Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2) (43 page)

Sheena fed him this bullshit fairytale about how in love his parents were when he was conceived and now he realized that couldn’t be further from the truth. She had manipulated David into her bed after she had killed his one true love and made it look like suicide. It was all just too much and Derek needed time to soak it all in and deal with the aftermath of his wasted life.

When he explained his need for space to Brandi, she gave him a teary eyed smile and walked away. He understood then, that his feelings were not as transparent to Brandi as hers were to him. He hoped that would improve in time. If Sparky could clearly read his emotions she wouldn’t have spent the last weeks resigning herself to being abandoned by her mate. She seemed to believe the story Derek had fed Darren about leaving her behind. She just didn’t understand that he needed to deal with the guilt for everything he had done to protect his mother before taking the leap into the life he wanted with her. Derek didn’t want the ghosts from his past tainting their future. But, it was a new day. It was the first day of forever and Derek was ready to claim his mate.

****

Griffin entered the Country Club through a side door to avoid being seen. He was running late again because Sarah refused to move her ass so he had left without her. He rushed down the hall toward the lobby to get into position. A door to his left opened and someone stepped out, but he was too close to stop the collision. The soft curves and familiar vanilla aroma short circuited his brain on contact. He’d grabbed her by the arms to keep her from crashing to the floor but now his fingers refused to let go.

Tessa looked up and the clear-blue of her eyes bled to black. It broke Griffin’s heart. Her eyes where the most beautifully unique color he’d ever seen. Newly changed vampires couldn’t control that reaction for several years. So every time she experiences any extreme emotion her lovely eyes would take on the obsidian darkness of any other vamp’s eyes. Griffin wondered what emotion he had inspired in her that caused the display. Was it anger, hate, sorrow? He would never know for sure.

“I’m sorry, Tessa.” He caressed the creamy skin of her bare arms. They both knew he was apologizing for more than just the accidental collision.

Tessa took a deep breath and her eyes bled back to blue. Griffin smiled. He couldn’t help it. Tessa allowed him two slow blinks of those captivating eyes before she pulled herself out of his grasp and walked away.

Eloquent silence. That was all he got from her anymore.

****

The last thing she wanted to do was attend a stranger’s bonding ceremony, but Dani and Debbie were dragging her along. It was only going to make her more heartsick and she knew it. Derek was gone and she didn’t think he was ever coming back. Maybe he had the same curse as his father? Maybe he just didn’t want a murdering pyro for a mate? Maybe she was going to go crazy wondering where he’d gone.

They filed out of the limo and the soft shimmering fabric of the elegant opalescent gown Dani had brought for her felt good against Brandi’s skin.

Climbing the stairs to the chapel doors reminded Brandi of Derek again. This is where they had met, just inside those heavy wooden double doors. The romantic in Brandi wanted to believe that she was fated to find Derek and fall in love with him. Both Dani and Tessa had also recognized the significance of Derek’s parentage.

Derek was a child of the House of Deidrick. Brandi was a child of the House of Vaughn. Just like Leann’s prophecy predicted, they came together to bring peace to their people. Lightning had struck twice and Brandi followed in Dani’s footsteps. They had both fallen hard for Deidrick males.

Debbie rushed ahead to find Mason. Dani held the door for Brandi to enter the foyer. When her eyes adjusted to the light, Brandi was sure she was seeing things. He was a figment of her heartsick imagination. Dani bumped her shoulder and smiled.

“Be glad I’m already mated. I might have fought you for that one.” She headed off into the chapel.

Standing in the foyer in the very spot where Brandi had first laid eyes on his handsome face was her mate. Derek looked dashing in a black suit and crisp white shirt. She had never seen him in anything but dark jeans and casual shirts. He also looked nervous as hell when he came to take her hand.

“Are you ready, Sparky?” he asked before placing a kiss on both corners of her mouth.

“Ready?” she replied.

