“I’m the new leader of this compound, and I have every say over you and your mother,” he said through clenched teeth. “Your father coddled you; I will not make the same mistake. You will come home and fulfill the destiny you were meant to have.”
“As your wife?”
“Yes.”
For a minute, his response astounded her so much she couldn’t speak. Did he intend to marry her after everything that happened? How long would it be before he killed her too?
Elena turned away from Asher and Logan to stare out the window again. Fat drops of rain splashed into the puddles and ticked against the glass. For a second, she could almost pretend the world was as peaceful as it appeared.
She hated what she was about to do, but she had to do it. “Mateo,pleaselet me speak to my mother,” she begged.
A low growl sounded behind her. When she glanced over her shoulder, she saw Logan had taken a couple of steps closer to her. More of that white-blue color shone in his eyes. She had no idea what was causing it, but as he glowered at her phone, she realized he would kill Mateo if the hunter were standing here.
“No,” Mateo said. “If you want to see your mother again, you’ll have to tell me where you areandagree to be my bride.”
Logan’s eyes became entirely white-blue when they met hers again. She couldn’t marry this prick or give up her freedom, but she couldn’t leave her mother at the mercy of this monster either.
“Yes, of course. Just don’t hurt my mother,” she said.
“I would never do such a thing. She’s like a mother to me.”
She wasn’t fool enough to believe those words. They were as phony as the man himself.
“Where are you?” Mateo asked.
She glanced at Logan and Asher. “I’ll have to call you back with that information.”
“Don’t toy with me, Elena.”
“I’ll have to ask the clerk the location and the town. I just ran when I got free.”
“How did you have money to pay for the room?”
Elena hesitated only a second before replying, “The hunter still had his wallet on him.”
And she prayed it was true. Asher had lost his cell phone; she didn’t know about his wallet and prayed he still had it. If Mateo had found it at the compound, she was busted.
She’d told him she wasn’t with Logan and Asher anymore, yet she couldn’t get a motel room without them or money. Unlike vampires, she couldn’t take control of someone’s mind.
Asher patted his pockets, but Logan walked over and lifted something off the TV stand. He waved a wallet in the air, and Asher smiled. Elena’s shoulders slumped; at least she wasn’t already busted in her lie.
“How silly of them,” Mateo murmured.
She had no idea if he believed her or not.
“Call this number back when you get the information. Since I expect that to be in less than ten minutes, I’m going to leave now… with your mother.”
Before she could reply, he hung up. Irritated and disheartened by the conversation, she stood there seething before lowering the phone. With a calm she didn’t feel, she set it on the table.
Shifting her attention back to the window, she watched the rainfall as she wrapped her arms around her middle and hugged herself. The gesture did nothing to ward off the chill racking its way through her bones.
Had she really agreed to marry that monster? But what choice did she have? He had her mother, and she had no doubt he would hurt her. If he hadn’t already.
Elena refused to consider that Mateo may not want them around or whatever his sick plan was, but he wouldn’t do something to her mother so soon after her father’s death. Even the hunters who believed Logan and Asher killed her dad would become suspicious if that happened.
“You two should go now,” she said without looking at Asher and Logan. “I’ll call Mateo when you’re gone.”
“You can’t go back there,” Asher said.
