Taste of Torment

Chapter Eight

(Sam)

Some people seemed to have a talent for making you want to strip them naked, lather them in fish guts, and throw them into a pool full of hungry piranhas. Fredrick Collins was one of those people. Sitting at my office desk with Dexter curled up on the table beside my laptop, I pointedly ignored Collins as he hovered over me while I again surfed the V-Net for information on The Call.

When I’d agreed to fully cooperate with him, I hadn’t realised just how much of a pain in the arse he was going to be. Every training session, he watched and took notes the whole time. Every session, he was full of questions, despite that he didn’t need to know the answers to most of those questions. And every session, he repeatedly attempted to undermine me and persisted in criticising me. For someone who was there to ‘observe’, he had an awful lot to bloody say for himself. For God’s sake, he even criticised the clothes I wore – suggesting that a tank top was revealing and, therefore, would tease and distract the squad. Was he having a laugh?

It hurt – really hurt – to refrain from whipping the living crap out of both him and Eloise, but I had promised myself that I would be on my best behaviour. The fact was that having people so closely ‘observe’ the sessions and see how the squad worked was actually dangerous; it was information that could be used against us if it ended up in the wrong hands. Although he and Eloise had signed a confidentiality agreement in blood to the effect that they would never share it with anyone other than those within the Prelature, neither Jared nor I was reassured by that.

As such, we had secretly instructed the squad to not use their full strength, to not allow Collins and Eloise to see just all of what they could do and just how well they could truly do it. We had also reduced training hours and given the squad longer breaks, thus giving Collins and Eloise less to ‘observe’ and write about.

But a big issue was that Collins didn’t just observe training. He regularly examined my office, he watched over me as I worked at my desk, he asked to read my reports, and he also liked to witness my interactions with other commanders. In other words, he had become my shadow. And it was getting to the point where I was ready to smash his face into a wall. Or maybe I could just let Dexter bite him. Strongly linked to my emotions, Dexter could sense what Collins made me feel, and my snake was utterly pissed whenever he was around. In fact, he had hissed at Collins three times in the past half hour. He perceived him as a threat, and Dexter liked to eliminate threats. It was so very tempting to let him.

Although she didn’t hang around me like a bad smell, Eloise was just as much of an annoyance as Collins. She accused me of stupid crap like being too firm with the squad, though other times she would complain that I was being too lenient. She also accused me of being ‘too friendly’ with the squad, though it was clear she was insinuating that I was flirtatious – and wasn’t that the pot calling the kettle black. She even went as far as to imply that I was flirting with the squad to make Jared jealous, obviously attempting to create tension between us. It hadn’t worked, of course, which seemed to be irritating the crap out of her. Good.

When she wasn’t with Collins, she was lounging near the bat pool like she was on bloody holiday or something. When she was with Collins, she divided that time between nit-picking at me and staring lustfully at Jared…making me want to rag out every strand of that mane she seemed to love. She persisted in wearing low-cut tops and cut-off shorts. Collins had suggested a number of times that she change into ‘more appropriate clothing’, but his suggestions had been ignored.

She flirted so much with Jared that even Joy was pissed with her. I’d actually come across them arguing a few evenings’ ago. Joy had ripped her a new one and then winked at me conspiratorially. When I’d mentioned it to Jared, he’d informed me that Joy particularly hated Eloise as Joy had been his consort during the time that he had bonked the bitch. In Joy’s weird little mind, Eloise had made Jared cheat on her. Her weird little mind also saw me as the lesser evil in this case. Well, whatever.

One thing Jared was extremely good at was sussing out a person’s strengths and weaknesses. He had pointed out that both Collins and Eloise had one very big fault: they thought that they were untouchable. So silly of them. If they continued as they were, they would quickly learn that things didn’t work that way…because I made sure they didn’t.

Leaving my side – finally – Collins popped his head out of the door. “Fletcher, could you please fetch me a”

“I work for Sam and Jared. Unless the request comes from them, the answer is no.”

I smiled. Oh God, I loved Fletcher. He was just as pissed off with Collins as everyone else was. The bloke was truly talented at alienating people and making enemies.

