Born of Silence (Immortal Guardians) (45 page)

He turned his face into her palm, smiling against her skin. “I think so. But if not, then that would be the worst kind of hell.”

“How come?”

Garrick shifted, drawing her hand into his as his long, elegant fingers engulfed hers. “When two people are Fated to each other, it’s hard to live
their
li
ves
without their other half. If enemies were Fated to one other, they’d either have to learn to love each other, or learn to live without killing the other.”

Dani laughed quietly, her stomach quivering with silent mirth. She could only imagine how it would be to hate someone
she
couldn’t leave behind. She didn’t think she could live without Garrick, but she
did
love him. “So it’s real, huh? I mean, it’s actually a
…
thing?”

“Hmm?”

“Being Fated. It actually exists?
Is that why I can’t imagine living life without you?”

A big, broad grin spread across his face, and he nodded, suddenly making her realize that maybe she didn’t mind losing some of those reservations, as long as he
gazed
at her like that. “So you know what I’m talking about?”

“Yes,” she admitted. “I wasn’t sure if it was because you’re the only nice person I’ve been around in years
, though
.”

He
shifted, still careful not to squish her or her wings. She focused on drawing them into herself, and slowly they retreated into her back. It still felt weird, though not nearly as scary as it had once been. Even her claws had disappeared, and her skin
lost its golden sheen, returning to her nice, human, pasty white.

“What do you feel right now?” he asked, gesturing to where their fingers intertwined.

She smiled, feeling a sensation of both hot and cold spread from where their skin touched. “It
…
tingles.”

“See? We’re connected. This is how I first knew we were Fated.”

He had known that long? The first time she had felt that sensation was the first time they had touched through the glass in the cave. The first time she had—almost—had an orgasm. It seemed like a whole lifetime had passed since that day, and he had known the entire time?
“What does that mean for us? Are we sort of married?”

“Uh, yes and no. It just means that I will never want another, and that if you ever do I get rights to torture the bastard to death.”

Dani laughed at this, which was worsened
by
Garrick’s fake, angry glare.

“Some choose to marry,” he continued. “It’s really just a choice. Some couples just accept being Fated for what
it
is, while others take the steps to accept it formally, like in a wedding.”

“And what would you like to do?”

His mouth opened as though he was about to say something, but it quickly snapped shut as a shuffling sound came from out in the hallway. Garrick rolled off the bed quickly, placing himself between the door and her naked form. Dani sat up herself, holding her hands over her bared breasts in case anyone planned on barging in on them, which would likely be the kindly old man, Gregory, who had done everything in his power to remove shrapnel from her spine.

She swung her legs off the bed and slid to her feet, keeping a cautious eye on the door as she pulled Garrick’s shirt on. He turned towar
d her slightly, his eyes riveting to where
she buttoned up the shirt.

“Any idea what that was?”

“No,” he replied. “Why don’t we go find out?”

****

Raine crawled out of the taxi after giving the cabbie the money for the ride. She walked up to the gate, surprised that it had been left open so carelessly. Her thoughts were, as ever, on Ferox. He’d made love to her, every bit as hard and emotional as he ever did, and she hadn’t been able to hold back the tears that spilled when she first felt his fangs slide into her neck. She’d been overjoyed by the rightness of it, but when he saw those tears, he quickly pulled out of her, leaving her bare to the cold room instead of the warmth of his body.

He’d been worried about her. That was plain on his face. But there was something he kept hidden from her. Something she sensed through their renewed blood bond. There was fear. Fear for her, fear for what he did to her, and fear for needing and wanting it all over again.

She needed it all over again. She needed to lose herself in her mate, forget everything that had happened over the last few weeks and just
…
be. But, whatever it was that scared Ferox had been enough to send him packing. He hadn’t allowed her to explain why she was crying, the mere sound of her voice just made things worse. He’d hastily thrown on his clothes and left without a single word.

And now Raine was left thinking about what had happened between them, and how she could convince Ferox that he didn’t hurt her. As soon as she felt his bite, she sensed the direction of his thoughts. He was excited, yes, but he was also fearful of killing her
,
of taking too much blood. That was possible, even for immortals, although most of the time it just meant that it took a lot longer to heal than it normally would. It was only when a vampire became blood-crazed or lost control that they could drain anyone dry.

As she walked up the drive, a trickle of awareness flowed through her. She didn’t know if it was due to her knowledge that Damion had been living incognito in the Guardians’ mansion, or if it was from something else. After Ferox had left her last night, she’d spent all night searching for him, to no avail. She’d returned to the hotel room and waited for him, and then had searched for the Guardians tonight. Had checked every nook and cranny where she knew they normally hunted, but she hadn’t found one of them in sight.

She reached the front door and walked inside, shutting the heavy door gently behind her. The house was quiet. The normal sounds of the men getting ready for rounds or playing games didn’t resound within the Guardians’ walls. She walked through the foyer, bypassing the library and dining room, and the s
tairs that led to the second floor. She reached the second doorway, shouldering her way into the kitchen. Surely Gregory would be—

She tripped over something, barely catching herself before she fell on her face. Whirling around, she looked down at what had so ca
relessly been left on the floor
,
her shock catching in her throat.

