Chapter 15
Kane
The late-morning light bleeds through the narrow cabin windows, showcasing the particles of dust floating in the beams, and the second night of being a kidnapper has officially passed. On the couch, Kylie is drinking a cup of coffee, tucked into Rook’s side, and Cal sits across from them.
Blair is upstairs, locked inside my bedroom, and still asleep in my bed.
“Are you ready to hear the good news or the bad news?” Cal tosses out.
For the past twelve hours, he’s been on a surveillance run, trying to get ahold of any intel he could.
We’d prefer not to be sitting ducks if the elites have sniffed out this cabin and are planning on knocking down our fucking door.
“Honestly, I’m surprised there’s even good news,” I joke to lighten the mood, and Rook snorts. Truth be told, if Cal is saying there’s bad news, that means it’s pretty fucking bad.
“Let’s hear the good news first,” Rook comments.
“They haven’t sniffed out the cabin yet,” Cal updates. “They have no idea we’re here.”
“But they’re looking for us,” I say, and he nods.
“Hunting us,” Cal corrects. “They hit up Concordia…”
Rook raises an eyebrow. “And?”
“They destroyed everything,” Cal answers through a firm jaw. “My house, my shop, both of your places, it was burned to a crisp after they ransacked all of our shit.”
“Well, that’s a real kick to the balls,” I comment and scrub a hand down my face. “Though, I know I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s the whole reason we came out here in the first place.”
“I guess it’s a good fucking thing we’ve all been hoarding cash since we turned eighteen,” Rook acknowledges. Real talk, the three of us aren’t rich like the fucking elites, but our experiences in foster care instilled at an early age never to count on anyone but ourselves.
And when we got jobs and started living on our own, that mentality stuck with us.
Between the three of us, we could stay out here in this cabin for the next sixty years and be fine.
Now, that lifestyle doesn’t include fucking private chefs and staff and drivers like Blair’s, but when material shit doesn’t matter to you, it’s a satisfying way to live.
“Welp.” I huff out a laugh. “I guess it’s also a good thing we learned early on not to stuff it in some bank account we could be traced to either.
Almost as if we’ve been preparing our whole adult lives for this.
I mean, fuck, we even purchased this land with aliases.
It’s kind of crazy when I think back on it. ”
“Yeah.” Rook looks down at Kylie, and I don’t miss the way his whole fucking heart is in his eyes. “Fate is smarter than we are. Though, that’s not a surprise. The shocking part is that she chose us as a vessel.”
As I laugh at his joke, Kylie just snuggles into him further, unwilling to interrupt us but wanting to be close to her mate.
When I watch the two of them together, it only makes my chest ache with the need to have that very same thing with Blair. She’s my whole fucking world, even if she keeps trying to convince herself to hate me.
“What about Blair?” I ask Cal. “Did you stop in Boston?”
“I did.” He shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair. “And I didn’t hear a single fucking peep.”
I furrow my brow. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, her family is going about their lives as if it’s business as usual. Her face isn’t plastered on a missing persons poster or showcased on the national news. There isn’t a grid search or a town meet point. It’s as if she isn’t missing at all.”
My jaw drops, offended. I may be the fuck who took her, but I’d sure as shit have the grace to be concerned if I were the one she was taken from.
“What the fuck? Why aren’t they trying to find their freaking daughter?
I dropped two bodies in their driveway. I didn’t clean up. I left their car and everything.”
“I don’t know yet.” He shakes his head. “But I’ll keep trying to find out.”
If Blair knew that her family was just living their lives like normal, I know it would break her fucking heart.
Rook meets my eyes. “Are you going to tell her?”
“No.” I shake my head. “Not yet. Not until we have more intel.”
Cal starts to talk about the logistics of where he went and what conversations he overheard, but my mind is drawn upstairs when I can feel her waking up in my bed. I pull the key to my bedroom out of my pocket and stare down at it.
“So, you don’t think we need to relocate?” Rook asks Cal.
“No,” Cal responds, but then a self-deprecating laugh escapes his throat. “But also, where would we go?”
“I don’t fucking kno—”
“This isn’t working,” I cut Rook off.
“Huh?” Rook tilts his head to the side. “What isn’t?”
“Locking Blair in.”