Collins stuttered, “Y-yes, but”

“After all, what kind of assistant would I be if I spent my time doing things for others? There’s a NST dispensing machine in the corner of the hallway.” Judging by the clicking sounds, Fletcher had immediately gone back to typing. Disssssssmissed.

Sighing in disappointment, Collins perched himself on the edge of my desk again. “I’ve yet to see the squad’s personal files.”

Was he high? Incredulous, I asked, “Why would you see their files?”

“I need every scrap of information to complete my report.”

“But that doesn’t include their files.” And he had some nerve to ask for them.

He gave me an impatient look. “I’m here to observe you as their commander.”

“Appreciated,” I said slowly, like I was dealing with a small child, “but their personal files have no bearing on that.” He was just being a nosy bastard because he was freakily obsessed with the squad.

“On the contrary, I need to see that you keep the files updated – that you properly record the squad’s progress.” His snippy tone earned him a hiss from Dexter. As usual, Collins flinched at the sound.

“Well you’ll just have to take my word for it when I say that I do.” Planning to head back to the arena now that lunch break was over, I switched off my laptop and spread out my arm beside Dexter. Without hesitation, he began to curl himself around it.

Collins folded his arms, glaring down at me disdainfully. Pompous prick. “You have to cooperate with this investigation, Commander Parker.”

“I have, and I will continue to do so. But I will not disclose personal information about anyone without their expressed permission. Now, if the squad agree to you seeing their files – well, that’s different.” As Dexter finished winding himself around my arm, I said, “Novo,” returning him to his tattoo form. Only then did I move my attention back to Collins. “Ask them. If they agree, I’ll make their files available.” But hell would freeze over before the squad would agree to that, and he knew it.

“I could always call my superiors and have them”

“Do what you feel you need to do, Mr Collins. But don’t ever think that threatening me with anyone or anything will get you what you want. Your big, bad displays of authority are wasted on me. As you yourself said, I’m ‘reckless’.”

He flushed. “I would recommend that you do not make an enemy of me, Commander Parker.” His cautioning tone was severe, almost threatening. “As your observer here, it is in my hands whether or not you keep your position.”

I leaned forward. “Yeah? Well observe me pretend to give a rat’s arse.” With that, I stood and made my way around the desk, my head held high. Exiting the office, I waved briefly at Fletcher – who, clearly having heard the conversation, was keeled over with laughter – and advanced down the hallway. Unfortunately, Collins shadowed me as per bloody usual.

“Where are you going?” he asked, remaining slightly behind me.

“Lunch time is over. I’m returning to the arena.”

“What about Commander Michaels?”

“He’ll be meeting me there.” Jared had wanted to pay Evan a brief visit. It was something he did too often in my opinion, and each time he came out of there he was even more devastated than the last time. A part of me wanted to tell him to stop going to the cell and doing this to himself, but I understood why he did it. I also understood that the reason he went without me was that he didn’t believe he deserved my support. He was blaming himself to some degree, and nothing anyone said would shift his opinion on that.

“It was strange that he didn’t have lunch with you this evening.”

“Was it?” I kept my tone bored, ignoring what was clearly a prompt for information on what Jared had been doing.

“Usually you’re both joined at the hip.” His voice was sharp, almost bitter.

“No need to be jealous, Mr Collins.”

He spluttered. “I am not jealous! Quite frankly, Commander Parker, you are not someone who I could permanently tolerate on a daily basis. You’re simply too aggravating.”

“Why, thank you. But I wasn’t implying that you want me, I was implying that you have a little thing for Jared.” In truth, the only emotions he ever felt around Jared were jealousy, bitterness, and hatred. There was never desire there, but I liked to needle him. Tit for tat, right?

“I beg your pardon!”

“Don’t worry, you’re not the only one who wants him. And I can totally understand.”

“I do not want your mate! I do not even enjoy his company. And if you must know, I am one hundred percent heterosexual.”

Without turning to look at him, I wagged a finger. “Now, now, there’s really no need to lie.”

“I am not lying,” he stated through his teeth, his temper rising.

“Sure you are.”

“How dare you! That is a very”

I stopped dead and twirled to face him, almost causing him to crash into me. “Oh, so you don’t like it when someone makes incorrect judgements about you? Join the fucking club.”

