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“I don’t believe in sugar-coating things.”
“No, that you don’t.” She leaned back in her chair, her gaze shifting to Duncan’s face. “It’s awful to see him like that.”
“I know.”
Endelle once more pondered the Rachel-Duncan conundrum. “You said you were headed home just as the wreckers showed up, but I know you just had sex with this warrior.”
Rachel’s jaw flexed as if in anger. “That’s right. So, what?”
“Well, what the fuck happened because I can’t believe it was the sex that made you want to take off.”
Another weighty sigh. “It was the old issues. Duncan always throws up a wall, faster than any man I’ve ever known. He’s never cruel, but we’d just had the most amazing experience together, even better than before. But he withdrew emotionally from me, pulling back so fast it was almost as though he disappeared. And I can’t take it anymore.”
Endelle wasn’t the most perceptive person, she admitted that, but she did understand a few things about Duncan. And it was possible Rachel didn’t have the full picture. “Luken found him chained up.”
Rachel shifted slightly in her direction. “I’m sorry?”
“It was an ambush and Duncan called for Warrior of the Blood back-up against Carlyon’s orders. When Luken arrived, he found Duncan chained up.” Carlyon was a powerful Militia Warrior and Duncan’s father.
Rachel shook her head several times. “What? I’ve never heard this before.”
“I’m talking about something that happened a long time ago.” Endelle didn’t usually get involved in the personal lives of her people, but she felt compelled to tell Rachel what she knew. “Do you remember the night Carlyon and his squad died?”
“God, yes. Who doesn’t? At least forty Militia Warriors died in the attack.”
“Do you also recall that Duncan was the only survivor?”
“Of course, but he never talked about it.”
“And your ex-husband was one of the men who died.”
“Grieg. That’s right.”
“Well, there’s something about that night I want you to know. When Duncan called for What-Bee back-up, Carlyon was furious with him, so angry in fact that he chained him up. They’d been in a cellar of a large ranch house, the property surrounded by death vampires. Carlyon bound Duncan to the pipes and added
a preternatural charge so he couldn’t break free. The squad left Duncan there alone, then foolishly went on to engage in battle where they all died within the next few minutes.
“At about the same time, Luken folded to Duncan’s position and faced off a dozen death vampires who kept attacking the cellar. Luken got them all and was able to free Duncan. But by then, the rest of the Militia Warriors were dead.”
Rachel shook her head again. “I can’t believe Carlyon did that to his own son. But he was one of the meanest men I’ve ever known and the reason that my husband beat me. Grieg had no use for women except in bed and those teachings came straight from Carlyon.”
“I know. I always wondered about you back then, how you survived.”
“With difficulty.”
Endelle glanced at Duncan again. “Yet Carlyon was a highly revered Thunder God Warrior.”
Rachel’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive Carlyon for what he did to Duncan. I know enough of what he suffered as a child at Carlyon’s hands. And chaining him up like that? Very typical. The bastard was an abusive monster.”
“Yes, he was. But Duncan overcame a lot of it and I’d bet my left tit that he never lifted a hand to a woman. Am I right?” She glanced at Rachel once more.
“No, never. He’s a good man. He’s just absent like he is right now. He doesn’t know how to be in a real relationship. But to be fair, I’m not sure I do either.”
“And you’re drawn to warrior-types.”
“Yes. The bane of my existence.”
Maybe she was getting soft, but Endelle said quietly, “Just please don’t take off without letting anyone know. At the very least, I can give you a security detail and Luken can train them with the wrecking guns.”