Silence stretches across the room, and Cal studies me closely. “You think letting her roam free is a better idea?”
“She’s not a fucking animal,” I snap, more heat than I mean to put behind it. “Sorry,” I quickly apologize because, fuck, I don’t want to be an asshole to them. I’m the one who created this mess. “I just…don’t feel right about keeping her locked up. She deserves better than that.”
And after finding out that her fucking family isn’t even looking for her, I simply can’t let her be up there by herself. No matter how stubborn and obstinate she can be, she deserves love and care. She deserves to be a part of our family, even if she doesn’t think she wants to be.
“I think you’re right, Kane,” Kylie agrees.
She shifts slightly in Rook’s arms, sitting up to look at me.
“When I talked to her yesterday, she tried to act strong, but it was obvious to me she’s scared.
And confused. And…I’m sure being locked up isn’t helping her come to any important realizations. ”
“I know.” I scrub a hand over my face. “It’s not fair to her.
Frankly, the fact that her parents were happy to send her off to an evil bloodsucker who was fully prepared to…
” I pause, unable to even say the words to describe the horrible, vile things he planned.
“I just can’t be this guy, you know? I’m not this guy.
It goes against the reasons we’re on this side of the fight altogether. ”
I can feel Blair upstairs. But then again, I can always feel her. The bond is constant, always humming low and steady inside my chest.
Right now, she’s fully awake and pacing and agitated. But she isn’t plotting or scheming on how to escape like she was yesterday. She’s unraveling.
“I don’t want to cage her,” I say, more to myself than anyone else. “Not like this.”
“Okay.” Cal crosses his arms over his chest. “So, what’s the plan, then?”
“Daylight freedom,” I answer, and I hate that I still have to put stipulations on what she can and can’t do.
No one deserves that, but fuck, she’s a flight risk.
A flight risk that will unknowingly put herself in the worst kind of situation because her whole entire life has revolved around telling her “being chosen” by an elite vampire is a good thing.
“Perimeter only. She doesn’t go past the tree line. One of us is always outside with her.”
Rook holds my stare for a beat, then nods once. “Your call,” he says. “But if she runs—”
“She won’t,” I say automatically.
It’s a lie. Even I know it’s a lie. There’s a strong likelihood that Blair will try to run, but I refuse to be the bastard who keeps her locked up in a room twenty-four hours a day.
I head for the stairs before I can overthink it. The second-floor hallway is quiet, and sunlight cuts through the narrow window at the end of it, turning the wooden floor pale gold.
I stop outside the bedroom door.
For a second, I just stand there, listening.
Her footsteps cross the room. Then stop. Then start again. She’s so restless, she’s going to pace holes into the floorboards if I let this insanity continue.
Yeah. I refuse to keep her locked up like this.
The key slides into the lock, and the click sounds louder than it should.
Inside, everything goes still.
I open the door to find Blair standing near the window, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Her hair is loose down her back, and despite her current situation, she looks polished and confident, like she was born knowing how to hold herself upright, no matter the setting.
Her eyes flick to mine.
“I’m unlocking the door.”
Her posture shifts almost imperceptibly. She’s suspicious at first, but then a few quiet moments later, her shoulders soften. “Why?” she asks.
“Because I don’t want to cage you,” I answer honestly. “I just want to keep you safe.”
The words hang between us.
“So…” She pauses, and she tilts her head to the side as she assesses my face. “You’re going to let me out of this room?”
“Yes.”
“I can go anywhere inside and outside?”
“There are boundaries,” I add calmly. “You stay within the cabin perimeter. You don’t cross the tree line. One of us is always outside with you.”
Her lips press into a thin line. “So, you’re not keeping me caged, but you’re not exactly giving me full freedom.”
I shrug. “I wish I could. But I don’t trust the people who would take advantage of that freedom.”
“And you’re not worried about me trying to escape?”
“You won’t.”
Her eyes flash at that. “You’re very confident.”
“Well, I have an unfair advantage when it comes to you,” I say quietly. “And I know you don’t want to stay locked in here.”
“Unfair advantage?” Her pulse jumps at my words, thrumming quickly at her neck. “What does that mean?”
Intention, Blair. I can read your intention. Hell, I am so fucking locked in on you I can tell when you’re awake or asleep or worrying yourself sick about shampoo. I can feel your emotions from miles away.
