Unbound (52 page)

Placing her limp body gently on a leather sofa he glared at Cayden, “When was the last time she fed? Were you not taught that our males provide for and protect our females?

“I don’t know when she last fed. She’s very secretive about it, almost like it embarrasses her. She mostly uses bagged blood because she’s so confined to the
Enclave
. There aren’t any humans milling about there for her to charm. I have only seen her twice since she was arrested. She didn’t want me to see her like that,” Cayden confessed.

“It doesn’t matter now.” Griffin was furious. Nobody had taught his baby to properly care for herself and the guilt of his failure to be a father to her stabbed at him painfully. “All of you get out. Mason went to find her a human and I’m sure she won’t want an audience. Darren you are dismissed from your charge. Return to Gage for your next assignment. I will figure out how we are going to protect her from now on.”

* * *

Darren hesitated, hating to leave her. He kept her safe and he wanted to continue to stand by her side. She was so weak and exposed right now. He cared for her and she deserved better than these two clowns could give her. He would speak to Gage about protecting her secretively. No one had to know. He would stay wherever she went to live and watch over her. He left the room to discuss it with Gage.

* * *

Mason stuck his head in a side door. “Get out, now!” he said to Chase and Cayden who were still lingering around the main door to the hall. Indignant they left, closing the door behind them. Griffin was tending Danielle, trying to get her positioned comfortably on the sofa. He waited for the human Mason had procured for Danielle to appear. Mason locked the main door and went back to the side door he had entered and instructed the human to lock the door.

“Get over here,” he growled when the door shut.

Footsteps came right up to his side. He tilted Danielle’s head back to accept the blood and reached for the human’s arm, tugging the person to her knees. Quickly slicing across the human’s wrist, he pulled it to his daughter’s mouth. He didn’t care if Danielle drained the human dry as long as she woke and opened those beautiful eyes so he could adore her. “Be still,” he told the human. After a moment, Danielle reached for the arm and held to her mouth.

“That’s right, baby. Take what you need. Mommy is here now. I won’t let them hurt you anymore.” Tessa brushed a hand over Dani’s hair, her eyes snapped open and her mouth stilled. “No sweetheart, don’t stop. You’re not hurting me.” She looked to her right to find Griffin gaping at her.

“I didn’t know it was you, my love.” He reached out a hand to touch her check but she moved.

“Don’t touch me, Griffin. I am here for my daughter, not you. You have no right to touch me ever again,” Tessa snapped. Griffin’s eyes went black with the intense emotions coursing through him. She just turned her attention back to Dani. Her little girl needed her and that was all that mattered.

After a few more deep draws, Dani licked the wound on her mother’s wrist to close the wound. She sat up and stared at her parents. This was the first time she had ever seen them together. They were looking at each other. Griffin looked at Tessa longingly as if he wanted to wrap her up in his arms. Tessa looked at Griffin with hurt, angry eyes.

“Thank you, Mom,” she interrupted. “How did you get here?”

“Your father caught me stalking the halls of the chamber trying to listen in on the hearing. I tried to leave and wait for you to call me, but I couldn’t. I was in my car on the parking lot when Mason called me and said you needed blood. I told you to start feeding more often. I know you don’t like it but you must feed, Danielle. Feeding every once in a while is not enough to sustain you without you going all black-eyed freak on me.” Dani giggled at her mother’s use of her description of the vampire race. Griffin got up off his knees and began to pace behind the sofa.

“So let me get this straight. Mason is close enough to you that he had your cell number? My baby has been here with me all this time and no one thought I deserved to know? You have been alive for all these years and I didn’t deserve to know my child? She has had no one to properly teach her and you didn’t think she deserved any better than that? You let me suffer and mourn for you all this time and didn’t care?”

Danielle looked from her Mom to Griffin and back. The look on Tessa’s face said she was about to explode. Dani didn’t particularly want to be a witness.

“I think I’m going to go find Cayden. Thank you so much for helping me, Mom. I will call you later. I’m going home with you. I have no home here now and I don’t think it’s safe for my friends if I go back to school. I love you.” She kissed her mother on the top of her head and went to the door. When she opened the door, she saw Sarah and Sam in the hall. She pushed the door shut before they saw her.

“Shit! You guys may want to continue this later. Sarah and Sam are in the hall waiting for you, Griffin.”

Tessa went around the other side the sofa and looked up into the eyes of the man she loved so deeply. “Mason saved me and Danielle.”

“Her name is Soleil,” he said through his teeth.

“Mason gave us a safe place where your family couldn’t find us until I went out on my own. He made sure they would believe we were dead so we could be together. He knew you would come to me as soon as you knew where we were. So we waited for your parents to find the fake evidence of our death. It was torture. I spoke to you all day every day. I cried to you all night every night. You didn’t answer me. You never answered me.” She blinked and tears flowed over her lashes.

“When they finally told you of our death, Mason was sure you would call him immediately, but you didn’t call him. The day he came to tell me you were going to bond to Sarah you were supposed to meet him. He was going to bring you to me so we could find a way to get you out of your engagement. I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell it was a lie. I have felt you every day of every year but you couldn’t feel me. I have never loved
another, never touched another.” S
he paused, not wanting to go in that direction.

“I wouldn’t allow him to tell you. If you cared so little for me and Soleil that you agreed to remarry less than twelve hours
after hearing of our death the
n you never really loved me.” She backed away from him. “But, I never stopped loving you. How dare you stand in judgment of me, you unfaithful bastard? As for being close to Mason, I left our safe house the day you bonded to that woman. I never spoke to him again. Until she started college this fall Dani was a completely normal human girl. When her power took her over, I had to ask for help. Not that I need to explain myself to you. Why don’t you go to your wife and family and leave me to mine.”

