Unforgiven (The Forbidden Bond 2) (40 page)

Every minute that passed had Gage more and more on edge. Something was definitely wrong with Koren. He had waited long enough. If he had to go in there alone and carry out every female and child on his back, he would do it. Gage got to his feet and went to his gun cabinet.

Greyson stuck his head in the room and instantly had everyone’s attention.

“We’ve got movement out by the road.”

“What kind of movement?” Gage asked.

“It looks like one of the travel buses from the Enclave hit a tree.” Greyson looked oddly hopeful.

“Do you think Dani exchanged herself for the females’ release? Isn’t that what the lunatic wanted? I’m hoping the bastard actually kept his word. I’ve got several teams going out to surround the bus in case it’s a trap.”

A group of vamps in full battle gear hustled past the window and around the building. Gage was fastening his vest and holstering weapons while Greyson was speaking.

“I’m coming with you,” said a red-eyed Griffin.

“Griff, I know you feel the need to do something but, I can’t have you in harm’s way. Please, remember who you are, Councilman,” Gage pleaded.

“I don’t care. I at least want to see her. I need to see her.”

Griffin pushed past Gage and out the front door.

Gage swallowed hard. He couldn’t deny Griffin the right to see the body of his child if that was his wish. Gage just hoped they were able to retrieve Dani’s body.

The driveway leading from the main road was a third of a mile long. The house itself was blocked from view by a copse of trees. Gage picked his way through the trees to catch up with Greyson. His team took point and they were quickly moving in. When the men came out of the tree line, the bus door flew open and every warrior hit the ground with weapons drawn and ready to fire.

The females with children came pouring out of the bus. Greyson got to his feet and began to assign the females to warriors if their mates weren’t on hand to scoop them up. The glad sounds of reunited friends and mates sucked the tension from the air. In a matter of seconds the bus was nearly emptied and Greyson boarded to check for stragglers.

Gage knew he should be moving to help his people but his Koren had not left the bus with the other females. He approached the open door to find Greyson lifting a female from the front seat behind the driver. He expected to see the body of Danielle Vaughn but the light hair was all wrong. Her long platinum hair was matted with blood and her face was swollen beyond the point of recognition. Her arm flopped over Greyson’s shoulder unnaturally. It looked to be broken in several places. Then he noticed her hand. The distinctive sapphire and diamond band of his mate adorned the left ring finger of the battered female. Gage roared and the female started. She opened one eye as far as she could and reached for him.

“Gage, carry her to the house and straight to your bed. I’ll be right behind you. I think she’s got some broken ribs. I don’t want to jostle her now that’s she’s awake so don’t run. She’s not critical at this point but she has to be in a lot of pain. I’m going to check the rest of the bus,” Greyson explained while he transferred Koren into Gage’s trembling arms.

“Baby, Koren, I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you.” He gently kissed her swollen, battered face and she tried to speak. He couldn’t hear so he turned his ear toward her split lips.

“Tessa,” She said and pointed to the rear of the bus.

“Tessa?” he asked to be sure he’d heard correctly.

“Go now while he’s down. She fed him his own drug.” She panted through the pain.

“Tessa fed the Rogue?” Gage asked gently.

Koren nodded and promptly gave into the pain and exhaustion now that her message was delivered. Tessa was on the bus. Greyson rushed to the back.

“Holy shit,” Greyson cursed.

Gage gingerly carried his precious burden to the rear of the bus where Greyson stood with his mouth agape. On the bench seat a couple laid tangled together like lovers with their clothes on. The male held a petite brunette with distinctive white and red markings tightly to his body. She clung to him as if her life depended on it, and it seemed that it did. Gage thought Koren was mistaken and confused due to her injuries until Greyson brushed the female’s hair aside to reveal a black-eyed Tessa Vaughn, her lips and teeth stained red with blood. She wasn’t sporting any fangs yet. That would take a few days. The likeness between Tessa and Dani was startling. Reilly was forced to induce a rapid change to save her life. He nearly drained himself to flooding her blood with his blood. Tessa was sweating and shaking. It would be a painful experience for her while her body fought the change.

