Dani found the sunburst necklace her mom had given her the day she left for college hanging from the lamp switch, where she always put it before crawling into bed. That day seemed like ages ago. She put the necklace on and smiled at herself in the mirror. It no longer mattered if Griffin saw the necklace.
Darren offered to take leave from work and go with her. He wanted to protect her from the danger they both knew would be coming, but she couldn't let him do that. That was her punishment, and she would deal with it. He walked her to the car, where both Chase and Kayden waited and looked quite perturbed.
"I'll call to check on you tomorrow. You can call me whenever you like." Darren surprised her with a hug and a kiss placed on top of her head before going back inside.
"I can't leave you alone for a second without some loser thinking he can grab on you, can I?" Kayden asked jokingly, but the undercurrent of jealousy was clear.
"He was just being kind. He believes I'll be dead before he sees me again. Every time I leave the Enclave, they catch me. This time, I won't be coming back. If I get into trouble, the cavalry won't be coming to save me. It's all gloom and doom, right?" She laughed nervously.
"Where will you go?" Chase asked.
"I'm going to stay in my hometown for a bit, until I get some things figured out. I can't go back to school and endanger my friends, and I don't want to impose on anyone here or put them in danger, so I think it's the best idea." She was still trying to convince herself of that and feared bringing trouble to her mother's door.
"You need to come home with me, angel," Kayden sweet-talked. "You have your own room and two warriors to watch over you. Mom is already buzzing around in anticipation of having you there." He took her bags and put them in the trunk of her car.
"Your house is the first place they will look for me, Kayden. If anything happened to Koren because of me, I would never forgive myself. You and Gage can't be there all the time with your crazy schedules," she reminded him.
Opening the driver's door, she watched Chase, who was leaning on her hood and looking at the ground. His head was full of questions about the conversation from earlier, but she couldn't deal with him.
"I just want to tell you both that I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you and your families. I wish the two of you could find a way to be friends again."
Chase turned to her then. "You sound like you're not coming back. You are coming back, aren't you?"
She looked at them both and gave a halfhearted smile. She didn't know what to say, and she couldn't make any promises. A black sedan pulled up behind her car, drawing all of their attention. Both Chase and Kayden moved to stand in front of her, as if they thought the bad guys could possibly have made it onto the Enclave. Griffin stepped out and sauntered up to them, carrying a small shoulder bag.
"May I speak with you privately, Sol … Danielle?" He corrected himself before he let loose what she affectionately referred to as her baby-vamp name. Shrugging their shoulders, both the guys walked a good distance away from her car to give them privacy.
She said nothing but went to stand before him.
He reached out and lifted the charm from around her neck to inspect it. "I gave that to your mother the day we were bonded." He smiled wistfully.
"She gave it to me recently." He turned it over to look at the inscription. "I guess the center of your universe shifted to another star," she mused.
He looked at her sharply and a tick started in his jaw. It was a low blow, but her heart still ached for her mother, and he was the cause of so many years of her suffering. On the back of her car he opened the bag he'd been carrying and pulled out a gun.
"You have learned to shoot, correct?" He loaded the gun and checked the safety. "Can I assume there are no children in your mother's house to find a loaded weapon?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"I have a gun already, thank you. Gage gave me the one I practiced with."
He winced at her dead tone and put the gun back in the bag. She shouldn't be that way. They'd become friends, but this day, the knot of raw emotions couldn't be untangled. Since he now knew who she was, she felt the need to share some of her frustration at his absence in her life.
"There are some other things in there you might need. You can look through it later." He put the bag over her shoulder. She opened the bag to peek inside. There was the gun, a box of bullets, and, below that, several stacks of hundred-dollar bills.
"What is this, Griffin? I don't need your sympathy or a handout. I'm still the same girl I was yesterday, and you don't need to provide for me now any more than you have my whole life." The bag fell to the ground.
He grabbed her hand before she could get away. "Listen to me, Soleil. If they find you, you will need to run. Trying to run with no money is very difficult. If you use cash, you can't be tracked. It isn't a handout. It's a backup plan for your safety. Please, take it," he urged.
"No, thanks. I'll deal with whatever comes." She extracted her hand from his grip and walked to the driver-side door. "Maybe I'll see you around."
"Tell me something?" he asked. She paused without turning around. "Is Scott really your last name?"
"No. It's Vaughn." She chuckled. "I picked Scott on a whim the day I met you. It was the last name of the guy I was dating at the time, and I needed a different name. Mom was terrified your people were going to kill the half-breed abomination when they figured me out, so she told me to pick an alias."
"And your mother?" he asked, embarrassed.
"We have the same name. She said, whether you abandoned her or not, she was still bonded, and she would keep her husband's name." That hit him hard. From her periphery vision, she saw him lean on her trunk and hang his head. "Can I ask you something?" She struck while he was still weak. "Are you going to publicly acknowledge me as your daughter?" Too afraid of the answer, she still didn't turn around. His head came up, but he looked away.
"I don't know what to do yet. I need to speak to your mother."
"Mom has nothing to do with it. Either I'm your daughter, or we go on like we have been, and you can forget you ever met me. You can't have it both ways. It's up to you. I won't interfere with your family either way." She dreamed of him being so overjoyed to have her back that he took her into his life and his home to love and protect just like the rest of his children. That wasn't going to be.
"You are my family, Soleil. Please be patient with me for a few days while I get my head on straight. I got the shock of my life today, and I'm just trying to remember how to put one foot in front of the other."
"No problem, Dad. Take all the time you need. You can have another couple decades if you like." The hurt and agitation in her voice betrayed her efforts at nonchalance. She slid in behind the wheel and drove off before either of the guys saw her go. She couldn't say good-bye to either of them.
She'd been home for almost a week with no trouble in sight, except for a run-in with Lucas. His mom ran into her at the grocery store, and before Dani could finish shopping and pay the cashier, Lucas was on her. He wanted to talk about mistakes and misunderstandings. That seemed to be the theme of her life of late. The contrast between the constant drama of being in vamp society and the constant calm of being at home was a shock to her system. Of course, there were still the daily phone calls from the vamp world. Koren tried to convince her to stay with them. Kayden's influence was obvious in those conversations. He called several times a day, trying to get an address out of her so he could visit. But the chance of him being followed was too great.
She hadn't heard a word from Chase or Griffin, but Mason called her mom every day. Dani knew Mason was mad at her. She was sure Chase wanted answers that Mason had sworn to keep secret. Mason didn't agree with her reasoning, but he would keep his word. Tessa said it was hard for a parent to see his or her child hurting, especially if something could be done to stop the pain. Darren called too, but she wasn't answering. She didn't trust that he wouldn't use his spy mojo to track her location.
The day of the gala quickly approached, and she was supposed to go, but without security, it would be dangerous. She did have that lovely new gown Debbie had sent her after the dress shop incident. It would be rude not to go and make use of her gift, but that wasn't a good-enough reason to risk the lives of everyone around her.
"Hello, Earth to Danielle? Are you there, Danielle?" Tessa asked from the other side of the breakfast table.