He didn’t say another word as he followed me inside the arena, which was a very good decision on his part. Inside, Jared and the squad were waiting. A scantily dressed Eloise was already seated in the spectators’ area. Strangely, she was also completely still. Only her eyes were moving, and they were gleaming with panic. Realisation hit me, and I sighed at Harvey, shaking my head.

Shrugging, he released her of his gift. “It was just a demonstration. They’re both constantly asking for them.” No, it was his way of cheesing her off. The squad was getting sick of Collins and Eloise watching them like it was a show and they were performing seals.

Jared smiled at me, but his eyes were troubled, bruised. “Hey. You ready?”

You sure you’re up for this? If you need some time alone after seeing Evan, go home and I’ll be up in a little while.

Thanks, baby, but I’d rather be with you. Plus, I need to keep my mind on something else.

Accepting his wishes despite my reservations, I switched my attention to the squad. Having worked on their physical stamina earlier, we intended to now work on their gifts. As usual, they enthusiastically rose to every challenge, but they cleverly faked limitations or difficulties that they didn’t have, ensuring that the information that went to the Prelature wasn’t accurate enough to be used against us.

As usual, Collins repeatedly interrupted the session to ask questions such as, “Is it really important that they always suck in their surrounding energy?”, “Are they punished if they do not do it?”, and “Do they enjoy doing these exercises despite that they can harm each other?” His most annoying question came at the end of the session: “Are they rewarded when they overcome their weaknesses, or is this the strongest that the squad will ever get?”

“This squad is not weak, Mr Collins. The members are simply stronger in some areas than they are in others.” He flushed.

“I can’t help but notice that your questions are becoming more and more about the squad and how they feel rather than about Sam’s actions,” observed Jared. He was right.

Collins shifted nervously in his seat. “Naturally it is important how they feel. It tells me whether or not they enjoy having Commander Parker as a commander.”

“But you already asked us that question during our interview,” Chico pointed out. “So you already know the answer to that.”

Butch nodded. “Commander Michaels is right. You’re a little too interested in us.”

“Maybe he wishes he was part of the squad,” mused Damien. His expression said ‘like that would ever happen’.

That gave me an idea. “Is that true, Mr Collins?” I gave the arsehole a delighted smile. “Oh, why didn’t you say something sooner? Come on down here.”

Collins froze. “Excuse me?”

“You can spend five minutes with the squad before they leave the arena. Come on, there’s no better way of understanding what it’s like to be part of the legion than up close and personal. It’ll be fun.”

(Jared)

I really did love this woman. By the end of the five minutes, Collins had been psychically slapped at least twenty times, was lathered in yellowy-green ooze from head to toe, had over a dozen thorns sticking out of his ass – luckily for him, Reuben had lessened the strength of Chico’s gift and so the thorns only caused him discomfort – and then Denny had farted skunk-like musk at him. To top it all off, Collins had a personal encounter with the ceiling thanks to Harvey’s gift.

Wheezing, a pale Collins staggered toward the exit. “It’s all right. I’m okay.” He put a hand to his stomach and swallowed hard. “I think I’ll go lay down for a while.”

David gave him a falsely sympathetic smile. “Yeah, I think that might be for the best.”

“Eloise, could you carry my things? I’m unable to do it myself.” Collins showed her his ooze-covered hands.

Eloise did as he’d asked, shooting me another inviting smile as she past. “Maybe I’ll see you later, Jared. I’ll be at the pool if you need me for anything. Anything.” That was getting real old.

Unlike Sam, I wasn’t convinced that Eloise wanted me as desperately as she and her body language implied. In fact, I’d been told by another commander that Eloise had been amusing herself with a few of the guards – and all at once. Nor did I believe that she was under the illusion that I’d ever cheat on Sam. She never invested any real effort in trying to get my attention. Sleazy smiles, flirty comments, and walking around half naked were nothing compared to the type of things that Joy had been known to do.

I personally believed that Eloise simply did all that to rile Sam, maybe in the hope of making Sam snap and do something that wouldn’t look so good in the report, or maybe simply because Eloise was – as I’d soon come to realise – jealous of Sam. Jealous of how powerful she was, of how people looked up to her, and of how they respected her. Flirting with Sam’s mate was guaranteed to anger her. Possessiveness took on a whole new meaning when two people were Bound – probably because of the protectiveness the couple had of the bond and the instinctive need to eradicate any threat to it.

