Unbound (13 page)

Mason looked at Griffin, “So how are you these days?”  Mason didn’t expect an honest reply, at least not when Sarah was present.

“I’m still here.  Business is good and the kids are growing and healthy.  That’s all you can ask for right?”  Griffin mumbled around a bite of steak.

“I’m going to the range to hit some balls on Saturday.  You should come with me,” Mason was saying when his phone jingling in his jacket pocket interrupted him.  “Excuse me,” he said as he pulled it out. Deborah shot him a dirty look from across the table.  She hated it when he took calls at the table.  He didn’t recognize the number.  Normally he’d let it go to voicemail, but he was compelled to answer.

“Mason.
  It’s me.  I need your help,” a
voice whispered on the other end of the line.

“I’m sorry.  Who did you say this is?”  Not recognizing the caller’s voice, he shrugged and smiled at Griffin who was watching intently.

Sarah said loudly from across the table, “Griffin dear, please don’t dump so much salt on your vegetables.”

“Shit!  He’s with you!” the voice on the other end exclaimed.  “You should call me later, when you’re alone.  It doesn’t matter what time.”

Now Mason was dumbstruck.  “Who did you say this was again?”  Everyone at the table was looking at him now.

“It’s Tessa Vaughn.  You promised that if your goddaughter ever needed anything, I could count on you.  Well now’s the time, Mason.  She’s turning and I have no idea what to do.  Please, help me.”  She pleaded in a trembling voice.

The shock of hearing the voice of a woman whose secret he had been keeping for nineteen years nearly felled him before the words began to sink in.  He couldn’t react, and he needed to diffuse the situation in front of him.  He had the attention of the table.  As casually as he could manage he replied, “I’m sorry but you have the wrong number.”  He paused a moment then continued, “No problem, goodbye.”  Looking back at everyone, he shrugged again and went back to the talk of a golf outing.

SIX~

Chase was slumped on the sofa of his usual table at the club.  He looked out over the crowd where Cayden was busy showing off his dance moves but Chase wasn’t really seeing anything at all.  He was replaying the evening he’d spent with Danielle over and over in his mind.  The unforgettable smell of Danielle clung to him the whole next day, making Chase crazy with desire.  Now he was going crazy because he could no longer smell her.  When he’d entered the club tonight, he actually thought she was here.  He was sure her scent lingered all over the dance floor but a search turned up nothing and left him feeling disappointed.  That sweet vanilla with just a hint of lavender was haunting him.  He closed his eyes and remembered the feel of her skin on the back of his hand as he caressed her, the silk of her hair as he brushed it with his fingers and it poured over his shoulder, the weight of her body lying on him as she breathed deeply against his neck.  God, her lips on his neck as she admitted she couldn’t stop thinking of him, dreaming of him.  These thoughts did nothing but make him hot and eager.  He hadn’t fed in two days.  Not since just before he had picked her up that night.  He couldn’t do it.  His stomach had been in knots since he left her curled up in another male’s bathtub.  He left her there vulnerable and crying.  His need was getting intense and clouding his thoughts.  He swore he could hear her calling his name.  In the back of his mind, he heard a whisper. 

“Help me, Chase.  I’m afraid.  Please, help me.”

This brought to life the protective instinct Chase had for Danielle.  He needed to feed worse than he realized if he was hearing voices. 

Idly he thought,
“Where are you, Lovely?”
and was shocked up off the sofa when he got an answer in the form of a picture in his mind.  It was dark but he could see light shining under a door, illuminating the bottoms of shelves and boxes.  He could hear the very same music that was playing in the club.  She was here and she was calling him!  Or maybe he was actually going crazy.  Just then, Vince came in his direction from the door.  Seeing the alarm on Chase’s face, he was scanning the floor, “What’s up, man?  You got trouble?”

“Have you seen Danielle?  I think she is here somewhere.”

Vince looked guilty and a little scared, “Well, she was here a f
ew hours before we opened.  M
aybe you’re just catching an old scent.”

