Henry smiled. “You can’t fight me forever, my dear. I created you.” He pulled a flash drive from his pocket and held it up, the sleek metal glinting in the alley’s light. “And your research is all here. Magnetic anomalies. Thermal signatures. Ecological dead zones and some very interesting data about bipedal masses on satellite imagery.” He gave the flash drive a little shake. “I haveeverything I need to expose your boyfriend and his brethren to the humans.”
Charlotte shivered, but she was steady, her jaw clenched and anger sizzling in her eyes.
He looked at me, still smiling. “Don’t worry. I made several copies.”
Ice flooded my veins. “What do you want?”
Henry tucked the flash drive back in his pocket. “All in good time, Mr. Antonovich. For now, consider this a warning. Charlotte is mine. If I want it, Bear Cove is mine.” He bowed slightly, the gesture old-fashioned. “I’ll be in touch.”
He left in a blur of movement too swift for a human to track. I caught a flicker. Charlotte stiffened.
“Is he?—?”
“Gone,” I said, pulling her against me because I couldn’t help it. I indulged myself for a moment, burying my nose in her hair as I let her heart beat against my chest. Then I eased her away just enough to tip her chin up. “Sweetheart, tell me you’re okay.”
Her lower lip trembled. “He bit me. He’s a…”
“Vampire,” I said.
Her eyes went stark. But even in shock, she was brilliant. I could almost see her mind working as she connected the pieces. “The insomnia. All the nightmares. The pills he gave me.”
“It was him,” I said grimly. “Very old vampires can make you forget they fed from you. They usually recruit human prey and string them along with promises of eternal life. But, sometimes, they drink without revealing themselves.” I brushed blood from under her nose with my thumb. “Henry bonded you to him.”
“But I broke the bond.” Hope flickered in her eyes. “I felt it snap.”
I shook my head, hating what I had to tell her. “You broke the compulsion tonight. That’s incredible, Charlotte. Most humans can’t do that. But breaking a bond, especially one put in place bya vampire as powerful as Henry, is much more difficult. It takes time and a great deal of effort.”
Her face crumpled. “So he can still control me.”
“Not as easily. You’ve proven you can fight him.” I cupped her face in my hands. “We’re going to figure this out, I promise. We’ll find a way to break his hold completely. Do you trust me?”
She nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. “More than anything.”
I gathered her close and pressed my lips to her forehead. She snuggled into my embrace, clearly seeking comfort. I held her like that even as fear churned in my gut. Because I had no idea if I could make my words true. Henry was ancient and powerful. And he had Charlotte’s research. He could expose the clan with a single phone call.
And somewhere in the darkness of Anchorage, he was planning his next move.
I tightened my arms around Charlotte, wishing I knew how to protect her from a monster I couldn’t kill.
Chapter
Seventeen
CHARLOTTE
Evening fell outside Beck’s bedroom window, the sky slipping from gray to the light purple of dusk. I sat curled in the oversized chair with my knees drawn to my chest and a Beck-scented blanket around my shoulders.
I’d spent the day in bed. Beck had held me while I fell apart, ugly crying all over his chest.
But he hadn’t complained, and I knew without asking that he would have held me forever, the two of us snuggled against the pillows with the bed and breakfast quiet around us.
As much as I’d longed to stay in his arms, I finally insisted he take a shower. I couldn’t stand the lingering scent of the alley that clung to his hair. More importantly, I couldn’t stand the idea of him neglecting himself because of me.
The bathroom door opened, releasing a cloud of fragrant steam. Beck emerged, a towel slung low on his hips and water droplets clinging to his chest hair. He’d lost weight in the last twenty-four hours, the angles of his face slightly sharper. Part of me wanted to grab a journal and question him about shifter metabolism, the tug of curiosity almost overcoming the trauma of the last day and a half.
The thought fled as Beck rubbed a second towel over his hair, the muscles in his chest and shoulders rippling. Despite everything, heat stirred low in my body.
Beck slung the towel over his shoulder and squatted in front of my chair. His silver gaze roamed my face.