Eloise was undoubtedly frustrated that Sam wasn’t responding violently to her taunts. Sam knew that I’d never betray her, and she knew that I’d never leave her. Not just because of how deeply the bond connected us and just how much it allowed her to see, but because I never let her forget it. Of course, someone as fickle and selfish as Eloise wouldn’t understand that and wouldn’t expect Sam to hold back. Nor would she expect that Sam would put her position and her squad before her own wants.

It seemed that people had a habit of underestimating my blunt, crazy, homicidal ray of sunshine. More fool them. I’d been guilty of that at one time, but it wasn’t a mistake I’d repeated. I didn’t doubt that Collins and Eloise would soon learn that they had stupidly underestimated her in many ways. She could be impulsive, sure, but she could also bide her time when need be.

“Now that they’re gone, I can tell you what happened yesterday evening.” Chico double-checked that Collins and Eloise were gone before he spoke again. “When you went home after training, we all headed to the basketball court for a while. Collins turned up, wanting to play, like we were all good friends – the cheeky fucker. Anyway, I told him no. That I only played with people I trusted. He said that his presence here at The Hollow should prove his loyalty to us.”

Reuben shook his head in disbelief. “He really thinks that investigating the complaints that have been made against you is good for us, Coach – that he’s helping and protecting us from potential harm and exploitation.”

Harvey smirked. “Butch cleverly took advantage of that.”

We all turned to Butch, who shrugged and smiled crookedly. “I told him that if he was really loyal to the squad, he’d reveal which one of us apparently made the complaints.”

I stiffened. “And did he?”

“At first, he said the complaints were made anonymously,” replied Butch. “But I reminded him that he’d already told us the first night he came here that he knew their name and that he was respecting their wish to remain anonymous. We were just about to walk away from him when he blurted out their name.”

There was a long moment of complete silence before Sam asked, “Who?” Butch didn’t respond.

Damien sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Max.”

Sam shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”

“Good, because neither do we,” stated Salem. “Max is a convenient person to blame it on, since he isn’t in any state to defend himself.”

“Do you think Collins might be blaming someone who can’t object because he believes it’s his way of protecting the person who supposedly made the complaints?” asked David.

“I don’t know.” I turned to Reuben. “I agree that Collins truly believes he’s helping here. He honestly thinks these complaints are genuine.”

Chico looked at Sam cautiously. “You know that none of us would ever do that, Coach, don’t you?”

“We respect you, and we look up to you,” began Damien. “Hell, we owe what we’ve become to you.” I wasn’t offended that I wasn’t being given equal credit. Sam had helped them dramatically in the sense that they’d had no idea of the things they could do with their gifts until she came along. Without her, they may never have learned to use their gifts to their full potential, may never have attained such control over them.

“You don’t need to try to convince me of that,” Sam assured them, rolling her eyes. “I have never – not even for one second – believed any of you would do this. If I wasn’t confident in your loyalty to me, Jared, and each other, I wouldn’t have you with me on assignments, watching my back, would I?” That clearly settled them.

“We just wanted to be sure.” David gave her a half-smile. “No one could blame you for wondering.”

“Well I don’t ‘wonder’. We’ll find out who’s behind all this and we’ll deal with it. Until then, we need to keep handling Collins and Eloise the same as we have been doing since they arrived: give them nothing to whine about or use against any of us.”

“It occurred to me,” began Harvey, “that if someone came up with a plan like this, it might not be to make you lose your job or to discredit you. That might not be the true goal.”

Sam’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Coach, this is eating up your time and attention. It’s restricting, too; you need to constantly be on your best behaviour, and you can’t afford to push us hard during training. In short, this whole ‘case’ that’s been made against you is distracting you from researching a way to fight The Call. Maybe that’s the goal.”

I cocked my head. “I never thought of it like that.” At Sam’s sceptical look, I added, “Don’t get me wrong, I think Collins does truly think this is a real complaint and he would like to see you lose your position purely because he’s an asshole. But it’s still possible that the motivation behind the complaint isn’t what we thought it was.”

