Unbound (Forbidden Bond Book 1)(70)

"I am grateful for the understanding of the council. I am truly sorry  for hurting or offending anyone. I would never willingly bring harm to  another. I hope I can be forgiven in time. I also understand the  warriors not wanting my presence in their Enclave. I hope that when I  leave, they will remember my appreciation of their past protection. I  also hope others in your society will remember my efforts to keep the  children safe. The person hunting us will likely find me. If it is  possible to keep my powers from being used to do any harm to you, I  will, because I promise you that if he gets them, you will all regret  this day. Even if I am rejected by your society, I will still do my best  to protect the young." With that, she leaned back in her chair and  nearly collapsed.         

     



 



Griffin jumped from his seat and leapt over the table to go to her. The  crowd buzzed. He lifted her from the chair and carried her out into the  hall. He gave Mason a meaningful look that was acknowledged. She needed  blood.

Darren, Kayden, and Chase all followed closely behind as Griffin carried  Dani to the room used by the council to relax during recesses or for  other meetings that didn't require the use of the chamber.

Placing her limp body gently on a leather sofa, he glared at Kayden.  "When was the last time she fed? Were you not taught that our males  provide for and protect our females?"

"I don't know when she last fed. She's very secretive about it, almost  like it embarrasses her. She mostly uses bagged blood, because she's so  confined to the Enclave. There aren't any humans milling about there for  her to charm. I have only seen her twice since she was arrested. She  didn't want me to see her like that," Kayden confessed.

"It doesn't matter now." Griffin was furious. Nobody had taught his baby  to properly care for herself, and the guilt of his failure to be a  father to her stabbed at him painfully. "All of you, get out. Mason went  to find her a human, and I'm sure she won't want an audience. Darren,  you are dismissed from your charge. Return to Gage for your next  assignment. I will figure out how we are going to protect her from now  on."

Mason stuck his head in a side door. "Get out, now!" he said to Chase  and Kayden, who were still lingering around the main door to the hall.  Indignantly they left, closing the door behind them.

Griffin tended Danielle, trying to get her positioned comfortably on the  sofa. He waited for the human Mason had procured for Danielle to  appear.

Mason locked the main door and went back to the side door he had entered and instructed the human to lock the door.

"Get over here," Griffin growled when the door shut.

Footsteps came right up to his side. He tilted Danielle's head back to  accept the blood and reached for the human's arm, tugging the person to  her knees. Quickly slicing across the human's wrist, he pulled it to his  daughter's mouth. He didn't care if Danielle drained the human dry, as  long as she woke and opened those beautiful eyes so he could adore her.  "Be still," he told the human.

After a moment, Danielle reached for the arm and held it to her mouth.

"That's right, baby. Take what you need. Mommy is here now. I won't let  them hurt you anymore." Tessa brushed a hand over Dani's hair.

Dani's eyes snapped open, and her mouth stilled.

"No sweetheart, don't stop. You're not hurting me."

Griffin gaped at her.

"I didn't know it was you, my love." He reached out a hand to touch her cheek, but she moved.

"Don't touch me, Griffin," Tessa snapped.



After a few more deep draws, Dani licked the wound on her mom's wrist to  close it. She sat up and stared back and forth between her mom and  Griffin. Griffin was looking at her mom longingly, as if he wanted to  wrap her up in his arms. Tessa looked at Griffin with hurt, angry eyes.

"Thank you, Mom," she interrupted. "How did you get here?"

"Your father caught me stalking the halls of the chamber trying to  listen in on the hearing. I tried to leave and wait for you to call me,  but I couldn't. I was in my car in the parking lot when Mason called me  and said you needed blood. I told you to start feeding more often. I  know you don't like it, but you must feed, Danielle. Feeding every once  in a while is not enough to sustain you without you going all black-eyed  freak on me."

Dani smiled at her mother's use of her description of the vampire race.

