Red-Headed Stepchild

Page 39

I dug my fingernails into the leather seat. “What do you mean ‘we’? You’re not the one who was betrayed.”
“You’re right. They betrayed you. They lied to you. They used you. They pretended to love you and have your best interests at heart. But the truth is, they never did.” His voice was quiet, and the pity I detected there caused something to shift inside me. It was like a light switch flipped on, and its illumination made it impossible to deny the truth any longer.
My chest felt swollen, like a scream was building. I knew if I let it escape, I’d never stop. I skimmed the surface of my feelings, afraid to dive too deep and drown. My whole life was based on lies. Honor, loyalty, family—these words were currency used by my grandmother to manipulate me. My eyes stung with the realization that my loyalty had been misplaced. That my own flesh and blood used me. Silly Sabina, hoping one day, if she just tried hard enough, she’d be thrown a few meager scraps of approval. I was a fool. A patsy. A goddamned idiot.
Adam waited patiently, pretending not to notice the hot tears sliding down my cheeks. Pretending not to see me try to hide the rapidly forming cracks in my façade. Watching me pretend I could handle watching my life disintegrate before my eyes. I took one more shaky breath and swiped at the tears. I gathered my pain to me and collapsed it into a tight ball of bitterness.
“They’ll pay.” Adam reached out to me, but I waved his hand off. “I want to make them—her—suffer for lying to me. For making me feel like a freak my whole life.” My voice cracked. I cleared my throat and speared Adam with a look. “But that doesn’t mean I’m suddenly switching allegiances to a race I don’t even know. That’s trading the devil I know for the one I don’t. From now on, the only loyalty I have is to myself.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “All I’m asking is that you give me a chance to teach you about the mage side of yourself. To introduce you to your own flesh and blood—your sister.”
I started shaking my head before all the words had left his mouth. I so was not ready to meet my sister. Hell, I still wasn’t sure if I believed she existed. Adam saw this and took my hand. This time I let him.
“I know it’s a lot. You don’t have to meet her tomorrow or anything. Let’s just get through the next few days. Come up with a plan to get revenge on the Dominae and save the mages. Can you at least agree to that much?”
I thought about it for a few moments. My head felt swollen with conflicting emotions. It was a similar feeling to the one I had with Clovis just before that anxiety attack hit. I knew if I didn’t do something, I was going to lose it again, and that I definitely didn’t want to do in front of Adam. I’d made enough of an ass of myself in front of him already. Taking a deep breath, I tried to clear my head of all the static. I told myself to take everything one step at a time. If I tried to process it all at once, I might implode.
My breath escaped with a big sigh. “All right. I’ll help you figure out a way to save the mages.”
Adam’s smile lit up the darkened car. He leaned forward and grabbed me in a tight hug, and for a moment, I let myself enjoy the feel of his solid body against mine. I suppose part of it might have been the attraction I’d been denying for the last couple of weeks, but underneath that was an instinct that I could trust this male with my life. It wasn’t often I’d met someone I could trust to have my back in battle, both the physical or emotional kinds. But as I bathed in his scent and absorbed his warmth, I let out a breath. Surrender. I couldn’t control what was going to come. But I could control this moment.
Adam pulled back, his hands still on my shoulders, and smiled at me reassuringly. “It’s all going to be okay,” he said. “Together, we’ll figure out what comes next.”
I swallowed, overcome by a rush of tenderness. Perhaps I just felt like I needed to lose myself. Or maybe the emotional nature of the night left me vulnerable. All I know is I launched myself at Adam.
Our lips met in an ungraceful mash of teeth and lips. It didn’t matter. We figured out the rhythm soon enough. His hands grasped my face as he angled me for better position. I responded by nipping his lower lip with my right fang, giving me just a quick taste of his blood. He groaned, his tongue delving into my mouth. It was as if we tried to consume each other. We were a tangle of lips and teeth and tongues and hands. Our harsh breathing served as an erotic soundtrack for our frenzied explorations.
As is usually the case with ill-advised groping, the harsh ring of a cell phone interrupted our make-out session. “Ignore it,” Adam said as he cupped my breast roughly. I gasped as he licked my neck, just above my vein. The phone rang again, sounding more insistent this time. He moved back to my mouth. I ignored the sound of the irritating device as I lost myself in the mage I had no right to be kissing. The ringing stopped soon enough and we continued to explore each other with frustrated caresses.
