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She shook Gabby with enough force for Gabby’s teeth to clatter.
“Ow! What on earth?” Gabby sprinted to the other side of the room.
Maria shot to her feet, the happily mated friend gone, replaced by a toughened soldier. “Remember what you told me? Who said she’d claw out Felix’s heart until the mating bond goes away?”
Gabby swallowed. “I did.”
“Exactly! Now’s your chance.” A growl rumbled up Maria’s chest. “The Council threatened to annihilate Haven. Because of him. Will you let him bully you into submission again?”
“No. I won’t let him win.” Gabby squared her shoulders and dug deep for the centuries of built-up anger and frustration. She recalled everything she’d promised to do when she saw Felix again. Maria and she had contingencies upon contingencies on what they’d do if Felix tried to take her back by force.
She’d die before she allowed Felix to stuff her back into a cell under the guise of protection.
“Good.” Maria nodded.
They glanced over when Nikolas stood up. He’d stayed quiet while Gabby and Maria schemed. Some things hadn’t changed.
“You know I fully support you dusting Felix,” Nikolas said with a hint of bemusement, “but it is against our law to kill another vampire, especially with this Gathering. Haven will suffer the consequences if something happens to Felix.”
“A few stabs won’t kill him. He needs to be shown his place,” Maria argued.
Gabby’s lips curled. Violence was in their nature, but even for vampires, Maria was more hotheaded than most, because she’d grown up in a time when she was only heard after she broke a few bones.
“I won’t kill him,” Gabby said. “But Maria’s right. I will defend myself if Felix crosses the line.” Even saying his name made her heart constrict. “There must be a way to break the mating bond. Do you think the king might know?”
Nikolas looked thoughtful. “I’ve never heard of anyone breaking a mating bond, but if it can be done, Alistair would know.”
When Gabby had seen the Vampire King, Alistair, from a distance centuries ago, her feet had trembled and her thoughts had scattered to the wind. That had been before she’d arrived in America, before she’d built Haven with Maria and Nikolas.
However, if facing Alistair meant she could be free of Felix and the mating bond, then she’d find the courage to do so.
“It is decided, then. I will ask King Alistair to break the mating bond.”
“And if that fails?” Nikolas asked.
Gabby looked at Maria, who nodded with encouragement. “If that fails, I will kill Felix.”
Chapter Three
EventhoughNikolashadshown her videos and pictures—something else he’d had to explain to her—of Vegas, Gabby was still blown away when they arrived.
Nikolas and she had left Haven in a form of transportation called a car. It’d taken a good thirty minutes before Nikolas and Maria had convinced her to get into the contraption. The entire time, she reminded herself she was immortal and nearly invincible while holding onto the seatbelt with white knuckled terror. She wished they’d flown the distance, but Nikolas had been right; it was better to preserve her strength for what awaited her in Vegas.
Fifteen minutes outside the city boundaries, Gabby had seen the Towers. Vampires, disguising themselves as humans, had built them before announcing their existence to the humans. The shorter buildings on the city’s outskirts were built first, one in each direction of the compass. Then more rose, each taller than the previous one, until the Towers formed a square cross when viewed from above. The tallest one in the middle, the Central Tower, contained one-hundred-and-eight floors.
What captivated Gabby the most was the energy field the towers emitted that protected vampires from the sun’s rays, removing their kind’s biggest weakness.
The mere idea was unbelievable and outrageous.To feel the warmth of the sun again!Never in a million years had she even entertained the possibility. She wouldn’t believe it, couldn’t, not until she experienced it for herself.
At Gabby’s request, they left the car behind once they reached the outermost Tower so she could take in the view from above. Maria had helped her into a dress with deep slits cut into the back for her wings. As she spread them and launched into the sky, she had to admit it was better than tearing holes in their old dresses whenever they had to fly.
In the past few days, she’d absorbed enough information to last two human lifetimes. Her brain was at capacity. She had the image of a balloon expanding within her brain, bigger and bigger, until it exploded.
Her senses overloaded, even before the sounds and sights and smells of a metropolis assaulted her. It was too loud. Too many conversations. Too many people. The scent of the heated asphalt mixed with the sweat and garbage and engine exhaust made her wrinkle her nose with disgust.
She missed the wild scent of the forest and Haven’s isolation, where the loudest noise came from the training room. Even taking a deep breath didn’t help.
Wait,Gabby sent the thought to Nikolas and landed on the roof below her.
