Three car changes and a whole lot of driving around between New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania later, Lucien pulled into the parking lot of a small motel outside of the Poconos.
The sun had set behind the mountains hours ago, and the moon was high in the sky when he doused the car’s headlights before shutting off the vehicle. He studied the exterior of the small motel while he listened to the tick of the Jeep’s cooling engine.
Callie leaned forward in her seat to peer up at the vacancy sign. “We don’t have any money.”
“That won’t matter.”
“Oh, yeah,” she muttered, feeling like an idiot as she recalled he could bend others to his will.
Uneasiness churned in her stomach; she was ready to be out of the car and definitely ready for sleep, but she hated the idea of him using that ability. When would he turn it on her?
She gulped as goosebumps broke out on her arms. She supposed it was a good thing she wouldn’t know when it happened… or maybe she would.
She couldn’t say how the ability worked. Maybe the guards recalled everything they’d seen and heard, but they couldn’t do anything about it.
Then she recalled Lucien instructing them to forget everything they witnessed, and she really hoped they did precisely that. The old man shouldn’t have the memory of that fight between Lucien and the Savages. He should be able to sleep at night without recalling the blood and violence that unfolded earlier in the day.
She’d like to do the same, but if it came between a mind erase and the memory, she would choose the memory. She enjoyed her mind the way it was.
Using the heels of her palms, she rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn. Dropping her hands, she opened her eyes to study the brick building before them. Fifteen or twenty units branched off the main office to run along the left side of it.
The lit-up, neon sign to her right proclaimed it to be the Mountainside Motel, and beneath it was the vacancy sign. There were a few other cars in the lot, but it was more empty than full.
Despite its nearly empty status, it looked so cozy with the mountains rising behind it and flowers overflowing the containers on either side of the glass office door. She yearned for a hot shower and a comfortable bed. She was certain she’d sleep for three days straight once she had both.
“We’ll be safe here,” Lucien said.
She wanted to believe him and, after the many hours they spent in vehicles, back roads, and different states today, he had to be right, but she was afraid to believe it was true. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He was confident the last time they were on camera was in New York, when they stopped at a convenience store to load up on food and drinks for her, along with other assorted supplies. Unfortunately, the store hadn’t sold any disposable phones. He could have stopped somewhere else, but he’d chosen to stay away from cameras.
The guy he stole this Jeep from wouldn’t report it missing for another three days. He’d taken the guy’s phone only to discover it unlocked by a fingerprint. He’d junked it on some back road in New York.
“Come on,” he said. Her exhaustion and fear beat against him; he would get her settled before he called Ronan. “Let’s go.”
He lifted the pair of sunglasses he’d taken from their second vehicle and slid them into place over his still red eyes. The black lenses blocked the color of his eyes. He was hungry again, and once they got a room, he would feed.
They unbuckled their seat belts and jumped out of the Wrangler. The original owner had removed the doors and the top of the vehicle. A cooler was strapped to the rack attached to the back of the Jeep, but Lucien hadn’t looked inside it yet. Another cooler, the one they purchased at the convenience store, sat on the back seat and was full of Callie’s supplies.
The lights attached to the polls at the edge of the parking lot dimly illuminated the compacted dirt beneath their feet as they strode toward the office. The crickets and frogs broke the hush of the night as they chirruped and sang. The stars and moon were bright in the sky, and Callie tipped back her head to examine the Milky Way as it stretched across the sky.
“I have to feed again,” he said as they walked. “It will be on whoever is inside.”
Callie glanced at him before shifting her attention back to the motel. She bit her lip as she contemplated the awfulness that lay ahead for the unsuspecting person within.
“I….” Her voice trailed off as she tried to figure out what to say. “Why are you telling me this?”
“I thought it was better to prepare you for it.”
“Yes, I suppose that is better.”
Feeling her distress, Lucien rested his hand on her arm; she stopped walking to face him. “They won’t feel it. I won’t let them. What I did to you was a huge mistake, and it should never have happened. I will hate myself for it for the rest of my life.”
The harshness of his tone and the anguish on his face told her that he meant what he said.
“It’s no excuse,” he continued, “but I was out of my mind with starvation when it happened. They brought you there so that I would kill you.”
Callie swallowed the lump in her throat. “Why didn’t you? If they brought me there to feed you and to turn you into them, and if you were so starved, why didn’t you kill me?”
He studied her lovely face as he savored the feel of her silken flesh beneath his palm. His gaze fell to her luscious mouth, and he almost bent his head to taste it. He longed to run his tongue across those lips and discover how she would react to him, but he didn’t think she would be open to that, considering she was staring at him like he was the fox in the hen house.
And she was waiting for an answer to her question. He contemplated how to respond to her, but he wasn’t exactly sure why he hadn’t killed her either. He’d certainly been ravenous enough and crazed enough to do so, but….
“Because the second I tasted you, I knew I had to protect you,” he admitted.
That was not the response she’d expected. She wasn’t sure what she expected him to say, but it certainly wasn’t those heart-melting words. He’s a vampire. And for the first time, she found she didn’t care. He was also a man, and despite his faults, he was a good one.
“Why?” she whispered.
He didn’t know how to explain that to her when he could barely explain it to himself and he was too damn hungry to think about it. “I’m not sure.”
A twinge of disappointment tugged at her heart, but she still hadn’t known what she’d expected from him.
“I do know that whoever’s in there won’t recall me feeding on them, and it won’t hurt them. I shouldn’t have hurt you either time, but I was so far gone I couldn’t stop myself. I’m sorry about that, and I hope you can one day forgive me.”
