Page 43 of Bound by Vengeance
“You sure you’re okay?” Abby asked.
Yep, she’d pushed it too far. If she wasn’tcareful, Abby would be in the car within an hour and on her wayback. That meant she’d have watchdogs again and no time withNathan.
“I’m fine. Perhaps a little bored, but fine.Don’t worry about me so much, Abs, it will give you wrinkles.”
Abby laughed. “I can’t help it.”
“I know, but I’m good, really.”
“Why don’t you return to Ronan’s place ifyou’re bored,” Abby suggested.
“I will soon, but I’m not ready to give upall this pampering quite yet.”
“Okay.”
They spoke for a few minutes before Abbypassed her phone off to their mother. Vicky gritted her teeth andmade it through the conversation without feeling exceedingly guiltyor like the most hideous child in the world, though she was mostcertainly the worst Byrne child.
The phone was passed to every member of herfamily, all their mates, her adopted uncles the Stooges, and thenher nieces and nephews. Vicky was exhausted by the time they weredone talking, and she hung up, but she felt confident no one wouldrush back anytime soon.
Rising, she removed her coat from the hookby the door and left to meet Duncan.
CHAPTER 20
At nine, they met Declan and Lucien at aneutral, designated spot. Declan smiled and pulled a lollipop fromhis mouth. “Howdy,” he greeted before tossing the half-finishedcandy over his shoulder.
Beside him, Lucien grunted. Lucien’s eyeswere chips of black ice as they moved from Nathan to Asher and backagain. Nathan stared back at him.
“Since you’ve proven yourselves capable ofholding your own, I expect you won’t get us killed tonight,” Luciensaid as he ran a hand through his sandy blond hair.
“Since I’ve saved your ass before, I expectI’ll have to do the same again tonight,” Nathan replied and turneddismissively away from Lucien’s scowl.
Declan’s gray eyes were the color of liquidsilver when he laughed and slapped Lucien on the shoulder. “He gotyou there, my friend.”
“Asshole,” Lucien muttered and shruggedDeclan’s hand away.
“Where should we go?” Asher asked.
“We haven’t hit the clubs in a while,”Declan said.
Nathan nodded, though the last thing hewanted was to go into the human clubs; he despised the places.
Half an hour later, he found himselfstanding on the side of a packed dance floor with Lucien at hisside. Across the way, Declan and Asher weaved through the crowd andtoward the bar. They weren’t going for drinks but searching forSavages.
“We used to encounter at least one Savage aweek hunting the clubs,” Nathan said.
“So did we,” Lucien murmured as he foldedhis thick arms over his chest and surveyed the crowd.
“Joseph’s telling his followers to stay outof the clubs,” Nathan stated. “To avoid us.”
Lucien looked reluctant to join in aconversation with him, but eventually he replied, “The Savages haveto be feeding and killing somewhere.”
“If they’re taking peopleandvampires to turn into Savages, they could be feeding on theircaptives.” His teeth ground together as his words reminded him ofwhat Vicky endured.
“For a Savage, the drive to kill can’t bedenied. Maybe they don’t have to kill every night, but theywouldn’t be satisfied with simply feeding for too long. They’dresent it and probably turn on Joseph for trying to suppressthem.”
Nathan studied the crowd as he ponderedLucien’s words. “There’s no way Joseph could have control of theSavage’s minds and keep them in line that way?”
“Ronandoesn’t have the kind of powerit would take to control a large number of minds for long; Josephdefinitely doesn’t have it. Even if he had other vampires helpinghim keep the Savages under control, it would be too draining onthem to do it for an extended length of time. He might becontrolling some of the newest recruits, or those who resist himthe most, but not once they become Savages. There would be no needfor him to do so after that.”
