Unbound (Forbidden Bond Book 1)(37)

He tried to grab her hand while she continued to back away. Her calm  cracked as tears overflowed, and she turned away from him. Dani moved  quickly, but she couldn't stand there anymore with him trying to touch  her with the hands he'd had all over that girl. She ran until she  reached her street, her mom's street. She didn't live there anymore. She  didn't belong. She stormed into the house, hoping her mom wouldn't see  her, but no such luck.

Tessa stood by the stairs and got a full view of the black-eyed freak  when she walked in. She staggered back a step. "Danielle, what happened?  Are you alright?" She rushed forward to embrace her, but Dani didn't  want to be touched.

On her way up to her room, she said, "Don't you mean Soleil?" and slammed the bedroom door.

Okay. That was uncalled for, but she was so damn mad at the world for  lying and making her think she was something she wasn't, and it all  started with her mother. She gathered everything that was of any  importance to her from her room.

Tessa knocked on the door and walked in.

"Please don't touch me." She flinched when Tessa reached out to her.

"What's wrong, honey? Talk to me." Alarm rang in her mom's voice.

Dani paused to take a deep breath before she lost it. "I found out today  that my whole life has been a lie. I have no idea who or what I am  anymore. Even my name is a lie. I have to give up my freedom to be  protected by people who are only going to reject me when they find out  I'm not what they think I am. I have to hide from someone who wants to  kill me, and I just caught Lucas having sex with a girl in the back of  his truck. All I want now is to be left alone, please." She couldn't  even look at her mom. Sanity was holding on by a string.

Tessa nodded and turned to leave.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I love you, Mommy," Dani apologized. She  needed to remember that her mother had been living with this for  twenty-one years. Dani wasn't the only one whose life was in turmoil.

Tessa looked back and their eyes met. "I'm sorrier than you could ever be." She shut the door behind her.

Shortly after that, Dani heard a knock at the front door. She should've  expected Lucas to follow her. She should've told her mom not to let him  in. Dani cracked her door and listened to her mom telling Lucas that she  was busy and didn't want company.

"Please, Ms. Tessa, I have to see her. She doesn't understand," he begged.

There was a pregnant pause before she began. "Did she see you having sex  with another girl, Lucas?" Mom asked very directly. He didn't respond,  but she figured his face said it all.         

     



 

"Then I think she understands perfectly. You have made your feelings  known in a vivid fashion, and now I would like you to leave." She shut  the door in his face.

He came around the side of the house and started yelling up to her  window, just as she had expected. "Dani, please let me in. Let's talk  about this. Please, listen to me."

She ignored him and hoped the neighbors wouldn't call the cops. She  could go down and talk to him, but there was nothing left to say. It had  been silly of her to go to him in the first place, thinking the  familiarity of the past could help her deal with the unknown future.

Dani shut the window, lowered the blinds, and turned out the light. She  collapsed onto the bed and let the sorrow take her under. There was  sorrow for the loss of her first real boyfriend, but more than that she  mourned the loss of the life she would have had if she were the human  she'd believed herself to be. She would let the pain have its way with  her. She could still feel Lucas out there. He stood beneath her window,  hoping she would change her mind, praying she would let him in. She  could hear his heart beating so hard in his chest. It was such a  familiar sound. She'd listened to it with her head on his chest so many  times. It called her to him, but for an entirely different reason now.

It was oddly comforting to know why Lucas had pushed her away so many  times. He'd been afraid of her all that time. She'd wanted so badly to  love him, but there was always something there between them. He'd felt  the monster hiding inside her long before she did.

Dani cried until she could no longer breathe. Every time she thought she  was out of tears, the dam would break and let loose another torrent.  She wrapped herself around the hurt and let it drain her. She would  never cry for her old life again.

She heard her mom come to the door a few times. Tessa sat outside on the  floor for a couple of hours before she went to her room.

When the sun finally started to rise and throw shades of pink and gold  across her bedroom wall, Dani got up and left her human life behind in  puddles of tears and sorrow. Looking in the mirror was a mistake. She  looked worse than she felt, but it was over. She took a quick shower and  pulled her hair up. At least her eyes were back to their normal shade  of blue.

She found her mom peering out the living room window. "He is still out  there in his truck, sleeping," she said without looking at Dani.

"I know. I'm going to leave before he wakes up." She could hear him out  there if she listened hard enough. He was having restless dreams. She  made herself a bowl of cereal with extra sugar and a cup of coffee,  light and sweet.

Tessa came in and sat across the table. She reached out and rested her hand on Dani's hand.

Dani looked at her mother and smiled. "I know, Mom. I'm sorry too. It's  over now, so let's just move on from here. The past is gone and the  present doesn't care if we're ready for it or not."

"When did you become so mature?" Tessa asked.

"That would be when the world I knew and everything in it disappeared.  It's okay. I'm going to need to be grown up to deal with what's coming.  They think they want me, the vampires. They think I am special. I'm  going to let them believe that until this threat is gone. Won't they be  shocked when they find out exactly how special I really am?"

"Danielle, everything is going to be fine. Mason and I will take care of  things when and if this all comes out." She patted Dani's hand.

"Are you gonna take care of it if I spend the rest of my life alone? Are  you gonna take care of it when I have to explain to some poor guy that  our child will be a half-breed reject? Are you gonna take care of the  fact that I feel like I'm trapped under the ice right now? I can see  everyone else in the world on top of the ice but I'm underneath, in the  place where nobody belongs, because I don't belong."

Tessa started to cry, but Dani couldn't comfort her. She had no comfort  to share. She washed her dishes like any other morning. When she reached  the front door, she called out, "I'll text you when I get back to  school. I love you."

Walking by Lucas's truck on the way to her car, she prayed he wouldn't  wake up. He slept with his face pressed against the window. She watched  him for a moment but couldn't see the sweet guy she'd wanted so much  when she looked at him anymore. He had become a memory in a box of  photographs that she would leave behind, along with the rest of that  life.



Nathan followed Dani all night, watching her every move. He hadn't been  home since his run-in with her. She was able to identify him, and the  hunt had been on ever since.         

     



 

Living out of his van without assistance from his master was difficult,  but he deserved the punishment. He would need to find a place to clean  up and get some new clothes soon if he planned to follow her more  closely. His master was angry with him for letting her slip away and  causing her harm the first time around. Now the girl was under his  surveillance until he found something useful to present to the master.

"He'll see how devoted I am when I get him what he needs to attain his goals," Nathan told himself.

He had watched the little slut leave the club the previous night to go  to the boy's room. She didn't leave until the early morning. It had been  so quiet and deserted on the campus that he'd considered taking her  then, but he decided to wait. He had to figure out how to disarm her  before he tried again. The drug he used on the other vamps didn't work  the same way on her. He figured she would need a much larger dose than  could be transferred by a feeding. He would continue to follow her and  see where she would lead him. With any luck, he would find a chink in  her armor.

Indeed, the girl was well connected, as the master had said. The Wrath  warrior's son had come to retrieve her in late morning. Nathan couldn't  believe it when they arrived at the home of the Vaughn family. She could  be quite a prize indeed, if she had connections to the council. The  master hated the council.

After less than an hour, she left the gated estate, and he followed her  to the interstate. The bitch drove for over four hours without stopping.  Good thing he had a full tank of gas, or he would've lost her. They'd  arrived in a town called Perry Hall, and he dropped back to follow her  through the winding town. If she saw him, the gig would be up, and she  would call in reinforcements.