Page 19 of Bound by Vengeance
Simone was the kind of wife he’d alwayswanted, a wife who wouldn’t give him any trouble, yet the prospectof wedding and bedding her enticed him as much as an earthworm.Having to spend the rest of what could be a long life with her,made him feel as if he were being buried alive.
Kadence had fled her impending marriage to ahunter and become the mate of the most powerful vampire inexistence. As the leader of the hunters, Nathan had no such option.Whoever the elders chose for him, he would marry.
However, as he watched Vicky, he thought hemight prefer a woman whose sole purpose wasn’t to please herhusband, bear his children, and care for those in the compound. Awoman who smelled of jasmine, killed vampires without remorse, andenticed him more than any other woman he’d ever encountered. Awoman who would stand up to him and make her opinions known.
“You’ll find a purpose,” he murmured.
“Do you believe you’ll find one when Josephis dead?”
He opened his mouth to tell her “Ofcourse.” He had hunters to lead, a future wife, andhopefully children to raise. Instead, he found himself unable tofeed her the bullshit line.
“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “My life hasrevolved around killing Joseph for far less time than it revolvedaround hunting, training, and protecting others, yet….”
“They all feel like nothing now,” shereplied when his voice trailed off. “Or at least they feel likeless than they did before.”
“Yes.”
“I understand.” She released her legs andlet them down. Her heels kicked against the wall as she bit herbottom lip and a pensive expression crossed her face. “I’ll helpyou find Joseph.”
“No.”
“Yes,” she insisted. “Your one-man missioncould get you killed. Besides, youknowtwo sets of eyes arebetter than one to watch your back and look over the material youhave.”
“Joseph is a powerful purebred vampire whohas been killing innocents. He’s far more dangerous than Duke. Idon’t want you involved.”
“Heisfar more dangerous than Duke,but you don’t have a choice.”
“Excuse me?”
Vicky slid off the wall to stand before him.“I’m going to help you whether you like it or not. I’m not going togo running to your sister or Ronan and tell them about yourcrusade, but I’m not going away either. I don’t have anywhere elseto go right now, so I’ll help you get your revenge.”
“Sublimating one killing purpose for anotherisnotgoing to help you find your way in life,” he saidthrough gritted teeth.
“That’s not what I’m doing. You helped me;I’ll help you. It’s that simple.”
It was far from being that simple, she knew.She had no idea why she proposed this plan when the safest thingfor her to do was run away from Nathan andneverlook back,but the idea of never seeing him again made her feel even morehollow inside. And if she ran instead of trying to help him, and hegot killed, she’d hate herself for the rest of her days.
“I won’t risk you getting hurt,” hereplied.
“You’re not risking it.Iam. Ihaveto help stop him. I know better thananyonethedegradation the people and vampires that Joseph is capturing andturning Savage are enduring. I want to help stop it from happeningto others.”
He stared at her; she stared back at him.Nathan wanted to insist she return to Ronan, or her family, oranywhere else. He could make her return to them. All Nathan had todo was reveal what she planned to Ronan or her family, and theywould stop her. Of course, they would learn what he was up to also,and might try to stop him, but he could avoid them. She would havea harder time doing so.
If he did any of those things though, hewould never see her again, and for some insane reason, he wasn’tready to say goodbye to her. Hewouldkeep her away fromanything dangerous with Joseph, but he couldn’t deny an extra setof eyes would be helpful.
“The others will notice you’re missing,” hesaid.
“Aiden, Abby, and Brian are staying with myparents for another week. Ronan and his men don’t pay muchattention to me. I have a hotel room in the city. Until my familyreturns, the two of us can work together to find Joseph. And wewill find him.”
“So sure of yourself?”
“I always am,” she replied with a grin.
“All right, but we’ll work together undermyterms and conditions. If I tell you to stay out ofsomething, you stay out of it.”
“I’m not good at taking orders,” sheadmitted. “So, I’ll judge the situation for myself.”
“Not good enough, Victoria. If I—”
