AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shrug helplessly. “He saved my life. I gave him permission to do what was necessary, so you can’t hurt him for that.”
“Which is why I’m not,” Haut grits out. “Look at me being reasonable.”
I stroke his firm bicep. “Good boy.”
“Ambros may not be so reasonable once he awakens.” Delilah settles into a chair near the door. “Such bonds are sacred. Or, at least, they’re meant to be. They’re usually reserved for family and lovers.”
“Why did he need to bond me to heal the wound?” I ask, my thoughts sluggish with the desire to sleep. “Isn’t vampire saliva healing on its own?”
“For small injuries, yes. But not for substantial wounds.” Delilah hugs herself. “Your throat was ripped open, and you were hemorrhaging blood. The monster that attacked you—”
“Bryant,” I say. “Bryant attacked me. I don’t know how I could see him when no one else could, but that night, he really was in my room.”
Delilah’s eyes widen in alarm, and the blood drains from her face. “But…how? You and Ambros killed him.”
“I’m sorry, Delilah.” My stomach twists around my meager meal. “We thought he was dead. He was shot in the head by a huntsman who was supposed to be using silver bullets.”
My gaze drops from her stricken expression. “But the huntsman who took the kill shot was working under orders from your father to keep Bryant alive. He wanted to interrogate Bryant to find out where he had stashed you and the other witches from the Sunlight Project.”
I swallow down the bile threatening to rise. “I last saw Bryant still alive at a vampire-run facility. He was still badly injured, his head half gone, but coherent enough to speak. That’s when I found out that your father had ordered the death. And now Bryant has some twisted fixation on me, like he’s trying to replace my father, because they used to be friends.”
She shakes her head in denial. “But then, why did he try to kill you?”
“He wasn’t planning to kill me.” I lift a hand to my throat. “He already bit me once before he took me to the cabin. The night he attacked me, he was planning to form a bond, but then Ambros must have heard me calling for help, because he came into the room, and they fought.”
“It wasn’t just Ambros who heard you call for help. The entire town heard you,” Haut says. “The barrier over our house lit up like a beacon, and then we all felt your pain, even the people who didn’t have a direct bond with you. It spread through the Alpha bond and Ambros’s connection to his vampires.”
“Every witch screamed with it.” Delilah holds herself tighter. “It was like being back under his control again.”
Horror fills me. “I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to experience that again.”
“No, I’m sorry.” Tears fill Delilah’s blue-green eyes. “If I had known he was still alive, I could have helped protect you from him.”
My heart breaks at the guilt that twists her features. “It’s not your fault Ros and I kept it from you. We should have trusted you with the knowledge, but Ros was so sure he could track Bryant down and kill him before he became an issue.”
She shakes her head. “You don’t understand. I was Bryant’s favorite meal. You said you’ve been seeing him around town, but no one else could, right?”
I nod slowly. “I saw him in my room before, too, but the others couldn’t see him, so I thought I was going crazy.”
“You’re not crazy.” She squeezes her eyes shut, and tears leak down her cheeks. “He consumed so much of my blood that he gained a portion of my powers. He was using my magic to project himself into your mind to play with you. When we were still under his control, he would torment my mind, to remind us he was always there even when he was away.”
A ringing fills my ears. “Like you did when you pretended to be my mom to summon me to you?”
Eyes still squeezed shut, she nods. “I’m so sorry, Rowe. This is all my fault.”
“No.” Her eyes snap open at the firmness of my tone. “You were a victim and desperate to live. None of this is your fault. If Ros and I had been truthful with you from the beginning instead of trying to protect you, then you would have told us about his powers, and we could have guarded against them.”
She straightens in her seat. “We need to guard against him now. We all share a bond with him.”
“Does this power have a range limit?” Haut asks.
Delilah lifts her hands helplessly. “I was only able to reach Rowe from such a distance because of the bond she shared with Ambros. I’m not sure if Bryant can reach that bond through me, or if he’d need to be close by.”
“We found a campsite in the woods close to the peninsula, just within the barrier,” Haut reveals. “It looked like it had been there for weeks. We’re guessing he snuck through the barrier during the battle and has been biding his time.”
“He’s part of whatever is attacking Clearhelm.” My hands curl into fists. “I know it.”
Haut nods. “It explains the blood being drained from the bodies. Drake may not have been a good source of food, but taking all his blood was the only way to kill him without using silver.”
