite of her crappy day.
She’d been trapped here too often in recent weeks, and it was starting to feel like a prison. Maybe Cam was right about her being a fool for staying.
Chapter Ten
Getting back home had taken much longer than she’d expected, but Quinn was still hoping her uncle hadn’t noticed her absence yet. While she could get away with disappearing for several hours, an overnight disappearance would not go over well.
“Where have you been?” Jase asked when he spotted her walking toward her home.
“Out,” she said without looking at him.
“Yeah, I figured that out all on my own.” He fell into step beside her.
She turned to grin at him. “Nothing gets past you. That’s why I always tell everyone you’re my smartest cousin.”
Jase snorted. “Being a smart ass isn’t going to help you. Care to guess what we’ve been doing?”
“Nope,” she said. “I’m exhausted after walking back here. All I want to do is lie down and sleep for a few hours.”
“Quinn!” Her uncle’s roar stopped her in her tracks.
“We’ve been looking for you,” Zane said as he came up on her other side. “Can you guess who sent us after you?”
“I think I can figure it out,” she muttered as her uncle stormed toward them.
“Where have you been?” he demanded.
“I was just out, Uncle Max,” she insisted in her most soothing voice.
“My home, now!” Max ordered before turning to walk away, secure in the knowledge that only someone with a death wish would disobey him when he was in this kind of mood.
“We’ll go with you,” Zane offered, slipping an arm around her waist.
“Yeah, we can all get our asses chewed out together,” Jase grumbled.
“I doubt you’ll be in trouble,” Quinn assured him.
“You hit your head while you were gone?” Jase asked with a smirk.
“Fine, you’ll get yelled at for being with me while Max yells at me,” she said and then reached out to pull Jase against her other side. “Thank you.” While she’d never been as comfortable with cuddling as her cousins or the other shifters—probably the result of her human side—she’d learned to appreciate the shifters’ need to touch over the years, and even felt more secure with her cousins close to her. Still, the fact that she actually had personal space boundaries made her stand out in the shapeshifter community.
When they walked into Max’s home, he appeared just as annoyed as they’d expected. Max looked a lot like his sons, with tawny hair and amber eyes. As a shifter, he aged very slowly and looked much like a human would at age thirty. From what Quinn understood, her uncle was several centuries old, but he refused to reveal his exact age.
“I really should have beaten you more when you were growing up,” Max muttered.
Quinn tried hard to control her twitching lips. Max often started his rants about her behavior this way. It was funny because he’d never once raised a hand to her. Having heard this tirade before, she knew where it was heading.
“If I’m lucky, you’ll find a mate who beats you and gets rid of this willful nature of yours,” he said, shaking a finger at her.
Zane let out a bark of laughter. “If any male ever laid a finger on Quinn, you’d kill him.”
“No male had better hit my sweet niece!” Max thundered. “I’ll make him regret the day he was born if he even thinks about it!”
This time, Quinn lost her fight to control her giggles.
Max’s anger dissipated some. “You will be the death of me,” he told her with a patient smile.
“I’m sorry,” Quinn said honestly, because she really didn’t want to worry Max. It hadn’t been her intention to be gone that long. Her plan had been simple. She’d go to the vampire settlement, meet the half-shifter, and rush back before it got dark. Then she’d had trouble finding the half-shifter. Just when she’d been ready to give up and head back, she’d run into Dane—no, Danny was what everyone called him. Just thinking about him made her smile.
“Uh oh,” Zane said.
“You were with a male?” her uncle asked. “One of my clan failed to tell me where you were when I was looking for you?”
Quinn opened her mouth to tell them they were wrong, but Jase stopped her. “Don’t bother denying it. That will just delay things. Your eyes got all dreamy, and we smelled your arousal.”
Her cheeks flushed, and Quinn wished she were anywhere but in a room with her uncle and cousins. “It’s not what you think,” she said quickly. “It was no one here, and nothing happ
ened.”
“Who was it?” Max demanded.
“Nobody that matters,” Quinn insisted. “I’m never going to see him again, so what difference does it make?”