Griffin got up off his knees and began to pace behind the sofa. "So let  me get this straight. Mason is close enough to you that he had your cell  number? My daughter has been here with me all this time, and no one  thought I deserved to know? You have been alive for all these years, and  I didn't deserve to know my child? She has had no one to properly teach  her, and you didn't think she deserved any better than that? You let me  suffer and mourn for you all this time and didn't care?"

Danielle looked from her mom to Griffin and back. The look on Tessa's  face said she was about to explode. Dani didn't particularly want to be a  witness.

"I think I'm going to go find Kayden. Thank you so much for helping me,  Mom. I will call you later. I'm going home with you. I have no home here  now, and I don't think it's safe for my friends if I go back to school.  I love you." She kissed her mother on the top of her head and went to  the door. When she opened the door, she saw Sarah and Sam in the hall.  She pushed the door shut before they saw her.         

     



 

"Shit! You guys may want to continue this later. Sarah and Sam are in the hall waiting for you, Griffin."

Her mom went around the other side of the sofa and looked up into the  eyes of the man she loved so deeply. "Mason saved me and Danielle."

"Her name is Soleil," he said through his teeth.

"Mason gave us a safe place, where your family couldn't find us, until I  went out on my own. He made sure they would believe we were dead so  Dani and I could be together. He knew you would come to me as soon as  you knew where we were. So we waited for your parents to find the fake  evidence of our deaths. It was torture. I spoke to you all day, every  day. I cried to you all night, every night. You didn't answer me. You  never answered me." She blinked, and tears flowed over her lashes.

"When they finally told you of our deaths, Mason was sure you would call  him immediately, but you didn't call him. The day he came to tell me  you were going to bond to Sarah, you were supposed to meet him. He was  going to bring you to me, so we could find a way to get you out of your  engagement. I don't understand why you couldn't tell it was a lie. I  have felt you every day of every year, but you couldn't feel me. I have  never loved another, never touched another." She paused, taking a deep  breath.

"I wouldn't allow him to tell you. If you cared so little for me and  Soleil that you agreed to remarry less than twelve hours after hearing  of our deaths, then you never really loved me." She backed away from  him. "But I never stopped loving you. How dare you stand in judgment of  me, you unfaithful bastard! As for being close to Mason, I left our safe  house the day you bonded to that woman. I never spoke to him again.  Until she started college this fall, Dani was a completely normal human  girl. When her power took her over, I had to ask for help. Not that I  need to explain myself to you. Why don't you go to your wife and family  and leave me to mine?"

Dani leaned against the door, big tears falling on her shirt, as she  took in her mother's pain. Griffin didn't seem to be able to form any  sort of reply to her mother's rant. He backed away slowly. Dani moved to  allow him to leave, but he stopped at the door and looked her over.  With a weak smile, Griffin tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear  and kissed her on the cheek.

When he left the room, her mother crumbled onto the sofa.

Dani swiftly crossed the room and held her tightly while she cried for a  while. This whole experience had to be devastating for her mom. She'd  put on a brave face in front of Griffin, but seeing him again had  clearly taken a toll on her. Dani didn't know how to ease her pain. The  best she could do was to be a shoulder to cry on whenever needed.

There was a knock at the door to the main hall. "Angel, I saw Griffin  leave. Are you alright in there?" A deep voice came from the other side  of the door.

"It's Kayden," she mouthed to her mom.

Then there was a knock at the side entrance Tessa had come in. "Lovely.  Are you well enough for a visitor?" That door wasn't locked, so she  quickly pulled the hood up over Tessa's head and mouthed, "Chase."

Tessa rolled her eyes. "I'm heading out. Call me as soon as you can."  Tessa put her head down so she was completely covered and opened the  side door.

Dani watched Tessa retreat through the crack in the door. Chase had  begun to walk back down the hall and was halfway to the exit. He  stopped, suddenly turning his back toward the doorway as Tessa passed  him. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to his chest in a tight  hug.