"You won't tell that lie. She'll tell Chase, and that will ruin your chance at love with him," he scoffed.
"She won't tell him, Kayden. She loves him too much. She knows he has no choice but to be my mate, and she won't tell him something that will cause him pain. She is way too good and selfless for that. Especially if there is nothing he can do about it but suffer the humiliation of believing that both the women in his life were with you." She opened the door to the hall. "I guess it's back to slumming with humans for you, my friend."
Chase pushed the bathroom door open to reveal their hiding place. He saw red and couldn't hear another word out of her deceitful mouth. The look on her face was one of sheer disbelief and trepidation. Chase had never seen her look afraid in all the years he'd known her, but she was trembling with it. She'd been caught red-handed. Chase crossed the room toward her but just before he grabbed her-to do what, he didn't know-Mason and Griffin stepped into the doorway.
Brandi was a crafty little thing. She had the two of them listening at the door in the hall. They'd heard the whole thing. "I think it's time for us to sit down and rethink the bonding arrangement we've made, Mason." Griffin cursed as he grabbed his daughter by the arm. "Samantha is not yet mature enough to handle a real relationship."
"Oh please, Daddy! What are you going to do? Force him to mate with the mouse that Brandi is?" She was incredulous.
"Why not? I was forcing him to mate with you, remember? I'm sure he would rather have an honest mate," he came back at her.
Brandi's triumphant laughter echoed down the hallway.
Chase looked over his shoulder at Danielle. She was beautiful and shattered. She leaned against the bathroom door, her face toward the floor, tears hitting the marble tiles. All he'd ever done was hurt her, and she was hurting again.
"You deserve better." That was all he could say without breaking down himself. He couldn't comfort her or himself. He was trapped. The more he tried to break free, the more damage he did. Kayden and Sam had done their part to add to her misery. Maybe she was right. She could be happy someplace else, someplace faraway from him and the rest of the people who did nothing but hurt her. She deserved far better than his people could offer.
She couldn't believe what was happening around her. How could Kayden be so deceptive? Dani thought he really cared for her. He said he loved her, but he'd lied to her. He purposely pursued her to leave Sam an opening with Chase. Was there anyone in the world, besides her mom, who would ever really be able to love her? She didn't think so. Her own father wouldn't even recognize her as his daughter for the world to see. It said a lot about how everyone would react to what she was, when her own father was too embarrassed to claim her.
On the other hand, she had lied to all of them. How could she be angry with Kayden for his behavior when she allowed him to fall for her knowing he had no idea what or who she really was? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. He would not profess his love so readily, once he found out the truth.
As far as Griffin went, it hadn't escaped her attention that she could be bonded to Chase as one of Griffin's daughters. But he didn't see her the same way he saw his other children. Dani was a disgrace to his house and to his kind.
Chase would have to know who she was, before he was bonded. She was sure in the cold light of the truth, Chase would also turn away from her. She realized she would never have true love. No vamp or human would ever want a half-breed mutant bride. Who could blame them? Imagine the stigma a child of hers would have to live with. The sting of rejection touched her every day since she'd learned her true heritage. How could she ever do that to her children? It was time for her to leave that place and the people in it behind. She could continue to live with her mother. Some people never married and remained childless by choice. Why not her? Dani was sure it would get easier after the first forty years or so.
Everyone left Kayden and Sam's meeting place except for Kayden, who watched her cry all over the very expensive-looking marble floor. If he had nothing to say, she didn't either. She would leave and all of it would be over. They could return to life as it should have been, and she would learn to deal with the pain until it faded.
She made it to the hall before Kayden caught her and forced her against the wall. The fierce look on his face was a frightening sight. Was she projecting again? Had he heard her thoughts? She worked hard to control that, but when she got upset, her control slipped away.
"I am in love with you, Danielle," he snarled. "Do you hear me? Of all the things you heard in there, remember that. I love you, and I gave in to a career I wanted no part of in order to protect you and keep you close to me. I am not afraid to tell the world the way I feel. I was not willing to let even my own happiness get in the way of being with you. Chase would not move to upset his precious family and public image to claim you as his own. He says he loves you, but he watches you suffer for him."
Kayden lowered his head and claimed her lips. His honeyed tongue dripped all the right words, seeking hers, tasting of lust and fear. He held her face in his warm hands and tilted her head to just the right angle for his exploration. He released her suddenly and went down on one knee, right there in the hall. He looked up at her with fear in his shining eyes. He pulled a box from his jacket pocket and opened it to reveal an engagement ring. It was the perfect, sparkling, one-carat, human expression of love that all girls expected when a man proposed. Her mouth fell open. He hadn't lied about asking her to be his mate.
"Danielle, I love you. I want you to be my mate. I understand that you are not yet in love with me, but I have enough love for both of us. I will wait for you to be ready, as your much-loved human custom requires, if that is what will make you trust me again. I will do whatever it takes."
The sincerity and overwhelming emotion in his cracking voice clawed at her heart. It was what she wanted from Chase. Kayden was willing to do whatever it took because he loved her that much. But it wasn't fair to him that she didn't feel the same.
"Kayden, you have no idea what you're asking for. You have no idea the secrets I hold in my heart. It suffocates me. I'm not what you think I am." She pulled him to his feet.
He pulled her to his chest, forcing her to look at him. "You told me that once before. I didn't care then, and I don't care now. I know exactly what you are. You are beautiful, smart, and strong. You put the needs of others before your own. You suffer in silence to protect others from the same suffering. I don't know what's going on with you, and I don't care. Dani, please, bond with me right now. I will make the pain stop. I will love and protect you always, and you will love me. We can end this here and now. Will you be my mate?" His voice was hoarse, and his body trembled against her.
"I can't do that if you don't know the truth." Dani was about to spill the truth when he cut her off with a hot kiss.
"I don't care," he said against her lips. "I will love you no matter what your big secret is. Tell me later, after I make you mine, forever." He waited for an answer and didn't want to hear her excuses for why he shouldn't want her.
The pain in her chest was intense. She was so afraid, but she believed him. She believed he loved her, and he begged her to let him love her, while the source of her pain slunk off into the night without even a second look in her direction.
"Why do you want to be bonded to someone you know isn't in love with you, Kayden?" She needed to understand him.
"Why don't you tell me why you want to be bonded to someone who refuses to put you first?" he countered.
"Because, I'm in love with him," she answered, and his point hit home.
"And I'm in love with you." Kayden smiled. "I know you care for me."
"I do; I love you. It's just not the same as what I feel for Chase. I can't explain it, Kayden. I know you're perfect for me, and I've wished many times that I could forget him and move on with you. I know I shouldn't want him. I shouldn't love him, but I do. No matter how hard I fight, it's still there, haunting me."
"Our bond will fix all of that, Dani. We won't be lopsided for long. He won't haunt you anymore," he encouraged and stroked his fingers lightly across her face.
"You need to know everything about me." She had to tell him.
"I don't. I know everything that could possibly matter."
She couldn't feel like she was using him. She thought about her life and wondered if she would be like her mother, lonely and wanting the same man forever, a man who'd moved on without her.