“Your safety is important,” Max said in a gentler tone than she expected. He was clearly angry with her, but also worried.
“I wasn’t in any danger,” she insisted.
“You don’t know that,” Max argued. “All you know is this clan. How are you supposed to recognize if an outsider means you harm?”
Quinn’s temper snapped. “Then I guess it’s about time I learned how to survive in the real world. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had some clue of what I’m going to be up against in less than two years?”
Max’s flinch made Quinn feel like a complete bitch because she understood how hard this was on him. The rules had been made long before her time—long before Max was their leader—and he couldn’t just change them because it suited his current needs.
“I’m sorry,” Quinn said helplessly before walking out without a backward glance.
Hoping to make it to her own home to feel sorry for herself alone, she was annoyed when Zane bounced up beside her. “I can’t believe you walked out of there without getting punished for making my father worry. The only reason my ass hasn’t been handed to me is that my father was too distracted worrying about you. Hope he doesn’t remember he’s pissed at me anytime soon.”
Quinn stopped and just shook her head. Zane was twice her age but younger than her in many ways. Then again, they had different things to worry about. At twenty-seven, Zane had turned into a lynx for the first time, something that had never been in doubt. Both of Zane’s parents were lynx shifters. Quinn’s father had been human, and she’d grown up knowing that no half-shifter had ever changed into a lynx on their twenty-seventh birthday. When that day came, and they didn’t change, the half-breeds were sent away. There hadn’t been another half-breed in her lifetime. The last one had moved on before the lynx had migrated from Canada. Isolated as the lynx had been in Canada, her cousins said there were still plenty of humans nearby. That wasn’t the case here, and the humans close to them were fearful of strangers. Quinn had plenty of reasons to worry about what would happen on her twenty-seventh birthday.
“He’s not going to send you away,” Zane said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
“We both know he may not have much choice in the matter,” Quinn said. “And, yes, I know this is hard on Max too, and I shouldn’t have snapped at him like that.”
Zane just laughed. “When you’re about to get in trouble, you use any weapon you’ve got.”
Quinn forced a smile, but she felt no joy.
“Where did you go?” Zane asked.
“I went to find the half-shifter you told me about,” she admitted.
Zane stared at her with his mouth hanging open. “You went to the vampire settlement?” he sputtered.
She nodded. “Not that I had any luck finding her.”
“Alone? You went to the vampire settlement alone?”
“Who did you think I’d take with me?” she demanded.
“Me?” he asked. “I could have introduced you.”
“Would you have?” she asked, knowing the answer already.
“Probably not,” he admitted. “My father can be damn scary, and he would not like me taking you there.”
“I’m sure he’d like it more than me going on my own,” she said.
“You got that right,” Zane muttered. “Please tell me you aren’t planning to go there again.”
Quinn hesitated because she wanted to meet the half-shifter, and because she wanted to see Danny again. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
“If you really want to go, I’ll take you after things settle down some at the vampire settlement,” Zane offered.
“Things were pretty calm when I was there,” she said.
“One of their humans was taken captive by some crazy vampire,” Zane said.
“Out on patrol?” she asked, hoping it wasn’t Danny.
“No, he was taking some younger vampires to their business district,” Zane said. “Why are you so curious?”
Quinn shrugged. “No reason. Did you find the human?”
Zane shook his head, looking angry and frustrated. “We tried to help the vampires find him, but we had no luck. They’ll be tight on security for a little while. I’m surprised you were able to get past the guards in the first place. The half-shifter was also good friends with the human, so she won’t be up to visitors for a while.”
Quinn nodded. “I don’t know why I’m being such a bitch about this. I’m not sure I’ll go back anyway. What’s she going to tell me? I mean, it’s nice hearing that one person who’s half-human can shift, but the odds are still against me being able to. I probably shouldn’t risk upsetting Max by going back to the vampire settlement.” Except that she kept finding her mind wandering to Danny.
Zane wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled the side of her face. “Don’t worry, Quinn,” he said softly. “No matter what happens, I’ll always make sure you’re safe. I’ll also take you back there if you want to go. I’ve always thought of you as my little sister, and I’d do anything for you.”
