Her eyes closed. “Yes,” she breathed.
His fingers itched with the urge to stroke her cheek in order to reassure her further, but he couldn’t take the risk of drawing any unnecessary attention to themselves. When they were safely hidden away again, he’d do plenty of reassuring.
She followed him around to the back of the orphanage and inside once more. Abbot and Pallas were standing in the dining room doorway. Abbott twisted his hands before him, while Pallas shifted from foot to foot.
“They’ll probably be back soon,” Pallas whispered.
Keeping his hand on Tempest’s elbow, William hurried her toward the basement door. “Wait, the attic might be better,” Tempest told him. “If Kane went into the basement this morning, he may go down there again.”
“Is the attic over where they’re staying?” he asked.
“It is, but they shouldn’t be able to smell us or hear us in there. The attic was where we would sometimes hide as children.”
“No one ever found us up there,” Pallas confirmed.
He glanced at the basement door before looking at the stairs leading toward the second floor. “Are there windows and another way out from up there?”
“Yes,” Tempest said.
“Can we get past the children without them seeing us?”
“I’ll make sure they’re in one of the rooms, and they stay there,” Pallas replied.
Kane hadn’t noticed them in the basement this morning, there had been plenty of places to hide, but he was used to moving and changing his locations. His instincts screamed at him to not be in the same place two nights in a row. “We’ll get our supplies and move into the attic.”
“I’ll get the children out of the way,” Pallas said.
He watched her hurry up the stairs. “Stay here,” he said to Tempest and dashed down the stairs. He couldn’t shake the thought that their time was running out; he could practically feel Kane and his cohorts closing in on them. He grabbed his saddlebags and some blankets from where they’d spent last night and ran up the stairs again. Tempest waited for him at the bottom of the stairs to the second floor when he emerged.
She took hold of his hand and led him swiftly up the stairs, past the rows of closed doors to the one Pallas and Abbott stood outside. “Let us know when it’s safe to come out tomorrow,” William told them. “I have a plan to get us out of here. The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can get out of this town.”
Pallas bit on her lip and nodded enthusiastically. “We have to go soon.”
“We will,” he promised.
“What about the children?” Tempest asked. “They have to come with us.”
“We’ll get them out of here too.”
He took hold of her elbow again and led her up the rickety stairs to the attic above. Below them, the door closed, the dim light it had provided faded away but faint slivers of illumination could be seen shining underneath the door. At the top of the stairs, Tempest opened another door. He stepped through it and into the massive attic.
Boxes were stacked from floor to ceiling in the corners of the room, cobwebs dangled from the thick wood beams running across the ceiling. The layer of dust coating everything would have made him sneeze if he’d still been human. Now it tickled his nose and filtered up around him when his footsteps fell onto the thick wood covering the floor. The dust sparkled in the fading sunlight filtering through the round windows at each side of the house.
He placed the blankets on the floor before walking over to one of the windows. There was no latch to open the windows; he’d have to bust the glass out if escape became necessary. He gazed down at the small alley between the orphanage and the building beside it. The twenty-five foot fall into the snow would be nothing for a vampire.
Satisfied they would have warning if someone was coming, and they’d have a chance of escape, he turned to Tempest. She stood in the middle of the attic, her fingers near her mouth as she bit at her nails. Pulling her hand away, she scowled at her fingers before shoving them down to her side. He hated the shoe polish in her pale hair and the uneasiness in her warm brown eyes, but he drank in the sight of her.
“What is this plan of yours?” she inquired in a low voice.
“Later,” he said as he approached her. “I simply need to be with you right now.”
Her mouth parted at his words; her eyes followed his every step until he stood before her. Resting his palms against her slender face, he cradled her cheeks in his hands as he bent to place a kiss against her luscious mouth. A sigh of pleasure escaped him, when her lips parted to the invasion of his tongue.
He’d never tasted or experienced anyone like her. The bond between them had been growing, but now he could almost feel it simmering between them, just as he could sometimes feel it between Braith and Aria, and Jack and Hannah. He didn’t know what it meant, but he found he didn’t care as her hands slipped beneath his shirt. He could figure it out later, now was for the two of them.
The minty taste of her filled his mouth; she was sweeter and more intoxicating than the finest wine. His hands slid into her hair. He pulled her closer and pressed her firmly against his chest. The heated pressure of her flesh against his was nearly his undoing. He couldn’t wait to rid her of the cumbersome clothes blocking him from being able to touch her as he lowered her carefully to the floor.
Later, when they’d finally separated themselves from each other and dressed again to make a speedy escape, he told her his plan. Silence filled the house beneath them; he didn’t hear anyone moving about as he spoke. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his chest; her head lifted so she could look at him.
“William, that’s insane,” she whispered.
“It will work,” he assured her as he brushed the hair back from her face. “At the very least it will provide a cover for you and the children to escape.”
“Not without you.”
“With or without me, you’re going to have to get out of this town, Tempest. My sister turned me, she can find me, and she will come here looking for me, or send others for me if I don’t get word back to her soon. They can’t walk into this insanity unprepared. They won’t kill me.”