“What do you mean she was here?  Why didn’t you call me?  Why didn’t you tell me?”  Chase was growling right up in Vince’s face, “When did she leave?”

“Vince didn’t see her leave. He gave her the privacy she asked for, and when he came back downstairs, she was gone.  She was sitting outside crying when Vince got here.  She asked him not to call you and asked to drink in private.  He provided her
with Nathan and left them alone,
”
Vince defended with his hands up in surrender.  “It seemed like a good opportunity.  You know we’ve been coming up blank on her, so I figured if I befriended her she might give some info directly.”

“Nathan was her host?”  Maybe he would know where she went.

“Yeah, but he left not feeling well before his shift started.  Vince had to call in another guy and figured she must have gone a little overboard and left the poor guy weak.  He was looking pretty drunk, eyes all dilated and unfocused.”  Vince smirked at the thought of Dani draining the human to exhaustion.

Chase heard it again,
“I need you, Chase.”
  So weak and quiet the voice almost wasn’t audible.

“Check every square inch of this building now!  She’s here!”  Chase shouted and took off to look for himself.  After a thorough search, Chase started to doubt his sanity again.  Vince caught his eye coming from the stairs and waved him over.  Chase stalked down to the storage level of the building to find Vince.  Danielle was in the back laid out on the floor with her face toward the back door giving her the exact view portrayed in Chase’s mind.  Vince tried to rouse her while Chase stood for a moment in shock.  He snapped to attention and began to growl at Vince.

“I think you’ve done enough already, get out of my way!  Go bring my car around and have Cayden meet me out front now!”  Scooping the lifeless looking beauty up onto his lap, he sat on the floor trying to get a response out of her.

“Lovely, can you hear me?”  She didn’t answer.  He held her face by the chin and opened an eyelid with his thumb.  Her pupils were entirely black, her fangs extended and her breath was very shallow.

Chase ran her out the back door and around the front to avoid pushing through the crowd upstairs.  He told himself over and over like a mantra, “She will be fine.  She will be fine.”

His car was waiting and Cayden was leaning against the passenger door looking annoyed.  Cayden’s eyes flew open when he caught sight of Chase running at him.  “Open the door and help me get in the back.”  Cayden obeyed and Chase climbed in still holding Danielle.  He laid her on his lap and began to look her over more closely for injuries.  “Drive to my place quickly.  I don’t care if you have to run every light.  Can you get Doc Stevens to meet us there?”

Doc Stevens was a vampire with a medical degree who made house calls for vampires.  It’s not like they could go to the hospital for care.  His expertise was needed if someone was severely injured and he usually attended all the vampire births in the area.  Being a doctor gave him the perfect opportunity to feed.  His busy practice brought patients to him daily.

Chase knew something was very wrong with Danielle.  He was trying uselessly to wake her and her eyes were all wrong.  That only happened in reaction to stress, anger, hunger, or passion.  This wasn’t simple drunkenness if Nathan was able to walk out on his own motor.  He’d be dead from alcohol poisoning for her to be laid this low.

“Doc will be there shortly.  He’s finishing up with a patient in the area.  We really need to get this girl help.  She doesn’t know when to say when.”  Cayden shook his head in shame for the girl.

“Something is wrong with her!”  Chase raged, “The person she fed from left on his own two feet after speaking to Vince.  That means I’m gonna have to find him because she didn’t make it to the basement on her own.”  He was running his hands through her hair and whispering to her when they arrived at Chase’s building.  Cayden took Danielle from Chase so he could climb out of the backseat.  As he emerged, he saw the last person he wanted to see sitting on a bench in the vestibule.  Samantha was not going to like this, but he wasn’t going to deal with her now.  Retrieving Danielle from Cayden’s arms, he took off for the elevator.  “Cayden, deal with her, and then come help me.”

“Aw, man!”  Cayden drawled.  “Give her back to me and you deal with that nightmare.”  Chase ignored this suggestion.  He didn’t like seeing Cayden touching his Lovely.  She looked so fragile and she smelled weird.  She smelled like someone sedated.  The smell of it was overwhelming her usual delicious scent.

