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“The principal—Mr. Thurgood,” Madeline said in a low voice. “I went to his office and tried to let him know that Luke had drugged my drink and tried…tried to rape me.”
“And what did he say?” Grath had a feeling that his list of “human males who need to get the fuck pounded out of them” was about to grow, but he needed to know anyway.
Madeline took a deep breath.
“He told me I hadimaginedthe whole thing,” she said at last. “He said I probably had too much to drink and made it all up in my head.”
“What?”Grath’s voice was a muted roar in his own ears. “What the fuck? Who discounts a female like that when she tells them she suffered a serious trauma?”
“A principal who doesn’t want the reputation of his school tarnished,” she said grimly. “Or one who’s covering for a male student because he’s a football star. I don’t know—take your pick.” She shrugged angrily. “Anyway, when I insisted that Ihadn’timagined it, he called Luke into his office. And Luke said I was lying or confused. He tried to make out that I wouldn’t stop drinking and that he eventually had to call someone to come take me home because I got blackout drunk. And of course, Principal Thurgood believed him completelyandimmediately.”
“Fucking bastards—both of them!” Grath snarled, feeling the Rage rising in him again. He was so angry his internal temperature was shooting up, making his skin hot!
“Yes,” Madeline agreed succinctly. “Anyway, after that Luke told everyone that I was lying about him—which only made the popular kids pick on me evenmore. He said…” She cleared her throat, her cheeks going dull red with shame. “He said he only took me to Prom because he was trying to be nice to the ‘fat girl’ and wasn’t I a bitch for trying to get him into trouble.” She shook her head. “It made the second half of my senior year a livinghell. I really thought about…about ending it all, more than once. But somehow I got through—I still don’t know how.”
“Son of a bitch!” Grath couldn’t sit still anymore. He jumped up and started pacing. “I’m going to kill them—bothof them! First that fucking principal who wouldn’t believe you, and then that asshole we met in the park tonight. I’m going to take my time withhim—he’s going to fucking dieslowly,” he swore.
“You can’t do that!” Madeline jumped out of bed, a look of alarm on her face. “Please, Grath—promise me you won’t!”
“Why shouldn’t I? The World Court has ruled that a Kindred warrior is well within his rights to kill any male who hurts his mate or even his prospective mate!”
Grath was so angry he wanted to go out hunting rightnow. He would break in to wherever those two fuckers were staying and take them out before the dawn broke!
But Madeline was looking more and more upset.
“I’m not your mateoryour prospective mate, though—notreally,” she pointed out. “And if you go killing people, you’re going to ruin my mom and dad’s lives! Christmasville is a really small town and Luke Hartsford is pretty popular—his family owns the local hardware store and he runs it for his dad. People around herelovehim!”
“Only because they don’t really know him!” Grath exclaimed. “If they knew what he tried to do to you—”
“Theyknow,” Madeline said flatly. “At least, they knowhisside—and they’re never going to believe mine. Besides, it all happened years ago—I don’t want anyone digging it up again. I just want toforgetit.”
“You shouldn’thaveto forget it—you should havevengeance,” Grath argued.
She sighed deeply.
“That’s not how things work—it would only drag everything up again and I don’t need that! What Ineedis just to get through this Christmaspeacefullyand then go back to my home and my job on the Mother Shipwithout causing a scene.” She looked at him pleadingly. “So please—won’t you just leave this alone? I never would have told you if I had thought you were going to start hunting people down! Besides, Principal Thurgood is already dead—he died of a heart attack last year,” she added.
Grath took a deep breath, trying to push down the Rage that still wanted to consume him.
“That’s the male who didn’t believe you, right?” he asked.
Madeline nodded.
“That’s the one.”
“Well, I hope his death waspainful,” Grath said savagely. “But as for that fucker we met in the park, I can’t promise not to pound him if I see him again.”
“Believe me, I don’t want to see himeither,” Madeline told him. “We’ll just stay far away from the hardware store and stick close to the house—hopefully we won’t see him anymore.”
“We’d better not, if he wants to keep his head attached to his fucking shoulders,” Grath growled.
“All right.” She nodded, looking relieved. “Now that’s settled, can we please get back into bed? I’mfreezing.”And she shivered and put her arms around herself.
“I guess so,” Grath said grudgingly.
He settled back on his side of the bed, leaning against the headboard and Madeline climbed in beside him, sliding under the quilt, still shivering as she did so. Grath noticed and looped an arm around her.
“Come here, little girl—let me warm you up,” he told her.
