“I see,” Simone said. “What else did they do?”
She didn’t want to learn anymore about what was done to him as a boy, but she suspected that if she backed away now there would be no hope of anything more developing between them. He would drop her off somewhere and walk away, and she didn’t want that. Shewouldunderstand him better, and she believed he needed to get this out. What happened that night had eaten at his soul for centuries; it was time to set it free.
Killean couldn’t look at her as the memories of that distant night replayed in his mind. No matter how much time passed, he could still recall every detail as if it happened only yesterday. But he’d replayed that night thousands of times and found countless ways he could have saved his family if he’d just donesomethingdifferently.
“There were twelve of them against two adult vampires and four children; it wasn’t much of a fight, but my father managed to kill two hunters and my mother one, before they brought us down. My parents fought so hard to save us, and they loved us so much, but it wasn’t enough. When they were dead, the hunters focused all their attention on me and my siblings,” he said.
The screams of his younger sisters resonated in his ears as his brother yelled and swore and struggled. While three men kept him pinned to the ground, Killean watched his siblings fall. After he succeeded in biting the hunter who cut his face, the man announced they would save him for last, so he could watch everything they did to the others and see what they would eventually do to him.
When he looked at Simone again, the helpless rage filling him that night boiled to the surface. “I’ve never understood why I survived when my family perished. They were all better than me, kinder and stronger.”
“Oh, Killean,” she breathed when she saw the raw guilt he’d been living with all these centuries. “That’s not true.”
“It is. Would you like to know what else your ancestors did to us?”
Killean heard the challenge in his voice, but Simone had grown increasingly pale while he spoke, and he kept waiting for her to tell him to stop. He kept waiting for her to run from him as any sane woman would, and when she ran, she would confirm this could never be between them.
She absolutely didnotwant to know, but she found herself saying, “Yes. If you’re willing to tell me.”
Launching to his feet, Killean stalked away from her and over to the plate glass window with the curtains covering it. That wasnotthe response he expected.
“Killean?” she whispered.
He turned back toward her, but when he saw the frightened, nearly pleading look on her face, his words died away.Simonewasn’t there that night; he was punishing her for sins she’d never committed and wouldnevercommit. Some of the hunters were murderous, hideous bastards, but Simone was not one of them, and neither was Nathan and Kadence.
“Killean?”
Running a hand through his hair, he tugged at the ends of it as he tried to bury his memories. The torment, degradation, and sorrow of that night burned like acid in his chest. His fangs throbbed to sink into someone and destroy them as the innocence of the boy he’d been was destroyed that night. He needed to feast on the pain of others and let it course through him until it buried his past.
“Killean?”
Killean forced himself to focus on Simone again. “Some things are better left in the past.”
He paced over to the door and glowered at the sun creeping around the edges of it. He couldn’t go out to kill until night descended, but he didn’t know if he could handle being caged in this room much longer.
Simone didn’t know what propelled her to her feet. Before she could fully comprehend what she was doing, she was standing beside him with her hand on his arm. She almost released him and backed away when his reddened eyes swung toward her. She’d never seen him look so volatile, so ruthless, so…lost.
Her heart ached in a way she hadn’t experienced before as her hand tightened on his arm. This powerful, lethal man was broken, and he needed her. There was so little in her life she was sure of any more, but she was sure of this, and she was sure she needed him too. No matter how disturbing his past, no matter the things he did, she would not walk away from him.
“I have to go out,” he said. “Ihaveto feed.”
“You have to kill, you mean.”
Surprisingly, he was the one who flinched at her words.
“I saw what you did to that vampire, and I didn’t run away. I won’t now either.” She may not want to hear what else he had to say, but she would listen to it all because hehadto say it. “I know what you need, Killean. I know what you are, and I’m still here. What else did those hunters do to you?”
Killean shook his head, not to disregard her words but to shake off the past cleaving to him like a second skin—a skin threatening to choke him with every passing second.
“Tellme,” she said quietly, but with an authority she hadn’t known she possessed.
Killean focused on the far wall as screams echoed in his head and the scent of centuries-old terror and blood permeated his nostrils. It was as if he were in that house again, pinned down and helpless.
“They raped them,” he murmured. “My brother and my sisters. They raped them for hours and tortured them before killing them.”
Simone’s breath caught as bile swelled up her throat. Denials screamed through her head, but she saw the horrible truth in his slack face that looked far younger than it usually did. Staring at him, she caught a glimpse of the boy he’d been. The one who was loved by his parents and the one forever altered in a night. She almost wept for him, but Killean would leave here if she cried.
“And what did they do to you?” she whispered.
