Chapter 34
VALEN
The motorcycle purrs to a stop in front of the precinct, and I reach behind me, giving Ava’s knee a gentle squeeze.
She takes her helmet off, shaking out her long pink hair. “What are you going to get up to while I’m at work?” she asks, attaching the helmet to my bike—though I notice she must like my term horse with wheels, because she keeps using it.
I shrug. “I’ll hang out at the library like usual.”
“Do you ever find anything useful there?”
I take my own helmet off as she jumps onto the sidewalk so I can talk to her face to face. “Plenty. I thought I might check out the … I believe they’re called bodice rippers. See if I can find anything useful in those.”
She giggles. “Bodice rippers, huh?”
I cock my head to the side. “Yes. Zav said they’d be helpful.”
“Oh, baby.” She pats my shoulder. “So helpful.” She leans in and presses a kiss to my cheek.
My chilled skin instantly warms at her touch.
A motorcycle in the dead of winter in Chicago would be too much for most people, but I don’t feel temperature the way a normal human would.
It’s probably too much for Ava, though, so after today I won’t take her out much until it warms up.
“Have a good day at work,” I tell her, my hand skimming hers as she goes to leave.
“Have fun with your bodice rippers,” she laughs.
I long to tell her I love her. At least I think that’s what this feeling deep in my chest is.
It’s similar to what I felt for my sister, but different.
More, somehow. Something deeper. But I don’t think now is the time to say it.
I wait until the door shuts behind her and the wind has carried her scent away from me before I don my helmet once more and speed off toward the library.
Bodice rippers are fascinating. In the span of just a few hours I’ve devoured three. I can’t seem to read fast enough. I never knew there were so many names for the male appendage. Things like sword and sheath and velvet-covered steel. It’s fascinating.
I send a text to Zav.
Me: These books are intriguing. Thank you for the recommendation.
He immediately sends back a laughing emoji. I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean. I’ve gotten better at texting, but the slang and emojis are still problematic for me.
Me: Why are you laughing?
Zav: No, reason, Valentine.
He sends a bunch of hearts behind that.
I bristle.
Me: Valen. Call me Valen.
Zav: Okay, Cupid.
Me: Do not call me that.
He doesn’t reply, and after a few minutes, I send a string of question marks, but he continues to ignore me. With a huff, I slide my phone back into my pocket and return to reading. These books might not be helping me with any sort of research, but they’re incredibly addictive and hard to put down.
They’re so hard to put down, in fact, that Ava rings and asks me where I am.
It’s only then I realize I was supposed to pick her up ten minutes ago.
I quickly put away the stack of books I read and head to the checkout with the others so I can read them at home.
Waving to Edith on the way out, I place them gently in my backpack, not wanting to damage the books in any way.
Then I hurry out to my bike and to pick up Ava.
As soon as I pull up, I know there’s something wrong.
It’s in her posture. In the way she keeps her arms wrapped tightly around her body on the sidewalk and her head downcast like she doesn’t want to meet my gaze.
She pulls the helmet on and hops on behind me.
Her arms squeeze me tight as I pull into traffic.
“I need to ask you something,” she says when we get back to the garage beneath the apartment building.
“What is it?” I ask, reaching behind me to rub her thigh before she fully climbs off.
“Do you think they’re still looking for you?” she asks, holding the helmet to her chest. I hop off and take it from her, carrying both to the elevator. “Whoever took you and held you prisoner?” I can tell it pains her to ask me this. It’s rare that Ava is withdrawn, and I don’t like it one bit.
I shut my eyes, recalling a memory from a few weeks ago. It was after I took Ava to work, a day much like today. I didn’t tell her because speaking out loud would make it feel too real.
I’m being followed.
The thought is instinctual. As discreetly as possible, I change my course and sure enough, the man about fifty feet behind me also changes direction. When I manage to catch a glimpse of him, he doesn’t look familiar, but he is a vampire, and that’s all the confirmation I need.
This isn’t someone friendly. His aura is a putrid color.
Stay calm, I tell myself.
I let my senses do most of the work for me. I don’t smell or feel anyone else nearby that I think is a threat.
Turning down an alley, I scale the wall and wait in a shadowed corner.
Sure enough, the vampire turns into the alley. He looks around for me and then up.
I leap from my perch onto him.
I don’t waste any time in dispatching him, ripping him limb from limb.
It’s like I’m possessed as I leave his body in shreds.
He barely even had a chance to fight back.
Now that I’m stronger, I’m nearly unstoppable.
I always knew I was stronger than most, but this proves it.
He seemed like an older vampire, not one of only a few decades with lesser strength.
He would’ve had a fighting chance against anyone but me.
But I refuse to be taken back to that place.
Held prisoner and experimented on.
Tortured and tormented every second of every day.
And I certainly won’t be taken from my mate.
Not now. Not ever.
“Yes,” I admit as we step onto the elevator. “They are.”
She gasps a tiny intake of breath, her eyes widening. Her bottom lip wobbles. “Oh, Valen,” she breathes. “We need to talk to Zav and Celine.”
“Why?” I ask, curious.
“Because”—she sighs, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear—“we need to get to the bottom of why they wanted you. That should tell us why they need you back. We’ve been … brushing things under the rug, living in ignorant bliss, but that’s not going to help us in the long run.”
The elevator doors open, and after I drop off our helmets and scoop up Pom Pom for emotional support, we stand outside Zav and Celine’s door.
Before Ava can knock, the door opens and Zavier leans against it. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite bodice ripper–loving vampire and his pink sidekick. Come in, come in.” He steps aside, motioning us inside.
“What’s up?” Celine asks, standing from the couch.
Midnight looks around, sees Pom Pom in my arms, and huffs. He leaps off the kitchen counter and swishes his way between Zav’s legs before the vampire scoops him up and drapes him around his neck. Midnight closes his eyes and begins to snore softly.
Ava pulls out a stool and twists it around to face all of us before she plops into it.
“Captain Barnes closed the Vex case today, so there will be no more police presence there. I don’t know what will come of it going forward.
I think…” She hesitates, eyeing me and then Celine.
“I think we need to check out what’s going on underground.
See if we can figure out why they held Valen there.
There has to be more to all this, and I know…
” She pauses again, eyeing her lap. “I know we all want to move on with our lives and pretend none of this is happening, but it is, and Valen said he’s been followed, so I think it’s better if we try to get ahead of this. ”
Celine shivers. “I don’t like this, but you’re right.”
“Schnookums,” Zav croons, pulling his mate into his arms. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.”
Ava reluctantly brings her eyes to mine. “Are you going to be okay with this?”
Well, I’m certainly not letting her investigate it alone, even if Zav is there. She’s my mate. It’s my responsibility to keep her safe.
“I’ll be okay.”
It sounds like a lie, even to me.