“It’s a good thing I brought in a large supply of blood and medical equipment in case we had battle injuries. It looks like Doc and his brand new baby vamp are both in need of sustenance.” Greyson chuckled. Reilly roused enough to kiss Tessa’s head.

“My baby,” Reilly crooned.

“Let’s pray she survives the change,” Greyson said somberly.

It was true that only about half of the humans that attempted the change survived the experience. In Tessa’s case it was either give it a try or let her die. A noise from the front of the bus had Greyson pulled his gun. He lowered it quickly when a frantic Debbie Deidrick came barreling down the aisle of the bus. She pushed him out of the way to get to Tessa. She brushed the hair from her face breathed a deep sigh of relief. Tessa opened her eyes and gave a weak smile to Debbie. Griffin also came to stand in the front of the bus, looking anxiously for his ex-mate.

“I didn’t know if it was you or Dani. Chase is out of his mind with grief. I had to come and see for myself.” Debbie voice shook with the force of her emotions. She held Tessa in a tight embrace.

“Sorry.” Tessa wheezed. She looked confused and the pain of her rapid change had her shaking. It was obvious that Tessa had planned this whole charade and was completely unaware that she had had an audience over the security feed they had been monitoring. Her eyes drifted shut and Greyson reached to check her pulse. He seemed satisfied for the moment so Gage decided to try sorting this mess out.

“You knew it was Tessa?” Gage asked Debbie.

“I knew she had a plan that involved me helping her get her hair dyed to match Dani’s and stay hidden until the time was right. The right time for what I had no idea. It was clear Tessa planned to impersonate her daughter. They looked so much alike once her hair was done and their scent is very similar. When we saw Dani being led to the Rogue I couldn’t tell who it was. So I kept quiet. I didn’t want to give Chase false hope and Tessa is convinced someone on the Council is feeding the Rogue information so I couldn’t voice my suspicions with so many present. If she is correct, the sacrifice she was making to protect her daughter and gain the release of our people would have been for nothing. If the news of an imposter Danielle was carried back to the Rogue he will keep hunting for her,” Debbie explained.

“I was waiting for her,” Reilly added tiredly. “Tessa called yesterday to tell me she was ready to be changed. She said she wanted to be with me. She said I would need to change her to save her life. I was confused. I thought she was sick but she wouldn’t explain. She told me where to meet her and that I should be ready for anything. I was ready and waiting. This has to work. I love her.” Reilly reached up to stroke her hair.

The sound of a furious Mason could be heard yelling his wife’s name in the distance. Debbie winced. She would have a lot of explaining to do to her mate and her son. Debbie kissed her friend’s face and laid her back in Reilly’s arms before slinking off of the bus to go face her worried mate.

“I’m going to need some help with these two.” Greyson lifted Tessa from Reilly’s weak arms.

Gage ducked into a row of seats with Koren held tightly in his arms when Griffin approached from behind. His expression was one of pure sorrow.

“Give me Tessa. You get
him
.” Griffin made the last word sound like a curse. Now Gage understood Griffin’s words from earlier. Clearly he was aware of Tessa’s change and her new connection to Reilly. He knew Tessa would be on this bus. He just didn’t know why until Debbie explained.

Reilly leaned forward to reach for Tessa, nearly slid onto the floor in an effort keep her away from Griffin.

“She’s mine!” he hissed.

“I know,” Griffin replied. His eyes glistened with tears.

****

Dani felt like the worst mate in history. After the drama of their lives and the threats to their relationship up until this point, it was a real kick in the teeth for Chase that she hadn’t been able to trust him with the plan her mother had conceived. He was being very understanding but that was likely because he was still reeling from first losing her, then getting her back, all in the space of a few hours.

Dani couldn’t imagine living through the rest of the day after watching Chase die. Her mother had no idea the entire performance was playing out for a portion of the Council, including Griffin and Chase, via a remote view security system. Her mom was adamant that her death had to look genuine. The Rogue, who turned out to be Chase’s dead uncle, needed to believe she was gone. Tessa believed someone on the inside was feeding the Rogue information. It had all happened so fast Dani’s head was still spinning, but she never would have gone along with her mother’s plan if she had known Chase would be forced to watch it play out.

