Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy #2)(29)

To give Havers room, Rhage went around to the other side, his tremendous height and girth like the Great Wall of China had suddenly taken up res right beside Bitty. Taking the girl’s hand, he had looked both stricken and strong.

“We can do this,” he said to both her and Mary. “We’re all going to get through this together and then we go home to movies and ice cream. Right? Before we know it, we’ll be out of here, we’ll be free, and we’re going to set this behind us.”

Mary nodded and so did Bitty.

“Do it,” Rhage ordered.

Havers moved the little hospital gown up, exposing a pair of knobby knees that were too big compared to the circumference of the calves and thighs.

Oh, God, as long as Mary lived, she was going to remember the sight of those blue-gloved hands gripping Bitty’s thigh, squeezing into her meager flesh and—

Bitty started to scream in pain.

And no more than a split second later, a brilliant light flashed through the exam room, as bright as an explosion.

At first, Mary thought the overhead fixtures had gone out, but then her brain made a horrible connection.

Ripping her eyes away from Havers, she looked at Rhage in horror. “No, not now!”

But it was too late.

The beast had been triggered.





NINE


Enough was enough, Elise thought as she finally descended to the first floor. After stewing in her cousin’s room for what felt like hours, she knew she was just putting off the inevitable.

If her father wouldn’t entertain a civil audience with her?

Then she was going to get uncivil. Because what was truly unacceptable to her, what she refused to live with for one moment longer, was this familial equivalent of a media blackout.

Besides, what was her father going to do? Turn into a great snarling beast or something?

It wasn’t a surprise to find his study door shut, and as she walked across the foyer, it was impossible not to have an attack of the couldn’t-possibly’s. She had never once interrupted him when he was working on the family investments—but as an image of her beautiful mother came to mind, Elise used it as a battering ram. Even as her upbringing tried to hold her back, she pictured her mahmen and what the female would have done in this situation.

Elise didn’t even knock.

No reason to give him an excuse to deny entrance.

She just went for it, pushing her way inside—

That memory of her mother was power-washed out of mind as the tableau at the desk sank in: Her father was at his chair, presiding over the masculine room, his dark suit and tie his informal attire. ’Cuz formal was white tie and tails.

That wasn’t the shocker.

There was, however, a male sitting across from him, a male who had a pair of bulging shoulders and long, thick-thighed legs that dwarfed not just the seat, but the study as a whole. His hair was dark, shaved up the nape, and his turtleneck and leathers were black. As were the holster and the gun she could see under his arm.

The male slowly turned around to look at her. But she didn’t need to see his face.

It was him. From the cigar club.

Elise’s body roared with heat—and her brain roared with fury. How had father found out she had seen the trainee? Had there been another vampire around when they’d argued at the side of the street? But come on, they hadn’t even had much of a verbal altercation. And Peyton had interrupted—

Peyton. That son of a bitch.

“Father, I—”

“And this is my daughter,” her father interjected. “Please excuse her interruption. Elise, this is Axwelle.”

The male she had been thinking about non-stop rose to his feet and towered over her. “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Elise looked back and forth between the two of them as Axwelle bowed at the waist. As an unmated daughter of high blood in the glymera, even though there was a witness, it would have been impermissible for him to offer his hand to shake, much less for her to touch him in any way. And he knew that.

And it was just as well. Even though she was confused, what she was crystal clear on? The effect of that male on her had only gotten stronger.

The hours she had spent thinking about him had distilled that initial attraction into a compulsion.

But what the hell was he doing here? If her father was upset because she’d met the guy the night before, he certainly wouldn’t have introduced her to Axwelle as if they were strangers.

Well, they were strangers.

Elise looked across the desk at her father. He had slumped in his chair, as if he were too tired to adhere to his posture standards.

“Elise”—he indicated the vacant seat next to Axwelle—“do sit down.”

She complied instantly, crossing over and lowering herself into the seat. In her peripheral vision, she noticed that Axwelle wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were focused forward on her father.

Yeah, boy, he was … okay, she hated the word hot. As if someone you found sexually attractive was like a plate of food out of the oven? But in fact, that was pretty much the first and only thing that came to her mind. That black turtleneck so worked for him. Where had his piercings gone? He had removed them.

What would his hair feel like? Soft and thick—

“… and that’s why I’ve brought him here.”

Shaking herself, she blurted, “What?”