Ripper(116)

Dark eyes looked down into mine. He smiled, but I saw the deep concern in them.

“What am I?” I asked desperately, needing to know what the hell was wrong with me. It wasn’t normal to have something primal inside waiting for a chance to get out.

The vampire smoothed back my hair and lifted me up. I felt weak against him. “Rest. I had to use an enormous amount of persuasion on you. The weakness will pass.”

I couldn’t rest when I wasn’t sure of where I was. The room was painted a neutral color and I’d been placed on a comfortable bed, but the bars on the door didn’t lie. “I’m in jail?”

“It’s a holding cell.” Dan looked at me with a mixture of guilt and wariness. “It’s only a precaution. You were out of control. It’s a good thing you’re awake. The Council is ready to meet. You need to answer for the killing of Darren Castle.”

“It was obviously self-defense.” Zack slid his key card through the lock and the door swung open. “I told you that when I asked you to go save her. He attacked her. I heard the whole thing.”

Dan sighed. “I know that, Zack, but you know as well as I do that the kill has to be declared righteous.”

Marcus squeezed my hand. “Do not worry. It will be all right.”

I shook the fog out of my head and turned to Marcus. He was the only one in the room I had any trust in at all. “His father killed those girls. Darren admitted it to me. He was the one who told Hamilton about vampires and led him to Sharpe. He was planting evidence against Alexander Sharpe. They were trying to make everyone believe Sharpe and Hamilton were partners, but Joseph Castle killed them all.”

Dan shook his head. “Son of a bitch. If he’d succeeded…”

“The wolves would revolt,” Quinn said.

Dan pulled out a cell phone and quietly called someone explaining that Castle needed to be found and brought in.

Someone had changed my clothes. I was wearing a too big V-neck sweater and a pair of men’s Levi’s. My feet were covered only in a pair of white socks. “Who changed my clothes?”

“Our wife and her friend.” Dan shoved his phone back in his pocket. “You were covered in blood. I thought it best you didn’t go meet the Council like that. I was going to change you myself.” Dan grinned and rolled his blue eyes. “But Marcus there insisted on propriety. So we brought in Zoey and Neil. Devinshea and I left the room. No covetous male eyes saw you, I assure you.”

I looked up at Marcus and saw he didn’t care that the other two men thought he was ridiculous and old-fashioned.

“Thank you,” I said quietly. His hands on me felt so good, though not necessarily in a sexual way. It was sensual, for certain. While I sat with his arms around me, I felt peaceful and calm, as though he could take the serene core of himself and impart a piece to me. I knew Gray wouldn’t like it, but I needed it. I put my hand in his because I needed the support for whatever I was about to learn. “Now, will someone please tell me what’s happening to me?”

Zack’s open face broke into a huge smile. He knelt down beside me. “I would be thrilled to tell you.”

“Boss,” a heavily accented voice said from the barred door. It sounded Northeastern. “Her brothers are here and so is the witch. They want to see her before she goes in.”

Dan inclined his head. “Thank you, Trent, show them in. I have some questions for them anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, looking at the two of them. I had tried to kill them. It wasn’t so surprising I was in jail.

Quinn smiled broadly. He really was devastating when he smiled. “Not at all. It was very exciting. The only problem was we didn’t bring Zoey along. It makes me long for the old days,” he sighed and exchanged an intimate look with his partner. There was a whole lot of history between them. “We’d fight and almost die and then Dan would come in to save the day and we’d all go to bed and celebrate the fact that we survived.”

Dan shrugged. “It’s still a little like that. I celebrate every day the twins don’t accidentally kill themselves or others.”

“Kelsey.” Jamie rushed into the room. Nate and Liv were behind him, but they moved more cautiously. Jamie pulled me out of Marcus’s arms and I immediately felt the loss of his warmth. “I was so worried when they told me you were here.”

“She’s fine, Jamie,” Nathan said solemnly. “Dan wouldn’t hurt her. He’s only trying to help.”

Liv stood beside him, looking the slightest bit guilty and I knew. I just knew. “You two set me up.”