Gypsy Moon (Page 18)

Emit’s jaw noticeably tics, and Violet makes a sound…as she just barely stops herself from going to him.

We all notice the struggle and the way her eyes flick to Vance, before she turns and quickly starts to go inside.

Arion darts a glare to Vance, whose lips purse like he’s as aware of what that look meant as we all are. He’s gotten too close, and now she’s torn about how she can be with anyone else.

He’s now way out ahead.

But…it’s not a fucking competition, I remind myself, even as my jaw grinds.

“Violet, I’m afraid this is about you,” Arion calls to her back, even as he continues to glare at Vance.

Her shoulders stiffen, and she loudly groans without turning around.

“On the outside, people think having hot, immortal guys constantly wanting your attention would be something no sane girl could possibly complain about,” she mutters while pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Curious, does that mean she at least finds us attractive? That’s not suddenly the problem?” Arion asks for clarification.

“Someone muzzle him,” Emit grumbles as he wipes the blood off his face. “I’m not seeing the fucking emergency, Arion.”

Arion gives us a humorless smile. “It’s about my prisoner. I’m afraid I can’t give Violet any more time to recover, because my prisoner is quite honestly grating on my nerves. We all know that’s a bad thing, and none of you want to dirty your own hands with this, so you won’t take him off my very clawed hands.”

I’m going to fucking kill him.

My eyes close as the heaviest breath audibly slips between my lips.

I hear Violet turn around, as I silently count the ways I can start making Arion pay for this.

“What prisoner?” Violet asks with obvious concern etching her tone.

“I’d rather just show you, love. Care to take a ride?” Arion asks while holding up…my fucking keys.

Vance scrubs a hand over his face and eyes the back of Arion’s head like he’s willing it to explode.

I snag my keys out of the psychotic vampire’s hand, as Violet walks toward my car without hesitation.

“What the hell are you thinking?” I snap, stepping into him as he smirks at me.

“I’m thinking I have a plan, and I don’t really give a shit if it pisses you lot off. You’re content to leave me out, and she’s content with three. Either we all have her, or none of us at all. Consider this the first message,” he says, sounding far more like the Arion we all know, as he continues to flick his gaze over us, still smirking. “Remember that I came to all three of you to help me out before I was left with this route.”

I knew something bad was coming when I saw him lost in thought.

He turns and walks away, and I don’t realize until I hear my car cranking that the son of a bitch took my keys again. Violet is driving my vehicle away with the vampire riding shotgun.

“Gotten any faster or stronger in the past few weeks, Van Helsing?” I ask Vance as he yanks open the door to his car.

“I’m doing the work,” is all he says before he speeds off.

“We should have just killed him and gotten a twenty-eight-year head start before he could twist her mind in a fucked up spiral,” Emit says very seriously.

“I’m not really seeing how he’s going to benefit from this. However, I keep assuming Violet to be predictable, and she keeps proving to be the very opposite,” I note as I calmly get in on his passenger side, staring ahead at Vance’s disappearing taillights.

He’s currently the one with the most ground to lose.

“That’s what Violet does. Somehow she convinces you she’s dull and predictable, always buckling up and watching your speed. Then she throws herself in front of two monsters without a second thought, breaking curses she has no authority or ability to break, slaughters a barn full of wolves, yet still has such innocent eyes… No, Damien, she’s not fucking predictable,” he says with heavy agitation.

We quickly catch up to the growing convoy, because Emit and I did accurately predict one thing.

Even with a vampire alpha in her front seat, leading her to something she’ll hate us all for, if not handled delicately, Violet is still doing forty-nine in a fifty.

CHAPTER 8

VANCE

I’m halfway to Arion when Violet stops abruptly, turning to face me.

“I honestly just realized I’m not wearing shoes,” she says very seriously, dancing from foot to foot in the snow.

“Really? Just now?” I hear Damien asking. “I was curious if when you’re emotional if you don’t feel the cold,” he adds as he slides in behind her.