Sam twisted her lips. “Okay, so let’s say that’s true and someone wants to keep me distracted…Why? Why would they want me to find it even more difficult to fight The Call than it already is? Why would they hamper our attempts to find a counteragent?”

Harvey shrugged. “I didn’t say I had all the answers. My brain is good with strategies, but that’s pretty much it.” Yes, by his own admission, he lacked common sense.

“It could be that someone is hoping that The Call spreads around The Hollow, killing many of its inhabitants.” Chico waved his hand. “This place will always have people trying to take over it. It’s happened too many times to count.”

“Yeah,” said Damien. “And if Evan, Max, and Stuart were to die – which won’t fucking happen – it would mentally weaken us all, wouldn’t it? Weaken us enough to put us all in a shit state of mind.”

And look what had happened to Evan when he’d been in a bad state of mind.

Sam slowly paced up and down. “To sum up, it’s possible that someone wants me distracted, wants us all mentally weak and off-balance, and wants to stop us from battling The Call – and possibly because they fully intend to leap on that in order to invade The Hollow. But surely if there was going to be an attack, Luther would have foreseen it.”

“Luther doesn’t foresee everything, though.” David shrugged. “If he did, Evan, Max, and Stuart wouldn’t be in a cell right now.”

Luther did say that a lot of people would turn up for Paige West, I reminded her.

Yeah, for Paige. Not for control of The Hollow.

It’s neither here nor there anyway because there’s absolutely no way that she will come here.

Sam rolled her eyes at me but didn’t push me on the subject this time, thank God. It caused disputes between us every time, and I was sick of having the same argument over and over. Nothing in the world would make me risk her. I just fucking couldn’t. But she didn’t seem to get just how much she meant to me. To her, I was being stubborn and unreasonable. To me, I was putting Sam before anything else and determined to keep her safe.

Sure, a part of me felt bad for refusing to bring Paige West here when she could potentially save Evan, Max, and Stuart. But how the hell could I do that, knowing something bad could happen to Sam, to the thing that mattered to me more than anything?

When I’d gone to see the guys earlier, I’d spoken to Evan telepathically even though he didn’t appear to be in a rational enough state of mind to understand me. All three of them had badly deteriorated and looked fucking awful – almost as bad as their attackers had. It was a reminder that time was running out. I’d told Evan a little about Paige West, told him about Luther’s vision, and begged him to understand why I couldn’t bring Paige here. Begged him to understand that I just couldn’t be without Sam. I’d told him that if the situation was reversed, I wouldn’t have wanted him to sacrifice Alora and his life with her just for me. It was true. If he had understood my words, he hadn’t let on.

Once Sam and I were finished talking to the squad, I teleported us both home. Sam took three steps toward the kitchen area and abruptly halted. So attuned to her that I sensed her outrage, I stiffened. “What’s wrong?” Then she was strangely zooming through the entire apartment at vampire velocity before returning to me.

Clenching and unclenching her fists, she ordered through her teeth, “Teleport me to the bat pool.”

“Baby, what’s”

“Now, Jared.”

Not liking her tone whatsoever, I shot her a reprimanding look. Right now, I’d humour her, but…“I’ll spank your ass for that later.” Taking her hand, I teleported us out of there.

The second we appeared beside the pool, Sam twirled as her shrewd eyes searched her surroundings. Her gaze landed on something – no, someone – and she made a hissing sound that would have made Dexter proud. Before I had the chance to calm Sam down and stop her from doing anything that she would later regret, she was stomping over to an unsuspecting Eloise. Well, shit.“Sam”

“What the fuck do you think you’re playing at?”

Startled, Eloise lifted her head from where she was lying on a sun lounger – all vampires enjoyed moonlight bathing. “Excuse me?”

Hands on her hips, Sam glared down at her. “You were inside my apartment!”

That sure surprised me.

Eloise blanched. “I don’t know what”

Sam laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “Sweetheart, did you really think that if enough time went past for your scent to fade, I wouldn’t have known you’d been there? You can’t hide an energy signature. Feeders like me are all about energy. And your energy signature was all over my fucking apartment! What I want to know is what you were doing in there.”