At least he hoped they wouldn’t kill him, but he believed it would be far more likely they would try to use him as leverage against Aria and Braith. He couldn’t think about that possibility, not when Tempest was staring down at him with fear-filled eyes. Lifting his finger, he traced it over her full bottom lip. The smell of her blood pricked his appetite and caused his fangs to tingle. His mouth watered; his finger stilled on her lips as he relished the scent of her.
“You can’t guarantee they won’t kill you,” she murmured.
“They’ll know who I am. They’ll want me alive.”
Drawing her head down to him, he lightly ran his tongue over her bottom lip. “You can’t know that,” she replied against his lips, refusing to be drawn into his kiss. “I don’t like this at all.”
“It will work,” he assured her.
“What about the other vampires of this town? The ones who haven’t been drawn in or are still locked away? What will become of them?”
“This will give them more of a chance to escape than they have now. There was never much of a chance for them, even if we had gone to Aria and Braith. We never would have gotten back here in time to save any of them. This is the only opportunity they could have.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes; with the pads of his thumbs, he wiped away the ones sliding free. “Are you doing this because of Kane?”
“No,” he answered honestly. “If I get to take him out it would be an added bonus, but if I don’t, then I don’t. I will take whatever chance I can to get free. I promise you that, Tempest. You are far more important to me now than he is.”
Her eyes widened at his words. Before she could speak, he pulled her down for another kiss. She looked dazed; her lips were enticingly swollen when he broke the kiss again and smiled up at her. If she’d been about to argue more with hi
m, or perhaps somehow deny what he’d told her, she’d completely forgotten about it now.
He gave her a lazy smile of satisfaction as he played with a strand of her hair. “Come on, lay down, you’re tired.”
She settled in against him, but her hand on his chest trembled. The supple curves of her lithe body fit perfectly against the hardness of his. He brushed the hair away from her neck as he fought the hunger tearing through him. He hadn’t been feeding as well as he normally did, but he’d never felt this burning clamoring for blood before. She smelled of winter, but her blood lit his body on fire.
Holding her close to him, he turned his nose into her hair and inhaled her scent. “I’ll be fine,” he promised when he felt the wetness of her tears against his neck.
Her lashes tickled his skin when she blinked back her tears. “You have to be,” she whispered. “You’re important to me, too.”
He dragged her so forcefully against him that it had to have left a bruise, but she didn’t make a sound of protest, and she didn’t try to break free from his hold. Instead, her grip on him became crushing in its intensity. He didn’t protest either.
***
Tempest stood within the shadows of the attic, listening as heavy footsteps thudded across the floor beneath them. She glanced at William, standing by the window and staring down at the side yard separating this house from the one next door. Most of the shoe polish had faded from his hair to reveal its auburn color.
Her own hair had faded to a lighter color, but the blonde pieces were still obscured. She pushed it over her shoulder when he turned his head to look at her. His eyes ran over her from head to toe, the hungry gleam in his gaze causing her blood to quicken. She’d meant to stay away, but she found herself irresistibly drawn toward him.
She had to protect her heart, what he planned to do was completely insane and might get him killed. Her chest constricted and a lump formed in her throat. She’d known him for such a short time, yet he’d come to mean so much to her. He took hold of her hand when she extended it to him and pulled her against his side. She stared out at the side yard before turning to look at the vampires moving up and down the street.
“If you survive this and somehow manage to get free, then what?” she inquired.
“We’ll go to my sister.”
“Can’t we just go to her now?”
“I have to know what we could be facing with this woman and who she is. The war was awful Tempest, the fighting, the death…” His eyes were haunted when they met hers. “If there’s any way I can help to prevent even one death, I’m going to do it.”
She closed her eyes, unable to argue with him further as she rested her forehead against his chest. There was far more at stake than just their happiness or their future. No matter how selfish and childish she wanted to be, and it was taking everything she had not to stomp her feet and throw a tantrum like a child denied their toy, but she knew she couldn’t act that way. Other lives depended on her ability to stay level headed and focused on something other than her own wants and needs.
Therefore, she remained mute and inwardly weeping for all they might have had. She was petrified she might never see him again, and if by some miracle she did, she didn’t know what the circumstances might be. No, she had no idea what would become of him, or them, but she would get the children out of here. It had always been her main goal, and she had to stay focused on it.
Her hands curled into his shirt. She didn’t think she could bring herself to release him. His lips were warm when he pressed a kiss against the top of her head. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest.
What of us? The question stuck in her throat. She couldn’t bring herself to ask such a needy question, not when she was afraid of the answer, and not if these moments could be the last they had together.
More tears burned her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “I’m going to be fine,” he said. “I’ve put myself in worse scrapes than this one, and I’m still here.” A small laugh escaped her; she turned her head into his chest and inhaled his earthy aroma. Beneath her hands she felt his skin ripple. His hands ran over her arms in a comforting gesture. “You have to keep yourself safe too; you have the most important part in all of this.”
“Don’t worry about me; I’m used to going unnoticed. Just don’t get yourself killed.”
