Free Black Heart by Evernight Publishing Page B

feet
pounding down the stairs and out the door. He heard the
unmistakable roar of his Thunderbird. Shit! She must’ve gotten the keys off
the table by the door. He had to get dressed and take one of the
other cars. Where did she go? Would she go to her house? He would
check there first. He ran to the dresser and selected a pair of
black jeans and a sweater. Shite, he went about this all wrong; he
should have waited until Tristan arrived with Julian. But she
deserved to know.
    “ I hate you.” Those three words
were branded on his heart. She didn’t mean it. Raylene said it in
the heat of shock and anger. Now that he was bonded to her, he
didn’t want to lose her. Feckin’ pathetic. Decades he denied her,
stubborn arse he was. Now he didn’t want to let her go.
    ****
    Raylene could hardly see considering hot,
miserable tears clouded her vision. She drove much too fast, but
didn’t care. Bastard! The Concealment? She had never heard of it,
but she’d never heard of Thropes either. Just what else was she not
aware of? It was not in her nature to run. A Nightwood did not run
from anyone or anything. But she had to get away from Deegan before
she clawed his face off. Damn, maybe she was a monster.
    She pulled out and passed a minivan, not
caring if a car came in the opposite direction. She almost took the
old, rusted Aerostar’s side mirror off. The guy behind the wheel
gave her the horn and the finger simultaneously. She cut back in,
nearly shearing his bumper off for good measure. She gunned the
motor and left him behind in her exhaust fumes.
    Decades her father suffered since her
mother went in that Twilight coma. He lived with his malady,
problem, sickness, whatever the thing was for centuries. Deegan
denied their bond. But what did time mean to a Vampire anyway?
Being half-human, not immortal, time was not so fluid to her. She
was more aware of the passing of time, where a Vampire wasn’t. A
century to them might not even feel like a decade to her. What did
she know? Nothing. Nothing of her family, her heritage or her
blood. Secret clandestine meetings, covert rules and furtive
glances. Damn them all.
    She had no more tears to shed. Her eyes
burned in rage and spent grief. It cut deep her father did not say
good-bye or at least wait until Julian came home. Deegan said it
couldn’t wait because her mother had turned into an animal. Her
fist clenched against her chest, and her heart ached. She loved her
father so much, and they’d always been close. He was such a part of
her life since her birth one hundred and eighty-six years ago. Her
father, Raynor, had been her friend, her hero, her guiding light
and her shining star.
    She thought of Julian. He was fourteen
months older than her, and just as close to their father. Granted,
he blamed their father for their mother’s Twilight state, and
things were strained between them, but she also sensed the love
between them. This would devastate him. Maybe she should go back to
Deegan’s, be there when Tristan brought Julian from the airport.
She was about to make a u-turn when she glanced at the large wooden
sign for The Rusty Anchor Pub. A lone spotlight shone on the top of
the sign, illuminating a painted illustration of a large, rusty
ship’s anchor. Perhaps a drink would be in order first. She needed
to get control of her emotions before she headed back to Deegan
Black.
    ****
    Marcus
Steele’ s
bored expression had not altered much since he arrived at the pub
an hour ago. He didn’t know why he came to Bennington Bay. Deegan’s
threats still buzzed in his brain, the threats of staying well away
from him. Maybe he had to be near him as close as he dare in the
same town. Also, his brother, Devlin, was driving him crazy. He
would not shut up about the breeding. Why haven’t you got any of the chosen
bitches with pup yet?
    He was sick of the talk of
it. Those
Thrope terms for women and children did not sit well with him. As
head of their Thrope pack, Devlin focused on