Page 71 of Eternally Bound
It had to be, as it was definitely the same vampire who had been in the alley the night Jayce was killed. None of it made any sense, and trying to figure it out only made his head pound more. The guy had beaten the snot out of him, and Nathan had shot him with his crossbow, yet his throat remained intact.
“I don’t get it,” he muttered.
Logan and Asher didn’t say a word from where they sat on the couch, nursing their own wounds. There was nothing for them to say. None of them understood what had happened tonight or in that alley the first time they’d encountered Ronan and those other vampires. Maybe the first time he could have written it off as the vamps had decided to retreat, but he couldn’t tonight. Yes, the vamps had left, but they could have easily killed them before they departed.
He’d felt the power emanating from Ronan, and it had rocked him even before the punch to his nose had. Never had he encountered anything like that. There was no denying they should all be dead, yet they remained standing, or mostly standing anyway.
“Maybe it’s a game they’re playing or something,” Asher muttered.
Nathan hadn’t told them about Kadence calling him again. It was a sensitive topic for Logan that she’d fled in the first place. Plus, his sister hadn’t exactly sounded like someone they could trust when he’d spoken with her, and no matter what she’d done, he didn’t want anyone thinking badly of her when she finally did come back.
Now, he knew he had to tell them about the call. He couldn’t figure this out on his own, and he could trust them not to go to the elders with it. If they did, Kadence may never be welcomed back here again.
Nathan finished off his scotch before turning to face them. “There’s something I have to tell you. It’s not going to make any sense, but you have to know. Kadence called me earlier.”
Logan winced and rubbed at his chest, but he raptly listened as Nathan repeated the conversation he’d had with his sister.
***
Ronan slid the doors to the library open and glanced around the dimly lit room. Someone had closed the shutters over the windows. He had a feeling it was Kadence, who still believed the sunlight would burn him. She was curled up on the sofa, her hand tucked beneath her head and her chest rising and falling with her soft inhalations as she slept soundly.
It had been hours since he’d last seen her, since he’d felt in control of himself enough to come anywhere near her again. His eyes were still red; he believed it might be a permanent condition until the bond between them was complete.
She came back!He’d been too geared up last night, too covered in death to really grasp that concept. Standing there gazing at her, the realization hit him fully now. She may not have been prepared for what she’d walked into, but she’d come back to him.
He couldn’t tear his gaze away from her as he walked across the room to kneel at her side. She looked like an angel as she slept, her face serene. He stroked her cheek, relishing the satiny feel of her skin beneath his as she calmed him further.
Her sweeping lashes fluttered open, her azure eyes were dazed as she stared at him. Then, a smile curved her lush mouth. “Hello,” she murmured.
He couldn’t help but smile back at her. “Hello.”
He slid his arms beneath her and lifted her from the sofa. She draped her arms around his neck and nestled closer against him. Her head fell into the hollow of his shoulder as he carried her from the room and up the stairs.
“Why didn’t you go up to your room?” he asked her.
“I wasn’t sure I still had one here.”
“You’ll always have a place with me, Kadydid.Always.”
She rested her lips against his neck. “You’re much calmer now.”
“Do not be fooled. I’m barely in control, but I had to see you.”
“At least you’re not covered in blood anymore.”
He bent his head so that his lips rested against her cheek as he spoke. “You never should have seen me like that.”
Tilting her head back, her eyes searched his as she heard the self-loathing in his voice. “I know what you are, Ronan. You’ve never denied it. I know you’re lethal, brutal, a killer.”
“Hmm.”
“It was the smell that had me worried.”
He froze in the middle of the hall. “The smell?”
“Yes, you smelled like them.”
“Like who?”
