Page 80 of Bound

“Yes.”

My life for Kieran’s. “I want to talk to him first.”

Phoenix rolled his eyes. “What part of unconscious is confusing to you?”

“First you tell me he’s dead. Now he’s in a coma and you have no way to prove he’s alive.” I tilted my head. “Want to try again?”

“Always so dramatic.” Phoenix waved a dismissive hand. His eyes locked on mine and I gasped as a searing pain knifed through my skull, the heat so intense I fell to my knees. “Of course he would choose you. Given what he is, that’s hardly a surprise. And yet you still fail to put the pieces together even when the answers are staring you in the face.”

West? I clawed at my temples, Phoenix’s words replaying in my head. Given what he is, that’s hardly a surprise.

He knew.

The ground hurtled up to meet me, the scent of freshly mowed grass the last thing I registered before the world went black—

Images slammed into my skull, too fast to make sense of, a mental scrapbook that had been flung open in the middle of a hurricane. I gritted my teeth, grasping at the first one I touched. A red exit sign glowed over the door, my soaked clothes dripping onto a black rubber mat. Outside, the rain drummed a sharp staccato beat on the pavement, the scent of wet asphalt and exhaust mixing with the hoppy scent of beer and greasy cheese fries.

My head screamed in pain, a molten hot sword driving mercilessly through my temples. But for once, the image in front of me made sense. It was as if the shaken canvas of my memories had been held in front of a lens, its edges slowly sharpened, the past put back right. A bronze cymbal flashed as the drummer for the band up on stage kicked off a cover by Aerosmith. The tall woman in the black halter top laughed.

Pulse quickening, I started towards the back of the bar, drawn this time not to seek something, but someone. More specifically, someone’s scent.

Shifter.

Why had I never remembered this before?

I reached the bathrooms in back, just like every other time the memory replayed itself in my head. Where the pay phone had been before, was a bare stretch of wall.

“Are you okay?” a male voice said from behind me.

The hair rose at the back of my neck.

Shifter.

I turned slowly. My height. Roughly my age. Dark hair and pale blue eyes. When I bared my teeth, he held up both hands.

“Sorry. I’m a friend, okay? Are you newly turned?” When I didn’t answer, he went on, “It’s the full moon and I can tell you’re not safe. If you lose control, if someone sees you and it gets reported back to the Council, they’ll destroy you.” Slowly, he pulled a cell phone from his back pocket. “You look like you need help. I was just going to say, if you wanted to use my phone, call your sire—”

I awoke with a gasp. The moon blazed overhead in a sky awash with stars, the horrible truth of what Phoenix had done that night a year ago hitting me in a rush as I staggered to my feet.

“You altered my memory.”

Phoenix began to slow clap. “And finally, he figures it out.”

“You’re a neuro-manipulator.” The vampires couldn’t have done that. I thought back to the memory of Kieran shouting at me the last day we’d talked, the nightmare of his addiction that had threatened to break us, and a fierce stabbing pain lanced between my eyes. River’s warning from weeks before rang in my head. What I know, is that memory can be manipulated, reshaped, and fabricated so convincingly that you’d swear something happened until your dying breath. Forgive me if I no longer trust what’s in my own head anymore. “You… you planted the rest of those memories. Kieran’s dealer that I went to see. His friends who said he was using. None of it was real.”

“You should have left well enough alone. But you wouldn’t stop pushing. You and West Caldwell.”

I started towards Phoenix, who took a wary step back. “You destroyed my family. And what about Hudson Smith, did you destroy his mind back at the prison?”

“He’ll live. His sister volunteered as a surrogate. She received a substantial cash payment to be impregnated by a vampire, stay at one of our safe houses, and carry the child to term. She wasn’t kept in a cage. We took care of her, saw to her every need. It was only after the child was born that she tried to renege, demanded twice her original fee for the surrogacy or she walked.”

“And Hudson somehow found out.”

“She wasn’t allowed contact with the outside world until the baby was surrendered as per the contract. Somehow, she managed to gain access to a cell phone. We had no choice but to tie up loose ends.”

Cristof said quietly, “We’re not monsters.” When I released a sharp laugh, he tilted his head. “Do you have any idea how many people we’ve lost in the last year at the hands of the Tracers? How many have been lost as a result of raids by the human government? We face extinction as a species. For us, this is a matter of survival. You may not like our methods. I certainly find them distasteful at times. But we’ve been left with no choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”