He stepped outside and hesitated before releasing the knob. He hated the idea of leaving her, but he wouldn’t be gone long, and as he searched the parking lot, he didn’t see any hint of a threat. The Savages could have lackeys around that didn’t smell like the Savages, but he was sure he’d lost them.
He glanced back at the closed door before striding toward the office. He could knock on one of the doors and confiscate a phone from whoever was within, but he didn’t know how many people were in each room, and he’d prefer not to take control of a child’s mind if they happened to be inside. It would also weaken some of his newly regained strength if he had to take control of more than one person.
No, the office was his best bet. He would only have one person to contend with there.
When he arrived at the office, he opened the door and spotted the woman he drank from last night behind the counter. His hunger returned as he recalled her fresh blood on his tongue, but he’d promised Callie he wouldn’t feed on women unless it was a necessity, and it was not a necessity.
The woman looked at him and broke into a smile. “You shaved the beard.”
He ran his hand over his jaw as he remained standing in the doorway. He’d decided not to completely scrub her memory of him and Callie last night. He couldn’t have her, or the clerk who would come on after her, spotting them on camera outside of their room and calling the cops.
Instead, he’d left her with clear instructions to deny they were here if anyone came looking for them, and to call him immediately after they left.
“It was time,” he said.
“It looks good.” It was impossible to miss the lust in her gaze as it ran over him. “Did you enjoy your night with us?”
“Yes.”
It was the best night of his life, but she didn’t need to know that. He sent his ability out to take control of her mind as he glanced at his room. Everything remained calm outside, and there weren’t any other windows in the room, so the Savages couldn’t get at her another way. If they went after her, they would have to go through the front door, and he would see them.
He shifted his attention back to the woman. “Come here.”
She hesitated before putting the bottle and rag she’d been holding on the counter. She walked over to stand in front of him.
“Is there anyone else here?” he asked.
“No, my replacement doesn’t arrive for another hour.”
“Good. Give me your phone.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She handed it over to him, and he took it. “Go back to cleaning.”
She nodded, and he slipped out the door. Before he could think too long about it, he dialed the last number he had for Ronan and hit send. He kept his attention focused on the parking lot and their room as he listened to the phone ring.
There was a good chance Ronan wouldn’t pick up. They never kept their phones long, but if Ronan still held any hope of hearing from him, then he wouldn’t have gotten rid of this phone.
It rang five times, and he was about to hang up and dial the last number he had for Declan when the ringing stopped and a gruff voice asked, “Lucien?”
Despite his uncertainty over how this would all go and what they would think of him, relief and joy filled him at the sound of the familiar voice. You did not become a monster, he reminded himself.
But he would have if it wasn’t for Callie, and he couldn’t forgive himself for that. However, he may not be able to forgive himself, but once he heard the hope in Ronan’s voice, he realized they wouldn’t care. They wouldn’t hold his actions against him; they would just be happy to have him home.
“How did you know?” he asked.
The harsh release of Ronan’s breath sounded across the line. “Everyone else has a new number for me.”
“I thought you might have gotten rid of this phone.”
“I was hoping you’d call.”
“Here I am.”
“And who are you?”
Her mate. “I’m not a Savage.”
Ronan hesitated long enough that he thought he’d lost the connection. “You’ve been gone a while.”
“I have, and they starved me for most of that time, but I’m not one of them.”
“What happened?”
Lucien gave him a rundown of the details he remembered. A lot was a blur that revolved around thoughts of death, starvation, and feeding, but there were breaks in his cruel reality before Callie entered his life.
“You didn’t kill her?” Ronan asked when he told him about Callie.
“I could never kill my mate.”
Ronan’s breath hissed in. “You’re shitting me.”
Lucien chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair and tugged at the ends of it. “I’m not. I hurt her, badly, when I bit her, and that pierced through my madness. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be calling you. Or who knows, maybe I would, but the conversation would be a lot different.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, for now, but I have to get her somewhere safe.”
“Tell me where you are, and we’ll come get you.”
Lucien told him the name of the motel and the town.
“It’s going to take a while to get there; we have to be careful when we travel,” Ronan said.
“I know.”
“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“We’re safe here; take your time.”
He said the words, but he wanted them here now. Callie would be a lot safer when there were more of them to protect her. However, they couldn’t risk the Savages locating and following them while they traveled.
“Do you have a number where I can reach you?” Ronan asked.
“I’ll keep this phone until you get here.”
“Good. I’ll see you soon.”
“Ronan,” Lucien said before he could hang up.
“Yeah?”
“Did anyone survive the attack in the woods?”
“Willow escaped.”
Lucien wasn’t surprised by this revelation; if anyone survived, it was the tough Byrne woman. “Anyone else?”
“No.”
Lucien felt like someone punched him in the gut as his shoulders hunched forward. He was in charge of that mission, and those were his men and women who were lost.
“You did the best you could,” Ronan said. “There were a lot of Savages in those woods, and you held them off long enough to give the others a chance to escape. Willow is alive because of that. No one else could have done any better.”
Lucien appreciated Ronan’s words, but those deaths would haunt him for the rest of his life. He recalled those brutal moments in the woods when he’d struggled to keep the horde of Savages from pursuing the others. Was there more he could have done?
He wanted to say no, but maybe if he’d done one thing differently, more would have survived. He didn’t have the time to delve into an analysis of it all now, but he would later, and thousands of more times over the years.
“There’s something else you should know,” Lucien said.
“What is it?” Ronan asked.
“My brother is a Savage. He was in those tunnels, hunting us. I saw him when we escaped their underground layer.”
Ronan didn’t reply for a few seconds, but then, he was just learning about Lucien’s brother.
“You have a brother?”
“Yes. I’d hoped he was dead, but he’s not. And he hasn’t been my brother since the day he slaughtered my family centuries ago.”
Silence stretched between them again before Ronan spoke once more. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
“I have no doubt. We’ll be there soon,” Ronan said gruffly.
“We’ll be waiting.”