Page 78 of Discovery of the Vampire
“All right,” Killian told her. “I’m sorry, Alice. But we need to be sure, ye understand?”
“I understand,” she said. Then she waited while Killian went into her thoughts.
A moment later, he met my stare, and I knew from his eyes that what she told us was the truth. The room tilted sideways as the implications hit me. "You mean she's not... working with him?"
"Workingwithhim?" Alice looked horrified. "Gods, no. Shehateshim. He killed her entire family, Brogan! Why would she be working with him?"
I gripped the back of the couch to steady myself. "But…you told her to be careful who she trusted."
"I meant my aunt Judy and the coven," Alice said. "They refused to help Esme, and Judy decided we were not to get involved unless he came after us directly. I was worried if they found out I was working with her behind their backs, they'd stop us before we could try."
Blackness crept toward the edges of my vision as I realized the truth.
Esme was missing.
"Brogan."
My head whipped toward Killian.
"Listen," he told me. "In here." He slapped his open hand to the middle of his chest. "And tell me what you feel."
It took me a moment to tamp down the hysteria that was building and focus, but when I did, the blood bond between us tugged at something deep inside me, faint but present. She was alive, at least. But something was wrong. Very wrong. All of this hysteria wasn’t mine. It was Esme. Panicking.
“She's alive."
Thebond. It was the bond I’d felt this morning. Only I’d been wrong about what I’d felt. I realized that now. I tried to unclench my jaw to ease the horrible ache there, but it only moved to my ribs. Pain exploded through the bond. God, my head…
My legs nearly gave out for the second time that night, and the three of us stared at each other as the terrible truth settled over the room.
“He took her,” I told them. “Marcus. It was Esme’s fear and apprehension I felt this morning. Not mine.Hers.”
Marcus had her.
He had my mate.
And I'd been sitting here all day, burning with anger, convinced she'd betrayed me—while all along she'd been trying to protect us all.
My chest constricted with a terror I'd never experienced before.
I'd been so fucking wrong about her. In all the centuries I'd been alive, I'd never been more terrified than I was at this moment. Because for the first time, I had something—someone—to lose.
And he was killing her.
30
BROGAN
Killian had just texted the rest of the coven to join us. I paced the floor as we waited for everyone else to arrive, my mind a tangled mess of worry and self-loathing.
Every few seconds, my eyes shot to Killian where he spoke quietly with Alice. When he noticed me watching him, he said, "We'll get yer Esme back. I swear it."
Standing there doing nothing was eating me alive, and he damn well knew it. "And when, exactly, are we going to do that?" I asked through gritted teeth.
He didn't respond, and honestly, he didn't need to. We'd already gone round and round when I'd tried to run out the door the second I realized Esme was missing.
But Killian had forbidden me to go off on my own, ordering me to stay in the house and wait. And now Iphysicallycouldn't leave. So here is where I stood and waited.
Tomorrow I'd be grateful he hadn't let me tear through the city with a death wish, possibly getting both myself and Esme killed in the process. Tomorrow, when she was safe in my arms once again. But tonight…my upper lip lifted in a snarl, fangs bared in challenge…tonight I wanted nothing more than to rip his fucking head off.