“Yes, ready to be my wife? I know we’ve already done the all-important bonding but a wedding ceremony would mean a lot to me. So, are you ready?” he asked again.

“I… Of course, I would love to marry you in the way of your people.”

She kissed him this time. Relief washed over her heart like a soothing balm. Derek was in her arms and he wanted her to be his mate and his wife. Derek pulled away first.

“You keep that up and we’ll never make it down the aisle,” he teased.

Derek smacked her ass and led her to the chapel doors. When he knocked, they opened wide to reveal a room full of family and close friends. The entire Horde and many warriors were also in attendance. Conspicuous in her absence was Brandi’s own mother but her twin, Samantha, and her father were front and center.

Derek and Brandi stepped through the chapel doors together and when they closed behind them, several Wrath guards took up positions. Brandi looked at Derek inquisitively. He leaned over to kiss her nose and whisper in her ear.

“I’m not taking any chances, Sparky. I learn from the mistakes of others.”

Brandi laughed out loud. The attendants cheered and clapped when Derek and Brandi walked up the aisle hand in hand to the altar. They applauded again in celebration of their once forbidden bond when they returned down the aisle as man and wife.

EPILOGUE

“Are we having fun yet?”

Sheena smiled down at the little slut who thought she could replace Sheena in David’s affections. The girl was a sweaty mess on the floor. She was shaking with the after effects of the new drug they had been testing on her. The drug had been in development for longer than the Hypnovam and they were getting close to a stable formula.

This new creation was the polar opposite of the Hypno and it would be a much more effective weapon against the Council. Instead of rendering its victim powerless, the new formula worked with the chemicals in the brain to cause extreme aggression. It had been great fun to watch David’s pretty little toy go against all of her own instincts and attack everyone they put in the cell with her. The girl was horrified by her need for blood. Her introduction to the vampire nation had been less than welcoming and Sheena was doing everything possible to promote the girl’s self-loathing. She was having fun turning the girl into her own worst nightmare.

Now that David was in the custody of the Council, Sheena needed a new tool of destruction until she was able to find a way to get him back under her control. At this distance, and without the ability to feed him her blood, maintaining control over him was impossible. Sheena chuckled to herself. She bet waking up to thoughts of his own after decades of telepathic mind control knocked David on his ass. She just wished she had been there to see him try to explain that he didn’t know what he was doing. They would never believe him.

“How does it feel to be the monster you fear most?” Sheena laughed and stalked around the girl, being careful not to get to close. When she came down from the drug the girl was always as docile as a kitten, but if you got too close before the drug completely wore off, she was dangerous.

The girl began to cry again. The limp body of a guy they’d picked up off the street lay next to the leggy blond David had obsessed with. He actually had tried to bond himself to the bitch! After everything she had done to solidify her position in his life he was trying to replace her with a twenty-one year old kid. Just like every other man, David was ruled by his lust.

“I think we need to ramp up the dosage,” Sheena told the doctor who watched on from the doorway.

“She didn’t kill him. That means she has some level of control.” Sheena nudged the human guy with the toe of her shoe and he moaned. They had brought in dozens of humans but she never killed them. She would come close and pull back before the deed was done. Until the drug was able to render the subject completely mindless with rage and hunger, it wouldn’t be ready.

“I don’t think that’s wise. An overdose would be lethal. She’s already suffering withdrawal symptoms from the dose we’re administering. We are skirting the edge of addiction with this one.” The doctor looked thoughtfully at the girl. Sheena had no doubt the doctor was ruled by his lust also.

****

The doctor approached the whimpering female to check her vitals. Her heart was racing. He brushed the damp hair from her forehead to check her pupils and a tortured black gaze greeted him. Blood dripped from her chin, staining the front of her hospital gown. Her eyes pleaded for help and he struggled against the urge to give in to her need. Before he could back away, she reached out and plowed her fist into his chest. The doctor flew across the room from the force of the blow. His motion was stopped by the cinderblock wall. He slid down to the floor and struggled to draw a breath. Sheena roared with amusement. The girl murmured apologies and cried harder. Sheena stepped over the doctor’s legs on the way out the door, stopping to glare down at him.

