Page 84 of The Way You Bite
Chapter Twenty-Five
The round chambered into Lexan’s nine-millimeter Glock with a comforting click as he racked the slide. He tucked the gun into his waistband holster next to the six-inch serrated knife and backup magazine. The routine didn’t calm him like it usually did. Hell, a jab of heroin straight into his heart wouldn’t soothe him. He was jacked up on need to hunt Vee and establish she belonged with him. That meant together as in now, tonight, tomorrow, and every other moment from now to forever.
He pushed his fingers into his temple and massaged, but his headache pounded on.
She’d needed space. One hour and twenty-four minutes of space was going to be enough. He couldn’t handle one second longer.
The door to the guest room flew open. “She’s gone,” Eric announced.
“Gone? What the hell does that mean?”She left?
“As in I couldn’t find her or Trace anywhere. TC noticed a car leaving about forty-five minutes ago and followed it. Thank God for his suspicious nature, because it turned out to be Trace driving.”
“Where are they headed?”
“To the border.”
“South? Shit.” Lexan stalked out of the guest room in search of Blay, finding him downstairs in the kitchen.
“What did you say to her that sent her running away?” Lexan fingered the handle of the knife on his belt.
“She left?” Blay paused with a glass of orange juice halfway to his mouth.
“She’s not here. Neither is Trace.”
“Damn it.” Blay set down his glass of orange juice so hard it sloshed over the edge. “I specifically told her to stay put and for Trace to forget trying to remove her. It’s not safe for her away from us.”
Lexan pulled out his ringing cell. “You have her?”
TC said, “I followed the car to the border. I didn’t see her but assume she’s sleeping or something in the car. I had them—”
“You still have them, right?” Lexan gripped the phone tight to his ear.
“Trace is a wily driver. I lost them just after the border crossing. Got caught in traffic. But I’ll find them.”
“Damned right you will. Inform me in fifteen minutes.” He disconnected the call.
Blay stared at him, both eyebrows almost touching his hairline. “My plane is ready to leave. I know that stupid kid is going to Charlotte. Carol sent me an email yesterday to one of my old accounts that I don’t check a lot. She wanted to negotiate with Dominic to get Vee away from them and asked me to take Vee out of the country afterward. She thought the vamps had her or at least Trace.”
“If Dominic has Carol, then she’s…it’s probably not good for her,” Lexan mused out loud.
“Trace may be Dominic’s genetic son, but he’s also Arie’s, and that means he values family. Carol practically raised him from a teenager. If he’s anything like his mother, he’ll go after her.”
“I’m going to kill him when we find him for taking Vee with him.” Lexan slapped the refrigerator.
“We should beat them to Charlotte by several hours. If they drive straight through it’s about ten hours.”
“Let’s do it.” Lexan stalked to the door and turned back. “Why aren’t you moving?”
Blay gazed at him, contemplative. “She told me you two decided it was over.”
They decided no such thing, but that wasn’t Blay’s business “Stay out of whatever’s going on between us.”
“You marked her.” There was no emotion in the statement. Lexan couldn’t discern Blay’s opinion on the matter.
“I did. It’s instinctual.”
Blay’s lips thinned. “Don’t act like you don’t know exactly what it means. You’re going to shadow her for the rest of your existence, whether she’s by your side or with another.”
