Page 69 of Eternally Bound
“What happened? Are you injured?” Kadence took a step toward him and froze when he remained unmoving and staring at her as if he didn’t know what to make of her. “Ronan?”
“What are you doing here?” he grated out.
Kadence didn’t know how to respond, what to say to this man standing across from her. No, not a man. Right now, he was every inch the demon that had created the vampire line. Blood streaked him from head to toe. It coated his hair, making it stand up from where he’d been running his hand through it.
His torn shirt exposed a swath of his chest that hadn’t been spared any blood either. The hole in his upper chest near his shoulder oozed blood, but most of the blood covering him was not his own. He didn’t have enough injuries for that to be possible.
She’d never been afraid of Ronan before, but he looked Savage, and damn if he didn’t smell like one of those murderous things too. Her nose wrinkled at the stench wafting off him. She felt every beat of her heart against her ribs.
What had happened to him while she’d been gone? What had she returned to?
“What are you doing here?” he asked again.
The tone of his voice, the way the shadows caressed his body, and the fiery glow of his red eyes caused her to gulp and wipe her palms on her pants.
“I… I came back.”
“Why?” he demanded as he prowled forward.
She couldn’t stop herself from stepping back as he glided across the room with lethal grace. He didn’t come at her; instead, he circled her like a shark circling its prey. She was nothing more than the guppy.
“Ronan, what happened tonight?” she asked, unable to keep the tremor from her voice.
“Why are you here, Kadence?”
The hair on her nape rose when he uttered the words from behind her. Why did he smell like those Savages who had attacked in the alley? Was it because it was Savage blood on him, or was it something more? Had he given in? Before, she never would have believed it possible; now she shared the room with a lethal predator, and she wasn’t sure she knew this man.
“I’m here because I called my brother from the airport.”
“Did you now?” The words were murmured in her ear, but when she spun to face him, he was ten feet away from her again, circling once more. Despite her excellent night vision, she briefly lost him in the shadows near the back of the room. “And what did you say to him?”
“I… I told him the truth,” she whispered and stepped away from where she’d last seen him. “I told him not all vampires are killers. That the hunters have it wrong.”
“I see. And why would you do that?”
“Because we’re trying to accomplish the same thing and working against each other is just going to help Joseph and the Savages rise in power. You need help, the hunters need help, coming together to fight a common enemy will benefit both sides and prevent unnecessary deaths.”
“And that’s why you’re here now?”
“Ye-yes,” she stammered when she felt his breath against her neck once more, and he inhaled her scent. She didn’t bother to try to face him; she knew he would be gone before she could turn around. “Maybe I can help bring both sides together.”
His bitter laugh caused her to wince. “I don’t think your brother cared much for what you had to say.”
“What happened tonight?” she whispered.
“Savages and hunters. Your brother was there.”
Kadence’s stomach turned, and a cold sweat coated her body. “Is… is… did you kill my brother?” Silence stretched on so long she nearly screamed in frustration as her fingernails bit into her palms. “Ronan?”
“He is alive,” he replied, and Kadence heaved a sigh of relief. “Though I didn’t want to leave him that way, not after he shot me with his crossbow.”
Kadence took an involuntary step toward where she’d last seen him, but movement to her right alerted her that he’d already moved on. “Are you okay?”
“What do you think?”
“No,” she admitted. “Something is wrong, and I don’t know what it is.”
“You sacrificed yourself, Kadence. Sacrificed your freedom because you believe you can help forge an alliance between the hunters and vampires.”
