Unbound (29 page)

“Turn the light on, Dani,
” Cayden said hastily. She did from the corner with her hands still held out and Cayden sucked wind. “Oh shit! It’s Griffin and Mason!”

Dani immediately released them both from the nap she had induced, and stayed balled up in the corner while Cayden helped the two adult vamps up. “What was that?” The adults said in unison.

“Danielle is a little frightened, to say the least. At least she didn’t try to choke you before she figured out who you were,” Cayden said. The two men looked at each other, and then went to Dani in the corner. Mason tried to help her up but she snapped at them, “Don’t touch me! Do what you have to do so I can release my friend and get out of here.” She sniffled and wept with mounting stress.

Cayden went to sit by her on the floor. She didn’t seem to mind the small comfort he offered. She leaned into him for support and buried her face in his arm. The men examined the body and the note that was left with the body.

It read, “You are next. No one else needs to get hurt if you come willingly.” The body belonged to another little known girl, also named Danielle. She had been missing for a week. Griffin and Mason carried her out wrapped in a blanket. They didn’t need to worry about being seen. No human would notice a vamp that didn’t want to be seen.

As soon as they were out of the room, Dani began to pack a few things. Cayden figured this was as good a time as any to let her know he had been to the filthy human’s room. He was wagering she would be angrier with the human for handing over her panties than she would be with him for hunting her down.

“Oh by the way, I hope this doesn’t piss you off, but when I arrived on campus earlier and saw your car. I kinda followed your scent to another dorm.” Dani turned on him with a burning glare, “I only did it because you weren’t answering your phone and it’s my job to protect, I swear.” He raised his hands in surrender.

“Al
right, h
ow did that go over?” she asked with concern in her voice.

“I don’t think your friend was very happy about it. He made sure to let me know that you had just left and would return. Then, in what I can only assume, was his way of staking a claim to you, he gave me these and said you left them behind. He asked that I return them to you.” Cayden dangled the black strip of lace from his index finger. Dani turned an unnatural shade of red. In an effort to comfort her he said, “Hey look, I would have known anyway. The smell of him on you could only come from one thing. So don’t be embarrassed. I just figured I’d better return them or I wouldn’t have said anything.”

Oh yeah. She was pissed, and not at Cayden. Well played, he thought to himself. She stomped off to the bathroom to take a shower. Good, he didn’t want to have to smell that jerk all day anyway. When she emerged from the bathroom, she was wet and sexy in nothing but an oversized towel and the scent of sweet lavender billowed through the air. Damn it, that filthy human was a lucky bastard. She grabbed some clothes and woke Olivia before heading back in to get dressed. It was kinda weird. She didn’t even say anything to her. She just touched her and Olivia got up, gave her a hug and left with a smile like they had a whole conversation. On the way to his car, Griffin called to tell Cayden to take Danielle to Chase’s home where he had a room ready for her. This didn’t make Cayden or Dani happy, and she snatched the phone from him.

“I’ve had a shitty damn week and I am not going to put up with Chase tonight. There has to be another place to stay for a few days until I can get my head on straight, Griffin. If not,
you may find that boy dead too,
” she snapped. Cayden was astonished at her complete lack of respect for Griffin. Nobody spoke to him that way.

“You can stay with me if you like. I live with my parents but we have a spare bedroom. It’s not fancy like the Vaughn estate, but its home,” he whispered in her other ear.

“I’m going home with Cayden. We’ll check in tomorrow.” She hung up the phone without saying goodbye.

“I’m really sorry you have to leave school for a while, but after today you have to understand the need for it. I’ll do my level best to stay out of your way. Honestly, I hope we can become friends. It’ll make it easier for you to have me around.” Cayden wanted to plant the seeds of friendship before he pushed her for more.

“I just need to think, Cay. I’ve had my whole world rocked in the last twenty-four hours. I hope you can forgive my need for silence.” Dani closed the conversation with a swift slam of Cayden’s car door.

FOURTEEN~

The ride out of town toward Cayden’s house took about thirty minutes. She’d never really noticed Cayden’s scent before, but being in the car with him brought it to her attention. He smelled earthy, like the woods behind her mom’s house in the spring when everything’s blooming. The good thing about Cayden was he didn’t need to fill the silence. He could let you think without needing to know what you were thinking about. She didn’t want to talk about all the shit that was happening, and if she did, Dani couldn’t tell him anyway.

Cayden pulled off the freeway and sai
d, “We need to check in at the
Enclave
before we head to my house. I’m sure Mr. Vaughn has called my father, but I still think we should make him aware that you’re in town. The warriors in the area need to be on the lookout for anything odd.” This all-business side of Cayden was new to Dani. The more time she spent with him, the more intriguing he became to her.

“What exactly is the
Enclave
?” she wanted to know.

“It’s where all the warriors in this region report. Some of them even live there. Think of it as a cross between a police station and a military base.”

At least she’d be close to reinforcements if the shit hit the fan. It should be interesting to see a hive of warrior-type meatheads. She supposed she shouldn’t be so
narrow-minded. A
fter al
l, they would be protecting her
and
,
from what she’d seen earlier, she needed it. Dani was just so pissed off. She was in the middle of a shit storm with no umbrella and sick of it. She just wanted to scream and hit something or somebody. Somebody would be even better. Cayden drove into a gated community, passing the armed guards who didn’t even make him pause. By the time they were up the short drive leading to the gatehouse, it was open, and the guards respectfully nodded at Cayden.

