Ravaged (Vampire Awakenings, Book 7)

by Brenda K. Davies

  “They knocked me out and brought me here that night,” Aiden said. “I probably would have killed someone if they hadn’t. I was an idiot and lost control; it shouldn’t have happened.”

  “You never hid from me that you were walking a tightrope. That one misstep could push you over the edge.”

  “It still never should have happened. I hurt you when I didn’t come for you.”

  “You did, and I hurt you too, but neither of us meant to do it. Things went so wrong that day.”

  “They did,” he agreed. He grasped her wrists and pulled her arms toward him. His blood and her transition had healed her scratches, but he still recalled the ugly red gouges on her skin. “I let you down. It won’t happen again.”

  “It’s not like I don’t know you can be a bit of an ass, Nosferatu,” she teased as she took her wrists from him and rested her hand on his freshly shaven cheek. She’d missed seeing his face. “Do you think you could still lose control? Do you still crave blood, death, sex, and pain as badly as you did?”

  She held her breath, petrified of his answer. She could feel the intensity of the bond between them, but what if she wasn’t enough for him? What if what she’d seen from him yesterday was only the beginning and it was only a matter of time before she lost him?

  “No,” he said and reached across to pull her into his lap. “Like the scars on my back, our bond has healed me. It’s curbed my more malevolent nature and tamed the demon part of me. However, I will destroy anything threatening you or those I love, but I won’t slip into that madness again, and I no longer worry about losing control and becoming a Savage, not with you in my life.”

  Maggie curled up in his arms and rested her head on his chest. “Good.”

  “I’m going to quit working with Ronan and the others.”

  She lifted her head to gawk at him. “That’s what you’ve been training for, why would you give it up?”

  “I did it to keep myself in control. I needed the blood, death, and violence to remain stable; I don’t anymore.”

  “Aiden—”

  “I’ll still help them whenever it’s necessary. There is a big battle looming on the horizon between Savages and vampires. I won’t turn my back on it, but I don’t want you to be a part of this life.”

  “I can handle it.”

  “I know you can, but for now, I want to be with my family and you. Those things are my focus. I want time to enjoy our relationship. I’ve also shut my family out a lot recently. It’s time I go home.”

  “And afterward?”

  “We’ll decide our future together. If we decide I should return to working with Ronan and the others, so be it. If not, then we’ll figure out our next step.”

  “Okay, but I don’t want you thinking you have to give it up for me.”

  “I don’t,” he said, and she felt the truth of that through their bond. “I don’t think we should be gone for long though; I’m concerned about Vicky.”

  “Why?”

  “She pretends everything is okay, but it’s not.”

  “We’ll be here for her,” Maggie said decisively. “I’d still like to run the marathon.”

  “You’re going to cheat the humans?” he teased, and she laughed.

  “I’ll hold myself back, but I can’t let my coworkers down. The race is next week. Will I be able to be around people by then?”

  “You should be fine, and if you run into any trouble, I’ll be there to get you through it.”

  He recalled the baseball tickets he’d bought for her, but he didn’t bring them up. If the date hadn’t passed already—he wasn’t sure what day it was now—the game would be soon, and he didn’t think she would be up for that. There was no reason to disappoint her over something he couldn’t change. He would take her to lots of other games this year.

  “So, are you going to tell me about Grandma?” he asked.

  The smile that lit her face warmed his heart.

  “She’s wonderful,” Maggie breathed and explained to him how she’d discovered Marsha, their meeting, and everything else that occurred since they’d last seen each other.

  They talked for over an hour before footsteps drew Aiden’s attention away from her. He looked over his shoulder to find the others standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen of the cottage.

  “We heard you talking and hoped you were up for some company,” Abby said.

  He was enjoying this time alone with Maggie, but the hope in Abby’s eyes kept him from turning her away.

  “Of course,” Maggie said as she sat up in his arms.

  They filtered onto the patio, spreading out around it.

