“Listen, I get that I’m not the best choice in a fight. I also get that I would be a distraction for you. The reason I’m pissed is that you made it sound like I’m helpless. You also acted like you have the right to tell me what to do. Just because I let you mark me, doesn’t mean you can give me orders.”
There was a long pause while Danny tried to get his thoughts in order, probably so he wouldn’t make her mad again. If Quinn had to guess, part of the problem was that he didn’t have complete faith in her ability to protect herself, and he wasn’t sure how to say that without making her mad.
“Someday, you’ll be more powerful than anyone I know,” Danny began. “I saw what that other mage did. Hell, what you did was nothing short of amazing.”
Quinn let out a frustrated breath. “Let me just finish this for you. For now, I’m just a weak half-breed.”
Danny slid into bed beside her and pulled her against his body. “Please don’t be angry at me, Quinn. I know I’m saying all the wrong things, but I can’t seem to help it. Right now, I need you. I’m going to fight people I’ve known most of my life. Many of them are good people who are just misinformed.”
Quinn turned in his arms and snuggled against his chest. Now definitely wasn’t the time to discuss her hurt feelings. “We can fight about your lack of faith in me when you get back.”
Danny chuckled. “Can we have makeup sex now?”
“Absolutely not!” she said. “We haven’t made up.”
“Then can we at least have angry fight sex?” he asked with an adorable grin.
Quinn shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”
As it turned out, Danny had quite a few interesting suggestions.
Chapter Sixty-Two
Danny’s sense of foreboding increased the closer they got to Roger’s settlement.
“Shouldn’t we have run into some guards by this point?” Danny asked.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Cam said, scenting the air.
Several of the lynx and cougars were already in their animal forms, and they all seemed edgier than the rest of them.
“There should be more guards,” Nate said. “It’s possible there are problems with Abram taking over now that Roger’s dead. He wasn’t the only one vying for the position of leader. Some of the others are worse than him.”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” Claire muttered.
“Yeah, I guess you’d hate him most since he tried to kill you,” Nate said with a grin.
Danny could see Cam struggling with his own emotions. Apparently, Max could too, because he approached them, glaring at Cam.
“Now is not the time for this, Cam,” Max said quietly but with clear authority.
Cam nodded, and Danny felt for the guy. Clearly, having Claire away from her old settlement hadn’t resolved their issues.
Connor moved toward them with Ian at his side. Simon, Shelby, and Rand were in charge of the other three groups and would attack from different sides. They were all just waiting for Connor’s orders.
“I’m sending a small team in through the tunnel,” Connor said.
“That wasn’t the plan,” Danny said, sensing Connor’s tension.
“If I’m right, we need to get our asses back to our own settlement,” Connor said urgently.
“We’re going in to check things out and see how deserted the place is,” Ian explained.
“They could just be lying low to trick us into thinking it’s safe to come closer,” Nate said.
“Do you believe that,” Connor asked.
Nate opened his mouth, but quickly closed it and shook his head. “No, I think we’ll find Abram’s people and any of Roger’s remaining people gone.”
“Do any of Abram or Roger’s people know about the remaining tunnel?” Connor asked.
“No, but it lets out in an area that may be guarded,” Claire warned. “When we’ve used it in the past, we’ve had to find a way to get the guard details out of that area.”
“We’ll take our chances. Ian will go in with Claire, Nate, and Cam. He’ll let us know what they find,” Connor said before turning his attention Danny. “You head back with Jase and Zane. I’m also sending Shelby’s team back.”
Danny nodded and took off running toward the jeeps with Jase and Zane by his side. They’d left only a small contingency of guards at the settlement, and he had no idea how many fighters Abram might have. Abram’s plan made no sense because the vampire settlement was too well fortified, even with so few guards remaining. Suddenly, Danny realized they were wrong about Abram’s intentions, and he slowed down.
“What are you doing?” Jase demanded.
Ignoring him, Danny pulled out his phone and called Quinn.
“Danny?” she asked, answering on the first ring. “Is it over already?”
“Have there been any attacks there?” Danny asked urgently.
“No, I’m at the front gate,” she said. “Everything is quiet.”
“Call me if that changes,” Danny said. “Also, warn the others there might be an attack.”
“You think they’re going to attack this settlement?” Quinn asked. “Wouldn’t that be a suicide mission, even with the decreased guard?”
“It would,” Danny agreed. “I need to make another call.”
“What the hell is going on?” Jase demanded when he hung up.
“They’re not after the born vampire settlement,” Danny said before calling Shelby.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Call the guard station at Treasure Island,” Danny said.
“I don’t have time—.” Shelby stopped and swore when she understood his reasoning. “Calling them now.”
Danny hurried back toward Connor.
“Why are you still here?” Connor demanded angrily, just as his phone buzzed. He read the message and swore. “Fuck! The place is practically deserted. They must be attacking our settlement.”
“They’re attacking Treasure Island,” Danny said, just as Connor’s phone buzzed again, confirming Danny’s suspicions.
