My aunt pulled into the Deer and Elk. “I’m glad we had a chance to talk. I would love for you to stay longer, but I know you need to see that vampire doctor.”
Even though my aunt and I were on better terms, my decision to leave would still be the same. It was best if I created distance from Jack. I wasn’t even sure if I could be around Rianne.
“Jack said earlier that Rianne and Noah were on their way home, but I thought she would’ve shown up by now. Do you know anything? Did she enlist like she wanted to? She won’t answer my calls or return my texts.”
She raised a shoulder. “No idea. But if I find anything out, I’ll let you know.” She gave me a weak smile. “Layla, I hope that doctor can help you.”
I grabbed the door handle of her Suburban. “I do too.”
“Do you have any cravings for blood?”
I rubbed my lips together. “Not right now.” I didn’t want to tell her I’d sucked on Sam’s wrist. But boy, once I did that, the world righted itself.
She tucked my hair behind my ear. “I do hope you find what you’re looking for in life, Layla. And again, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. But I am now. Call me if you need anything.”
Despite us talking and her sticking up for me, I wasn’t sure I could trust her. “Thanks.” I spotted Sam’s rental. “I better go. Sam will send out a hunting party if I don’t show myself soon.” I bet he was a nervous wreck. He didn’t strike me as the type to sit idle, especially when he wanted something.
“He seems like a good vampire,” my aunt said.
“He’s kind of an ass.” But he was my ass.
She laughed. “Dare I say”—she glanced around—“you two make a great couple. Sam seems to need someone who is tough like you.”
I laughed hard. “This coming from a vampire hunter’s wife. Don’t let Jack hear you say that.” I climbed out then stuck my head in the car. “Be careful, Aunt Tab.”
She shifted into gear, ready to drive away. “You do the same.”
I shut the door and watched her as she wheeled out of the gravel lot. A fat raindrop fell from the sky. Then another. I pivoted on my heel and went inside.
Music pumped from the jukebox. Two men were sitting at the bar. One of them looked a lot like Lester, the guy who had been at the ranch earlier. I couldn’t quite tell from that angle, though, since he was facing the collection of liquor bottles behind the bar.
Aside from the two men, the bar was empty of patrons. It was early afternoon, and the place didn’t start hopping until later in the evening. Still, I didn’t see Jordyn or Sam anywhere. I ducked back outside. Sam’s rental car was parked next to a black SUV. I returned inside. Maybe Sam and Jordyn had gone to the restroom.
I started in that direction when I heard Sam’s name.
“I was surprised to see Mason at the ranch.” That was Lester talking.
My heart sank as I debated whether to confront Lester or not.
My decision was taken away when Linda Getty—blond, big boobs, curvy waist, and my nemesis in high school—swung her hips as she ambled up to me. “Wow! You look fantastic. What’s your secret?”
So much for listening to Lester. “Are you the same person who hated me in high school?” I wasn’t teasing at all.
She rolled her eyes. “We were teenagers then. We did stupid shit.”
I grinned as I thought back to one incident when I’d stolen her clothes during gym class when she was in the shower. She’d run around school in a towel, looking for me. I blinked away the flashback. “Have you seen Jordyn? She was with a tall dude, black hair, green eyes.”
She feigned fanning herself. “Where did you find him? Does he have any friends?”
Loads, but I wasn’t about to share that with her or tell her how I’d met him. “Is my sister in the bathroom?”
“Last I saw. Your guy friend left, and then Rianne came in and said something to Jordyn before they rushed out. Maybe thirty minutes ago.”
I flinched. “Rianne was here?” Jordyn must’ve gotten ahold of her. “Do you know where they were going?” I doubted she did, but I had to ask just in case she’d overheard them talking. Linda was nosy like that. “Was Noah with them?”
“I have no idea. I assumed they were meeting you because Jordyn told me you were on your way. As far as Noah, he didn’t come in.”
