Page 43 of Those That Don't Exist
“Am I going to have to join your pack?” I add, remembering Ty telling me one resides here in the city. Although if Adicious is the reason my dad is dead I’ll take a hard pass.
Ty’s face crumples a little at my question.I’m not going to like this am I?
“I’m meant to take you back to where the pack resides. I’m under orders to bring you to Adicious as soon as you turn.” He visibly winces as he tells me.
“You’re here to kidnap me?” I squeak, the heat I felt gets extinguished with the ice now slicing through me.
“Only if you didn’t come willingly, but I don’t want to take you at all, Red,” Ty rushes out, pain in his eyes but resignation in his tone.
“But you’re bound. You have no choice, right?”
This whole situation is getting clearer and clearer in my mind. I thought I was regaining control over my life, that’s all a lie. This Adicious guy has been playing puppet master over mylife for the last six months and has sent Ty to collect. It's like some mafia bullshit.
I fly off the bed again, aiming for the door this time. Ty moves faster, impossibly fast, but his body is between me and freedom. He puts his hands out as if he’s approaching a wild animal. Hell, I’m like a trapped animal right now, breaths coming in short pants.
“Aurora, give me a minute to think, please. I don’t want to trap you into pack life, please believe me.” He tries soothing me but it's too late.
I bolt.
I dive past him, but I’m no more than a single step out of the bedroom when strong hands wrap around my waist, yanking me back. In a blink the door is once again slammed closed and I’m pressed up against it, face first.
Ty’s front is to my back, as he grabs both of my wrists in one of his strong hands, holding them between us at the base of my spine. The other flicks the lock on the door and then brushes up my arm.
“Please don't scream.” His mouth is at the tip of my ear. I hadn’t thought of that, both my housemates are home, it's still early. They’ll hear me I’m sure of it. I take a lungful of air.
“I said don’t.” His growl vibrates across my body, his free hand coming up to cover my mouth. I twist and wriggle in his grip but he’s much stronger than me. I think of how much I’ve been lifting and pounding at the gym but I can’t budge him an inch. And he’s still healing from injuries. I try for another few seconds before going limp.
He falls for my tactic, as he feels me soften he relaxes his grip. I take the opportunity. Turning, I snap my hands out of his grasp, and swing a fist at his face.
He blocks it easily, shooting his hand up and grabbing my forearm, halting my momentum in a second.Honestly, it's scary how strong he is.
He manages to pin both of my wrists above my head this time. And now we are face to face, my back to the door. I immediately become hyper aware of the full length of him pinning the full length of my body and we fit like two pieces of a puzzle. I swear even our heart beats are pumping their rapid rate in sync. It makes goosebumps erupt over my skin.
“Red, please,” he pants, the plea shining in his damn crystal blue eyes. “I’m not going to force you to go anywhere, if you don’t want to.”
“But your orders,” I whimper.
“I can find a loophole.” He doesn’t sound certain. “I will find a loophole.”
“But you’re bonded. I know enough about vampires to know packs are like your family. You’ll protect each other above everything.”
“Yeah, that’s how it should be.” I hear the sadness in his voice again.
“But?”
“But, mine is corrupt. Adicious is a tyrant. Truthfully, I despise it.” The devastation bleeding from him at the admission is almost palpable. His hold on my wrists loosens but this time I don’t try to pull free. “I joined it on a promise of something I thought would make me happy. And for a while it did help me get better. I’ve…” He pauses, as if the words are choking him. “I’ve lived through some atrocities. I’m not proud of it, but when Adicious found me I was broken, he pulled me from a dark place.”
It dawns on me, the vampiric lifespan.
“You lived through the war?” I whisper and he nods.Gods alive.I’ve cried when reading about the destruction the warbrought. Living through it, living through your kind being slaughtered again and again must’ve been beyond traumatic.
“Adicious has always been total in his rule, his word goes. That I can handle, I could understand it. Everything changed after the war. However, experimenting on others is something I loathe. I haven’t been involved in much until you, and I have only followed orders. Most of the time I keep to myself.”
“Can’t you leave?” I ask.
“The only way to break a blood bond is for me to spill his blood. It doesn’t need to be fatal but it’s me endangering him. Going against what the bond stands for.”
“So why don’t you do it?” I push, feeling my heart pang in sadness for him, for what he’s been through, and I’m sure this is the abbreviated version.
