The words rang in Chase's head. She was guided past him and down to the elevator by Darren and Mason. Chase spun around and put his fist through the wall of the suite.
Danielle continued. I'm telling you this now, because I've been scanning the minds of our group and those downstairs. Mason and Griffin can't help me, and the warriors downstairs are the dead warrior's Wrath team. He was their leader, and they want blood, my blood. None of them knows me, because he kept them away. He was very good at deception, Chase. The sound of his name on her mouth, or in her thoughts, made him warm, but he could also feel her fear. I might die for this crime. I just want you to know that as long as my heart beats, I will love you.
Chase felt Danielle's mental walls go up to block him when he stepped into the elevator. He wanted to tell her so many things, but she threw up an iron curtain in her mind that he couldn't get around.
Darren was still angry with Dani for her stunt from the morning, but he couldn't stay pissed at her while she stood there handcuffed, so fragile and bruised, with tears streaming down her cheeks. He knew he'd been an ass at the bonding, and he also knew she wouldn't like having a tracker on her car, but he had to protect her to the best of his ability. After his performance the previous night, she probably thought he was being controlling. He didn't blame her. He couldn't believe he had taken her cell phone and looked at all her messages. What had gotten into him? Once they were on the elevator alone, he turned her around and lifted her into his arms.
"I'm so sorry about last night and the tracker. I was such an ass. I was just trying to keep you safe, I swear." Darren had been doing his job, for the most part.
"I forgive you, Darren," she said, her voice gravely from the strangulation she had endured. "And I am sorry for the stunt with the tractor-trailer. If not for that, I wouldn't be in this position."
"Can you quickly tell me what happened, so I can start trying to put out fires? I'm a jerk, I know, but I'm also a very old and well-respected jerk. Not to mention feared, in some cases. I can deflect some of the flack with some well-placed diplomacy."
He needed the whole story right now. "Showing you would be easier for me right now. Is that alright?"
Darren nodded uncomfortably. He didn't like people messing around in his head, but if she was just sending and not receiving, he would allow it. The elevator door opened to the lobby, and he carried her off and over to an out-of-the-way grouping of chairs in the corner. People watched with interest as he sat the handcuffed beauty in the chair. "Do you need me to do anything?"
"Thoughts are easy, but if I want to show pictures, it's easier and less choppy if we are touching. So, if you put your hands on my skin, it will help me relay things more clearly," she explained.
Darren got to his knees in front of her and wrapped a hand around her bicep.
"The warriors outside are thinking I was having an affair with that guy and that this was a crime of passion. They are so confident in his ability to defend himself that they're thinking I stabbed him in the back or did something underhanded to take him down. So I am going to show you the whole day. This is hard for me, because you will also be able to feel my emotions and maybe even physical sensations." She couldn't meet his eyes.
"It will be okay, Danielle. I have lived a very long time, and I'm sure you aren't going to show me anything that will surprise me. Just relax, so I can get the whole picture. It's the best way for me to defend you."
Without another word she started. He had been wrong about her ability to surprise him, and she didn't disappoint. She didn't start in the morning. She started the night before at the bonding. She let him see himself through her eyes, and he could feel the anxiety he made her feel. He saw himself snatching her phone, stalking her on the way to the dance floor, and the rough, almost bruising, way he'd held her when he finally got the dance he had paid for. He could smell his scent mingling with hers while they danced, and he saw his own shadowed eyes daring her to pull away from him. If that was his idea of how to win over a woman, he wasn't nearly as wise as he gave himself credit for.
She went through the rest as he wandered over the sights, smells, and sensations in his mind. Seeing Kayden pawing all over her made him angry, but when they finally reached the part that mattered, Darren was sickened. The fight was brutal, and she was nearly nude the whole time. Pride swelled in his chest at her use of the skills she'd been taught in training, and relief washed over him in the end when he knew she had no intent to kill the warrior. Rather, she was trying to get him to kill her, because she wouldn't be taken alive or raped. She hit the wall in a blast of energy, and that was it.
When it stopped and he opened his eyes, she looked over his shoulder. He turned to find the group of men from upstairs taking in the scene between him and Dani. He got to his feet.
"The battle she fought on her own was nothing short of hell. I don't know how she's still breathing, much less walking." He pulled her up from the chair and began pushing her toward the front door. "I think we should have Doc come look her over as soon as possible. Let me take her out alone so they don't think the council is favoring her, given there are two members present. The anger and tension is at a critical level out there, so I want you to keep watch. It could go downhill quickly."
They all followed them to the door and stopped to let Darren escort her out alone. There were at least twenty warriors milling around the parking lot, and they all looked at her with disgust, but Darren stayed close behind her, his expression daring them to make a move.
Hiding behind the wall separating Tessa's living room from the dining room, Mason had narrowly missed being hit by a half-full pitcher of lemonade that flew past his head. He hadn't seen Tessa so pissed off since the day he told her Griffin was going to be bonded to Sarah.
"Honey, just calm down and let me tell you what's going on," he pleaded with her.
"Oh, I know what's going on, Mason! You are just like Griffin! You make promises you have no intention of keeping, and to hell with anyone who gets hurt because of your betrayals! You promised to keep her safe!" she screamed. Tessa paced like a caged animal.
"I don't see how tearing up your own house is going to help this situation, and I have other important things I know you will want to be aware of." He peeked around the corner and a plate flew past his head.
"Are you going to tell me they might kill my daughter? I have been dreaming about her execution for a week, Mason. I usually keep my mental distance from Griffin, but I felt it when he found her hurt and naked! He may think he's going insane, because I have been all up in his shit! I hope he suffers for being so damn blind! How could he not know she's his baby? How could he let them hurt our girl?"
"I think she's in love with my son," he blurted.
"That's nice. When she is publicly executed, he can watch and suffer along with me. Or is he like the rest of you, with no heart to speak of?" she growled. "I thought she was dating a warrior. Why do you think she loves your boy?"
"She has been dating Kayden, and I wasn't aware that anything had ever happened between her and Chase, until the dress shop incident. I know she loves him. When they took her out in cuffs today, Chase stopped her for a hug that was too intimate for a girl who is supposed to be angry with him. So I took the liberty of stepping up to help guide her from the room. I touched her and felt the love and need between them," he confessed.
"Oh my God! Chase is your son? Holy shit! Do you know what that means? I have to sit down! My heart can't take this!" She fell back into a chair.
Mason slowly entered the dining room. "Has she spoken to you about Chase? I wouldn't have put her in his home, if I'd known it would cause her pain. The day she went missing, there was tension between Kayden and Chase over who loved her more. Griffin was stunned, but he held his tongue."
"He was stunned because Chase is going to marry his daughter. Nightmare Barbie is what Dani calls her."
Mason and Tessa compared notes about the relationship between Dani and Chase as well as the wedge it had driven between Kayden and Chase. Mason explained the betrothal agreement and reminded Tessa of the prophecy the Vaughns and the Deidricks were attempting to fulfill by bonding Chase to one of Griffin's daughters.
"The engagement is actually an arranged marriage based on a vision given by Griffin's sister. Do you know the story?"
"I know that years before I met Griffin, your brother was killed by someone trying to do the same thing that is happening now. He was kidnapped and killed for his powers. Griffin's sister was secretly bonded to him. She killed herself rather than live without him," she said quietly, with respect for the loss of his brother.