My mind scrambled to think of where they could’ve gone. Maybe Sam had car trouble. But he would’ve called Conrad. Or maybe Sam was with Conrad. I plucked my phone from my coat pocket and called Jordyn. The line rang several times before her voice mail kicked in. I rushed outside and searched as far as I could as I called Rianne. Again, my sister wasn’t answering my fucking call.
My pulse quickly shot up. Damn, I didn’t have Conrad’s number. I darted around to the back of the building. No one. Just two cars. My heart rammed against my sternum.
I called Sam’s phone as I circled the building and went over to his car. Everything looked normal. My bag was in the back with Jordyn’s. That wasn’t good.
I leaned against the SUV when Sam’s voice mail picked up.
“Sam, where are you?” I squeezed my eyes shut as I ended the call and tried to think of my next move or what could’ve happened to them. They wouldn’t have left without alerting me.
Maybe Sam’s impatience prompted him to return to the ranch with Conrad. After all, I didn’t leave as quickly as I’d wanted to because my aunt and I had been talking.
The sound of an engine rumbled as a gray sedan pulled into the lot.
“Conrad,” I said as I pushed off the SUV and hurried over to him.
Before he even opened his door, he knew something was wrong. Maybe because I had panic written all over my face or maybe because I was standing there in the rain, looking like a wet dog.
He rolled down his window. “What is it?”
“Sam and Jordyn aren’t here.”
Conrad turned toward Sam’s car then back to me. “Hop in.”
Once inside, he handed me a towel he had on the floor behind the passenger seat. “Let me do a sweep of the premises.”
I caught his arm. “You won’t find them. I promise you, they’re not inside.”
He tilted his head. “Layla, you know I’m a vampire. I can compel information out of people if I have to.”
“Well, don’t put anyone in a comatose state.” Just thinking of how Sam had done that to Rianne made me shiver.
“We normal vampires can’t do the shit Sam Mason can. But we’re still effective in extracting information.” Then he left me alone.
I sat there, twisting the towel in my hands. Then I checked my phone when it rang. Rianne’s name brightened the screen.
“Hey.” My voice was strained. “Where are you? Is Jordyn with you?”
“She is,” Rianne said evenly.
I couldn’t gauge her mood. “Again, where are you? What’s going on?” Something wasn’t adding up. “Please tell me Sam isn’t with her.” Maybe Uncle Jack kidnapped Sam.
A deafening silence stretched through the line.
“Rianne,” I warned in a tone that bordered on a scream. “What did you do?” I didn’t want to assume anything, but the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me that something wasn’t right. Rianne tended to act before she thought things through, a flaw of hers that had sometimes gotten us into trouble. “If this is about you telling Noah I slept with Sam, I’m not mad.” I felt more betrayed than anything. “I know you were drinking. Mistakes happen.”
She laughed in a way that raised a thousand red flags. “I’m doing this for you. Humans can’t fall in love with vamps.”
“What?” I screamed. “Who the fuck says I’m in love with him? What have you done? I want to know right now!”
“Please, Layla.” Condescension wove those words together. “You are. You just don’t want to admit it.”
I inhaled through my nose then blew it out through my mouth. Conrad’s Old Spice cologne lingered in the car and eased some of my nerves. “What happened to you? Noah brainwashed you.”
“I’m my own person, Layla. And we don’t belong with vampires.”
It was my turn to drop the bomb of the century. “Dad dated a vampire.”
“Bullshit,” she said.
I puffed out my chest as though she could see me. “Talk to Uncle Jack.”
Her heavy breathing crackled through the line and competed with the ting, ting, ting of the rain pelting the roof of the car.
“Where’s Sam, Rianne?”
She sighed. “He’s fine for now.”
“Sam saved your life. Have you forgotten that?” I was hoping I was penetrating through her stubborn brain.
“He also fucked us up.”
I dug my nails into the palm of my free hand. “No, he didn’t. We were the ones who started the shitshow and took that job. Don’t blame everything on Sam. And how soon you forget that your hotheaded attitude caused Sam to compel you like he did.” My teeth were locked together. “You realize that if anything happens to Sam, you and the entire family will die.”
She laughed. “That won’t happen.”