Eloise desperately looked around for some form of help. That was when I noticed that we were no longer alone. Antonio, Luther, and Antonio’s personal guards all stood near the patio doors, clearly baffled.

“Well?” demanded Sam.

“I-I, um, I was looking for Jared.”

“You know what? I don’t believe you.”

“Why?”

Sam chuckled, regarding Eloise with mock pity. “Because you’re lying, silly. After all, it’s not like you were going to find him in my set of drawers – and you had a good root through them, didn’t you?”

Her eyes danced from side to side. “I was, um...”

“I’ll tell you why you did it. You did it…because you thought you could. No other reason. Just like Collins, you have a strong sense of entitlement purely because you’re a representative. Well, let me be very clear: you can pester me during my work hours and invade my office, but my personal time and my apartment are out of bounds. So unless you want to know just how ‘reckless’ I can be, I suggest you quickly learn to respect my personal boundaries.”

Despite being a nervous wreck, Eloise maintained, “You can’t hurt me.”

“Sweetheart, why would I waste energy hurting you when it would be much more effective to chop off that mane of yours?”

Eloise let out a gasp as her hand flew to her hair. “You wouldn’t.” Oh but Sam would, and Eloise knew it.

“I advise you not to test me on that. Now piss off.”

I’d honestly never seen the woman move so fast.

Antonio came and put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “I must apologise on Eloise’s behalf. Her behaviour is truly unacceptable, and I shall have a conversation with her about it later.”

Sam waved a hand. “I wouldn’t bother yourself with the whole thing, Antonio. Let her dig her own grave.”

“If you are not too busy, could I speak with you both for a moment?” Without waiting for a response, he gestured for us to follow him and Luther through the patio doors. Exchanging a look with Sam, I shrugged and took her hand. We trailed behind them down the eternally long hallway, not stopping until they reached one of his parlour rooms. With his hand on the doorknob, Antonio said, “There’s someone here to see you both.”

When he opened it wide, Sam and I stepped inside. Almost instantly, we froze. I wasn’t in the fucking mood for this. I groaned at Antonio. “Why is she here?”

“I think you should listen to what she has to say.” He motioned at the empty sofa that was positioned opposite an identical one on which a nervous redhead sat gingerly.

I was ready to object when Sam squeezed my hand and tugged. Let’s just hear her out. There’s no harm in that.

Fine, but two minutes is the most I’m staying here.

Alora smiled nervously as we took a seat opposite her. Antonio sat beside her and took her hand in his. Luther sat at her other side. After a moment of silence, she cleared her throat. “I know you don’t want me here”

“So why are you here?” I snapped. I winced when Sam pinched my arm.

Tears shimmered in Alora’s eyes. “Because it’s Evan,” she said simply – there was a confusing amount of adoration in her voice.

“You love him,” whispered Sam. She nodded.

In my opinion, her actions said something totally different. “Then why did you reject him?”

Alora seemed bewildered. “I didn’t reject him. I just…I couldn’t give him what he wanted.”

Cryptic shit. I hated cryptic shit. “What does that mean?”

“He didn’t tell you?” When I shook my head, she straightened in her seat as if bracing herself for impact. “I’m Bound to someone else.”

I could only gape at her. “What the fuck?”

She averted her gaze, seemingly embarrassed. “Please understand I was only nineteen years old. What’s more, I was no more than eighteen months old in vampire years and I didn’t truly understand just how serious a Binding actually was.”

I looked down at the third finger of her left hand and saw a bulky emerald ring that no doubt covered a Binding knot.

“I bought every lie that Gregory ever told me. I agreed to Bind with him after only being with him for three months. It wasn’t until after the Binding that things changed, he changed.” She sounded as angry with herself as she was with him.

“He hurt you,” Sam guessed.

“In about as many ways as a person can hurt another.”

“Does Bran know?” I asked.

“Yes. Bran saved me from him. It’s a long story, but he got me away and he kept me as his ‘consort’ to give me added protection. I think you know why he really keeps female consorts. The arrangement worked well for both of us, in that sense.”

I considered that for a minute. “So your loyalty to Bran kept you with him? Bran refuses to let you leave him?”