Griffin looked at Tessa, his mouth agape. He looked at Soleil who was leaning against the door, big tears falling on her shirt as she took in her mother’s pain. She moved away from the door to allow him to leave. He stopped at the door to look her over. How indeed had he not known this girl was his daughter? And how was he going to go on with his life?

* * *

Dani held her mother tightly and let her cry. Her heart
hurt knowing
Tessa had lived with constant pain and never let her sorrow show. She had suffered alone with a blood bond and she would continue to suffer. The only way to bre
ak the bond was by death or to be bonded
to another
vampire
. She wasn’t even sure if that would work, considering Griffin had bonded to another and Tessa wasn’t released. Tessa would have to bond to another vamp to even attempt to break it and it would be hard to find a vamp that would want to mate with a human. There was a knock at the door to the main hall.

“Angel, I saw Griffin leave.
Are you alright in there?” A
deep voice
came
from the other side of the door
.

“It’s Cayden,
” she mouthed to her mom.

Then there was a knock at the side entrance Tessa had come in, “Lovely. Are you well enough for a visitor?” This door wasn’t locked so she quickly pulled the hood up over Tessa’s head and mouthed, “Chase.” Tessa rolled her eyes.

“I’m heading out. Call me as soon as you can.” Tessa put her head down so she was completely covered and opened the side door.

Dani watched Tessa retreat through the crack in the door. Chase had begun to walk back down the hall and was half way to the exit. He stopped suddenly turning his back toward the doorway as Tessa passed him. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to his chest, lifting her feet off the ground.

“Lovely, you frightened me. Please, leave with me before anyone else sees you. I just want to hold you, I swear. I miss you so badly. I know you don’t believe me but I love you.” He nuzzled the side of her face through the hood.

Dani stepped out into the hall hoping he would see her and release Tessa but he was so wrapped up in holding her he didn’t look up. Tessa pushed against his chest and tried to get away but he pulled her closer. Dani cleared her throat and his head snapped up to look at her. She went back into the office as if she were angry at catching him with another girl. Confused he dropped the strange girl as if she’d burned him and ran down the hall to meet her. Dani felt sorry for the guy. She assumed Chase had smelled her mom’s similar scent and had mistaken Tessa’s nearly identical body frame for her.

“Lovely, I thought that was you,” he stuttered.

“Nice to know you can’t tell me from some other chick. That’s true love for you, huh?”  

He crossed the room to her in a few long strides and grabbed her just as he had held her mom and put his face in her hair, inhaling deeply.

“She smelled just like you, baby. I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“I just fed from her. She likely has my scent all over her. Now put me down before your girl catches you,” she said dryly.

“She’s gone. She left with Griffin and Sarah.” He nuzzled his face more deeply into her hair. Dear God, she loved the way he felt wrapped around her but he’d just said the wrong thing.

“I see. It’s okay for you to slum with me after she’s gone. That makes me feel loved too.” The sarcasm in her voice was thick. “If you can’t be with me in public, Chase, I don’t want you trying to drag me into dark corners. I’m not the slut you want me to be.” She pushed hard at his chest until she had room to move and then she froze him in place. She didn’t have it in her to de
al with him after the day she’
d had. Mason entered the room and raised an eyebrow at her.

“Don’t give me that look. He was pawing all over me and wouldn’t let go. I’m not in the mood to deal with his lies, Mason.”

“Please release him,” Mason asked. “He won’t paw you in front of me.”

She released him and he almost fell over. The pink that spread across his face when he saw Mason was precious. She couldn’t help smiling at him. If they could be together, she didn’t think anything would ever come between them. There was a connection that pulled on her constantly and made her want to hold him, touch him, and kiss him. It was hard work to stay away from him. She wished she could be his friend. She wished she could allow herself to be with him until his bonding but she couldn’t. It hurt too badly.

“Why didn’t you tell me the girl you wanted to break your engagement for was Danielle?” Mason shut the door and looked from her to Chase.

“I didn’t think it would matter, Dad,” Chase returned. “You were there to see me arguing with Cayden after the dress shop incident. So I didn’t think it was a surprise.”

What did he just say? Dad? Mason was Chase’s father? That meant… Oh God what does that mean? She fell back on the sofa with a flop.

“It matters very much actually. I may have been able to help if I had known sooner. There are some things we need to discuss but I think it would be better if we didn’t do it here.” Mason ushered Chase toward the door.

Dani had never known Mason’s last name. They’d never acted particularly close when she saw them together. Every time she’d seen them together, it was during a time of stress s
o she didn’t catch it. Chase
never called him Dad before. Would he tell Chase who she was? No, he couldn’t do that.

“No, Mason. There’s nothing for us to talk about,” she insisted.

“But honey, things could be different.” He crossed the room to sit by her and take her hand. The look on Chase’s face was so hopeful.

“You can’t. I can’t. No,” she sputtered. “Chase could you leave me alone with Mason?”

“Hell no! I wanna know what’s going on here? What are you two talking about?” Chase dropped to his knees in front of her, putting his hand on the hand his father wasn’t holding and looked at Mason, “Is there a way for us to be together, Dad? I love her so much.”

“Mason, do not make me freeze him again. I can’t deal with this. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through today? And there are other things we need to think about before you start jumping the gun.” She was gruff.

“Chase, wait for me in the chamber.” Mason was annoyed.

“No! You guys can’t do this to me. I deserve to know what’s going on!” His eyes flared black as he jumped to his feet.

“And I deserved to know that you were engaged when you asked me to be with you! I had to find out the hard way that you were lying to get what you wanted!” She gave it right back to him.