  “Watch out for the stake,” Vicky said to Maggie and winked as she handed her coat back to her.

  Maggie laughed and settled the coat on her lap. “Thank you.”

  Vicky and Abby settled onto the other two chairs. Brian rested his hands on the back of Abby’s chair while Stefan leaned against the corner of the house. Saxon walked to the edge of the patio to survey the woods before turning to Aiden. Ethan remained in the doorway.

  “I assume you told Ronan those cells and chains won't hold a purebred,” Aiden said to him.

  “I did,” Saxon replied. “He’s going to work on modifying them, but it’s difficult to judge how strong a purebred can get, especially if someone threatens their mate.”

  “I wasn’t threatened,” Maggie protested.

  “At that moment, in Aiden’s mind, you were,” Saxon replied.

  “Yes,” Aiden agreed as he recalled the strength of his fury and the colossal power thrumming through his body when he’d given himself over to the demon seeking to rule him. He’d never experienced anything like that before, and he hoped never to feel it again. If he did, it meant there might be a genuine threat to Maggie’s life.

  Aiden met Ethan’s eyes over Maggie’s head. “I have to speak with my brother,” he said as he kissed Maggie’s temple.

  “Aiden—”

  “It will be okay,” he murmured.

  “Just remember, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him,” she whispered in his ear before rising from his arms.

  Aiden stood and started toward the doorway. Ethan strode ahead of him through the rooms and out the front door of the small cottage. Stepping outside, Aiden’s jaw clenched when he spotted the single story, concrete building where he’d been imprisoned. He’d been in there once before his confinement, when he’d helped to interrogate the Savage who told them about Carha. He hoped to never see the place again.

  He couldn’t fault the others for what they’d done, he would have done the same, or he would have destroyed the vampire, but he loathed seeing the reminder of what he’d become. He clearly recalled the madness whispering incessantly through his mind.

  He’d let everyone down, especially Maggie, and he would do everything he could to make it up to her. Every day for the rest of their lives together, she would know only security and love.

  “You shouldn’t have gone to her,” Aiden said. “I don’t remember a lot of what happened, but I know I made it clear to the others she was to be left alone.”

  “They told me you wanted her left alone, and I didn’t go to her until it became clear she might be the only one who could save you. I was right.”

  Aiden gritted his teeth when he recognized the older, wiser brother tone that sometimes crept into Ethan’s voice. It didn’t happen often, but it was there now. Ethan was older, possibly wiser, but he had to know he wouldn’t win a fight between the two of them, not anymore. Ethan had the advantage of age on him, but Aiden had spent countless hours training to kill with some of the most lethal vampires on the planet. He’d also been killing and occasionally feeding on Savages. He’d honed himself into a killing machine; Ethan had become a dad.

  “If I hadn’t gone to her, you would have died. We would have had to kill you or make the decision to have someone else do it,” Ethan said.

  “I know, but—”

  “She was in pain
too. I saw the bandages and her blood. I know what her heritage is, and though she didn’t know why she couldn’t stop hurting herself, the vampire part of her was suffering without you.”

  Aiden couldn’t stop himself from wincing at the reminder of Maggie’s physical and emotional pain. “You still shouldn’t have gone to her. What happened that day was a big misunderstanding, but what if she really had chosen someone else over me?”

  “Then I would have left her alone, but she needed to know.”

  Aiden rounded on him. “You still went against what I instructed with my mate.”

  “Yes, but what would you have done if I was the one rotting in a cage with only death as my ultimate end? Would you have stood by and watched me spiral further into madness if there was a chance you could prevent it?”

  Aiden studied his older brother as he pondered this, but he knew the answer. He wanted to choke Ethan, to brawl with him as they’d done when they were younger, but he would only be fighting a choice he would have made himself.

  “No,” he admitted. “I would have gone to Emma too.”

