Unbound (53 page)

“I didn’t know about that until after I met you, Lovely. I swear to you
,
I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was going to try to find a way out of the bonding.” He pleaded with her to see his point of view.

“Do you have any idea what it felt like to have your girl bust into the room while I was all but naked in bed with yo
u and call me a slut after I
shared my mind with you? I gave you all that I am and you almost had my virginity! We spoke about children and a life together. Didn’t you think it was important for me to know you were promised to her?” She paused to fight back tears and calm down. “The day Nathan took me she busted up a great morning. You tried so hard to convince me that I’m the one you want the whole time I was living in your home. But when she showed up you dragged her into your bedroom to comfort her. You waited until she wasn’t around to sneak out so you could visit me when I was hurt. You waited until she was gone today to come tell me you love me. Your main concern is keeping her happy, protecting her feelings. That is not love, Chase. If that’s what you call love you need to bond to her, because I don’t want any part of it.” She choked on the words and turned away from him. “Please, give me a moment with Mason.”

Chase dragged her up off the sofa to wrap her in a tight hug. “I know this is no excuse to you because you don’t understand our society, but I have a duty to my house and to my people. I don’t know how to walk away from that. I don’t know how to fight a prophecy, Danielle. I’m supposed to stop this rogue and save our kids. I don’t know how to undo that, but for you, I was trying.” He kissed her lightly and left the room, dragging his feet as if he were forcing himself to go.

It was quiet for a few minutes while both she and Mason sorted out their thoughts. Then he asked, “Why don’t you want me to tell him? Because I have to tell you, I have never seen him behave that way. I’m not even sure that was my son. I also think you should know that your mother and I believe the prophecy Griffin’s sister gave us refers to you and not the other Vaughn girls.”

“You’re grasping at straws with the prophecy. If he’s meant to be with one of us, he will be, no matter what. He professes his love to me, but he chooses her over and over again. For all you know she is the one he needs. I’ll tell you one thing. I will be damned before I bond myself to a man out of obligation. If he doesn’t love me enough to choose me no matter the consequence, I don’t want him. If you tell him who I am then he will use it as his reason for breaking up with Sam. What if it’s her in the prophecy, Mason? What if it isn’t even Chase that is meant to fulfill the prophecy? What if it is? Don’t screw with fate any farther. If he leaves her because of
who I am
I will live the rest of my life wondering if he would have married her. Either he makes this decision on his own or I won’t have him. Don’t forget that we have no idea what Griffin is going to do now. He knows who I am but that doesn’t mean he’ll claim me publicly. That would tarnish his family’s reputation,” she argued.

“These are valid points but things would go more smoothly if we helped them along. If Griffin knew you and Chase are in love he would see the connection to the prophecy and be more likely to take the risk,” Mason returned.

“You just don’t get it.” She crossed the short distance between them and cupped his face. “I won’t be second best, Mason. The men in my life will choose me for no other reason than they can’t live without me or I will not have them. If my father is too embarrassed to claim me as his child for no other reason than he is proud to have me as a daughter, then I will not force myself on him and his family. If Chase doesn’t pick me over her, prophecy be damned, it isn’t enough for me. And have you thought of the fact that Chase has no idea I’m human? He may not want me after he finds out that little tidbit.”

“You’re half human,
” Mason countered.

“I’m human enough for it to make me weaker than your kind and he’s not going to want my mutt babies,” she whispered.

“You are much stronger than our kind in many ways. As far as babies go, I think that is the whole problem here. You’re afraid he is going to reject you when he finds out you’re human. You won’t let him get close enough for it to matter. Also, you don’t want your children to suffer the rejection you feel. I love you, Soleil. I love you no matter what you are and he will too.” Mason pulled her into his arms and rocked her.

“I need to think and I need you to promise to keep a lid on this until we see what Griffin is going to do. Please take my feelings into consideration. This is my life and I won’t live it for people that could reject me for being beneath them. When the time comes, I will tell Chase I’m human. I also have to think of Cayden. So please don’t push me.” She stepped out of his arms and walked away.

TWENTY-SIX~

After her disagree
ment with Mason in the councilme
n’s chamber, Dani wandered down the corridor feeling like her head would explode. He wouldn’t see her point of view and she wouldn’t give in to his wishes. Now she could clearly see where Chase got his pigheaded nature. She needed to get back to the
Enclave
to retrieve her things, but she didn’t want to ask either of the men in her life for a ride. They were the reason for the persistent pounding in her head, so she was on her own. The chamber doors were still open and two deep male voices could be heard echoing off the wall-to-wall marble. Of course, Chase and Cayden were both waiting for her. They were actually being agreeable and behaving like old friends ins
tead of archenemies. Seeing them that way
reminded her of the reason for their estrangement. They could both really use a good friend and she was the wedge between them. She’d screwed up everything she’d touched since meeting these men.

“Do you need a ride? I promise not to ask any questions about your health or badger you to bond with me.” Darren scared the shit out of her when he interrupted her spying. He was looking over her head at Chase and Cayden.

That sounded like the ticket to her. She left with Darren, not stopping to say good-bye to the double trouble waiting for her. She needed to be alone with her thoughts and figure out the next step. It took no time to pack at the
Enclave
and Darren kept watch at the door in case any of Lance’s men decided to exact their own revenge.

Dani found the sun
burst necklace her mom gave
h
er the day she left for college
hanging from the lamp switch were she always put it before crawling into bed. That day seemed like ages ago. She put it on and smiled at herself in the mirror. It didn’t matter if Griffin saw it now. 