Callie pondered his words before replying, “I already do.”
He’d made a mistake, and she couldn’t continue to hold it against him when she’d made plenty of mistakes in her life too.
He couldn’t stop himself from grinning as relief washed through him. She was still uneasy around him, and he didn’t blame her, but at least she didn’t hate him.
“I will never take your blood again, unless you give me permission.”
She wouldn’t ever give him permission to inflict that kind of agony on her again, but she found herself asking, “And then what would happen?”
When he stepped closer, she swore the air crackled with tension as his chest brushed hers. She tilted her head back to take him in. He was a good seven inches taller than her, but she didn’t feel intimidated as he stood over her.
After the pain he’d inflicted on her and everything she’d seen him do, she should be terrified of this man, but her pulse didn’t beat faster with terror. No, instead, it raced with excitement.
“Then I would make sure you enjoyed every second of it,” he murmured.
The gravelly tone of his voice did funny things to her insides. Frightened by her sudden, overwhelming desire for him, she gulped and stepped away. “I see.”
No, you don’t, but you will, Lucien thought.
However, he didn’t express those words. She was already wary enough of whatever this was between them; he couldn’t risk pushing her further away. However, he would taste her again, and the next time he did, she would be willing. He would make sure she received only pleasure from it.
“Why didn’t you take the memory of what happened away from me?” she asked.
Lucien opened his mouth to reply before realizing he didn’t know. Why didn’t he take the memory away? It would be a lot easier to convince her to let him feed on her again if she didn’t recall the pain, but he couldn’t bring himself to manipulate her in such a way.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
Uncertain how to take this, Callie frowned at him. “Do you plan to Men In Black my mind at some point?”
Lucien blinked at the strange question. “What? I don’t know what that means.”
“Haven’t you ever seen Men In Black?”
“No.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m not one for movies or TV shows or any kind of technology.”
Callie blinked at him. “You consider movies to be technology.”
“They’re new to me.”
Callie couldn’t get her mouth to close as those words sank in. “Um, yeah, I guess they are.” He did consider the United States the New World, after all. “Anyway, in the movie, they have this device that allows them to erase a person’s memories, and then they leave new ones behind. Are you eventually going to get into my head and rearrange things like you did with those guards and the people you stole the cars from?”
“No. I would have done that already because the longer a person’s memories remain intact, the tougher they are to change.”
“I see. So, you’re not going to take my memories away from me?”
“No.”
“Why not? It can’t be good for you, or your friends, to have a human who knows about you.”
“If I took the memories from you now, it would be dangerous for you. The Savages won’t hunt down the others whose memories I changed; they will come for you. If ten years from now, they knock on your door and you have no idea to be alert for them, you’ll let them in.”
“But you could put that in my head. You could stick me away and tell me to stay hidden and not to invite strangers in, and I would do it, wouldn’t I?”
“Yes, you would.”
“Then why not do it?”
“Because I won’t fuck with your head.”
Callie could sense her questions were irritating him as a muscle in his jaw twitched and he focused on something over her head. Maybe pushing the vamp wasn’t the best idea, but she had to understand him and this whole situation better.
“Why not?” she asked.
Lucien wasn’t ready to delve into that. First of all, they didn’t have time for it. Second of all, he’d never been one for introspection, especially when his thought processes still weren’t up to par.
“I don’t know.”
“Lucien—”
“I don’t know why.”
He made himself relax as he rested a hand on her shoulder. For a second, she flinched before covering it up and lifting her chin. However, though it was brief, he’d seen it, and he realized he’d seen it a couple of times now.
Anger flared in her eyes, but it wasn’t at him. No, it was anger at herself as she stared defiantly at him. Before, he was too out of his mind to put a name to her reaction, but now he knew what it was… fear.
And not fear of him but of something else. What happened to her? He almost asked the question but decided against it. She was guarded enough right now without him pushing her further. He’d learn the answer eventually, but now was not the time.
He waited for her to pull away, but she remained unmoving beneath his touch. When he turned his hand over and cradled her cheek in his palm, he expected her to cringe, but she lifted her chin and stared up at him.
“I won’t mess with your mind, Callie. Can you accept that?”
She wanted real answers from him, but he didn’t have them for her. He didn’t know why he wasn’t treating her like he’d treated the others, and she had no idea what she hoped to hear him say.
What was she looking for from him? To admit she was different than the others, but different how?
She had no idea what he would do with her, but she wasn’t going to press him on that either. First, she would shower and sleep, and when she woke up, she would try to figure out her future.
“I can accept that,” she said.
Lucien stared at her, and before he could think about it, he pulled her close and crushed her against him. She stood unmoving in his arms before lifting hers and embracing him. He held her close as her body melded to his. She felt so right in his arms.
Something tickled at the edge of his mind, but he pushed it away. He didn’t have time to deal with anything more than getting her somewhere safe. Later, he would take the time to think about everything that happened but not now.
Reluctantly, he released her and stepped away. “We should go.”
He wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but when he lowered his hand, it brushed against hers. He liked to think she’d reached out to him, but it was more him who clasped her hand and slid his fingers between her delicate ones.
He braced himself for her to tug her hand free; she didn’t. Instead, a small smile played at the corners of her mouth as her eyes met his.
That smile caused a shift inside him as something primitive, possessive, and lethal slithered to the forefront. He wouldn’t mess with her head, and he wasn’t going to let her go.