I’ll be, the fucker is still alive.
Winding up my arm, I fling the body up and over the house across from Chloe’s and watch as it sails into the yard behind it.
Jogging back to the SUV, I feel the last of my strength ebbing from me.
“What the fuck?” Matthias asks from the backseat.
“I don’t reward bad girls with treats or gifts,” I say and cross my arms over my chest.
The wait for the pack is both unbearable and good for me. I’m close to her, nothing and no one can take her under my watch.
But the closer I am, the more pain I feel from her, and myself.
I’m causing this pain she feels, it’s my presence that makes her hurt. If I could take all that pain away and put it solely on my shoulders, I would. I’d do it without a second thought.
But I can’t.
Leaving her is the best I can do for her, for now. When I can finally have her by my side, I’ll truly be happy, but until then I force Raphael to drive us to the closet motel.
“Get everyone but a skeleton crew out of New Philadelphia,” I say to Andrei. “Have them bring your laboratory, as well. I want you researching what the fuck just happened.”
“They’ll break things that are priceless if I’m not personally involved with the shipping,” Andrei growls.
“I’ll personally replace anything that ends up damaged.”
“Everyone?” Raphael asks.
“Yes, even our roaming brothers are called into the fold,” I say, and look at the shitty little motel we’re pulling into. “This city will be ours, and Nikolaos’s coven will be ashes when I’m done with them.”
“The Council won’t like this,” Matthias says once we’re parked.
“The Council won’t like what Nikolaos pulled tonight, either,” I snap at him, shoving my fury through our connection. “Push the word out about what happened. I want the whole community aware of his betrayal.”
“Yes, sire,” Matthias says between gritted teeth.
We pull around back once Raphael secures us rooms. This isn’t a defensible place to hole up in, but I can’t go any further.
Getting out of the SUV, I hook my thumb in the direction of Ambrose. “Bring gibbering beauty to my room. I have questions.”
The sunlight shining down into this shithole’s parking lot is driving me insane. The pain is there, as it’s always been, but it also brings unease. I feel the nerves in my joints twitching and my hands aching to do something.
I’m the leader of one the most powerful covens in the world, and here I am brought to my knees. Powerless to fight invisible rules.
Powerless against the being that is Chloe.
Of course, I have to remind myself as I walk into the dingy motel room, I’ve read all the memoirs of those who have found their mates. They describe the feelings, the emotions, and the longings.
But the problem is, each and every memoir or vampire I’ve spoken to have said different things. No two pairings have been alike. Fuck, there are mates who loathe each other but are bound for all of eternity together.
The sadness and loneliness I felt in their presence was palpable.
After looking around the room, I know I would destroy every bit of furniture if I thought it would bring me some sort of relief. Violence and utter destruction are wonderful tools to ease any mood.
That is until I found her.
A rap on the door brings me out of my thoughts. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting on the bed, nor how I even came to be on the bed in the first place. My thoughts continue to race to her, to everything I’ve seen, heard, felt, and sensed.
Her deep gray eyes, her golden hair. The shape of her neck and shoulders. The fine craft of her lips and cheekbones. Each part of her entrances me further and further. Each calls out to me to touch, to kiss, to smell, and taste.
I long to wrap her thin fingers inside my own hands, to give them the support they so desperately need in this moment.
If only I could wrap my body around her smaller frame. Wrap her in my arms and keep her safe from the world. Right now, I’d do anything for it.
I’d even risk my immortality to keep her safe.
Standing in front of the door, I notice Andrei has been pounding on the other side now for longer than I can quite remember.
I swore I just stood from the bed...
But staring at it, I’m not sure if I just got to the door or if I’ve swam back into my mind again.
Finally opening the door, I stare at a very exasperated Andrei and the rest of my brood. Ambrose stands between them all, rocking from one foot to the other.
“Sorry…” I say. “Were you waiting for long?”
“Asher, we’ve been here for four minutes,” Raphael says before barging past me to check out the room.