“It’s impossible for me not to notice you,” he whispered against her ear. “And I won’t.”
He kissed her cheek before the warmth of his mouth steadily moved lower. His lips slid over her ear; his tongue swirled out in a way that caused her to quake in anticipation. The scrape of his fangs against the sensitized flesh of her neck made her instinctively press closer to him. Her head tilted to the side. She couldn’t think; her fingers dug deeper into the solid flesh of his chest as her mind and body spun out of control.
Liquid lightning pooled low in her belly; anticipation sizzled over her skin. She wanted to scream at him to do it, to put her out of her misery, but words completely failed her. All she could do was stand and shake as his heated kisses soothed the scratches his fangs left over her flesh.
A groan escaped her when the next scrape broke her skin. He emanated a low rumble when his tongue swirled over her flesh, licking away the blood beading there. Maybe vampires didn’t exchange blood with each other often, but she craved this more than anything else in her life. If he tasted her, she’d be able to find him anywhere, and with what he planned that could become a necessity.
He turned his head away; his warm breath was ragged against her ear as he inhaled greedy gulps of air. The muscles of his back rippled when her hands slid around to flatten against them. The struggle within him tore at her heart, but she couldn’t find the words to tell him to do as he pleased. Instead, she turned her head into his throat and pressed a tender kiss against his silken flesh.
Her fangs burst free before she could do anything to stop them. It had been such an instinctual reaction; one she didn’t know how to fight. He clasped her closer against his neck, giving her permission without saying a word.
Tempest’s lips skimmed back, her fangs thrummed as saliva filled her mouth. Her body quivered as she fought against what she’d always believed to be wrong. He’d know where she was from now on too, always be able to find her. What would have frightened her and left her feeling exposed a month ago, now thrilled her.
Giving into the driving compulsion, her fangs pierced his skin and sank deep into his vein. He pulled her closer and lifted her off her feet at the same time his fangs drove into her shoulder. His flesh muffled her cry of ecstasy; her fingers raked down his back as pleasure swamped her.
Her knees gave out, but William’s arm around her waist held her upright as she continued to feed from him. The pulsing waves of warm blood filled her and satisfied her in a way no blood ever had before. His blood reminded her of him; it tasted smoky and woodsy as it pulsed into her mouth and seeped into her system. She didn’t realize she was crying until she felt the wetness of her tears dripping off her cheek and onto her fingers wrapped around his shoulder.
His happiness over what was happening filled her; his yearning and need for her slithered through her mind. She tried to stop crying, but there was no way to stifle the tears of joy spilling from her eyes. The searing hunger that had driven her to bite him began to ease.
His fangs released their grip on her shoulder; his hands smoothed her hair back as she continued to feed from him. “I’ll be back. Nothing will keep me from you,” he whispered in her ear.
I love you. She longed to say the words aloud, but she couldn’t bring herself to let him go in order to say them.
Finally, she broke free of him and buried her face in the hollow of his throat. He cradled her against him until her tears stopped flowing. Those three words lodged in her throat; no matter how she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to speak them. It was insane, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that if she said them she would never see him again.
He rocked her within his arms until the thud of the front door closing reverberated through the house. Moments later, Abbott opened the attic door to tell them it was safe to come out. Her deadened heart plummeted into her toes, but the real world wouldn’t be denied.
CHAPTER 23
“Does insanity run in your family?” Pallas inquired when he finished telling them the same plan he’d already outlined for Tempest.
“My brother-in-law would probably say yes,” he admitted.
“Who is your brother-in-law?” Pallas inquired and folded her arms over her chest.
Tempest had been staring at the street, she looked away when Pallas spoke. Her eyes, still red rimmed from her tears, shot toward him as she waited to hear his reply. He’d planned to keep his identity from them until they left this town, but it made no difference now. Everyone in this town would know who he was soon enough, and if they intended to turn them over, they would have done so by now.
“The king,” he replied. “The real queen is my sister.”
Pallas’s eyebrows shot into her hairline. Abbott gave a small snort. “Sure she is,” he scoffed.
“She is,” Tempest said.
“Shit,” Abbott hissed.
“Language,” Tempest scolded.
Abbott blushed and ducked his head as he gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry.”
Tempest pulled back a sliver of curtain and looked outside again. He hated the rigid set of her shoulders and the anxiety emanating from her, but he would do whatever it took to make sure she escaped this town.
“I think your brother-in-law would be right about you,” Pallas said.
“This will work,” he insisted. Tempest didn’t look at him again when he spoke, but her hand shook on the curtain. “I need a hairpin or a small pick if anyone has something like that.”
“I do,” Pallas replied. “I’ll go get it.”
Pallas hurried from the room and returned a couple minutes later with a silver hairpin. It had a piece in the middle that would allow him to bend and work it into the shape he required. Bending down, he pulled off his right boot and slid the pin into the hole in his sole. It would be impossible for anyone to see the pin while he was walking. If they took his boots off, they wouldn’t notice it either, but he’d be screwed either way if they took his boots.
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