Chapter 11 Kyle
Kyle
Fuck. Actual fuck. The door to Sam’s slum of a home closed behind me and I bent over, my hands on my knees as I shook my head. I needed to get away. Far away. Because… fuck.
I nearly sank to my knees.
She was my… My… I’d known it from the very moment I pushed my cock inside her body. I shook my head again. Fuck.
I started to walk away. I had to get out of there.
Sam wasn’t just a thrall, a human. She was my fucking mate.
I didn’t want a mate. I didn’t need one. I’d seen Nic and Sebastian take their mates and it had screwed everything up. Humans were bad news for vampires. Human mates were worse.
And I’d just screwed it all up myself. So. Fucking. Much. She’d been a virgin. I’d taken her in a haze of bloodlust, and she’d been a virgin. I couldn’t give that back to her. I’d taken her first experience and I hadn’t made it special, and I couldn’t fucking give that back.
There wasn’t a do-over for Sam to lose her virginity at the right time, in the right way.
To the right fucking guy… And that right guy would never be me.
But guilt gnawed at my gut and my fangs ached with desire at just the thought of her.
A scream pierced my awareness and I turned toward the sound before I even thought about making the movement. Sam… she needed me. I couldn’t ignore her.
Every impulse in my body urged me back toward her and I couldn’t deny it.
I needed to rescue my mate. Her sheer fright vibrated every molecule in my body and there wasn’t another thought in my head. Only Sam.
I sped back to her room. The door was already open, and I roared my fury as Esmé bent her neck, lowering her fangs toward my mate.
My mate.
Mine.
I ripped Esmé away and flung her against the nearest wall. She looked like a broken doll as she folded in on herself and lay quietly on the floor. But I didn’t care about Esmé—only that she was away from Sam.
Then Esmé stood, a threat to Sam once more.
I positioned myself in front of her, and she bared her fangs at me like that sort of behavior would scare me. Holy shit. I wasn’t the best at guessing the ages of other vampires — I didn’t actually care — but Esmé looked like she’d still been in diapers while I’d been fighting in the great war.
She took advantage of my perusal of her, advancing forward, her hands slashing toward me as she displayed her claws, but she hadn’t thought her actions through. I backed away, taking the space I needed to defend myself, to regain the aggressive advantage.
I grabbed hold of her wrists — I was faster than she was, and I took her by surprise. Then I whipped her around, my arms tightening around her body so she couldn’t escape. Every fiber of my being was aware of Sam behind us, but I needed to eliminate this threat before I could go to her.
But shit. I couldn’t kill Esmé. My entire mission depended on this fucking woman, this woman who I’d watched abuse Sam. Abuse my mate.
I leaned in, so close my fangs almost brushed against her ear. I vibrated with my anger, and her teeth rattled in response.
“Off you go, Esmé.” I could barely contain my rage enough to keep my voice down. “Run along.” I pushed her toward the door before turning to snatch Sam into my arms, where she belonged.
She relaxed against me, and I almost folded myself over her, protecting her as best I could with my body.
I couldn’t leave her alone with Esmé again. Maybe I couldn’t leave her alone at all. I could protect her as long as she was with me.
I hurried through the disgusting rooms of Sam’s house, needing to get her away, to my place.
I almost laughed. My place was no better.
More disgusting rooms. She deserved to live somewhere like Sebastian’s house — fuck that, somewhere better — but I couldn’t go anywhere.
My mission depended on maintaining my cover.
It seemed ridiculous, though, that Sam’s best chance at safety, that the safest place for her, was with me.
But I knew it was. She was my mate, and it was my duty… my intense need to keep her safe.
And with me.
The streets between Sam’s house and mine were quiet — that same too quiet I was all too used to around here. But I needed that quiet tonight as I sped along at vampire speed, an unfamiliar desperation to get from point A to point B spurring me along.
I climbed the rickety steps to the apartment, cradling my precious cargo. So precious, so fragile, and with the ability to bring the entire house of cards I’d just built for myself spinning down to the ground.
The front door stuck in the frame as usual, but I shouldered it open, pushing into the dank room beyond. In that moment, I was so ashamed of this place. It was only ever meant to be a place to hide out in, for fucking Kyle Durg. Never somewhere for me to bring my mate. She deserved so much more.
I lowered Sam to the sofa that looked like it had been rescued from an actual fire and wished I had something better to offer her. But she’d never been part of the plan.
