“What were you thinking, Abby?” Ethan ran a hand through his black hair as he paced back and forth before her, shooting her disapproving looks every chance he got.
She folded her arms over her chest and glared back at her older brother. “I was thinking Vicky wouldn’t want you involved, and neither did I.”
“You could have gotten the both of you killed.”
“I’m as capable of defending myself as you are.”
“You’re a newly matured vampire. You’re not sure what you’re capable of yet.”
“And neither are you. I believed I could find her on my own.”
“But you called him!” Ethan exploded and thrust a finger at Brian.
“So did you when you needed help!”
Ethan stopped walking to scowl at her before resuming his pacing.
“What leads do you have?” Stefan asked. “Brian?”
Stefan’s prodding caused Brian to break away from following Ethan’s every move. He was seriously considering beating her brother if he didn’t watch what he said to her. His attention turned to Stefan, the man he’d once considered his best friend. Time had torn them apart, but to this day, Stefan was the only man he’d ever counted on as much as himself. Stefan was one of the few who had understood his compulsion to avenge the death of his family and had helped him to do so.
Stefan’s onyx eyes burned into his as he waited for an answer. Behind Stefan, Abby’s adopted uncle, David sat sprawled out on the sofa, his long legs spread before him. Her brother, Ian leaned against the wall beside David. Ian’s sky-colored eyes flitted curiously between Brian and Abby as Brian remained standing protectively in front of her.
If Ethan was mad now, he was about to hit a whole new level of pissed off when Brian staked his claim on Abby. He didn’t care if he had to take all of them on at the same time. No one was going to take her from him.
“Not many leads so far,” he replied to Stefan’s question. “However, I found out this morning that a girl named Marissa, a Feeder I questioned last night, was killed shortly after we spoke. She knew more than she could tell me due to compulsion, but someone didn’t like her talking to me enough to kill her for it. She gave me the name of her ex, Garth, and some numbers. I planned to follow up on him tonight.”
“Fine,” Ethan said. “We’ll get in touch with this guy tonight. David has agreed to take Abby home.”
“I’m not leaving,” she said firmly.
Ethan spun to face her, looking as if he might grab her and shake her. A warning growl emanated from Brian as he nudged her back with his shoulder. He knew her brother wouldn’t hurt her, but he wouldn’t let him upset her any more either. The gesture caused eyebrows to shoot up all over the room.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Brian said firmly.
Ethan’s green eyes, so similar in color to Abby’s, narrowed on him. “She’s not staying here. Our parents are expecting her, and it’s too risky for her here. These vamps are killing off the people you’re talking to; they can’t know she’s connected in any way.”
“Tell your parents she’s not coming back until she’s ready. We have more to worry about than Abby’s connection to me or her safety from those vamps. If Ronan finds out about any of this, he’ll kill everyone involved, including Vicky. He may kill me for not telling him sooner.” Abby’s breath hissed in behind him. “But I will deal with that after we find your sister. Until then, Abby stays.”
“You have no say in this. It’s a family matter,” Ethan replied.
“I have every say in this if you think you’re taking her anywhere she doesn’t agree to go. You are not taking her away from me.”
Ethan did a double take at Brian’s words. His jaw dropped open when Abby stepped forward and wrapped her hand around Brian’s arm. Tilting her head back, she stared defiantly at her brother.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Ethan blurted.
“Ethan—” Abby started.
“Is he your mate?”
Abby thrust her shoulders back. “He is.”
The amount of pride in her voice caused something to pull at Brian’s heart as he watched her unflinchingly stand up to her powerful sibling. Ethan turned away from her to glower at Brian. The muscles in his body tensed as he prepared for Ethan to attack him, but her brother remained where he was.
“You know what that means, Ethan,” Abby said.
“I know what it means,” he grated.
“You can’t separate us.”
Ethan’s face softened as he looked at her. “I wouldn’t dream of trying, Abby. I’d never knowingly cause you to suffer.”
The tension in Brian’s muscles eased at Ethan’s words. His love for his sister would keep him from fighting this, but Ethan didn’t have to say he’d hoped for better for his sister. Brian saw the truth of it in the sadness filling his eyes as he watched her.