“Cold only bothers me on occasion,” she answers as her teeth begin to chatter. “This is one of those occasions.”

I’m already losing that focus that seems to easily steady the more I’m around her, easing just enough to keep my head from hurting and my need to hunt sated.

Arion will hurt for this if this drives a wedge between us after these past two days of having her all to myself.

“I thought she’d be more aware of the fact she’s not wearing trousers,” Arion says, eyes raking over her legs like he’s envisioning himself in my place earlier.

Violet releases a frustrated breath. “Great. Now I’m the girl who doesn’t even realize she’s not wearing pants.”

Violet glances over at me like she needs some sort of reassurance, since Arion still hasn’t prepared her, obviously.

Arion grins and tosses his arm over her shoulders as he starts leading her in.

She’s never going to speak to me again, and I’m going to rip that vampire to shreds.

“Violet, could we speak privately?” I ask, but before she can answer, Arion is through the door with her, and they’re both gone when I step over the threshold.

“Someone probably should have been monitoring this situation before he did something this brazen,” Emit growls.

I start to move around the side of the house, toward the cells underneath the home, when I hear Violet’s screech upstairs.

CHAPTER 9

ARION

Violet makes a sound of surprise in her throat when she sees her father sitting on the other side of the glass, playing a card game with Shera.

She glares at me in the next instant.

“Open it. Now,” she bites out.

I shrug a shoulder and press the button next to the door that swings open. Violet rushes inside, and I casually take my time, as the other three manage to find us.

“Dad,” Violet says quietly, almost with…is that guilt?

He turns abruptly, and his eyes widen when they land on her. A frown lines his thin lips. “What’re you doing here?” he asks as he balks.

“What am I doing here?” Violet asks on a humorless laugh before glaring at Shera. “This couldn’t have been a last-day-alive confession?!” she shouts at Shera.

Shera primly lays down a pair of cards, not looking up.

“Didn’t know about this until after my return,” Shera answers with a flippancy Violet seems to overlook.

“You imprisoned my father?” Violet shouts at me, turning on me very quickly and advancing with her bollocks-crushing knee looking raring to go.

“Violet, there’s—”

“Stop talking,” she says to Damien, holding up her hand in front of him, as she continues to glare into my eyes. “I’m waiting on him to explain why my father is imprisoned in his home.”

“Hopefully, he’s not going to be for much longer. He’s maddening, if I’m honest,” I tell her very seriously. “But if I release him into your custody, there will be conditions.”

Her look sort of changes, almost like she’s now confused.

“Why is he imprisoned?”

“Because he’s your father and I couldn’t kill him after he put a stake through my heart,” I tell her while pointing at the madman. “Clearly his conditions could be worse if he were anyone else.”

Tom winces like he doesn’t want her knowing that bit about what he did. He’s yet to understand the gravity of his dire situation, and I rather hate my hands being so effectively restrained.

This stupid old fuck…I swear…

She whirls around, staring in horror at her father, as her hand almost unconsciously moves to be just over my heart, barely touching my thin shirt.

I step into the cool warmth of her touch, deciding this is going even better than planned, when she continues to gawk at her father while touching me.

“You stabbed a stake through his heart?” she hisses in shock, horror, and disbelief.

Tom blinks a few times, opening and closing his mouth, and then glares at all four of us, lingering on Vance and Damien, who he doesn’t really know. His glare returns to me.

“I told you she can’t know about all this,” Tom bites out.

“I can’t know about all this? I’m the monster. Not you,” Violet tells him.

I notice Shera doesn’t even blink. She’s a good beta to pretend like she’s not hanging on every word.

Tom scrubs a hand over his head that he’s shaking, as he puffs out a breath.

Violet turns her head toward Vance, even as her hand remains resting over my heart. I keep my hands to myself, following Shera’s very helpfully bold plan.