“I don’t pay you to worry about whether or not they live, Doctor. Just do as I say, or you’ll be the next to get locked in with our little monster.” She smiled but there was no mistaking the venom in her words.

The lights on the lower level of their new nest began to blink in a rhythmic pattern. Sheena turned the air blue with curses. Someone had triggered the silent alarms. She thought her new home was safe from prying eyes, but obviously she was wrong. They had found her already.

****

Brandi wasn’t allowed to enter the building until the Horde proclaimed it clear. She was hunkered down in the brush with Dani and Karrie. She looked over to where Derek was discussing a plan of entry with Cayden and several of the Horde. She worried about his emotional well-being. They had been searching for his mother for weeks. Now that they had her in their sights, Derek was hoping to take her in alive. Even though she had told him lies his entire life, she was still his mother and Brandi knew the disdain the rest of the men felt for his mother wore on Derek.

Sheena had disappeared after the battle to retake the Enclave, but they finally caught up with the crazy bitch. She left a trail of dead humans and sick vampire youth in her wake. The Council’s main priority was to bring the insane female to justice, dead or alive. Brandi and Derek both believed the key to ending the conflict was to get to the bottom of the Hypno manufacturing. They didn’t believe Sheena was working alone. Her operation was too large to maintain without sufficient funds and her benefactor was the root of the problem. The drug was being distributed as a recreational drug to vampire youth in clubs and on college campuses along the eastern seaboard. The kids were eating it up. The only way for a vamp to catch a buzz was to feed on an inebriated human. Hypno, taken in small doses, achieved the same effect. Unfortunately, in larger doses it could be lethal.

The Wrath had searched high and low, but it was the fearsome and brooding Hawk who had finally turned over the right rock to reveal Sheena’s new hiding place. Hawk was an older demi-vamp who had taken it upon himself to gather up all of the misguided hybrid vamps like himself and bring them into order. They were often misunderstood by their human families and rejected by their vampire parents. Hawk had become a leader and father figure for them all. In his wisdom, Hawk had enlisted Cayden to help him train the Horde and be a liaison between them and the vampire nation. There were many of them and their existence still had the Council reeling.

The Horde didn’t live under the Council’s rule so they felt no need to inform them of the coming raid. Brandi was just grateful she was allowed to come along. The search of The Nest Derek had called home turned up empty. They found it abandoned and Brandi prayed daily for Lindsay’s safety. She promised Lindsay she would come back for her and it was a promise she fully intended to keep. If they didn’t find Lindsay today, chances were that Brandi had failed to save her new friend. If she wasn’t in there, then she was more than likely dead along with countless others.

****

“I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean to do it,”
Lindsay repeated over and over in her head. The body of her latest victim was sprawled next to her. She knew the man still lived because she could hear his staggering heartbeats but he would die soon without medical attention.

“I’m so sorry,” she told him through tears of shame.

Lindsay heard movement in the hall and scrambled back into the corner. She wouldn’t let them inject her again. She wouldn’t hurt another person. The shots they gave her made her mindless with hunger and rage. She was unable to control herself until the hunger began to recede. Sadly, by the time she was able to find herself, there was usually a dying person in her arms and blood on her soul. She was a creature who needed to be destroyed. She was a living nightmare. When she attacked the people they put in her cell, Lindsay could feel their terror, but she was powerless to stop the driving need to feed and destroy. It wasn’t until later that she was forced to deal with the misery and pain she felt when she drained the life sustaining blood from her victims. She refused to do it again. Either they would kill her, or she would find a way to do the job herself before they drugged her to the point of becoming a murderer.

“We’ve got a live one in here,” a deep voice shouted from the door. Lindsay looked up and realized that the cell door had been left open. If she’d had the strength she could have escaped, or at least tried to.