“We need to hurry,” Connor said. He notified the other teams while they made their way to Treasure Island, even knowing they were probably too late. Connor sent one team back to their own settlement, just in case an attack was in the works, but Danny suspected that had never been the plan. Taking Treasure Island would give Abram a well-maintained and fortified base.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Abram hadn’t been certain his plan would work, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Returning from his failed attempt on Claire’s life, he’d been prepared to grab his mother and sister before fleeing the area. If Roger didn’t kill him, Claire’s little friends likely would. While he had his own followers, most had been too afraid of what Roger would do, but fate had intervened.
The frantic return of two of the guards who’d been with Roger was certainly a sweet surprise. Roger was dead, and that meant the born vampires had broken their agreement with the council. Abram was pretty sure these guards had lost their minds because they kept insisting Roger had been killed by a woman wielding a ball of fire. How Roger died didn’t matter. What mattered was that Abram had another weapon to use against the blood whores.
He also knew it meant the blood whores would attack, and the pitiful settlement Roger had them living at wouldn’t survive the attack. No, the leader of the blood whores would pull his people from everywhere to destroy them, which meant Abram had to find a new settlement.
Unlike Roger, Abram decided it would be best to leave the dead weight behind. Why take on more responsibility? For that reason, most the humans were left at the old settlement.
He’d also been smarter than Roger in other ways—paying attention to those around him. He knew who Claire’s traitorous friends were. With both Claire and Nate gone, there were only three of them. While Abram had been tempted to just kill them, it seemed like more fun to give them a chance at survival. He’d had the three blood whore sympath
izers locked in a cell with no blood. If they were lucky, someone would find them before their hearts stopped, but he seriously doubted that would be the case. More likely, someone would open the cell door to find three half-starved feral vampires.
Rather than risking too many of his people, he’d sent a dozen feral vampires across the bridge first. They’d easily taken down the small guard detail, and Abram had followed with the rest of his people. Funny how quickly people had shifted their allegiance from Roger to him when he’d promised them safety.
The Treasure Island humans had lived under the protection of the born vampires for decades, and most rarely left the island. They had no fighting skills, so the feral vampires had them running and screaming in a way that made Abram chuckle.
“Should we just kill them all?” the vampire by his side asked.
Abram shook his head. “Nah. Stop the feral ones. We need the cattle to negotiate with the blood whores.”
He wasn’t sure if he was hoping the blood whores agreed to his terms or not. It would certainly be fun to play with all of these humans.
“Let’s get everything set up for the blood whores’ arrival!” he shouted.
While Abram hadn’t been able to make out much of Craig’s handwriting, he’d found old print records. Among them had been some very useful information, and it hadn’t taken Abram long to make enough explosives to destroy the bridge to Treasure Island if he needed to. There was also information about where weapons and remote detonators could be found on Treasure Island. Apparently, the military hadn’t completely cleaned things out all those years ago, and Abram had to wonder how Craig had come by that interesting bit of information. Thankfully, one of Roger’s older guards knew something about detonators, so they had the bridge rigged before the born vampires arrived.
Chapter Sixty-Four
The bridge to Treasure Island consisted of what looked like two bridges from the top. From what Danny had heard, there’d been enough humans driving on this road at one time to need several lanes for cars going each direction. One side was in pretty bad shape, and they never used it. Danny could see several dozen humans, many of them young children, tied to the rails on that side of the bridge.
Abram stood near the entrance to the bridge with only three guards, and his cocky grin made Danny want to kill him even more. “According to some of your council members, you’re pretty soft on the humans,” Abram said, staring straight at Connor.
“I value my resources,” Connor said with no emotion.
Abram laughed. “Right, I’m sure that’s it. The humans at Treasure Island are living pretty well, making me think you care about them.”
Connor merely shrugged.
“I thought you were concerned about the born vampires killing humans?” Danny asked. “Why are you threatening humans now?”
“I said and did what was necessary to gain power, and now, I’m setting myself up in a place where I’ll be safe,” Abram said.
“If you think I’m going to let you steal from me, you’re insane,” Connor said.
Abram’s face sobered. “I’m here to make a deal with you, vampire.”
“Fuck you,” Connor spat out.
“We found some very interesting stuff on Treasure Island, and had just enough time to put explosives right over there,” he said with an evil grin as he pointed to the humans. That’s when Abram pulled the phone from his pocket and spoke into it. “Blow up the fucking bridge under the humans.”
“Stop!” Connor shouted.
“Hold off until I say otherwise,” Abram said into the phone. “Was there a problem with me killing those humans?”
“You really are insane,” Connor muttered. “In case you haven’t noticed, blowing up that side of the bridge could also destroy the supports in that section and topple most of the bridge.”
Abram merely shrugged. “I’m willing to risk anything to get what I want. The question is, are you willing to do the same?”
Connor’s eyes flashed with rage as he took several steps toward Abram. “Why would I make a deal with you, when I could just kill you?” Connor asked.
