Warrior (Relentless #4)(133)

“Like you care. You just want to know who she was.”

“She?”

His mouth closed, and he scowled at me.

“A woman, huh? Bet she was beautiful too.”

He remained silent.

I wet my lips. “It’s kind of dry down here, isn’t it? You must be getting thirsty by now.”

“I’m fine,” he lied as his eyes took on a hungry gleam.

“We have a few pints of blood upstairs in the medical ward if you change your mind. I’m sure it’s not as good as blood fresh from the vein, but it’ll still taste pretty damn good going down.”

He swallowed convulsively, his eyes dipping to my throat.

I continued to taunt him. “I heard new vampires have to drink twice a day. When did you last have blood? Definitely over twelve hours ago. I have a feeling you’re going to get mighty parched in the next few hours.”

The vampire said nothing.

I looked at Tristan. “I think we’re done here.”

“I want to see Sara,” Nate said.

“I want my friend back,” I called over my shoulder. “Looks like neither of us will get what we want.”

“I know her. She’ll want to see her uncle before…well, you know.”

“You know nothing about her, vampire,” I said more calmly than I felt. “And you’re not her uncle.”

“Maybe not, but I might be more inclined to talk to her. If she asks me nicely.”

Tristan motioned for me to go back to the outer room.

“That’s as much as I could get out of him last night, except for the fact that his maker was a female,” he said once we were out of earshot of the vampire. “He keeps asking to see Sara.”

I crossed my arms. “That’s not going to happen. I won’t let that thing torment her for one second more than it already has.”

“I don’t want that either, but he’s right about her. She’s going to want to see him before he dies.”

I opened my mouth to object, but he spoke first. “You know Sara. No matter how much pain she’s in, she’s going to need to say good-bye to Nate. We can’t stop her from seeing him if she wants to.”

My stomach twisted at the thought of her in the same room with the vampire, and the pain it would cause her. Khristu, hasn’t she been through enough?

“She’s not going to see him without me,” I said in a tone that brooked no argument.

“Or me,” he replied. He looked at the door to the cells. “I’m going to move him to one of the interrogation rooms. He’s a lot thirstier today, so I might get something out of him if I tempt him with blood.”

His expression of distaste made it clear how he felt about working on the vampire again. Last night could not have been easy for him.

“I’ll do it,” I said. I wanted to go back to Sara, but Jordan would stay with her. It was important that we find out what the vampire knew, and it wasn’t fair to put that on Tristan.

“We’ll do it together,” he said gratefully. “I don’t know how long you could be alone with him before he goaded you into killing him.”

“You’re probably right.”

He opened the door again. “Let’s get this over with then.”





*


I stood on the front steps as the black Expedition pulled up with Niall behind the wheel. The front passenger door opened, and Roland jumped out. Peter climbed out of the back seat, and the two of them went to the rear to grab their large duffle bags.

The SUV drove away, and the boys turned to me.

“Welcome to Westhorne,” I said, walking down the steps. “Thanks for coming so soon.”

“Thanks for calling us. We would have been here last night if we could.” Roland hefted his bag on his shoulder. “Where’s Sara?”

“I think she’s walking her hounds.”

When I’d gone back to her room earlier, I’d found a note from Jordan saying Sara had gone to the menagerie. I’d called there and Sahir told me she had taken Hugo and Woolf out. I didn’t worry that she’d go far. Plus, Tristan had doubled the patrols last night.

Peter glanced around nervously. “Oh yeah, the hellhounds.”

I smiled and pointed to the door. “You can wait in the main hall while I go find her.”

Roland shivered. “Thanks. It’s bloody cold in Idaho.”

I left them in the hall and started across the snow-covered lawn until movement near the river caught my eye. I headed toward the small figure strolling aimlessly along the bank, looking so pale and lost that my heart ached for her.

She stopped and turned toward me as I drew near, and her sad eyes warmed as her mouth formed a ghost of a smile. I took her in my arms, letting my body warm her chilled one as we stood quietly for a long moment.

I pulled back to look down at her. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m okay,” she lied bleakly.

I took her cold hand and started back toward the main building. I hadn’t told her about her friends coming because she needed a happy surprise.

“Come, I have something for you.”

“What is it?” she asked with mild curiosity.

I squeezed her hand. “I know nothing can take away your pain or undo what’s happened. But if you could have anything else right now, what would it be?”