Chapter 21
Fen’s car was very nice, and Selene hoped the scent of bacon and sausage wouldn’t seep into the leather interior.
She hadn’t driven a Mercedes before and decided she could get used to it, though she’d never be able to afford the speeding tickets.
The engine was so quiet, she’d been fifteen miles per hour over the limit without noticing.
She parked the car on the street in front of her house and then trotted down the walk and up the front steps. The door was unlocked.
“Allie?” Selene called and placed Fen’s keys on a hook in the entryway.
Silence.
“Allie?” she called again. Nothing.
She shrugged off her coat, hung it up, then set her purse on the hall table as she walked toward the kitchen.
She opened the take-out carton and began chewing on a piece of bacon.
It tasted less burned now, which must mean the werewolf side effects were wearing off.
She finished the first piece and started on a second.
How can I possibly still be hungry? Guess some of the effects last longer than others.
There was no denying how delicious, if overly crisp, the bacon tasted. She finished off the piece and picked up a sausage link, taking a bite as she entered the kitchen.
Someone was already there.
The chunk of sausage caught in her windpipe, and the carton tumbled from her hands to the floor, bacon and sausage spilling across the tile. She banged on her chest, managing to cough up the sausage.
“Hey, Selene.” Daniel was sitting at the kitchen table. “You okay?”
He slouched in a chair, legs stretched out, his feet crossed at the ankles and resting on the tabletop.
“It’s a little late for breakfast food, isn’t it?” he remarked, eyeing the mess on the floor.
“How did you get in the house?” Selene caught her breath. “I didn’t invite you.”
“You left Allie all alone last night,” he said with a mocking grin. “I thought she might need some company. She was happy enough to invite me in.”
“Where is she?” she demanded, terrified at the possibilities. She’d been away for hours. “Daniel, if you hurt her, I swear—”
“Of course I didn’t hurt her,” he cut in as he swung his feet off the table and rose languidly from the chair. “She wasn’t home when I got here tonight. I don’t know where she is. I figured you’d show up eventually, so I made myself comfortable. We still have a lot to talk about.”
“I have no interest in talking to you,” she said. “You’re not welcome in this house, and you had no right to come looking for Allie when I wasn’t here.”
He sauntered from the table toward the kitchen island. “I’m her father. I wanted to catch up, so I stopped by while you were . . . out. I owed her some dad time. It was a blast. She needs a man around to give her some guidance.”
“You’re the last person she needs guidance from.”
She watched him with wary eyes. He kept moving toward her until she backed into the sink.
“Come on, babe.” He smiled, and she caught a flicker of light within his irises. “Can’t I get the benefit of the doubt?”
“No,” she said firmly, careful to avoid meeting his gaze.
“Look at me,” he purred.
“Not a chance,” she snapped. “I learned my lesson the last time.”
“You freaked out just when things were getting interesting.” He kept his voice low and seductive, but without eye contact it had no effect other than repelling her.
“I don’t know how you managed to talk Allie into inviting you in.” Selene fixed her gaze on the tile floor. “But I have no doubt it wasn’t completely her idea.”
“Why would you say something like that?” He scoffed.
“She knows better than to trust you,” she said. “And certainly better than to invite a vampire into our home.”
“She’s been getting some bad information.” Irritation spiked his words. “I can’t believe you’d let her get mixed up with werewolves.”
“That’s none of your business. Josh is a lovely young man.” Since she’d left her purse and its crosses in the front hall, she raised her eyes to search the kitchen for her holy-water-filled bottle. It was sitting on the counter. Right behind Daniel.
“It is my business,” he snapped. “I won’t let one of those dogs touch my daughter. I talked to her last night, and you’ve clearly let things between them go much too far. What were you thinking?”
“Stay out of it,” she said, running through multiple scenarios about how she might reach the bottle. “You don’t have a say in Allie’s life.”
“I thought better of you, Selene.” His voice sharpened.
“Allie cares for Josh. Deeply. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“It’s not just about Allie.” He hissed the words, which made her glance at his face. His eyes weren’t hypnotic, but they were feverish. His lips were curled back. A skittering cold moved down her back when she saw how sharp his fangs were.
“I’m hearing rumors I don’t like.” Daniel leaned against the kitchen counter. The casual pose belied the fury carving hard angles into his features.
“Is that so?” She tried to keep the nervous edge out of her voice.
