If he was sincere with his sister about the reason he left, she had some thinking to do. Not that it excused him leaving without explaining, or asking her what she wanted.
Part of her regretted letting Sara tell Thomas how much she grieved when he left. She’d hoped he would realize she never intended for him to leave completely. She never wanted that, but his temper and ego got the best of him. Or so she’d thought. His words were playing on an endless loop in her head. Had he really left to give her freedom? She’d never known Thomas to do anything that didn’t benefit him in the end. She couldn’t see how this did.
The night wind wrapped around her as she walked toward home. Goosebumps rose on her arms, reminding her that she didn’t have a jacket, or even sleeves for that matter. She rubbed her arms roughly with her hands in an attempt to warm herself. After a few moments she gave up, letting the cold sink into her skin and numb her.
A car approached and she willed herself to blend in with the shadows. To not be seen. It had never worked in any of her twenty-seven years, but there was a first time for everything.
The car slid to a smooth stop a short distance in front of her and the passenger door opened. She arched a brow thinking of how many bad horror movies she’d seen that started just like this—the kind vampire pulling over to pick up the lonely hitchhiker. It always ended badly for one party or the other. She considered ignoring the car and walking past, despite the welcoming warmth that seeped from its interior.
“Please.” Thomas’s voice was low, with no demand in it. Just a plea. She couldn’t deny him. She slid into the car and shut the door. “Thank you,” he said but didn’t look at her as he pulled away from the curb.
She kept her eyes locked on the scenery passing her window and let herself stay lost in her thoughts. A dull ache formed in her chest and she rubbed it with her hand as she wondered for a moment if she was going to cry. Then she realized the feeling wasn’t hers. She glanced at Thomas. His eyes stayed locked on the road in front of them, his knuckles white where he gripped the wheel. Every muscle in his body was tight. She could almost hear his teeth creak as he gnashed them together.
Picking up each other’s emotions was just one of the many joys of being United. Her shields were iron tight, and usually so were his. Evidently he’d let them slip. “Thomas.” That was all she said. Just his name.
The car jerked to a stop. Slowly, by degrees, the depression faded.
His hands still gripped the wheel and he looked straight ahead. “I’m sorry,” he said.
She let the silence stretch, uncertain if he was talking about the sorrow he’d transmitted or something else.
“I shouldn’t have come back. Not without talking to you first.”
“That might have proven difficult, as I would have just hung up on you.”
He ignored her attempt to lighten the mood and started driving again. When he stopped in front of her house, she didn’t move. After a while he said, “I never dreamed my leaving would bring you such pain. I knew you’d be upset, but not heartbroken. I hoped only that you would realize that you desired me, wanted me as much as I did you. That we were meant to be together. It never occurred to me that you could already be in love with me.”
“Did you really think I agreed to be tied to you for the rest of my life because I wanted to get laid?” She tried but couldn’t keep the bitterness from her voice.
He reached out his hand but pulled back before he touched her. “I reacted without thinking. I did what I thought was best for the both of us. I thought if I left you’d experience life and come around to the idea of us faster. But I never heard from you. I finally resolved to swallow my pride and come back whether you wanted me or not.”
She stared at him, her jaw slack with disbelief. “Thomas, I called you. Over and over again, I called.”
He went utterly still.
“Every day,” she said, not believing he didn’t know. He had to know. “I called all day, every day for a week. Someone else always answered. The last day I was informed in no uncertain terms that regardless of what I fancied myself to be to you, you did not wish to speak to me and it would be better for everyone involved if I just gave up.” She left out a few of the other things the female stated, mostly because she had no desire to know if they were true. “That was when I broke down on Sara’s couch and vowed never to call you again. No matter how much I might want to. I figured you’d call me if they were wrong. You never did.”
He turned to her, eyes pure black with rage. “Who was it that told you this?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Some girl. Does it matter?”
“It shall matter very much to them if I ever find out.”
“Surely something you said or did must have given them the idea you were through with me,” she insisted.
He shook his head. “No, I was wallowing in self-pity. They were told not to disturb me except for items of the utmost importance. Namely you.”
She sighed. “And why would they think I was important?” She hadn’t so why would they? He’d never understood just how disliked she was by a good portion of the coven. She was an outsider, an invader. For the most part that changed when she killed Raoul’s lackeys. Oddly enough, it proved she was worthy to be among them. Or some crap like that. She didn’t really care anymore.
“They knew how I felt about you. I made it very clear.”
“And most of them resented my existence. They are vampires, Thomas. You know as well as I that unless you specifically told them to put my calls through, they weren’t going to do it.”
“I did,” he yelled and she cringed from the sound. If that was true, gods help whoever it was if he ever found out. No one disobeyed a direct order from Thomas Kendrick. Well, except her. And Sara. Thomas slammed his hand against the steering wheel.
She sat for several moments without moving or speaking. She spent years convincing herself that she hated him for leaving her. For abandoning her to the monsters. He broke her heart, but the remaining pieces still loved him. As much as that sucked, she couldn’t help it.
He turned dark eyes on her. “What else aren’t you telling me? What secrets are you keeping?”
“If I told you, they wouldn’t be secrets, would they?”
He snarled, revealing fully extended fangs. “You and my sister think it’s so amusing to play with me. To push me to my limits. You always have. I need an answer, Juliana.”
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath before answering. “And I need you to remember that it’s not me you’re pissed at right now. Get yourself under control and maybe we’ll talk. Good night, Thomas.”
She swung her legs out of the car and her feet thudded against the pavement in the quiet of the night. She took a deep breath as she stood. A piercing, mournful howl cut through the dark causing a cold chill to run up her spine. It was a distant sound, well faded by the time it reached her ears, but her eyes searched for its source out of habit. That’s when she noticed two things.
First, the spot where her bike usually stood was empty. There was no sign of it anywhere. Second, no light shone inside or outside the house. She glanced across the street behind her. Even the lone street light that offered relief from the darkness on her block was out. That in itself wasn’t unusual. Kids were always busting it with rocks or bullets depending on their level of criminal maturity. Combined with the events of the week and the utter lack of illumination from her house however, it was disconcerting to say the least. She wrapped a hand around her gun and readied it.
Juliana took a couple of steps toward the house and paused, searching the shadows for any movement.
“What is it?” Thomas asked from just behind her.
“The house is dark,” she answered. “It’s never dark.” The porch had a dusk-to-dawn light and one of the lamps in the living room was on a timer. Never mind the nightlights in the hallway and bathroom. Growing up in a vampire coven had cultivated a paranoid dislike of the dark in her. She wasn’t afraid of