Raine dropped to her knees, placing two fingers to Gregory’s neck. There was no pulse. There wouldn’t be. Too much blood had seeped from the gaping wounds—one in his neck, the other in his chest. Her heart pounded, ringing in her ears. Shock and sadness intermingled within her, along with confusion. She’d seen dead people before—had seen too many
over the years
—but this was her friend. Her dear friend who had been a confidant and family member to not only her, but
also
to
her men
.

Gregory had been murdered. Viciously and brutally. He was still warm to the touch. Not the warmth of
a
living, breathing body, but the warmth of a body that had so recently lost life. She bowed her head
and
pulled him into her arms, his head cradled in her lap. Tears streamed from her eyes as she sat quietly holding him.

It wasn’t until she heard a sound that she broke free of her shocked stupor. A quiet, fast-paced breathing sounded from nearby.
She
set Gregory down gently, as if she were laying a baby down to rest. She pushed to her feet, her Instinct firing within. Gregory had
been
murdered in her home. Pulling a knife from the butcher’s block, she quietly paced the kitchen, careful to keep her heels from clanking against the hard floor.

The sounds grew quiet, but she was already near the pantry, which was the most likely place to hide. She wrenched the door open, her knife raised. It was empty. She turned
on her heels then, listening
again. The sounds had come only a few feet from Gregory’s body. She hunched over,
focusing
. She opened a cupboard under the island and came face-to-face with
Chester
’s bright blue eyes
. He was pale and sweating, shaking and crying. Raine went to her knees again, urging him out of his hiding place.

He crawled out, his
gaze landing
on his uncle. Raine turned him away from Gregory, forcing him to look at her. “How did you get in there?”

He blinked, as though he was seeing her, and not seeing her at the same time. “I don’t know. We heard some strange sounds and Gregory got a bad feeling. He said I needed to hide. I barely got inside before…” His gaze traveled back to
the body
. The poor boy looked like he was about to throw up right there.

Raine put her hands on his shoulders. “What happened?”

Chester
glanced
at her again, his
expression begging her to believe him, but obviously fearing she wouldn’t
. “Ferox.”

Her
hands dropped from his shoulder
s
. She sat there, numbly looking at the boy. How could she have been so stupid? To have known the truth of it, but to have not confronted Damion herself. This was all her fault.
Her
doing, because she’d been fearful of how Damion would react to her knowledge.
She’d been too wrapped up in seeing Ferox again, getting to touch him and feel his bite. And now look what had happened.

“
Chester
, listen to me. You need to go hide. Not here,” she quickly added when he looked at the cupboards in the island. She wasn’t sure how he had even squeezed himself in the first time, but to have him stay so close to where Gregory
was
would have been cruel. No, the boy needed to be far from here. Somewhere D
amion would never think to look;
somewhere he had never been, she hoped. “Did he show you where the pool was?”

He nodded, his face paling once
again
as he slid his gaze to Gregory and back to her.

“You need to go there. Inside the pool room there is a
closet
on the east wall. When you step inside it will just look like there are a bunch of towel
s
, but you can pull the shelving unit away from the wall. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

He nodded again.

“Okay. H
ide behind there until one of us comes to get you. Don’t make a sound, don’t respond to anyone.” She stood and helped
Chester
to his feet. Guiding him to the door, she opened it and shoved him through. “Be as quiet as you can,” she whispered before she shut the door.
She spotted a dark box on the kitchen counter and opened it. Her eyes narrowed
as she eyed
the vials. She lifted one, peering at the black liquid it contained before setting it back in the box.

There was crinkling sound, and she turned quickly,
standing face-to-face with Damion. He still wore Ferox’s clothes, as though he was still trying to keep up the façade. His hands were gloved in black leather, and in one hand he held a large black bag.

“Tell me,” he said. “Exactly how long have you known?”

“So this is the basement?”

Garrick snorted at Dani’s obvious awe at the size of the house. After her amazin
g recovery
and their bouts of sex, she’d asked him to take her for a walk so she could loosen up a little. “It is,” he replied.

“Nice.” She quirked her face into yet another expression—one of many that the girl could pull—as she glanced in through another doorway. This particular one opened up into the in-house gym. He guessed that, to her, it would be somewhat impressive. Anything other than caves would be.

“Just wait
un
til you see the rest of the place.”

“Can’t wait,” she laughed.

Garrick still couldn’t believe how fast she had healed. Of course, a lot of that was due to their bond, but he’d take whatever he could get. With her being born human, he’d spent hours afraid that she hadn’t gained immortality. Hours spent afraid that his Dani would fade away from him—just after he’d found her.

“Who’s that?” she asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He
peeked
in through the open doorway that housed the youngest member in the Guardians’ family. “Riley,” he
said
, feeling a pang of sadness that the guy was still in a coma.

The room looked just as it had before: a single light on overhead, medical equipment hooked to the boy, monitoring his stats. He lay under the bright white sheets just as he had the first time Garrick saw him. “He’s been like that for weeks.”

Keeping their hands joined together, Dani pulled Garrick into the room until she stood next to Riley’s bed. “What happened to him?”