Vengeance (The Captive #6)(63)

“You too. Are all those men out of the house?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You have to get the children upstairs and settled, now. Is Pallas out there?” she inquired.

The boy nodded. “Yes.”

“Tell her to stay behind with you,” Tempest instructed.

The boy released her. William watched him walk out of the room before turning to Tempest. Her face had paled as she listened to the scuffling feet and protests coming from the other room. “No complaints or you won’t be able to come back down,” Abbott admonished.

Tempest leaned against the wall and rubbed at her temples. Stepping closer to her, William wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close. He strained to listen for the front door opening and those men returning. Instead all he heard were the muted footfalls of the young boy approaching before he stepped into the doorway again.

“They’re all upstairs,” Abbott said.

Tempest kept hold of his hand as she led him into the front room. William squeezed her hand before releasing it. He strode over to the thick drapes on the window and pulled back the corner to peer outside into the street.

“Why did you want the children upstairs, Abbott?” A young, curvaceous woman asked as she appeared in the other doorway leading toward the hall. She stopped mid-step before releasing a small cry and racing across the room to throw her arms around Tempest. Tempest happily embraced the woman he assumed was Pallas.

William turned his attention back to the street and the vampires, mostly in white, walking up and down the road. Some of them stood in front of the buildings with their hands clasped before them and their shoulders thrown back. At the end of the road, he saw the large hotel Tempest had told him about.

Is the fake queen in there? He pondered as he stared at the building. He kept himself positioned so he could look outside while they talked with Abbott and Pallas.

“Who are you?” Abbott asked him.

“A friend. He’s here to help us,” Tempest replied hastily.

“Where did you meet?” Pallas inquired.

William turned toward her in time to find Pallas’s gaze running over him admiringly, before lingering on his ass. He glanced at Tempest who folded her arms over her chest and glowered at her friend. Pallas’s eyebrows shot up when she turned to find Tempest glaring at her.

Good, she’s just as possessive of me as I am of her; William hid a smile before focusing on the street again.

“What did they do when they realized I was gone?” Tempest inquired.

“They tore the house apart,” Abbott answered. “Then the town.”

“Did they hurt any of you?”

“No. They were enraged, and more than a little puzzled as to how you escaped without notice.”

“They know you went through the mountains,” Pallas said. “And sent a lot of troops to look for you there, with no luck obviously.”

“How did they know that?” William demanded.

Pallas glanced at him before focusing on Tempest again. “The guy you pushed off the cliff survived.”

Tempest ran a hand through her dirty hair. “I don’t know how to feel about that,” she murmured. William took hold of Tempest’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, she was tougher than she gave herself credit for, but she wasn’t a killer.

“What happened with that man?” Pallas asked. “Did he hurt you?”

Unable to hold it back, a growl emanated from William at the thought. Pallas glanced between the two of them before her mouth quirked in a smile. “He would have, but he didn’t get the chance,” Tempest replied.

If he got the chance to find him, William would kill him too. Tempest may not have the stomach for it, but he did. “He’s probably still in this town,” William said.

“Most likely,” Pallas agreed.

“Have they been bringing you blood?” Tempest asked.

“They brought us blood the other day, but for the most part they’ve been ignoring us,” Abbott said.

“What has been going on in the town?” William asked.

Abbott folded his hands before him, his fingers fidgeted nervously with each other. “The blizzard shut a lot of the activity down, but I think they’re getting ready to move on since the storm stopped.”

“What makes you say that?”

“There’s been a lot more activity since yesterday, and they started packing their belongings in the house.”

“I don’t know what they’re going to do with us,” Pallas said.

He did, but he wasn’t about to tell either of them that, yet. “Have you seen this so called queen?” he inquired.

“No, but are you sure she’s not the queen?” Abbott asked.

“No, she is most certainly not the queen,” William grated through his teeth.

Abbott and Pallas exchanged a look before focusing on Tempest. “How did you two meet?” Pallas inquired of her.

“I got caught up in the storm when I left the mountains, William saved me,” Tempest replied.

“And how do you know she’s not the queen?” Abbott asked.

“I just know.” He was unwilling to reveal any more about himself right now, not until they were free of this town and there was no chance someone could turn him in.