Page 108 of Howl You Doin?
It also doesn’t help that she not only lied to me, and deliberately kept me in the dark, but then she chose to confide in Odette. I hate that it feels like a second betrayal.
The fact that she still doesn’t trust me either is beginning to fester like a sore that won’t go away, and now I have to contend with her being a Van Helsing. I attributed her insecurities with me to be because of how terrible I treated her at first, but she continues to hide things from me even now, and with something so important.
It doesn’t help that the entire castle smells of her. It makes me want to claw my hair out and chase her down like the beast I am, then demand an explanation. But just the thought of being around her has me imagining her with her face in the dirt while I fuck her into submission. Her betrayal does nothing to temper how my body reacts to her, even if my rage and unbridled hatred would see me clawing my own dick off before putting it anywhere near her right now. It’s like the two sides of me are warring with each other.
Muscles bunch and tighten across my back and arms as I fight to keep myself in check.
As pissed off as I am, I could hurt her, and neither of us want that, no matter how much she argues and challenges me.
My mate, my one true mate—born of the very family I’ve hunted for centuries. I don’t think she actually planned to deceive me in this way—our pull feels too strong—but it was one of the first things that came to mind. Now that I’ve calmed, I feel like a dim-witted donkey’s ass for having said it.
The water slaps loudly against the stone, reminding me of why I’m here in the first place. If Lachlan knew she was a Van Helsing and didn’t tell me...
My phone vibrates in my pocket, distracting me from tossing something large into the moat’s waters, hopefully landing on his big fat head.
I snatch the device from my slacks and don’t bother to withhold my growl.
Vlad:
Call me. It’s important.
Me:
What is it? A little tied up at the moment.
The message reads as delivered and instantly “read,” so I know the fucker has looked at it. I start to put the phone away as annoyance of a new kind has my hackles raising.
The phone rings, his name flashing in bright letters, and I click to answer against my better judgment. “What?”
“What could be more important than me telling you that Aubrey and I are returning tomorrow?” Vlad asks, in his traditional self-centered fashion. “Make sure your little tea party is gone by then.”
“How about the fact that my mate is a Van Helsing? Pretty sure that trumps your news, you overgrown parasite.”
“What?” he blurts, his tone outraged.
I can just imagine his eyes glowing red at that little tidbit of information.
“Exactly,” I bite out.
“I thought they’d all been killed or died out.”
There was that rumor, but we were all a bit tied up with outrunning the different kinds of hunters and trying to acclimate to society to find out if it was actually true. We just hoped it was. Their numbers and ours were far greater three hundred years ago. Now the supernaturals have adapted to blend, and thehunters have faded away, only recalled in fairytales, just like the rest of the paranormal.
Vlad groans. “Stranger things have happened. Where is she?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him, shuffling my feet and turning to look back at the castle.
If she hadn’t tried to talk to Odette about it, how long would I have had to wait until she told me the truth of it? What if she never told me?
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I don’t like his disapproving tone, the stupid, hypocritical cad.
“Did you not catch that she is a Van Helsing?” I ask, staring down at the phone incredulously. Anyone in their right mind would need a bit of time to process, not that Vlad would know I only just found out.
“You’re an idiot. Why didn’t you call me straight away?”
“The bloody hell help you are! And do not give me this bullshit. I swear to the gods, I will shove you right back in that cat carrier when you get here.”
“As if you could,” he bites out.