Darren offered to take leave from work and go with her. He wanted to protect her from the danger they both knew would be coming, but she couldn’t let him do that. This was her punishment and she would deal with it. He walked her to the car where both Chase and Cayden were leaning and looking quite perturbed.

“I’ll call to check on you tomorrow. You can call me whenever you like,” he surprised her with a hug and a kiss placed on top of her head before going back inside.

“I can’t leave you alone for a second without some loser thinking he can grab on you, can I?” Cayden asked jokingly, but the undercurrent o
f jealousy was clear. Darren
offended him again.

“He was just being kind. He believes I’ll be dead before he sees me again. Every time I leave the
Enclave
, they catch me. This time I won’t be coming back. If I get into trouble, the cavalry won’t be coming to save me. It’s all gloom and doom, right?” She laughed nervously.

“Where will you go?” Chase asked.

“I’m going to stay in my hometown for a bit until I get some things figured out. I can’t go back to school and endanger my friends and I don’t want to impose on anyone here or put them in danger, so I think it’s the best idea.” She was still trying to convince herself of that, and feared bringing trouble to her mother’s door.

“
You need to come home with me, A
ngel,” Cayden sweet-talked. “You have your own room and two warriors to watch over you. Mom is already buzzing around in anticipation of having you there.” He took her bags and put them in the trunk of her car.

“Your house is the first place they will look for me, Cay. If anything happened to Koren because of me, I would never forgive myself. You and Gage can’t be there all the time with your crazy schedules,” she reminded him.

Opening the driver’s door, she watched Chase who was still leaning on her hood looking at the ground. His head must be full of questions regarding the conversation from earlier but she couldn’t deal with him.

“I just want to tell you both that I’m sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you and your families. I wish the two of you could find a way to be friends again.”

Chase turned to sneer at her then, “You sound like you’re not coming back. You are coming back, aren’t you?”

She looked at them both and gave a halfhearted smile. She didn’t know what to say and she couldn’t make any promises. A black sedan pulled up behind her car, drawing all of their attention. Both Chase and Cayden moved to stand in front of her, as if they thought the bad guys could possibly have made it onto the
Enclave
. Griffin stepped out and sauntered up, carrying a small shoulder bag.

“May I speak with you privately Sol… Danielle?” He corrected himself before he let loose what she was affectionately referred to as her baby-vamp name. Shrugging their shoulders, both the guys walked a good distance away from her car to give them privacy. She said nothing but went to stand before him. He reached out and lifted the charm from around her neck to inspect it.

“I gave that to you
r mother the day we were bonded,
” he smiled wistfully.

“She gave it t
o me the day I left for college.” H
e turned it over to look at the inscription. “I guess the center of your universe shifted to another star,” she mused.

He looked at her sharply and a tick started in his jaw. It was a low blow, but her heart was still aching for her mother and he was the cause of nineteen years of her suffering. He opened the bag he’d been carrying on the back of her car and pulled out a gun.

“You have learned to shoot, correct?” He loaded the gun and checked the safety. “Can I assume there are no children in your mother’s house to find a loaded weapon?” he glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

“I have a gun already, t
hank you. Gage gave me the one I practiced with.” He winced at her dead tone and put the gun back in the bag. Sh
e shouldn’t be this way. They’
d become friends, but today the knot of raw emotions couldn’t be untangled. Now that he knew who she was, she felt the need to share some of her frustration at his absence in her life.

“There are some other things in there you might need. You can look through it later.” He put the bag over her shoulder. She opened the bag to peek inside. There was the gun, a box of bullets and below that several stacks of hundred dollar bills.

“What is this, Griff
in
? I don’t need your sympathy or a hand out. I’m still the same girl I was yesterday and you don’t need to provide for me now any more than you have my whole life.” The bag fell to the ground.

He grabbed her hand before she could get away. “Listen to me, Soleil. If they find you, you will need to run. Trying to run with no money is very difficult. If you use cash, you can’t be tracked. It isn’t a hand out. It’s a backup plan for your safety. Please, take it,” he explained.

“No thanks, Griffin. I will deal with whatever comes.” She extracted her hand from his grip and walked to the driver side door. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“Tell me something?” he asked. She paused without turning around. “Is Scott really your last name?”

“No. It’s Vaughn,” she chuckled. “I picked Scott on a whim the day I met you. It was the last name of the guy I was dating at the time, and I needed a different name. Mom was terrified your people were going to kill the half-breed abomination when they figured me out, so she told me to pick an alias.”

“And your mother?” he asked, embarrassed.

“We have the same name. She said, whether you abandoned her or not she was still bonded and she would keep her husband’s name.” That hit him hard. Out of her periphery, she saw him lean on her trunk and hang his head.

“Can I ask you something?” She struck while he was still weak. “Are you going to publically acknowledge me as your daughter?” Too afraid of the answer, she still didn’t turn around. His head came up, but he looked away.

“I don’t know what to do yet. I need to speak to your mother.”

“Mom has nothing to do with it. Either I’m your daughter or we go on like we have been and you can forget you ever met me. You can’t have it both ways. It’s up to you. I won’t interfere with
your family either way.” She
dreamed of him being so overjoyed to have her back that he took her into his life and his home to love and protect just like the rest of his children. That wasn’t going to be.

“You are my family, Soleil. Please be patient with me for a few days while I get my head on straight. I got the shock of my life today and I’m just trying to remember how to put one foot in front the other.”