Page 74 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

“You’re right.” He gave me a thin smile. “And I even know that. But I have to go back anyway. So we might as well pack up and remove all traces we were ever there.”

“Why?” I asked, hating how raw my voice sounded. How much of my naked fear my words conveyed. “Why would we put ourselves—why would we put you in danger like that? What are you going to do?”

“We’re going to do it because we don’t have any other choice.” Bryan took a deep breath, as though to steady himself. “I’m going to hypnotize Liz—the front desk clerk—into leaving the motel early. If she’s not there tonight, the hunters can’t mess with her for information.” He paused, then added, “She’s actually a really good person. And I can’t let her get hurt because of me. She’ll at least be safe. Then we’ll leave town.”

Somehow, that last part didn’t really sound like a ‘we’ at all.

As Bryan turned and led the way out of the hospital, with me trailing helplessly after him wracking my brains for something—anything—I could say to fix this, I had the horrible feeling that there weren’t any words I could say that he would believe. It was as though what Ethan had told me about the future—what Bryan had overheard—had entirely wiped out what we had just done for Annie in his mind.

I was afraid he had given up. Not just on me—but on us. But my worst fear was the one that was most likely. I was afraid that Bryan had given up on himself too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE || BRYAN

“Bryan,” Liz greeted me an hour later, peering at me from the other side of the front counter as I walked in. Concern flashed in her face. “Are you checking out already?”

“I am,” I agreed. “I need to leave tonight. I appreciate everything, though. You’ve been very kind.”

“Did he find you? He came here, you know. I’m sure it was your ex. He tried to rent a room. I told him we were full up.”

“Tobias?” I asked, startled by her admission. After a long, incredulous moment, I almost smiled. That’s why he’d been sleeping in his car. “No, he’s not the bad guy here. There are two men, though. They’re not very nice men at all. And they’ll come looking for me. They’ll be asking questions.”

“I won’t tell them a thing, I swear.”

“I know that.”

I felt a wave of guilt about what I was going to do next. But I was protecting her, wasn’t I? This wasn’t the same thing as bending someone else’s will to get my way. I was doing this so that she wouldn’t be in danger when Michael and Danny came knocking.

I let out a breath, inwardly steeling myself. “You won’t be able to tell them anything.” I paused, letting power flow into my words. “Because you’re not feeling well.”

“But I feel fine.” Her eyebrows drew together as she studied me with confusion evident on her face.

I caught her eye and pushed. “No, you’re not. You’re feeling too sick to work tonight, Liz. You can’t be here right now. You need to go home.”

She blinked, her expression going glazed as the hypnotic power in my voice swept over her. “I—I think you’re right. I’m not feeling well.”

Giles had commanded me to compel innocent mundanes to act as human shields any time he forced me to hurt the witches he wanted dead. Presumably, it was so the witches wouldn’t fight back with lethal force and break his toy—me. And doing it had been effortless. My hypnotic gift had always been powerful, even when I’d first been turned into a vampire. Veronika said it happened like that sometimes. Vampires are still individuals and some of them are outliers.

It was effortless now, too.

But it felt very different, this time. I wasn’t using my gift to hurt someone else. I was saving her from danger. My intentions made it feel different to me.

The power I possessed wasn’t bad on its own. I had been forced to use it for evil ends, but it was just a tool, like any other. It was a hammer. It could be used to either build a house or to inflict grievous harm. It wasn’t the hammer’s responsibility to choose.

It was mine.

“You’ll feel much better once you’re home, I promise. In fact, you still feel well enough to drive, but not to work. You know you can’t be here tonight. You’ll obey every traffic law and go straight home. Then when you go to bed, you’ll get the best sleep of your life.”

Liz nodded, frowning at me as my words sank in.

“Huh.” She grimaced, a moment later. “I do feel like shit warmed up. Well, this came on suddenly.”

“I’m sure it did,” I replied softly. “And if those bad men come looking for me, you won’t be here. You’ll be safe at home. They won’t be able to hurt you or scare you. And in the morning, you’ll know that I was just some guest you helped. A stranger, passing through. You won’t remember me much at all.”

Liz nodded, then massaged her temples. “I have the worst headache.”

“I’m sorry about that,” I replied, casting a nervous look at the door. Were Michael and Danny on their way here now? How much time did we have? “You really will feel much better once you’re home.”

Liz nodded again. “Sure,” she replied absently, as she hastily logged out of the computer and gathered up her coat. “I’ll charge your card tomorrow. Check out is at eleven, so you can stay that long if you like.”

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