A flash of steel catches my eye before that same steel cuts through the back of Danny’s knees causing him to fall to the floor with a pained grunt. Then, Micah takes that same knife and another he pulls from a secret hiding spot on him and stabs them downward into the meat between neck and shoulders as if Danny is a pincushion to store his knives in and holds him there.
I take a step in Micah’s direction as red anger hazes my vision and heats my blood, but I stop when Danny releases a scream he tries to hide with clenched teeth when Micah twists the blades.
I whirl around back to my father. “Call your fucking sadistic dog off of him. Now!”
“I will once you stop acting like a child and follow through with the agreement we made with the Timore coven.”
“Wedidn’t agree to anything! You made the agreement without me knowing because you knew damn well I wouldn’t go along with it knowing my hostile history with Zander.”
“Nevertheless. You will go along with it, or Micah there will do a lot worse to Danny in the future. I’d be happy to give Danny to Micah as a permanent torture subject.”
I feel the color drain from my face. “You can’t do that,” I whisper. “He’s my guardian.”
“I’m well aware, but you seem to think you have a choice in this matter. I’m simply showing you that you don’t. So, you will do as you are told and follow through with the agreement we have with the Timore coven or Danny here will pay the consequences.”
Looking back at Danny and Micah, Danny is breathing heavily as Micah holds his blades lodged into Danny’s trapezoids with an evil smile on his face reflected in his soulless eyes.
“I’d love nothing more than for you to keep defying your father, sweet Talia,” Micha mocks me. “I think Danny and I would have a blast in the dungeon. What’s a few lost appendages and a few added scars?” he chuckles. It’s not easy leaving scars on vampires due to our accelerated healing, so he would have to implement some extreme tactics in order to leave scars on Danny.
Don’t you dare worry about me, Talia. Don’t you dare fucking cave to him.
What choice do I have?
You’ll be miserable. Zander will beat the light and spirit out of you. I can’t bear that, Talia. Please don’t agree to it!
And if Micah is given the chance to torture you indefinitely? He will do the same to you and likely kill you withhis overzealous enthusiasm for inflicting pain. How can I let that happen?
Talia—
“Fine, I’ll do as you command, father.” I whisper.My shoulder drop slightly with the defeat the statement brings. I know better than to try to go against him or try to come out on top of a situation. Guess I hadn’t learned quite as well as I thought.
“No!” Danny groans.
My father smirks at me in triumph. “Good.” He nods towards Micah. “Release him.”
Looking back at Micah, his smile is now replaced by a disgruntled frown. He hesitates a second as if he is contemplating disobeying my father before he yanks the knives out of Danny violently. Danny falls to his hands, shaking as I rush over to him. He breathes heavily as his wounds begin to heal quickly. A sense of relief rushes through me even as dread and sorrow consume me in what the agreement with the Timore coven entails.
“Now that that issue is settled, I’ll call Zander and invite him over so we can hammer out the final details. You may leave.”
I lift Danny up, and we leave my father’s office.
I’ll find a way to stop this, Talia.
I don’t think there is a way, Danny.
A single tear flows down my face as I take him to his room.
Chapter 19
Jordan
An hour after Talia left the safehouse, I shower and change clothes. Then, I find myself back at the pack house laying in my bed with one hand behind my head as I stare off to the side through the window into the night.
She’s still trying to fight what’s between us. I’m not sure what if anything will convince her to let go of her fears, worries, reservations, and anything else that is stopping her from taking a step forward towards exploring what is so clearly between us. She never answered my question either if she regretted what happened in the shower. I want to believe she didn’t, but the fact that she didn’t answer has me worried she does and questioning if I went too far. But I told her to tell me to stop if she really didn’t want us to go further and she didn’t.
Fuck. I blow out a frustrated sigh.
Isure as shit didn’t regret it.