Page 52 of Bound by Vengeance
Vicky gasped when his tongue penetrated her.She struggled to recall she was supposed to be returning the favor,but by then, he already had her body trembling with impendingrelease.
CHAPTER 24
For the next five days, Vicky followed thesame pattern of meeting Duncan in the old sewer tunnels whileNathan went out to hunt. They’d spoken with fifteen of theestablishments Duncan knew about, none of them had seen or heardanything unusual.
When she finished in the sewers, she wouldgo to Nathan’s apartment and wait for him there. She found iteasier for her to leave his place and return to her hotel room thanto have him leave her room while she remained behind. Found iteasier not to have his scent all over everything in her rooms,tormenting her with his absence.
More than a few times, she contemplatedreturning to Ronan’s and never seeing Nathan again. If he came tovisit Kadence, she would do what every respectable adult in hersituation should do—hide.
If she returned to Ronan’s, she could comeup with a plan for her life. She wasn’t ready to return home to herfamily, but being within a thousand-mile radius of Nathan when hebecame engaged would be a “the train derailed, took out thestation, plowed through a building, and toppled off a cliff” kindof horrible idea when it happened.
She was already in this too deep. It wouldgut her when she lost Nathan; it wouldn’t kill her right away, butit would eat her from the inside out until she found a way to endher existence or went off the rails.
She could go to Paris as she’d alwaysdreamed and find herself a Frenchman who could talk dirty to her ina sexy accent. However, a Frenchman simply wouldn’t do. She wanteda hunter with eyes like the sky and a body she couldn’t get enoughof touching.
If I’m already doomed, then why not embracethat doom and enjoy as much time with him as I can?
Under that reasoning, she should give in andsleep with him too, but somehow she’d maintained enough restraintto keep that disaster from occurring. Once it did, her compulsionto seal the mate bond would increase until she had little controlover it. She wouldn’t accelerate her inevitable demise because shecouldn’t stop herself from having sex with him.
Her life was tied to his through a twist ofdemon DNA that made vampires monogamous for life if they foundtheir mates. She supposed it was the price they paid forimmortality, superior senses, and strength, but it sucked for thosewho found mates they could never bond with or had mates whoperished.
It didn’t help she was coming to care forNathan. She actuallylikedthe hunter. Every time she spokewith him, her heart beat faster; every time she saw him, she had torestrain herself from running into his arms.
Whenever he got the chance, he touched herin some small way. At first, she’d believed it was sexual, but whenmany of those caresses didn’t lead to them toppling into bedtogether, she started to realize he was trying to show her shedeserved his kindness without drawing attention to what he wasdoing.
Gradually, he made it so she stoppedflinching away from his touch. She still occasionally shied awayfrom others, but nowhere near as often as before.
And it made her care for him more. No, morethan care, the man was taking possession of her heart. She’d triedto keep an emotional distance from him, but it was impossible.
After the fifth night, she returned fromanother useless hunt in the sewers to Nathan’s apartment building.Stepping through the front door, she grimaced when she heard theman yelling at his wife again. A slap and a cry followed his vilewords.
That was it! She had no right interfering inany relationship, and certainly not a human one, but this bastardhad gotten oneveryone of her already frazzled nerves. Shewouldn’t tolerate anyone being abused.
Stalking over to the door, Vicky banged onit. On the other side, the man continued to rant and rave at hisbattered wife, but when Vicky pounded on the door again, hisyelling subsided. The floor vibrated beneath her feet as heavyfootsteps thundered toward the door.
When the door flung open, Vicky foundherself staring at six feet of irate male. The abusive bastard’sface was florid as his beady, bloodshot eyes pinned her to thespot. The stench of alcohol wafting from him would make a humandrunk.
“What ’da ya wan’?” he slurred.
“For you to stop abusing your wife,” sheretorted.
Those beady eyes narrowed at her. His lipsskimmed back to reveal his cigarette-stained teeth. “Fuck off, yabitch.”
Vicky glared back at the man and steppedcloser to him. His eyes widened as, instead of cowering, she gotfurther in his face. “This bitch is going to knock you on yourass.”
He started to laugh, but before he couldreply, Vicky pulled her arm back and coldcocked him square in theface. She didn’t punch him hard enough to kill him, but he droppedlike she’d shot him with an elephant tranquilizer.
When he hit the ground, Vicky spotted thewoman standing behind him. She had her hand against her swollenface; yellow bruises circled both her eyes, and tears streaked herreddened cheeks. The woman gawked at Vicky like she was an alienwho just beamed into her doorway.
“I warned him,” Vicky said to the woman. Sheshoved the man out of the doorway with her foot and grabbed thedoorknob. “Do yourself a favor and leave this asshole before hekills you.”
Vicky shut the door. She’d like to say or doso much more for the woman, but she’d already involved herself in ahuman relationship far more than she should. Hopefully, the womanleft. If not, maybe that giant piece of donkey turd would startkeeping his hands to himself. Vicky doubted it, but she’d done whatshe could, and more than she should.
Walking away, she trudged tiredly up thedisgusting stairs. Tonight, she’d spent more time below ground andseen too many lost people. The sad faces of those dwelling underthe earth had started to haunt her dreams.
Over the days, it had crossed her mind tostop this search; it wasn’t getting them anywhere, and it was farmore heart-wrenching than she’d anticipated, but she’d becomedetermined to speak with everyone Duncan knew.
She’d started this; she would complete itand not because she still believed it would lead to Joseph. Shekept going because she owed it to those people to offer whateverhelp and kindness she could. There had been a time when she’ddesperately hoped no one had forgotten her, and those people had toknow not everyone had forgotten them.