This new Cayden was such a surprise, and
not at all like the party hound
she’d seen and heard about from others. Crossing the grounds was an experience. Indeed, there were a lot of warrior-looking men trotting around, but there were also a lot of families. There were moms and kids at the various playgrounds. People were cooking on stationary grills, while other people gathered around picnic tables. The day was warm and everyone was taking advantage of it. There were individual houses and buildings that looked like apartments with courtyards and gardens. In the center of the complex, there were large buildings that she assumed were the training facilities. Cayden parked, exited the vehicle, came around and opened her door. She looked at him in misery.

“Can’t I just stay here, Cay?” she pleaded with a pout.

“How am I supposed to protect you if I don’t stay with you?” he smiled and held out his hand.

“I’m just not in a very good mood. I don’t know if I can be polite.” She gave in and took his hand. “I feel like hitting somebody. I feel like screaming and kicking and fighting.” She finished with a growl. C
ayden stopped and looked at her. He smiled
the bad boy smile she was used to seeing.

“If you wanna fight
this is the right place. I could find a hundred people willing to spar with you at any moment. Or maybe you wanna fight with me?” He raised one naughty eyebrow. “I wouldn’t be opposed to doing some self-defense training with you. If you plan to fight fair that is.” He turned and started walking.

“Are you serious? You would spar with me? You would teach me to fight?” she asked, thrilled he didn’t treat her like a defenseless girl.

“I would love to teach you to fight. It would make me feel better to
know you could defend yourself
if need be. As far as wanting to hit someone, I understand that completely. I come here frequently to spar in order to work out my anger issues. The only thing is you can’t cheat
. No using your super powers,” h
e said with a grin as he held the door for her. It was like a police station in the front, and there were long hallways that branched off to meeting rooms and gyms with boxing rings. People were wrestling on matted floors and playing on basketball courts. They passed a huge pool and several saunas before reaching the locker room. They were all men. She hadn’t seen a woman since she passed the area of the grounds where the houses were located. Not one woman was insi
de the
Enclave
itself.

“Are you ready to get your ass handed to you?” he asked playfully.

“I’m not dressed for it.” She looked down at her jeans and sweater.

“Oh that’s ok
ay
. I’m sure I can find you something. Stay right here.” He disappeared into the locker room. While he was gone, a group of large mountain-looking men came do
wn the hall in a loud cluster,
boasting over a basketball victory, insulting each other’s skills and manhood. When they noticed Dani they got quiet, and several of them stopped to interrogate her.

“What is a sweet thing like you doing hanging around outside the locker room? Wow. Have you boys ever seen a girl with hair like that? Are they power marks, baby doll? You look like you could be very, very powerful,” the crew cut blond asked flas
hing
a smile that would melt the heart of any woman. He was man personified and he knew it. He had a scar that started at the corner of his eye, stretched across his cheekbone, and disappeared under his chin. Somehow, the battle scar made him even sexier.

“I think she needs some company. Maybe I
should give her the grand tour,
” said another hunk of manhood. “Do you like to swim, honey? I’d be glad to show you to the pool. We could take a dip.”

Dani was looking from one man to the other, still unable to speak.

“No, she wants to go take a dip in a sauna with me. Don’t you, beautiful?” This mountain stepped up and touched her face.

Alright. Now she was feeling intimidated, and a little embarrassed. Dani squeezed her way out of the circle and walked down the hall toward the front of the building. She was really ready to fight now. When she finally reached Cayden’s car she was glad to find it unlocked. Dani dug in her bag until she found a pair of yoga pants and a tight workout top. The tank top only reached halfway to her belly button and the pants were low slung, but it would do. She went back inside and ducked into a bathroom with no gender sign on the door. You don’t need ladies rooms if you don’t have any ladies. She changed quickly, excited at the prospect of taking a few swings at Cayden. Hopefully he wouldn’t hit her too hard. Maybe he would hit her hard enough to knock her out for a few days. She could use the break. When she headed back, she got a little turned around looking for the locker room area, and began drawing the attention of every guy she passed. Okay, maybe changing into this outfit was a bad idea, but she couldn’t spar in jeans and a sweater. The fact that she was going to ‘spar’ was so funny an
d unnatural sounding. S
he
finally
gave up
searching and
stepping into a room full of workout equipment
. The room was occupied
by more powerfully built guys
who were busy pumping iron, but when she entered the room
everything stopped. Every eye was on her when she very politely asked, “Could someone show me the way to the locker rooms? I’m a little lost.”

* * *

“Damn it!” Cayden had taken a while trying to find her something to change into but he’d told her to stay still. Where the hell could she have gone? She wasn’t in the car or any bathroom he came across. There is no way anyone could get to her on the
Enclave
. What if she left on foot? No, she wouldn’t do that, would she?

On the way back from his car, Cayden overheard a couple of guys talking about the hot piece of ass that was hanging around the locker room looking for a friend. This pulled him up short and he grabbed the guy by the shirt and pushed him against the wall.

“What happened to the girl you saw?” he demanded through gritted teeth.

“I don’t know, man. A few of the guys stopped to give her a hard time but I didn’t stop. You know I can’t stand Darren, and he was all in her face.” The guy put his hands up.

“Darren was with her?! If you see either of them, have me paged!” Cayden didn’t like the sound of this. Darren was a volatile bastard and Dani was a firecracker. If he offended her, she would surely let him have it. He ran back toward the locker rooms. When he rounded the last corner, he found Dani leaning against the wall surrounded by no less than five warriors. His heart sped as he broke into the crowd and snatched her up into his arms like a rag doll.

“Where have you been? My nerves can’t handle the way you disappear like that all the time!” He was holding her in a way that gave the impression to the other males that she was his. He had his hand tangled in her hair, holding her face to the crook of his neck and his arm tightly pressing her body to his. He looked at the males over her shoulder as if daring them to challenge him.