Once Chase had her in his arms he didn’t want to let go. They made good use of a wall in her mother’s hotel suite before he would even allow her to speak. Chase was in need of some serious proof of life before he could process anything else. She explained everything she could before hustling her mate out into the viper’s nest. She wanted to go without him but Chase wasn’t having it. He would be nearby for whatever was about to go down.

“Why do I have to hide? I want to stand with you. Preferably in front of you,” Chase complained. The blue-green color of the ocean in his eyes gleamed wetly. He couldn’t handle losing her again. Dani wrapped her arms around his waist and let him hold her for as long as was possible.

She was forcing him to watch from a hidden position on the sidelines and it was pissing him off. She explained that his choices were to agree with her or be forced to behave through mind control. He didn’t need to know she was feeling telepathically useless after the effort she had put into controlling his body and mind earlier. He piped down but she knew punishment would follow this day. Dani would gladly repent in any way Chase saw fit as soon as this mess was over.

Derek emerged from the trees and Chase snarled, “Is this your savior? I’m not impressed.”

Derek ignored the comment and started walking away.

“Are you going to help me or not, Dani?” he grumbled. “I did what your mother asked against my better judgment. Now it’s your turn.”

“I’m coming,” she called. She kissed Chase quickly before pushing him back into his hiding place and catching up with Derek.

“I’m sorry about this but, it has to look real. I can hear him getting closer. Remember, you’re a sleepy prisoner. And remember he doesn’t know what happened with your mother. He has no clue you should be dead.” He apologized before lifting her over his shoulder. Dani let her arms hang limply to flop around as Derek walked.

She was going to kick Chase in the ass if she survived this. He had left his hiding place and was following their progress through the trees. She wanted to send him a telepathic reprimand but the possibility that the Rogue had a few telepaths that would pick it up forestalled her.

“Derek,” Darren’s deep voice reached out to them from woods. Chase’s outrage flowed to her on a breeze. Darren stepped into their path holding a weak Brandi to his chest. Derek stopped and lowered Dani to her feet. She leaned against him and hoped she looked as convincing as Brandi. Only Brandi wasn’t acting. It seemed like Darren has given her just enough Hypno to put out her flames but not enough to put her down.

“You claim not to care if she dies, but I know you’re lying.” Darren stroked Brandi’s cheek. A tear slid down her pale face. Derek stiffened. It was clear Darren told her Derek’s lie.

“I don’t care about your Master’s war. I don’t care about the Council or any of the rest of it. You want your freedom? I’ll help you get it. Give me my mate. I’ll give you yours and together we will work this out.”

Darren was so sincere, Dani almost felt bad for him. He still believed he had a chance at a life with her. She only wished there was a way to release him from his self-imposed half-bond to her.

“And how exactly do you propose we go about assuring my freedom and my mother’s release?” Derek asked and tightened his arm around Dani’s neck. Darren took a step forward.

“I propose we go in together and bring your Master out. We will take him to the Council and exchange him for immunity. We’ve both made mistakes. With the Rogue in Council hands and your mother free from him, we can all walk away. I’ll have the time I need with Danielle and you can take your mate and mother wherever you like.” Darren looked hopeful.

“Derek, I… It’s okay. Go save your mother,” Brandi slurred.

She raised her hand to reach for Derek. Dani let the surprise roll over her and tried not to react. She didn’t know Brandi had chosen her mate. It warmed her heart to know her sister chose love over their uppity family’s expectations. Derek could no longer keep up the pretense.

“Send Brandi over to me and I will release Dani.”

“No. I will walk to you and we will trade,” Darren demanded.

“Fine,” Derek stood his ground.

Chase was ready to leap from the trees. Dani send him comfort and patience. This had to play itself out. She didn’t know what was coming, but her mother would never have sent her into this if she believed Darren was going to get a chance to take Dani again. Darren came forward with Brandi and waited for Derek to release his hold on Dani’s neck. As soon as he did, Darren pushed Brandi at him and jerked Dani to his chest. He backed away quickly but he didn’t go far. He just held her and Dani could feel him shaking. He tilted her head back to look at her face.