“No. Bran would let me leave if I wanted to do so. In fact, he doesn’t think there’s any safer place for me to be than here, with Evan. But Gregory wants me back. Because we’re Bound, he knows exactly where I am at all times. But he’s not powerful enough to take on a High Master vampire and he’s not stupid enough to try. But it means that I’ve always felt trapped, knowing that if I left Bran, Gregory would be able to take me back to him. I hate him, hate him, but I’m stuck with him.”

“I take it you didn’t tell Evan in the beginning.”

“No. I just felt so ashamed of myself. Ashamed for being so gullible as to Bind with someone I hardly knew. But at the time, it had felt right.”

I couldn’t really vilify her for Binding with someone after only knowing them for a short time. Not when Sam and I hadn’t known each other for long.

“I understand,” said Sam. “It felt right for me and Jared, even though we hadn’t been together long.”

“Yes, and it would have continued to feel right for me if Gregory had really been the person that he pretended to be. But he’s a far cry from it. He’s violent and he’s abusive, and I didn’t want Evan to be responsible for keeping me safe. I didn’t want him in any form of danger. So I gave him a bunch of excuses as to why I couldn’t be with him, but they never deterred him. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so persistent,” she added endearingly. Her face fell as she continued. “When he asked me on the night of your Binding ceremony to stay here with him permanently, I finally told him about Gregory.” She gave me a sad smile. “Imagine how well you would have taken it if you found out that Sam was Bound to someone else.”

I would have wanted to hunt down and kill the fucker…but to do that would have been to kill Sam too, because she wouldn’t have survived the severing of the bond. Fuck, no wonder Evan’s head had been in a shitty place. “So you didn’t reject him?”

“No. It was actually the other way around. I asked if he could handle being with someone who he could never Bind with, someone who would always be tied to somebody else – even though I despised that somebody else. He didn’t answer me. He just…walked away.” Tears began to trail down her face and she brushed them away with her thumbs. “Then when it was time for me to leave the next evening, he didn’t come. Not to ask me to stay or even to say goodbye.”

Sam puffed out a long breath. “Alora, I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, me too. Evan doesn’t want me and he’s never going to want me – I don’t blame him. In his position, I’m not sure if I could handle it either. It would be agonising to know that he was Bound to someone else, to know that I’d never have that same bond with him. But I still want to help him. Maybe I can’t. But I need to try. I need to do something. If you were me, Sam, if Jared had made it clear that he didn’t want you, could you still have sat back and ignored the fact that he was dying?”

Sam snorted. “I would have done whatever I could to help, whether he wanted me to or not.”

I might have smiled at that if I wasn’t so pissed with how things had worked out – or, more specifically, how they hadn’t worked out – for my brother. I mean, really, could the situation be any more fucked up? I ran a hand through my hair, sighing heavily. “Where is Gregory?”

Alora dabbed her wet cheeks with the tissue that Antonio handed to her. “Canada.”

“He doesn’t try to contact you?”

She shook her head. “He’s too scared of Bran. Please don’t ask me to go back home. I need to do something.”

I was silent as I thought on that. “I won’t ask you to leave,” I eventually said. How could I expect her to do that when she was clearly in as much agony as Evan was over the whole thing? “But I’ll be honest, Alora, I don’t see how you can help. None of us have been able to come up with a solution. I have one condition, though. If you stay, you can’t try to see Evan.”

“I’m guessing he made it clear that he didn’t want me here. It’s okay.” Another sad, wobbly smile.

“That’s not what I mean. Evan just doesn’t want you to see him like that.”

“Nice of you to try and spare my feelings, but I know he doesn’t want me around.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.” My words didn’t seem to affect her.

After a short silence, Antonio smiled. “I’m glad that is settled. I will have someone escort you to the Guest House, Alora.” He called out a name, and one of the guards stationed outside the parlour stepped inside. “Please take this young lady to the room that I instructed to be readied for her. Thank you.”

Alora rose from her seat and flashed both Sam and me a grateful yet sorrowful smile. “Thanks for letting me stay, and for understanding why I need to be here.”

When the door closed behind her, Antonio looked warily from me to Sam. Oh shit, now what? “One more thing before you both leave: I have news from Sebastian. He has located Paige West.”

So not what I wanted to hear.