  “I didn’t do it because I thought you were wrong and I knew best.” Ethan smiled when Aiden glanced sharply at him. “I know that’s what you’re thinking. I did it because I love you and I couldn’t stand by and watch you die without a fight. I would have left Maggie alone if she’d told me to get out of her place, that she was with another and wanted nothing to do with you. I swear I would have. She didn’t say that though, and listening to her, I knew she loved you too.”

  “What if I’d killed her or forced the change on her when you brought her here?”

  “If you do recall, I was trying to get her out of there to prevent that from happening when you tore your cell apart. I’ve felt the rage that takes over when someone threatens a mate; I know we can push the boundaries of the rules placed on us, but I never saw that coming. I also didn’t realize how fast she was and that she would be able to dodge me to get at you.”

  “She’s been training for the Boston Marathon, and her father was a vampire.”

  “I know, but I still underestimated her; it won’t happen again. She wanted you almost as badly as you wanted her. She saw what you did to that cell and still trusted you not to hurt her. Even with you as out of control as you were, I also believed you wouldn’t hurt her.”

  “I’m glad one of us did,” Aiden muttered as he gazed at the back wall of the prison.

  “It was bad for you after you reached maturity, far worse than you let on, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did you crave the most?”

  Aiden released a snort of humorless laughter. “What didn’t I crave? I wanted blood, pain, death, and sex all the same.” Aiden’s jaw clenched as he recalled the compulsions that had ruled him every day for years. When he felt his temper rising, he searched out Maggie’s mind with his. The brief touch with her calmed him again.

  “Apparently, according to Declan, it happens to some,” he murmured and then realized Declan wasn’t with them. “Where is Declan? He was in the car with us.”

  “Saxon said he couldn’t be here. I don’t know why.”

  “He couldn’t handle being so close to a vampire without their mate.”

  “If you say so,” Ethan replied.

  “I should punch you.”

  “You should, but you won’t. You owe me one.”

  “Hmm,” Aiden grunted.

  “Your mate is a feisty one. She didn’t care I was a purebred vampire standing in her apartment.”

  “She invited you in?”

  “She did.”

  “She shut the door in my face.”

  Ethan laughed and grasped his shoulder. “I like her.”

  “Good, because she’s family now.”

  “She is,” Ethan agreed.

  CHAPTER 51

  Maggie stood in the shadows, unwilling to go any closer as her grandma cautiously approached Mindy’s chair. Aiden stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder. Marsha pulled a chair over from a table and sat across from her daughter.

  For a minute, no one spoke. Then, Marsha leaned closer and rested her hand on Mindy’s knee. “Mindy,” she whispered.

  Standing more than fifty feet away, outside the door of the large room with the TV droning, conversations carrying on, and almost two dozen other patients gathered within, Maggie heard her grandmother.

  “Mindy, do you remember me?” Marsha asked.

  Mindy’s eyes shifted to Marsha before sliding away. Then, they came back again. Maggie’s heart leapt when she saw the spark of recognition in those eyes. “Momma,” Mindy breathed.

  Tears spilled down Marsha’s cheeks, and she choked on a sob. “Yes, baby girl, it’s me.”

  “Momma,” Mindy smiled before her gaze went back to the window.

  Mindy didn’t speak again, but the smile didn’t leave her face while Marsha sat and talked with her. As Maggie suggested, Marsha didn’t tell her daughter how she’d finally discovered her, or mention Maggie at all. It was for the best, especially if it kept that smile on her mother’s lips.

  • • •

  Maggie’s lungs burned, her legs felt like rubber, but she pushed herself onward. Even with all her training, even with her new, supernatural strength that she’d kept in check throughout the entire course, she loathed Heartbreak Hill.

  Then, she was at the top and coming down. Air rushed back into her lungs, her legs didn’t wobble quite so bad, and some of her ex-coworkers laughed. She exchanged high-fives with them. It didn’t matter they still had miles to go. After successfully climbing the hill, they knew they would all make it.