“I’m not leaving without Vicky,” she said to Ethan.
“I know,” he said to her before focusing on Brian. “But I think you’re putting her in danger by allowing her stay.”
Brian felt a vein throbbing to life in his forehead. “I do too, but I compromised.”
Stefan’s loud burst of laughter drew lethal looks from everyone in the room. “This is kind of perfect,” Stefan said in between his laughs, “and more than a little shocking. You’ve seen each other before.”
“According to one of Ronan’s men, Declan, if she hadn’t matured yet, there would have been no connection. At least not on my part,” Brian replied. He didn’t think they need to hear that their teenage sister had affected him enough that he hadn’t had sex in seven years.
Their gazes all went to Abby. “What?” she demanded. “I don’t tell you guys everything. I didn’t even tell Vicky about him, and it’s not as if I knew for certain he was my mate at fifteen. I knew he was different from other men, but that was it.”
“We get the point,” Ethan assured her.
“Well, it looks like the family has grown some more.” Ian walked over to slap Brian’s shoulder. “Welcome.”
Brian wasn’t so sure about that. He’d barely come to terms with having Abby as his mate, never mind the entire Byrne clan as his extended family. He’d been flying solo for years; solitary was the way he liked things, and he couldn’t deal with the idea of losing another family. He kept those thoughts to himself; he’d already wounded Abby with his declaration of no more children. He wouldn’t turn away from her family.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
“Does Aiden know about this?” David asked.
“You’re the first ones to know,” Abby said. “I tried calling Aiden for help before I called Brian, but Ronan’s man at the training facility wouldn’t let me talk to him.”
Ethan glanced between them once more before rubbing his temples and turning away. Stefan’s face was turning red from trying not to laugh again. He finally lost the battle.
***
Brian didn’t acknowledge Ethan as he stepped outside and onto the relatively tranquil sidewalk. In the distance, he could hear horns blowing and the thump of music, but here there was also laughter and the murmur of conversations as the distinct scent of pizza and Italian food wafted through the air. Ethan tugged his jacket closer around him and folded his arms over his chest as he studied Brian.
“Is this going to be the protective big brother conversation?” Brian asked as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Because I am not in the mood.”
“No, I think you know what you stepped into with our family. You know what will happen to you if you hurt her.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Ethan’s head tilted to the side as he surveyed him. “Out of all of my siblings, Abby is the most tenderhearted and the dreamer. You’re not what I pictured for her.”
“And what did you picture for her?”
“A good man, a patient and loving man who wouldn’t crush her spirit as I believe you will.”
Brian almost crunched his phone in his hand. “I have no intention of crushing her spirit,” he bit out.
Ethan held up a hand. “Maybe you won’t mean to do it, but she’s… fragile.”
Brian laughed at that assessment. “I don’t think you know your sister as well as you think you do. Yes, she is the most loving and caring woman I’ve ever met. No, she’s not vicious, manipulative, or cruel, but she’s far from fragile.”
“She won’t take well to being pushed around—”
Brian released a harsh bark of laughter. “No shit,” he interrupted. “She kicked me in the nuts.”
The prideful grin spreading over Ethan’s face had him contemplating punching the younger vamp. “Really? Never saw that one coming from Abby.”
“She’s stronger than you’re giving her credit for.”
“She’s always tried to make everyone else happy, and I don’t want her to be buried by someone who has a stronger will than her,” he said with a pointed look at Brian.
Irritation pricked at Brian’s skin. “You really should reevaluate your sister, or at least get to know her better. Do you honestly believe I wanted her involved in this still? The main reason I called Stefan was to get her out of here, but she was so mad and unhappy when she realized what I’d done.”
“So you agreed to let her stay?”
Brian contemplated how to respond to that; in the end, he went with the truth. “I’d agree to almost anything to make her happy. I may not like her being here, but I can keep her protected. I’ll destroy anyone who tries to harm her.”
Ethan’s head bowed before he met Brian’s gaze again. “Maybe I’m wrong.”
