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“I hope she makes him suffer,” Kingston said, his smile more than a little deranged as he likely envisioned just how she’d go about it.
“He likes to suffer,” Cashel reminded him.
“Fuck. You’re right.”
I blew out a breath, frustrated that Cashel’s answers only seemed to create more questions. “So what do we do in the meantime? Moira couldn’t locate them with her magic, and we can’t just sit here and twiddle our thumbs while we wait for the human to finish his search. Where do we go from here?”
“To the Society,” Thorne said, his voice cold and without emotion.
Kingston grinned. “To the motherfucking Society.”
My berserker gave an approving roar, and I nodded, matching Kingston’s grin with one of my own. I cracked my knuckles, eager for the opportunity to do the same to some heads. We’d go to them and get our answers. One way or another.
Cashel’s brows rose. “I don’t know if that’s wise.”
“I don’t care what you think, Father. They know more about Sunday and her plight than anyone else. Take us to them. If you value family as much as you claim, you’ll do this for me. She’s my bonded mate. Just like Mother is yours. You can’t honestly say that if this was her in Sunday’s place you would just let her go.” Thorne’s hands dug into the armrest on his side of the sofa hard enough the leather cracked. “You would sacrifice the world for her, and you taught me well.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“I’ll go without your help. Iwillfind her.”
“We will,” Kingston offered.
“Yes. We will find her. But your aid will help us do that sooner.” I stood and crossed my arms over my chest, staring down the formidable vampire who held the only key to a lockbox full of answers.
Cashel took one look at the determined set of our faces before exhaling heavily. “If we’re all going down in flames, it might as well be for love. I’ll set it up.”
“Thank you, Father.”
His expression went grim. “Don’t thank me yet. You have no idea what you’re about to unleash. The truth is rarely what you expect, and even less often something you want to know.”
Kingston stood next to me and clapped me on the shoulder. “We’ll take our chances.”
ChapterTen
SUNDAY
“Stupid bossy vampire. Stupid garden. Stupid weeds,” I grumbled as I pulled yet another bunch of unwelcome invaders from the soil and tossed them aside. My pile was huge, and I’d only managed to clean out the smallest corner of the space.
Thankfully Caleb had the foresight to ask his ‘special helper’ to bring gloves and tools that weren’t from the turn of the century when she brought groceries, or this new little hobby of mine would have been even worse.
I snatched a particularly nasty-looking fellow and yanked, but the thick stock refused to budge, and I fell back on my ass into the dirt. “Fuck this shit. He can pull his own damned weeds.”
It was nice being outside in the sunshine, though, even though the wind was still biting cold. After a few days of being confined indoors, unable to scratchanyitch, today was the first time he’d given me a sort of freedom.
Freedom might be a stretch. I may not be in chains, but this island was as much of a prison as the cabin. The walls weren’t made of brick and mortar. They were a wild and angry sea instead. Caleb knew he had me trapped just as well as if I was in a dungeon. No matter how strong I was, I wouldn’t survive the waves for long.
Back aching and tailbone likely bruised, I stood and dug my fingers into my lower back, kneading as hard as I could to alleviate some of the tension settled there. I was way too pregnant for this kind of manual labor.
I shook my head, Moira’s voice ringing in my thoughts.You’re barely even halfway through your pregnancy. Stop being a whiny bitch, babycakes.
Palm on my bump, I laughed. By my calculations, I really wasn’tthatpregnant. I could still wear baggy clothes and hide it if I really tried. But Kingston especially had babied me from the moment he found out I was knocked up. I’d been spoiled. No wonder Caleb thought I was a brat.
My heart twisted painfully. I missed my mates. I hated feeling this way after they’d just stood inside that library going along with Cashel’s horrific plan. They didn’t deserve my devotion. But love was rarely rational, and like it or not, I was still in love with all of them. Even stupid Caleb, though I refused to let him in on that particular secret.
I strode slowly down the dirt road that led to the church, needing a change of scenery, the ability to think, and to plan my next move. I’d never been very patient, but it seemed like all I could do these days was wait. Wait to give birth, wait for Caleb to sleep, wait for the boat to come.
If it was just my life on the line, I could afford to be reckless, but it wasn’t. I had little Ellie to think of. I needed to time everything perfectly so when I made my escape, we would be far away from here by the time Caleb or the others could do anything about it.
