Unbound (32 page)

“Did you mean what you said out there? I feel like an ass admitting this, but I feel something between us and I like it. I want it. So don’t play games with me.” He watched as she searched his face for something. She lowered her head for a moment, breathing deeply, but didn’t answer. He continued, “That day at Chase’s place you told me you’re not what we think you are. What does that mean?”

No answer. She got up and went to shut the door that was still wide-open allowing cool air to pour in. She was considering her responses carefully. She stood there watching him with those pale blue eyes until he couldn’t take it anymore. Slowly he approached her and wrapped him arms around her petite body. It was just like when he’d held her while she cried earlier that day. He could see something was hurting her and he had to try to end her suffering.

“I just need to know if you felt what I felt when you kissed me. I need to know if I have a chance. Everything else can wait until you are ready to talk to me.” He held his breath waiting for her to break the painful silence. Finally, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her forehead against his chest.

“I’m going to be honest with you, Cayden. It’ll be your decision where we go from here, but first I want you to promise you’ll explain the things I don’t understand. Deal?” she asked. He nodded tightly in response. “I’m not in a good place right now. I broke up with my first and only boyfriend re
cently. I have this intense connection with
Chase that I can’t explain. I even find him in my sleep and he tries to talk to me. He has been trying like hell to apologize, but it means nothing to me. It’s an empty apology. He told me he wanted it to be just me and him forever just before that girl busted into his room. Then he had to admit he had some house obligation to marry her or whatever it is that you people do.”

He interrupted, “You people?”

“Yes, you people. The whole race of people I was unaware of until I started school this fall. You think this shit has been easy for me? I was raised among humans. I never knew any others like me and the human that raised me didn’t know shit. She knew what I was and had a way of getting me regular donors but that was it. My caretaker died and I started school with no knowledge of others like me.

I went to the club with my friends that first time and got all this special treatment. I came to understand later that it was because
you people
recognized me as one of your own. I had no idea who I was dealing with until I was attacked,” she shuddered and pushed out of his arms.

“All this stuff I can do didn’t start happening until just before I started school. I have no one to teach me or explain anything to me. I thought I was going crazy. Griffin explained that it’s normal for these things to be unknown until you come of age. Do you understand now why I’m so damn confused? This is a new world for me and I don’t have a single friend in it.”

She turned away to look out the window. “I want you to understand me in hopes that you’ll help me learn how to deal with this crap.”

“I’ll do anything I can for you,” he vowed.

“Don’t say that until I finish. You need to know where I stand on all fronts. I understand that I’m not what you expect from your women and I never will be. I won’t hide in a corner and wait for my true love while the men run around screwing to their heart’s content, until a bond forces them to come to heel.” She paced back and forth across the room with her arms wrapped around her waist while she spoke.

“I have feelings for Chase that I can’t explain but I wish they’d go away. I have a relationship with Charlie that is not exclusive to feeding. Once again, you need to remember that I was raised basically human and the only boyfriend I ever had was human. So, I don’t harbor any prejudices. On top of all of that it hit me hard today that I enjoy being around you. You have been there for me several times when I really needed a friend.”

Cayden stopped her pacing. He needed to touch her, comfort her. “You make me feel safe,” she whispered, “When I kissed you this afternoon, it started with teaching that jerk a lesson and ended with me wanting more. The kiss outside was a result of the wanting you more.”

“I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first moment I laid eyes on you,” he admitted. She smiled weakly.

“To answer your question plainly, yes I do feel something between us. Standing here in your arms
is making me burn for another kiss,
another taste. It’s a hot smoldering thing that frankly scares the shit out of me. I guess it’s up to you to decide if you can deal with a girl who is dating a human, has feelings for another vampire, and wants like hell to kiss you until she burns up from the heat. That’s as honest as I can be. I’m dating, like any other college chick these days. If I have upset you, I don’t expect you to take me under your wing and help me understand all this stuff. If you want to place me i
nto the care of another warrior
I’ll understand
,
but I hope you don’t.  You let me know how you feel about things. I think I’m gonna go try to find something to eat and go to bed. We can talk more tomorrow if that’s what you want. I don’t have anything left in me toni
ght.”  Dani reached up to pull
him down to her mouth for a slow, smoldering joining of mouths and tongues.

Cayden was burning, too. Her kiss was sweet and tender. It was as if she were trying to absorb the moment in case he didn’t let her kiss him again. Her honesty floored him and made him insanely jealous at the same time. She was dating and she would continue to do that for now. She wouldn’t play games with him. All her cards were out o
n the table. He wondered if he could be so honest if he were
in her shoes. He needed to think. When she released him from the kiss, they were both breathless. She padded off to the kitchen in search of food and Cayden went back out to the hammock. After only one day with Dani, he completely understood why Chase had gone a little nuts. He also got why the human guy had been so possessive. He dozed off looking at the stars and think
ing of Dani and her
sweet kisses that would not belong solely to him.

Cayden woke to bright morning sunlight. He had been outside all night. It was much cooler than the day before. After a shower and a few more minutes of debating whether or not he could share Dani, he went to knock on the guest room door. Why did this idea bother him so much? He had never been in an exclusive relationship. He was the bad boy, the loner. This should be right up his alley
,
but the alley was feeling kinda crowded to him.

The door was open so he walked in but she wasn’t there. All her things remained. The little pink thing she was wearing the night before was on the bed. On his way to the kitchen, he ran into his mother.