“You are.” Brian turned away and focused on his phone as he punched Garth’s number into it. “Is this Garth?” he asked when a man picked up the phone.
“No.”
The line went dead. Brian stared at the phone before turning to look into the restaurant where Abby sat with her family. They may not be eating the pizza cooking in the ovens behind them, but it was a much more comfortable environment than being crammed into her hotel room.
“He’s not going to talk to me,” he muttered.
Ethan followed his gaze to Abby. “I don’t want my sister talking to him.”
“Do you think I want that?” Brian retorted. “But the only way she’s leaving here is if we find Vicky.”
He might kill Vicky himself when they found her. If she was mixed up with drugs, Abby could be chasing her for the rest of her days or at least until Vicky was finally killed by Ronan, or some other vamp looking to put an end to the risk of exposure she represented. Abby would repeatedly put herself in danger to rescue her sister.
“What was Vicky thinking to get involved in this mess?” Ethan muttered.
“I don’t know,” Brian said. “But the sooner we find her, the happier Abby will be.”
Ethan’s eyes bored into him as Brian lifted his hand to wave Abby over to where they stood. Brian ignored him. He was aware of how powerful a pureblood vampire could be, and Ethan was larger than him, but he would take Ethan down if he tried to intervene in his relationship with Abby.
She frowned but rose to walk over to them with Stefan close behind her. Brian grabbed hold of the door and pulled it open for her. He ignored the startled look on Ethan’s face and the smirk on Stefan’s.
“What is it?” Abby inquired.
“Garth isn’t going to talk to me,” Brian told her. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s been advised not to talk to any men he doesn’t already know, or if he’s always been paranoid, but a woman might be able to get through to him.”
“You want me to call him?”
“I do.”
She pulled her phone from her pocket as Brian counted to ten to keep from tearing it out of her hand. He was nearly to fifty before he felt calm enough to give her the phone number of the vamp who may have killed Marissa, a woman who had only been trying to help him in the hopes of immortality. Thousands of souls stained his hands; he didn’t like adding Marissa to the few he felt bad about.
“The number?” Abby asked for the third time.
Brian bit the number out from between his gritted teeth and thrust his phone at Stefan before he crushed it. Stefan looked as if he were about to start laughing again but wisely refrained from doing so. Abby turned and walked away from them as she waited for her call to be answered. Garth could do nothing to her through the phone, yet Brian hurried to catch up with her.
He hovered over her shoulder when she tried to wave him away. She glared at him, and he glared right back. “Hello,” a tired male voice greeted.
Abby’s mind spun, she hadn’t considered what she was going to say if the phone call was answered. Going on instinct, she blurted out the first words that came to her. “I’m looking for the party tonight.”
“We’re all looking for the party, sweets, but only the chosen few get in. What’s your name?”
“Vicky.”
Brian’s face turned red and his teeth clenched so hard she thought they might shatter. He was holding himself held back, but he wouldn’t let her talk for much longer. Through the line she heard some shuffling and then what sounded like boots hitting the floor. She strained to hear anything else, but Garth’s movements were the only ones she detected.
“Ahhh, Vicky, back so soon. You know the deal, no pic, no deets.”
Abby glanced at Brian before pushing him back a step. His hand grabbed for her phone before falling back to his side and fisting there. Turning her phone around, Abby held it far away from her and tried to stay as much in the shadows as possible. No one outside of her family, and apparently Brian, could ever tell her and Vicky apart, and her family sometimes still confused them. However, she had no idea what Vicky had been through and what kind of toll it may have taken on her; maybe she’d cut her hair, dyed it black, or gotten yellow contacts.
Taking the picture, Abby clicked a few buttons and sent it to Garth. She could feel Brian seething beside her.
“Pretty as ever, I see,” Garth said a few seconds later. “I’ll send you the locale. The party is already going.”
Did one thank their drug-dealing connection before the call ended? Fortunately, that was a question she was spared from having to answer as he hung up before she could stammer out a response.
A few seconds later, her phone beeped. She was rewarded with an address and one word, Bubblegum.