“Because, despite what you say, you give a fuck about the humans on this island. That’s why you’re so pissed. You hate that I could kill all those people with one order. If you make a move on me, my people will blow up that section of the bridge and begin systematically slaughtering every other human on the island.” He held up the phone to remind them he was still in contact with someone on the island. “With the damage to the bridge, they’ll likely all be dead before you can cross. You might be strong enough to take each one of us down, but you’ll be responsible for the deaths of the inhabitants of this island. What’s it going to be?”
Danny could practically hear Connor’s teeth grinding, but Abram was right. Connor wouldn’t let the humans die.
“Tell me your terms,” Connor said.
“Despite what you might think, all I want is peace,” Abram said. “I’ll send your humans back if you agree to leave us the fuck alone. We’ll cross to the other side of the bay for blood and supplies. We’ll destroy this part of the bridge if we have to.”
“Why should I trust you?” Connor demanded.
“You probably shouldn’t,” Abram said. “But your only other option is to attack me. You do that, and my people will start killing the inhabitants of this island in order of youngest to oldest. Should I start killing innocent children to gain your cooperation?”
Danny wanted nothing more than to kill the vampire before him, yet he had to respect Abram’s planning. Too bad Abram was an evil fuck.
“Fine,” Connor ground out. “But know this, if you go back on your word, I will hunt you down and kill you.”
Abram nodded. “Understood.”
“You’ll also release the inhabitants of this island,” Connor said.
Abram cocked his head to the side. “That’s the part I can’t fully agree to. We’ll release most, but not all the humans. Don’t worry. I won’t hurt the ones who stay, but I need some guarantee you won’t try to kill me. I just want to live in peace,” Abram said in a tired voice. “Hell, we didn’t even kill any of your humans when we took over. A few are banged up, but they’ll live.”
“You could have had peace at Connor’s settlement,” Danny snapped, earning him a glare from Connor.
“Why don’t you tell me how great things are a year from now, Danny boy,” Abram said with a sneer. “You aren’t one of them, and you never will be.”
“Danny is one of us,” Connor said. “I’m not going to waste my breath arguing with you. Send the humans out to us, and we’ll leave. The island is yours, but only if you send out every last human who was living here before your attack. I also want you to send out the humans and vampires from your settlement who don’t want to stay.”
There were several gasps, which made sense considering giving up Treasure Island basically cut Connor off from allies on the other side of the bridge, but Danny understood Connor’s reasoning.
“Fine,” Abram said. “It’s too much work worrying about traitors and guarding prisoners anyway. Guards will escort your people across the bridge.”
Connor nodded.
When Abram was further away, Shelby moved forward. “We aren’t really going to let these assholes have Treasure Island, are we?” she hissed.
The look Connor shot her would have caused anyone else to take a step back, but Shelby wasn’t one to back down.
“We are going to have enough problems dealing with our break from the council,” Connor said. “If giving up Treasure Island brings peace and saves lives, then I’m willing to do it.”
“And where the hell are these people going to live?” Shelby demanded.
“We can move them to the old island settlement,” Danny said. “It needs some major repairs, but it could be fortified to keep them safe.”
“For now, we’ll move them to our settlement,” Connor said in frustration. “I’ll call Raven and have her and some of the oth
ers try setting up temporary lodgings. Don’t let your guard down,” he warned. “Until Abram hands over the humans, I don’t trust him to keep his word.”
Danny didn’t trust him to keep his word even after they had the humans, but their hands were tied. All they could do was hope Abram really did want peace.
Two hours later, they were trying to transport over three-hundred humans. Connor had sent for transport buses, but it was still taking time, partially because they were trying to make sure all the humans had been released. Abram kept his word, even though Danny didn’t trust him. With any luck, Abram was smart enough to know Connor would kill him if he started a war. Without the council in Fangri La interfering, Connor would not tolerate any attacks.
Epilogue
The last month had kept Danny busy, and Quinn had only seen him for a few hours a day. He’d been working hard to get the old island settlement where he’d grown up ready for the displaced Treasure Island humans. That was why she hadn’t really talked to him about what was going on. For his part, Danny hadn’t noticed that he often missed feedings, even with the alarms on his phone. Mostly, he’d just been surviving on her blood.
“When are you planning to tell Danny?” Raven asked. They had just finished helping with the crops on the island and were heading back toward the jeeps.
“Tell him what?” Quinn asked in confusion.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Raven said. “I’m just surprised Danny hasn’t noticed yet.”
Quinn blushed. “Danny’s been too busy to do more than fall into bed after taking blood most nights.”
“You know, this shouldn’t even be possible,” Raven said. “Dr. Moon is going to have Danny in his lab for days when he finds out.”
Quinn laughed. She’d met Dr. Moon and had no trouble picturing the crazy doctor insisting on running every experiment imaginable. “I think it has something to do with my blood.”
“I do too,” Raven said with a conspiratorial smile. “Don’t tell Dr. Moon that, or you’ll be in the lab with Danny.”
Shattered Restraint Page 29