  Maggie focused on the road while she matched her pace to those around her. Soon after changing, Aiden noticed she was faster and stronger than the average turned vamp, but not as strong as a purebred.

  They’d been on a run together and she’d nearly beaten him. Afterward, he’d had her lift things that other changed vamps wouldn’t be able to lift so soon after turning. He’d shouted his joy when she succeeded in one thing after another.

  Then, he’d approached Ronan about his decision to pause his training. Ronan hadn’t argued with Aiden’s choice to walk away, for now, but while they remained in Massachusetts, Ronan asked if he could run her through a series of physical, mental, and endurance tests. All those tests confirmed what Aiden already suspected; she was not the normal, changed vamp, but then she hadn’t been the average human either.

  The crowds cheered as they reached Kenmore Square. A fresh burst of adrenaline hit Maggie, and Aiden’s mind brushed against hers. It took everything she had to maintain her restraint when they turned onto Boylston street and the finish line came into view. She wanted to unleash her power and race toward that beckoning end.

  Crossing over the painted Finish Line section of road, Maggie released a whoop of joy and laughed as she hugged her team members, all of whom were wearing pins to honor the memory of Roger. She was hugging Pablo when she spotted Aiden over his shoulder. She slapped Pablo on his shoulders, and he set her down before turning to hug someone else.

  Aiden swung her up into his arms. “How did you get over here?” she inquired breathlessly. Family members and friends were supposed to be waiting for them at a designated meeting area.

  “I’m irresistible,” he replied and winked at her.

  She laughed. “That you are, but from now on, no compelling the police.”

  “I can’t make any promises.”

  Like the rest of her supernatural abilities, her ability to compel a person was stronger than it should have been, but she hated using it. After the test where she’d used her compulsion on a human, she’d put her foot down and informed Ronan she wouldn’t do it again. He’d frowned at her, and she got the feeling he didn’t often hear no from anyone, but he hadn’t asked her to do it again.

  “I’m proud of you,” Aiden said.

  Setting her down, he walked her over to the others who had come to watch the race. A
bby, Brian, and Vicky were at the front of the pack, waving American flags. Ethan and Stefan had returned home before coming back with their mates, Isabelle and Emma. Ian and his wife Paige had arrived last night.

  They’d all left their children behind, claiming some much-needed grown-up time, but Maggie had a feeling they wanted a chance to interrogate her without interruption. They’d also all been happy to assure her there were plenty of others eagerly waiting to meet her.

  That knowledge wasn’t as off-putting to her as it would have been a month ago. She was excited to embrace her new life with Aiden, willing to let down her guard and allow more people and vampires into her life. She was looking forward to finally experiencing a life filled with love and family. She was also relieved to discover that she liked everyone she’d met. They were warm and open and excited to have her in their lives.

  “I never realized how much fun this could be!” Vicky gushed. “All the excitement, the competition, the beer! I’m going to have to check out one of those ball games next. I feel like I’ve been missing out!”

  “You want to go to a baseball game?” Maggie inquired.

  “Oh, I don’t care what balls are involved, just as long as I get to cheer for them.”

  Maggie blinked at her. “I don’t know how to respond to that.”

  “No one does,” Aiden muttered, and Vicky laughed.

  Maggie grinned when she saw her grandmother pushing her way through the crowd. For the first time in her life, she had a relative at something to cheer for her. She hugged Marsha as she fought against crying. Today was not a day for tears. It was a day for celebration.

  Later, they would meet up with her teammates to celebrate their success, the money they’d raised, and Roger. Tomorrow, she and Aiden were leaving for New Hampshire where they would spend a week with her grandma before going to Maine to meet the rest of his family.

  A month ago, the only family Maggie had was Roger. She missed him every day, but as she gazed around, she realized how much her family had grown in such a short time. Tilting her head back, she grinned at Aiden and leaned against his side.