Page 94 of Immortal Bastard (The Order of Vampires)

He spun and lunged off the porch, grabbing the boy by the shirt. “Do not think yourself above our laws of privacy, half-breed. Mention my mate again, and you’ll find yourself without a home and no way to ever see your demented sister again. I’ll see to it.”

Any man with a shred of common sense would have been terrified, but the half-breed only sneered. “She hates you.” He snickered.

Christian’s pulse throbbed as his grip tightened, a low, threatening growl spilling out of him as he snarled, “So help me God, you say one more word about her, and I will feed your sister to Isaiah myself.” Disgusted, he threw the boy to the ground.

“She’ll run again.”

Christian continued walking, but the boy continued to taunt him.

“This time, I’ll be sure to help her escape.”

Fangs fully extended he caught him by the throat and slammed him into the dirt. “Hear me now. You even look her way and I’ll carve your eyes out of your skull. She’s mine. Understand? Mine.”

Dane sputtered for breath until Christian finally let him go.

Rising to his full height, Christian straightened his clothing and returned to the porch, ripping the front door clean off the hinges and slamming the dilapidated wood shut. It clattered to the ground.

He planned to speak to Eleazar about this.

CHAPTER 15

The house rattled as the door slammed. Delilah jumped back from the window and hurried to the bed. Christian’s heavy footfalls marked his approach and matched the pounding in her chest. The door flung open and she threw her body back, pretending she was asleep.

“I’m aware you’re awake. If you can be brutally honest with me about our future, why on earth would you pretend to sleep over such foolish nonsense?”

She opened her eyes but didn’t answer. He loomed in the doorway, not entering, not completely meeting her stare. His palpable dark mood siphoned the oxygen out of the room.

“Good. Quiet is preferable at the moment. You’re my mate, and it’s time you understood the full scope of what that means. I expect you downstairs in five minutes.”

The door shut behind him with a conclusive snap.

Well…

Her mind reeled over everything she’d just overheard. Dane said he would help her leave the next time she tried to escape.

Dane also hurt Christian and, for that, she didn’t like him. But that made no sense. She had no reason to feel protective about Christian. She didn’t like him either.

Maybe she disliked Dane because he didn’t help her before and then he spoke to her in that condescending way that implied she was someone else’s property. He wasn’t trustworthy then, so why should she trust him now?

Tangled up with the urge to comfort her captor when she should be running for her life, she paced. The desire to escape overwhelmed her, but so did the ache in her heart, an ache that was not of her own pain.

Rubbing a hand over her chest, she wondered how she could feel such empathy for someone she hated. She physically felt his stress like a tightening web chilling her heart.

This was stupid. Christian wasn’t there. She could finally run. All she had to do was get up and go. Her mind reviewed the layout of the farm and she tried to think of the fastest route. How far was civilization? If she moved quickly…

He would be faster. Damn it.

But Dane would help her. Good old, untrustworthy Dane.

Dane. Christian’s half-brother. Dane, the guy who hurt Christian’s feelings. Gah! She was being ridiculous. None of this mattered. She hated Christian.

But again, he was in pain. She could feel it. Like, really feel it, as if his emotions were opening her chest. Empathy consumed her heart, indecision twisted her gut, until her mind instinctively reached for his.

An impenetrable wall slammed down between them, and she jerked back and stiffened.

Oh no he didn’t.

Shocked he would actually shut her out, she stomped to the door. He wasn’t waiting in the hall, hovering like he usually did. She scoped out the other rooms, wondering if he was spying from one of the doorways, but the other bedrooms were empty.

Without their mental link, she relied on her other senses to find him. Shutting her eyes, she breathed in and found his comforting scent.

Comforting? No, she meant familiar.

Creeping down the stairs, trying not to make a sound, she held her breath as the last step creaked under her weight. Pausing, she held her breath and glanced toward the open parlor, craning her neck to see the kitchen.

Christian braced his hands on the counter, his shoulders hunched and his back tense as his head dropped low. Her brow pinched. She couldn’t connect with him mentally, but the force and intensity of his pain nearly toppled her.

A soft breeze teased the loose hair at her shoulders and her head turned. The front door was open, hanging cockeyed off the hinges. She didn’t even have to touch it. She could slip right through the narrow crack. Two seconds and she could be gone.