Her confidence was irritating the crap out of me. I clutched the phone tightly. “Rianne, if Sam dies, you’re dead, and so is everyone who takes part in his death. Have you forgotten the power that his sister holds, or his dad, or the vampire Navy SEALs? Are you thinking straight?”
“Call Webb or Tripp!” Jordyn shouted in the background. “Hurry, Layla!”
Things were spiraling and quickly. I felt as though I had whiplash.
“Tape her mouth shut,” Noah said to someone.
Hot, blinding fury blurred my vision. “So you’re going to hurt our sister?”
“Jordyn is fine,” Rianne said in an icy tone.
I silently counted to three, attempting to calm my racing heart and the rage pouring through me. “Does Uncle Jack know what you’re doing?”
“He will soon enough. Besides, he wants all vampires dead. So Sam isn’t special.”
Jack did want all of them dead, but I believed my uncle didn’t want to fuck with Steven Mason. If he did, he would’ve hunted Steven already. He would’ve burned Sam at the ranch earlier—Jack had no problem doing that when a bloodsucker stepped foot on his property. I doubted the Aberdeens were frightened of Steven. But the more I thought about it, the more I believed there was a reason the Aberdeens had never hunted the Masons. Sure, he and Uncle Ray were diving back into the business, and Uncle Ray wanted revenge on Roman and those like him. Hell, Sam would probably support my uncles in their quest to hunt and murder Roman.
“Think about it, sis. Our family has had every opportunity to wipe out the Masons. Ask yourself why we haven’t.”
I glanced around outside. Conrad seemed to be taking a long time.
“It’s time someone takes a stand in this family, no matter how powerful Sam and his sister are,” Rianne said. “No one should have that amount of power, anyway.”
I couldn’t see much through the pouring rain. “What happened to you? In a matter of days, you went from hating Jack and wanting to stay in Massachusetts to this.” Noah had to have been feeding her some great lines of bullshit. “I guess now isn’t the time to tell you that Mom comes from a vampire family.” Bomb number two. If that didn’t do the trick, I couldn’t help her.
She squeaked out a noise. “Bull crap. You’re lying.”
“Ask Jack or Aunt Tab,” I fired back.
“That’s bullshit,” Noah barked. “My dad would’ve told me.”
I sneered. “Hey, asswipe. Your father doesn’t tell you everything.” I was sure of that. My uncle didn’t want anyone to know that his brother married a woman who had vampire blood running through her veins.
“Fuck you,” Noah said.
I could hear Jordyn mumbling in the background.
“If you so much as harm Jordyn, either of you, I will make it my mission to see that you both suffer.” I couldn’t believe those words were coming out of my mouth and directed at Rianne.
“We both know, Layla, that you would never hurt me.” Her smugness was maddening, even though she was probably right. “And I would never do anything to Jordyn.”
The blood running through my veins came to an abrupt halt. She didn’t include me in that statement. I was beginning to think Abbey was right. “But you would hurt me?” I held my breath.
“This isn’t about you, Layla,” Rianne said. “It’s about ridding this world of vampires.”
There was no reasoning with her. “Let Jordyn go. There’s no reason to keep her tied up.”
Noah belted out a laugh. “There most certainly is.”
My curiosity peaked. “Do tell, fuckwad.” The hate I had for Noah before multiplied tenfold.
“She loves the bloodsuckers, like you. You both need to suffer,” Noah said, as confident and sure as the rain battering against the windshield.
The driver’s side door opened, and Conrad climbed in.
I raised my finger to my lips.
“Tell me where you are, Rianne,” I demanded.
“You’ll figure it out,” she said before she hung up.
I was tempted to throw my phone through the windshield. Instead, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Conrad winced.
When I was done releasing all my pent-up anger, I searched his car. “Do you have any weapons in here?”
He scrubbed a hand down his face, wiping the water from it. “Of course. But tell me what’s going on.”
“Head back toward the ranch, and I’ll fill you in.”
Maybe Abbey’s premonition about Rianne killing me was about to come true. But not before I put up a good fucking fight.