The Immortal Hunter(46)

"I'm not some brainless twit who needs coddling, Decker. She's my sister. You should have woken me up," Dani snapped, and then added with frustration, "It's not your place to save me worry. The phone could have been fixed by now, Nicholas could have called, and we could have Stephanie back safe and sound. Instead she's out there God knows where having God knows what done to her... if she's still alive," she added bitterly.

"Dani, I'm sorry, but he won't call," he repeated solemnly.

"You don't know that. And I'm sorry doesn't get my sister back, does it?" she asked, shaking his hand off and moving out of the kitchen. She headed up the hall and then took the stairs to the second floor, aware that he was following, but trying to ignore that fact. It was hard to ignore it when she walked into her room and tried to close the door behind her, only to have him stop her.

Dani glared at him briefly and then shook her head wearily and said, "Go away, Decker. I need time to think."

He ran a weary hand through his hair as he followed her into the room. "I can't."

She hadn't forgotten Lucian's order that he keep an eye on her, and Dani was too weary to argue with him, so she glanced around in search of an escape. Her eyes settled on the door to the bathroom. "Then stay. But I'm going to take a bath. I trust you don't have to be in there with me?"

"No, that's fine," Decker said in subdued tones.

Nodding, she crossed to the door and slid into the bathroom. Dani closed the door, but rather than start running a bath, leaned back against the panel of wood and lowered her head briefly. She'd only just woken up a short while ago, but felt as if she hadn't slept at all. The morning's events had been terribly draining, and all she wanted to do was curl up on the floor, go to sleep, and not wake up until Stephanie was back safe and sound.

Her lips twisted at the thought. That was exactly what Decker had hoped to do for her by keeping her asleep last night and she was mad at him for it. She supposed it wasn't really what she wanted at all. What she really wanted was to get Stephanie back right then, whether she was alive or dead. Obviously, she would prefer to have her back alive, but if the rogue had already killed Stephanie, then it was better to know now than to suffer the agony and anxiety of bouncing between hope and fear as she was. That, she found, was unbearable.

But you don't always get what you want, Dani told herself grimly, and forced herself away from the door to start running a bath.

She had pushed the button to drop the stopper and turned on the taps to start the water running when a knock sounded at the door. It made her scowl.

Knowing it was Decker, she was about to tell him to go away when he said, "Dani? I fetched you some soap and towels."

She blinked in surprise at the words, glancing around to see that while the small hand towel and bar of soap she'd used that morning were there, they were the only things that were, besides toilet paper. There were no towels hung over the rack, no washcloths either, and no soap by the tub. A quick search of the cupboards proved that those were completely empty.

"Dani?" There was concern in his voice now at her silence.

Grimacing at the realization that she'd have to answer the door after all, Dani called, "It isn't locked."

There was a pause and then the door opened. Decker entered, a stack of towels and various other things in hand. He eyed her warily, and then moved to the counter, explaining, "I guess Bastien didn't think to purchase things like this for the house, but Sam ran out to the twenty-four-hour drugstore last night and picked up a few sundries and then swung by her apartment for the towels. I didn't remember until you came in here or I would have mentioned it so that you could choose what you needed yourself." Decker set the items down and added, "If there's anything I didn't think of, let me know and I'll get it for you."

Dani's face softened at the thoughtful gesture, but she only murmured, "Thank you" as he turned to move back out of the room. She stood there for a moment after he left, part of her wanting to go out and say something to end this awkwardness between them, but she had no idea what to say. He'd been wrong to keep her asleep, even if it had been with good intentions. Decker hadn't set out to hurt her, and it had been sweet in a way, but...

Dani shook her head and glanced to the tub to find that it was already half full. She moved to the counter to collect the bubble bath, one of the sundries he'd brought her. She poured a generous amount into the tub and began to strip.

The water was warm and inviting when Dani stepped into it. She eased slowly to sit, sighing as the water and bubbles enveloped her. She reclined back in the tub and closed her eyes, hoping the warm, bubble-filled water would soak away some of her tension and worries, but knowing it wouldn't.

The sound of rushing water died and Decker stopped pacing the bedroom to peer toward the bathroom door, very aware that his Dani was on the other side of it. His life mate... who presently hated his guts, he thought grimly. It was a depressing thought! Decker knew he hadn't done much right since meeting her. First there had been that stupid CSIS business, and then biting her, and now he felt as if he'd personally failed her by not saving Stephanie. Intellectually, Decker knew that there was nothing he could have done, but that didn't stop him from feeling responsible. And it wasn't even the reason she was angry with him at the moment. It was his having Justin control her to make her sleep. That had seriously pissed her off.