Until the phone rang again. Adam cursed and pulled away. “I’ll just turn it off,” he said, grabbing the offending phone from the dashboard. He glanced down at the readout and grimaced. “Shit, it’s Clovis. Should I take it?”
I had been sprawled on the seat, panting with lust. My shirt had somehow become bunched under my arms and my black lace bra stood in stark contrast against my white skin. However, that name acted like a douse of cold water on my fevered skin. I sat up quickly and pulled my shirt down to cover myself. Adam watched with obvious disappointment.
“I guess that means playtime is over?”
I nodded and looked away, not ashamed really, just disgusted at my lack of self-control. I was a little long in the fang to be necking in a car on the side of the highway.
Adam blew out a breath and hit the button to call Clovis back. I glanced at him from the corner of my eye and watched him adjust himself with a pained expression. He muttered something under his breath that I didn’t quite catch.
“It’s Lazarus,” Adam said in a clipped tone. “Couldn’t reach the phone. Yeah, well, you’ve got me now, so start talking.”
I felt a small smile form at the corner of my mouth. Obviously, he wasn’t talking to Clovis. The only person I’d heard him talk like that to was Frank.
“Now?” he said. “Impossible.” He listened for a moment, his frown growing deeper. “I’ll be there in an hour. Tough. That’s the soonest I can be there.” With that, he punched the “end” button and tossed the phone back onto the dash.
“What was that all about?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, which did nothing to repair the damage caused earlier by my own hands. The rumpled locks did nothing to dim his sex appeal. “Frank needs to see me. Said it was urgent and he couldn’t discuss it over the phone.”
“Just you?” I asked.
“Yeah, he said there’s some problems getting some of the supplies I needed.”
“That’s odd. I wonder why it couldn’t wait.” This was the first I’d heard of any supply problems. Since Vinca was in charge of that area, I wondered why she hadn’t mentioned anything.
“Who knows?” He started the car. “I’ll drop you off at the apartment first.”
I didn’t really want to talk about it, but I held my breath waiting for him to broach the subject of the kiss—kisses, whatever. When he merely put the car in gear and pulled back onto the highway, I relaxed a little.
I watched him surreptitiously as he drove. His posture was relaxed with one wrist draped over the wheel, giving the impression of a man enjoying a nice drive. But the muscle working in his jaw told a different story. I decided to keep my mouth shut, knowing we each had bigger issues to worry about.
Soon we were back in the city. Crossing the bridge, I realized it had been a while since I’d eaten. With all the stress recently, I hadn’t been getting regular meals and it was wreaking havoc on me.
“Pull over,” I said as we neared the park I usually hunted in.
“Why?” He pulled over anyway.
“I need to feed. You can just drop me off now and I’ll walk home from here.”
“Are you sure? I don’t mind waiting. Frank isn’t going anywhere.”
“No, it’s fine. The apartment’s only a few blocks away.” I opened the door and hopped out before he could protest further.
“Sabina?” His voice had an odd tone to it, causing me to look up. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. Our gazes held for a moment too long. Unspoken words passed between us. I knew the gist, though. The kiss had been nice, but it wouldn’t happen again. “Be careful.”
I nodded and smiled. “Don’t worry about me, mancy.” With that, I closed the door and walked away. Behind me, I heard the SUV pull away slowly from the curb, followed by a gun to the engine that sent it speeding into the night. I didn’t look back.
An hour later, my skin felt warm from feeding. I guess I’d been hungrier than I’d thought because it had taken four men to satisfy my bloodlust. I dropped the latest blood donor, a would-be rapist who stank of cigarettes. His body landed with a thud at my feet.
I walked toward the exit and pulled my cell phone from my back pocket. When Adam and I had arrived at the woods earlier in the night, I’d turned it off. A press of the button and it lit up, announcing that I had three messages. Bypassing the voicemail button, I scrolled through missed calls. One from Clovis and two from Vinca. I called Clovis first.
“Sabina, where have you been?” Clovis’s voice was harsh, almost accusatory.
“Sorry, I forgot to turn it on. What’s wrong?”
“Adam is missing.”
The ice shot down my spine. “What? That’s impossible.”
“He was supposed to come by to go over a few details with Frank, but he never showed.”
“Yeah, I know, I was with him earlier when he talked to Frank. In fact, he dropped me off on his way to the meeting.”
“He hasn’t been seen since.”