But I don’t tell her that. In fact, I don’t answer at all.
She stares at me, her pretty blue eyes trying to read my face.
I know she hates the confinement. She hates feeling powerless, but no matter how badly she wants to hate me, she can’t. Most of the time, when I’m not near, her intentions are mixed with her wondering where I am and what I’m doing.
“No matter what you’ve been raised to think about vampires,” I eventually say, “I’m not the type of vampire that wants to treat you like property, Blair. That never has and never will be my intention.”
Her expression falters just slightly.
“I won’t cage you,” I say again, slower this time. “But I won’t let you walk into danger either.”
Silence stretches as she studies me like she’s trying to figure out what the angle is and where the manipulation lies.
She won’t find either. My heart is bare with her.
Finally, she walks past me toward the open door. Her body is close enough that her shoulder brushes mine as she pauses in the doorway.
The contact sends a low current through me.
“If I’m not your prisoner,” she says without looking at me, “then why do you want to bother with keeping me here? Why do you even care what happens to me?”
“Because you’re not just something to me, Blair. You’re fucking everything,” I say the truth because it’s all I have. “And though I don’t own you, you are mine.”
Her breath stutters, and her eyes search mine for a long moment. She’s tempted to step back toward me; I can feel the need vibrating through her body.
But eventually, she forces herself to avert her eyes from mine, blinks several times, and then she steps into the hallway.
I follow her lead to the main floor and watch in amusement as Blair descends the stairs like she’s entering a ballroom instead of a cabin kitchen, taking in the room without turning her head too much.
My brother Rook follows her closely with studious caution.
Calloway leans back casually with an entertained grin on his lips. The bastard has already made up his mind that she’s going to run the second she has the chance and is probably intrigued to watch me chase after her.
“Good morning, Blair.” Thankfully, Kylie is her usual friendly and sweet self, which breaks up the monotony of three very intimidating, imposingly figured vampires.
“Good morning,” Blair says, and she doesn’t hesitate to walk to the table and sit down. “I’ll eat,” she adds, as if she’s granting us all something by not only gracing us with her presence but letting us feed her too.
Rook looks over at me like, who the fuck does your chick think she is?
Cal chuckles to himself.
I laugh out loud. I can’t help it. Blair Windsor is unlike any woman I’ve ever met in my life. Only she could get kidnapped and demand food from her captors.
“You’re in luck because I just made some breakfast,” Kylie says and moves to the table with a plate of eggs and toast.
Once the food is in front of her, Blair picks up the fork and takes a small bite.
“Scrambled eggs, okay?” Kylie asks.
“It’s…fine,” Blair says.
Rook huffs quietly, unamused by anyone who shows Ky anything less than the utmost respect.
Both Kylie and Cal hide their grins.
I don’t take my eyes off Blair. Underneath the calm facade, I feel her intentions. Not rebellion but something coiled. She’s making a genuine effort, but she’s also bracing for impact.
Fuck me. I hate how right she is to feel poised for the next blow. This shit is so far from over, it’s not even funny.
The urge to walk over to her and wrap her up in my arms is almost too much to bear. But I force myself to play it cool, to give her space, to not push for too much, no matter how badly the need to comfort her overwhelms my senses.
She glances up. Our eyes lock. And for a split second, the storm inside her body quiets. Because the bond is growing stronger by the day. That’s how it works. The more proximity there is, the more intense it will become, outside factors be damned.
Her shoulders lower and relax as she continues to eat the plate of food Kylie gave her. Right now, she feels safe, even if it’s confusing for her. And I can imagine she fucking hates that the only time her pulse steadies is when I’m near, even if I get a real thrill from it.
I move closer to the table. I don’t touch her, but I stand next to her chair. “You’re free to move around,” I say evenly. “Daylight only. Stay within sight of the cabin.”
She rolls her eyes, but she also nods. “Yes, sir. Mr. Kidnapper.”
Kylie snorts. Rook grins. And Cal doesn’t hold back his laugh.
Hell, I don’t hold back mine either.
And for the first time since I brought her to this cabin, she smiles at me. It’s not trust or forgiveness, but it’s something close to relief.
Fuck, it’s a beautiful sight.
And I hope it’s the start of a shift inside her.