“Would you like to tell me what happened last night at the Beltane ritual?” His smile was like frost.
“It sounds like you already know about it.” Lying seemed futile.
“I was hoping you’d have a version I’d like better than the talk around town,” he said.
“What do you want me to say?” Her heart was racing. She stepped toward him so she could get closer to the bottle but was still careful not to look directly into his eyes.
“Tell me what exactly is happening with you and the wolf,” he snarled, moving closer, boxing her in.
She put a trembling hand against his chest. When the moment came, she’d have to push him, and she hoped he would budge despite his vampire strength. “Nothing that concerns you.”
“Are you telling me you’d let Fenris Hall take my place?” There was a madness in his eyes that matched the insanity of his question.
It took Selene a moment to grasp his meaning. Disbelief jolted through her. Was his mind that twisted that he’d convinced himself Selene could want him? If she wasn’t so frightened, she might have laughed at his outrageous claim.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Daniel?” Though Selene knew it might provoke him, she couldn’t hold back her anger. “You have no place with me! You never have!”
She lunged for the water bottle, but Daniel grabbed her. Her fingertips brushed the bottle, and it tipped over and rolled off the counter. He spun her around. She cried out when her lower back slammed into the edge of the counter, pain lighting up her spine.
“So you gave yourself to him in front of the whole town,” he snarled in her ear. “Is that who you are now? The wolf’s whore?”
Every insult Daniel spat revealed the stark difference between him and Fenris.
Daniel wanted to possess her, use her, shame her into submission.
Fen craved Selene in a wild, ferocious way, but treasured her as well.
He struck a perfect balance between passion and respect that proved how deeply he cared for her, that he . . .
He loves me. Fenris loves me. And I . . . oh god . . . I have to survive this . . . I have to get to Fen and tell him what he means to me. He needs to know.
“Let me go.” Her back throbbed, and his grip was bruising her wrists. “Daniel, please. You’re hurting me.”
He pulled back so his face was in front of her. His smile made her shudder, but it was his eyes that sent sickening spirals through her gut. Selene saw a promise in his gaze that he planned to inflict pain upon her, and he would enjoy it.
“I think I deserve a chance to prove myself, don’t you?”
“No,” she whispered. Had he always been this monster, or did becoming a vampire take his worst qualities and infuse them with pure evil?
“Too bad.” He bit her lip, and she tasted blood. A throaty snarl slid from his chest. “I tried to do this the nice way. But now I want to hear you scream, Selene.”
“Don’t do this.” She knew her pleas were hopeless, but she wouldn’t give in. No matter what Daniel said or did.
When he laughed, she brought her knee up into his crotch. He grunted and dropped her wrists. She bolted for the back door but screamed when he caught a fistful of her hair and yanked her backward.
“You bitch.”
Daniel twisted her hair, using it like a rope to wrench her neck and throw her to the floor. He grasped her wrists in one hand and pinned her arms to the tile above her head. His other hand ripped open the front of her blouse. She shrieked and struggled to free her arms.
“Come on, babe,” he said. “Just relax. We’ll have some fun, and then I’ll finish it. Don’t you want to be beautiful forever?”
He stroked her neck and ran his tongue over his fangs.
“Daniel.” She shook her head. “I don’t want this. Stop.”
“Fenris Hall won’t touch you again.” He smiled. “Not when you’re one of us. I’ll turn Allie too. Take good care of her. Both of you.”
“No!” She couldn’t let herself think about Fen, about losing him, about facing an eternity without him. Giving in to despair would sap her strength, and she would die before she let Daniel turn her or Allie.
“Listen to your heart pounding,” he purred and leaned down. His tongue flicked along the throbbing vein in her neck. “I’ll bet your blood is almost boiling. Don’t worry. I won’t take too much. I fucked it up with Emma, but I’ll be more careful this time.”
It took several seconds for his words to sink in.
“You killed her.” Selene was so stunned, she stopped struggling. “It wasn’t a mugger. You killed Emma.”
“I didn’t mean to.” Daniel had the audacity to sound annoyed. “But she fought me, and I got all riled up.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She thought she couldn’t revile Daniel more than she already did, but he proved her wrong. Disgust and fury slammed into her with such force, she felt like she’d be sick.
He murdered my best friend, the mother of his child, and he’s making it her fault.
Taking Selene’s stillness as surrender, or simply wanting to hear himself talk, Daniel pushed her hair away from her face. The action was almost wistful.