She looked up at me, her eyes wide and almost vacant. Like shock had set in.
“You’ll be okay,” I murmured, hoping those words were true.
I really had no idea how she’d be. She was a human pet, in thrall to another vampire, and I’d already stormed my way through all of the etiquette in the situation, breaking every protocol and putting myself — and any other Dupont loyalist who wandered too close to my carnage — in danger.
But unusually, that didn’t seem to matter. Where was my desire for control? My usual self-restraint? The mission was suddenly second.
Second to Sam.
“Can I get you something to eat?” I asked as I ran the back of my fingers down her cheek, the touch fleeting, just enough to get her to focus on me for a moment.
But she merely looked at me, her green eyes still wide, horror lingering there. She parted her lips like she might speak but said nothing. And then she started to shiver, the shudders uncontrollable, like someone had inserted a core of ice into her body.
I cast about for a blanket, something to wrap around her and preserve what little heat her emaciated body could generate, but there was nothing in this room I wanted to touch Sam.
Instead, I removed my hoodie and helped her into it, a small part of me finding just as much pleasure in the fact that her scent would blend with mine as the idea that I could do something practical to help her.
“I should get you something to eat,” I muttered as some overwhelming desire to provide for her took root in my chest. “You need to eat.”
But my kitchen offered a fat lot of nothing.
I didn’t even need to check the cupboards to know that, and thralls didn’t drink blood.
They weren’t vampires. I grimaced as I took in the almost pearlescent sheen to her skin.
There was no way she was properly nourished.
Esmé’s antagonism towards her made no sense at all.
Not to the degree to where she’d essentially starve her own source of nutrition to death.
It was like she was actively punishing Sam.
My chest tightened at the thought of someone harming her on purpose. Not on my watch.
What the hell was the restaurant called that she’d liked before? Mario’s? Mann’s? I couldn’t make her anything here — the lack of food was the biggest issue but not my only one. The kitchen looked like it was waiting for health inspectors to come in and condemn it.
I slipped my phone out of my pocket. I couldn’t exactly order in, but neither could I allow my newfound mate to go hungry. Not now that I knew who she was and the feelings she stirred in me.
Even Camille had never made me feel so protective, and I’d loved Camille.
But this was… This was more.
“S’up, dude,” Jason answered on the first ring, and I turned away from Sam, half shielding my phone with my hand.
I cleared my throat. My contacts weren’t really supposed to be used as delivery boys. After all, that was a role I hated being forced into. Just random errands? Try some other shmuck… I was a trained soldier. Yet here I was, about to ask the same of Jason.
“I need a favor.” I looked at Sam and knew she was worth it.
Jason made a noise that could have been annoyance or acknowledgment, and I plowed on. I hated asking for help. I kept to myself and didn’t need anybody else.
Not until today, anyway.
“I need a delivery.”
“Hmm.” He made another noncommittal noise.
“I need take-out from that diner I can’t remember the name of. The one in the train car.”
“Manny’s?” He suddenly seemed interested.
And why the hell wouldn’t he be interested? I was a vampire, undercover in a group of dangerous vampires, requesting food that none of us would eat.
“Can you do it?” I waited for him to make another noise. “Grab a pen and I’ll tell you what I need.” I recited Sam’s order from the other night.
It was like I could still taste what little of the bacon cheeseburger I’d eaten on my tongue.
Even that night, even though I’d told myself it was for appearances and just so Sam didn’t fucking die the next time Esmé fed, something had felt…
different. I’d told her things about myself.
Things I’d wanted to share, wanted her to know.
I ended the call and checked on Sam again. She looked tired, but I wanted to keep her awake so she could get some food. For the shock she’d had as much as anything.
“Are you okay?” I walked over to her but hesitated to touch her as she turned her attention to me. “Are you in any… pain?” I gestured uselessly down her body.
I hadn’t meant to take something I couldn’t give back.
She shook her head—but slowly, like it took effort. “Nope.”
We remained in awkward silence, her sitting rigidly on the sofa, me leaning against the wall, which was either damp or just really cold. I didn’t want to guess.
The knock on the door didn’t startle me. I’d sensed Jason and smelled dog long before he made a sound, but Sam flinched, and her fearful eyes grew even wider.
“It’s okay. It’s someone I know.” But shit, I hadn’t thought this through at all.