“There you are. I was beginning to worry,” Koren Paris said, wrapping her loving arms around her son. Koren was a tall blond with blue eyes that were always smiling. She was such a contrast from his stoic father but they balanced each other out beautifully. Cayden was beginning to notice things like that. He noticed things he never paid attention to before, like the way his mother could totally disarm his father and have the tiger of a man purring like a kitten within moments of arriving home. He wondered if that was what love did to a person.

Kissing his mother’s cheek he asked, “Why would you be worried, Mom?”

“Your father and Dani were trying to reach you but you didn’t answer your phone. They left without you. Gage was uncomfortable about removing Dani from your care but she insisted that she go with them to search for the missing boy.” Worry lines creased Koren’s forehead.

“What? Where did they go?” Cayden was confused and his pulse was beginning to pound in his ears.

“Apparently, the boy that’s missing was reaching out for help. Like a telepathic S.O.S. He has no telepathic ability but he knew if anyone in the area were a strong enough telepath, they would hear him. He reached Dani somehow in her sleep. You do know that Christopher Stafford is missing, right? Obviously, the Stafford family is in hysterics. Dani woke your father and me before dawn saying he was reaching out for help. He is trying to lead us to him. She said she could see the room he was in and she was sure he was by the water from the smell and sounds she was picking up. That girl is really very gifted and lovely, too.” Koren shook her head in awe of the young woman.

“I know she’s perfect, Mom. Could you get to the part where they left without me?” Cayden was getting pissed. He had left his phone in the house and didn’t want to stand here lollygagging when he should be out with Dani.

“Ok, don’t snap at me like that. She was able to establish a connection with the boy and she felt like she could find him through that connection. Your father gathered the Wrath and got Dani fitted up to go with them. I followed them to the
Enclave
. She was very nervous, and wanted to find you, but they had to go. I suggested she try to find you with her mind like she was doing with the boy but she was afraid of losing the connection with Christopher. She still doesn’t know these gifts well enough to take the chance. If she could only reach one person at a time, she might not be able to find him again. You should have seen that sweet little girl in all black and a bulletproof vest standing in the middle of all those huge men with a pistol on her hip. She was trying so hard to be brave.”

Chase’s mind reeled. “She went on a strike with the Wrath?! I don’t believe this! I never would have allowed this to happen! When did they leave? Where were they going?” Cayden was running toward his room to get geared up and he was dragging his mother along, demanding answers. The Wrath was an elite group of warriors trained to deal with the more dangerous situations that faced his kind. If the warriors were like a cross between the police and military, the Wrath was a cross between the human Navy SEALs and a police S.W.A.T. team. They were a deadly force. Nobody wanted to have the Wrath come down on them.

“They left a couple of hours ago. Dani said they needed to head to the wharf in town. She was hoping the connection would get stronger if she got closer to him. She wanted to attempt to zero in on his position.” The house phone rang. Koren grabbed the line in Cayden’s room while he was strapping on guns and knives. “Gage, honey, I was just telling Cayden what was going on.” She stopped as Gage spoke over her. He spoke for several moments. Cayden tried to take the phone.

“Give me the phone, Mom.” His mother slapped his hand away. “Ok, I’m on the way. I know that girl has no family. I will sit with her. See you soon.” Koren hung up and ran out of the room yelling, “Let’s go, son. Your charge is in need of our comfort.”

“What happened? Is she hurt?” Cayden felt sick.

“Something went wrong. They saw the strike coming somehow. Gage made Dani stay in one of the strike vehicles, but after the Wrath entered the building, several vamps dragged the boy out a side-door and peeled off in a car. Dani hopped in the driver’s seat of the strike vehicle, pursuing the escaping car, and radioed for back up. She somehow stopped the car but there was an accident. They’re on their way back to the
Enclave
. Our doctor on call can treat her injuries. The Stafford boy is banged up, but fine and on his way home to his family where Doc Stevens will be waiting for him. That girl is my hero!”

Cayden and Koren reached the
Enclave
not long after the Wrath. He ran ahead of his mother. Passing the wrecked vehicle, he noticed the blood smeared down the driver’s side window and a small bloody handprint on the hood. He wanted to rage at the idea of her being hurt. She’d said he made her feel safe. She said he was there when she needed him and now she was hurt because he had failed on both counts. Cayden went straight to the infirmary where warriors waited for word of Dani’s condition. There must have been fifty of them lined up in the hall. They had all gotten word of her bravery and came to lend their support. They all looked up at him when he rounded the corner and Darren, who was a Wrath team leader, stepped in front of the door to the medical wing.

“Get out of my way, Darren!” Cayden growled as several other warriors grabbed him.

“No can do, Superman. Gage said to keep you out here until the warrior is patched up. He said you were too busy to care for your charge earlier, so now he will tend to her until she’s ready to be seen.” Darren loved denying Cayden the right to be with the girl. He smiled, amused, watching Cayden struggle against the warriors that were detaining him.

Coming up behind the struggle Koren stepped up, “You said a warrior is being patched up. Who else was injured?” She put a hand on Cayden’s chest, willing him to calm down.

“Only the girl was injured. She was the only one to see any action. I guess she didn’t need all of us trained soldiers. Gage said she went after the boy like he was her charge to protect. She did what she had to do at
the
risk of her own life to save him. He said she is as much a warrior as anyone of us. So the warrior, Danielle, is being patched up now.” Darren spoke reverently of the girl and the hall exploded with shouts of approval and agreement.

* * *

Two hours earlier…

“I can feel him, Gage. We’re close. This is it! Christopher is in this building!” Dani pointed to an abandoned warehouse by the docks.

“Are you sure? Maybe we should circle the area again.” Gage surveyed the street and surrounding buildings.