Bound by Night(81)

Nicole stepped inside, bringing her fresh pear— ginger scent with her. “Have you come up with any solutions?”
“No.” He didn’t even wait for the door to shut before her gathered her against him and nuzzled her throat. He’d missed this. It had been far too long since they’d had a private moment together. “How’s Bastien?” It had been killing Riker to not visit the boy, although he’d spied on him from afar when he could.
“He’s doing great,” she said. “He’s so curious. He’ll read anything you put in front of him, and he’s trying really hard to help Grant in the lab. He’s even in his own quarters now. And Myne’s been working out with him in the training room.”
Riker had wanted to be the one teaching Bastienabout vampire life, about being a warrior, a nd a twinge of jealousy shot through him even though he’d asked for Myne’s assistance. Riker had also had to suck it up and apologize to Myne for his behavior the night of the full moon, but like the male he was, Myne had shrugged it off with no more than a clasp of hands and a pat on the back.
“Does he seem happy?”
“Mostly,” she said. “But he needs a father.”
Riker’s chest cramped. “I wish I knew how to be there for him.” Immediately, he sensed a change in Nicole, and when she pulled away, he went on alert.
“What is it?”
A shiver wracked her, but he wasn’t sure how that was possible, because it suddenly felt like it was a million degrees in the room. “I know why he freaked out when you told him you were his father.”
“I’m listening.”
She shifted her weight. Glanced around the room.
Stalled until he was ready to shake the words out of her. But as impatient as he was to hear what she had to say, he owed her a lifetime of patience. She had been instrumental in bringing Bastien out of his shell.
Hell, if not for her, Bastien wouldn’t be here in the first place.
“I’m not even sure where to start,” she finally said.
He brushed his knuckles over her silky cheek.
“Take your time.” But, you know, hurry.
“Promise me you’ll stay calm,” she said, and shit, this couldn’t be good, but he inclined his head in solemn agreement. “Okay.” She inhaled and exhaled. Did it again. “When I was little, Chuck hung out with me a lot. I thought it was because he loved me and wanted to spend time with me. Now when I think back, I realize he was usually only around when Terese was there.#p#分页标题#e#
When she wasn’t there, he always asked about her. I figured he asked because he was uncomfortable around vampires. He didn’t grow up with them the way I did.”
The mere mention of Chuck made Riker’s teeth clench. “Go on.”
“Remember in the lab when he got so angry when he talked about you killing Terese?” All Riker could do was nod. “I think it’s because he was obsessed with her. Maybe even in love with her.”
Riker’s skin grew clammy, and he felt sick to his stomach. “If this is some sort of joke . . .”
“It’s not.” She shifted her weight again, fidgeted with her hair, swallowed repeatedly. And she kept looking at the papers on his desk. Origami withdrawals, he was sure. “I think he transferred his obsession to Bastien. Chuck told him he’d be like a father to him, but when Bastien didn’t return his feelings the way
Chuck probably thought he should, he beat him.” She closed her eyes. “I asked Grant to look him over, and he found a number of healed injuries, including some broken bones.”
Nicole’s revelation hit Riker with the force of an avalanche, literally knocking him back a step. A black, indescribable rage carved out his chest, turning it into a fathomless cavern of frost. Even his heart, which had beating obsessively fast for Nicole, seemed to have iced over.
“Riker?” Nicole reached out, but he dodged her touch, not ready to be consoled by the sister of the bastard who had tortured an innocent boy. “I convinced
Bastien that you weren’t a . . . father . . . like that. I told him he could trust you and that you’d never hurt him. Please don’t go to him like this. He’s timid around males as it is, and he associates the word father with what Chuck did to him.”
Father. The word he’d always wanted to hear a child call him was now associated with terror and pain.
Just when he thought the Martins couldn’t fuck with his life any more . . .
He concentrated on breathing. Breathing was good. It would keep him from bolting out of headquarters and leaving the entire city of Seattle bleeding behind him as he tore the city apart in the search for Nicole’s brother.