Declan could only imagine what the Savage’s were planning for that funeral home, but he couldn’t dwell on it now. Striding away from the window, he retrieved his swords and the harness he’d placed beside the chair when he first settled into it last night.
He pulled them on and made sure they were secure before returning to Willow. Kneeling at her side, he rested a hand on her shoulder. When she stirred beneath his touch, her eyes fluttered open, and she blinked at him before a radiant smile lit her beautiful face.
That smile melted some of the ice encasing him, and he couldn’t stop himself from cupping her cheek as he bent to brush a kiss against her temple. Her surprise flowed over him a second before he felt her happiness.
Despite the threat breathing down their necks, the demon wasn’t tearing at his insides as it tried to tear free of the cage Declan constructed around it. For the first time in centuries, he could breathe normally, and a vise wasn’t trying to crush the life from him.
And it was all because ofher. He’d found his mate, she’d brought him the peace he’d sought for centuries, and he would destroy anyone who tried to take her from him.
“They’re searching the homes,” he said.
The sleepy happiness faded from her eyes as she sat up so fast their heads nearly knocked together.
“Who?” she demanded.
“The police and some helpers. They’ll be here soon.”
“Is there somewhere we can hide?”
“Gus is going to take us to the attic. I found a spot for us to hide up there.”
Grasping Willow’s hand, he helped her to her feet and snatched up the blanket and pillow. He handed them to Gus. “Put these away.”
Gus nodded, and they followed him into the hallway, where he stopped outside a closet. He shoved the blanket and pillow inside before continuing down the hall to where a string hung from the ceiling. Grasping the string, Gus pulled down a set of stairs and unfolded them. The bottom of the stairs clicked against the wooden floor as Gus climbed into the shadows above.
Declan stepped back and gestured for Willow to follow before climbing up behind her. Though the attic was full of boxes marked fabrics, clothes, Christmas, and other assorted miscellaneous items, it was clean.
Only a little dust covered the containers and floor, and no cobwebs hung in the corners. They didn’t leave any sign of their passing as Declan led Willow past a neatly stacked row of children’s artwork containers and around to the back corner. Gus trailed them and didn’t say a word when Declan pushed aside boxes of baby clothes to remove the loose piece of plywood he discovered earlier.
“When were you up here?” Willow asked.
“While you were sleeping.”
A twinge of guilt tugged at her. She’d fallen asleep, and he was searching for a hiding spot to make sure they stayed safe. She should have stayed awake to help him, but she could barely move by the time Declan released her. For the first time in her life, she was sore after sex; it was a pleasant kind of sore, and she wouldn’t change anything, but she’d never encountered a man as insatiable as her mate.
She didn’t know what to make of that confirmation. Yes, she’d suspected it, but it was still a bit shocking. She wasmatedto Declan, a man she’d shared some of the most terrifying and intimate moments of her life with, and she barely knew anything about him.
Fortunately, if they made it out of this alive, she’d have an eternity to learn about him, and with as enigmatic as he was, it might take her that long. But that was something she’d worry about if they survived the next hour.
Declan pulled aside the plywood to reveal a hollow space between the beams. “Gus, go get the rest of your family. I have to speak to them.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Willow barely breathedas she stood, crammed inside the tiny space with Declan. Unable to stand side by side, he stood in front of her. After he finished instructing Gus and his family to forget the two of them existed, Declan ordered them to nail the plywood to the beams, clean up any mess created, and push the boxes back into place.
No one in Gus’s family had any memory they’d ever run into the two of them, never mind that they were hiding in the attic. Despite that, Declan left Gus with instructions to make sure the men were gone for an hour before opening the attic.
She kept her breathing steady as she tried not to think about what would happen if someone discovered them. Under the control of other vampires, there was no guarantee Declan could alter the memories of the humans who found them. And if those humans didn’t leave this house and return to whoever was controlling them, their enemies would know why they hadn’t returned and where to look for them.
When the walls started closing in on her and breathing became increasingly difficult, she closed her eyes and pictured her family’s property in Maine. She could almost feel the sand beneath her as she lay on the beach while the waves crashed against the shore.
The squealing laughter of the kids floated on the air as they ran down the shoreline. All her siblings were there with their mates, as well as her parents, and the Stooges—her adopted uncles.
She felt the love they emanated and the security enveloping her whenever she was with them. A sense of peace stole through her soul as the scent of the ocean filled her nostrils. And then she saw Declan lying beside her, a mischievous look on his face as he idly twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.
She saw none of the unhappiness that sometimes resided behind his eyes. He’d probably be as out of place around her family as a pink, polka-dotted zebra amid its friends, but she longed to lie with him on that beach.
And then the creak of hinges pierced through her lovely daydream.