She hugged him back and stroked his silky hair. “Thanks, Zane,” she said. “What would I do without you?”
Zane pulled back and grinned at her. “The world would be a boring place without me.”
She just laughed and shook her head. “I’m going to get some sleep.”
“You never told me who the male was that got you all hot just from thinking about him,” he said as she walked away.
“And I’m not going to,” she shouted back.
Chapter Eleven
“You look like hell.”
Danny’s eyes snapped open. Still strapped to a table, he couldn’t turn his head far enough to see who had spoken, but the woman’s voice sounded familiar. “Then I look better than I feel,” he croaked. Damn, his throat was drier than it had been after a night of consuming vodka.
The pain from the change had faded, but there was still a dull ache in his muscles, and his fangs hurt. Since his change, Danny had drifted in and out of consciousness with no real concept of time. He was pretty sure people had come into the room, but he might have dreamt that.
“You losing consciousness again?” the woman asked as she came forward. Short black hair accentuated her pixie-like face and almond shaped eyes.
“Claire?” he asked.
“Glad to see you remember me,” she said. “I can’t be caught in here with you, so we don’t have much time. While Roger would be thoroughly screwed if he kills me before the big meeting, he still might do it if he thinks I’m helping you. The man isn’t stable, and he doesn’t trust anyone.”
Claire was one of the new type of turned vampire, much like he was now. She’d believed the born vampires were her enemies until she’d been captured. Actually, Danny was just assuming she didn’t think they were her enemies now. When the main vampire council had ordered her release, Claire had still been up in the air regarding her feelings about the born vampires, and Danny hadn’t been convinced she’d come around. Her hatred had come from the belief that born vampires had killed her parents. Accepting the truth meant believing Roger had a hand in their deaths. Danny didn’t blame her for her reluctance.
“I take it you picked a side, and it’s not Roger’s,” Danny said in a voice that sounded like little more than a whisper.
“Let me get you some water,” she said. “You sound like you could use a drink.”
He did need a drink, but what he wanted was blood. That thought chilled him to the bone. It was a reminder of what he’d become. Wrong or not, Danny didn’t want to be a vampire, especially a turned vampire.
“Can you lift your head a little?” Claire asked. She was at his side, holding a metal cup with water in it.
His brow creased as he realized that the reason he knew it was water was that he didn’t smell blood. Af
ter a few tentative sips, he let his head drop back down. There was a lot he wanted to ask, but he wasn’t sure where to start.
“Whose blood did Craig give me?” Danny asked. Even he was surprised that this seemed like the most pressing question. It just proved how freaked out he was about needing blood to survive.
“Cam’s,” Claire said.
“Why do you have the shifter’s blood here?” Danny knew they had some weird bond, but it seemed strange that Cam’s blood was so readily available.
“Roger likes to experiment with some of us to see how long we can go without blood before we have problems. We’ve found that shifter blood sustains us longer,” Claire explained. “Craig is curious to see if it will impact how the virus interacts with your system since we’ve never given Cam’s blood to anyone even close to the time they were infected.”
“So, I’m a lab rat?” he asked, annoyed that he was salivating so much that his words were slightly slurred. The urge to spit was embarrassing.
Claire must have noticed his discomfort. “Don’t worry about that. For some of us, the fangs make us salivate more in the beginning. It was that way with me for about a week, and it went away. Most people get over it in a few days. We’ve got a few people who are still having problems months later, but that’s rare. As to your question, Craig lives for this shit, so he is experimenting on you some. He’s also saving your life, so you can put up with him making a few notes about how the blood affects you.”
“I guess this is better than being an undead weapon used against the people I care about,” Danny mused because he wasn’t sure he was ready to thank anyone for his life just yet. Maybe he never would be.
“Don’t worry. We’ll do everything we can to avoid letting Roger use you to gain more power. While most of the people here don’t care about your vampire settlement, many people are tired of Roger and his crazy whims.”
Shattered Restraint Page 5