Samantha jumped to her feet when Chase entered the building with a female in his arms and a look of deep concern on his face.  “Who the hell is that?  Please tell me you’re not killing your prey these days.”  The elevator was open and Chase jumped in hitting the penthouse button without responding, or so much as looking in Samantha’s direction.  Again, he told himself, “She’s going to be fine.  She’s going to be fine.”

* * *

Mason was taken off guard when the call had come in from Tessa.  He knew something was terribly wrong.  The last time he’d seen her was the day he told her of Griffin’s engagement to Sarah.  Tessa was very lucky that the baby was able to accept human breast milk.  It took several frustrating tries, but once she was hungry enough, the babe sucked it down greedily. Tessa was able to care for the baby without vampire intervention. Mason knew that when Griffin returned to Tessa from meeting with his parents, he would be followed. His mother wanted him to bring her the child and to get rid of the mother. If he wouldn’t do it, they would wait until he left her again and take care of the situation themselves. So, when she ran the day of the child’s birth, Mason hid her and the baby. When Adele found the fake medical records he’d planted he would take Griffin to their hiding place, but he had to wait for that to happen. If he told Griffin before that, it would all be for nothing. The information was found within a couple months but his family had waited another month to tell Griffin. Mason was afraid they hadn’t taken the bait and were still searching, so he waited for Griffin to come to him with the sad news of their deaths. That had been Mason’s mistake. He believed his best friend would call him immediately in need of comfort, but Griffin didn’t call Mason until days after he had proposed to Sarah. Then they were in a pickle. Griffin was already bonded to Tessa. They had exchanged blood and preformed the sacred ceremony not long after they met. Mason thought Griffin was insane but his love for Tessa was plain to see. He supposed bonding for love must be better than doing it because your parents arranged it when you were born, but she was human. Mason had wondered if it would work like a normal bonding for that reason, but it didn’t.

Vampire bonding is a strong connection. You will always be aware of that person and their emotions. You can feel your mate’s fears, joy, and sometimes pain or pleasure. This is why vampires don’t share blood unless they’re bonding, or in extreme emergencies to save another’s life. It would need to be someone beloved to make that sacrifice. Being always aware of another is an intimate situation. The only way to break a bond is to create another bond, but that was unheard of. The connection is soul deep and so strong that even if you weren’t in love with your betrothed before the ceremony, it would be all changed afterward. Being without that person would be unthinkable. Vampires do not divorce. The only separation is in death, and that is crushing for the one left behind.

The day he went to break the news about Griffin’s engagement Tessa was out of her mind. Griffin was supposed to meet Mason later that day and Mason intended to bring him back to Tessa. They would have to figure out how to break his engagement without starting a family feud. Griffin and Sarah were to be bonded in only a week. Tessa raged and Mason began to think that Griffin had given her too much of his blood. Maybe she was becoming a vampire after all. She wasn’t but her heart ripped and convulsed at the knowledge that Griffin had consented to bond with another woman less than twelve hours after he learned of her supposed death.

After she managed to break every dish in the house and several pieces of furniture, she calmed a bit. Her next request was against Mason’s best wishes for his friend, but Tessa had a right to protect her child and she felt betrayed by her mate. She asked Mason not to tell Griffin she was alive. She reasoned that if they broke the engagement Griffin’s parents would suspect foul play. They would follow him and come for the baby. Surely, they would have her killed. She just didn’t understand why they wanted the baby if she was an embarrassment. Why did they want her half-breed child? Griffin had ruined everything and she had to play the cards she was dealt. Losing her child was not an option, and Griffin had not even mourned her loss. Mason promised he would always be there if needed. The baby was showing no signs of vampirism. Tessa hoped she never would, but if she did, Mason would have to step in. Mason explained that
he had no idea how Griffin’s new
bonding would affect her. It had never been done, to his knowledge, unless the first mate was actually dead. He left her that day, and when he returned to see how she was doing after Griffin’s bonding, she was gone.