Page 17 of Vein & Vow (The Bouchers #1)

Chapter 16

Beau

“W here are we starting?” I asked Ambrose, standing in the doorway to his rooms.

“You guys can drop me and Chance in Belgium,” he replied, tossing a Dopp kit into the open suitcase on his kitchen table. “See if we can catch any threads there. You and Danny go to Germany and meet up with Matthias.”

“Matthias is in Germany?” Mordecai and Helen’s oldest had found his mate the year before, and the last I’d heard, they’d settled down in Montana on the family property.

“He and his mate saw Zeke while he was there,” Ambrose replied, pausing to look at me. “It seemed like he didn’t really want to discuss it over the phone.”

“You think he knows something?”

“Possibly. You know how paranoid he is.”

“Fair enough.”

“I’m guessing Reese needs to pack?”

“Yeah. We’ll have to run to her apartment.”

“She should just move in here.”

“Why don’t you tell her that,” I joked. “Make sure it sounds like an order. She loves that shit.”

“I don’t want to hear about your sex life.”

“Fuck off,” I shot back, grabbing a shoe he’d left by the door to toss at him.

“Go get packed,” he ordered. “We want to head out as soon as possible.”

“On it,” I mumbled, turning away.

“Hey, Bjorn,” Ambrose called before I could get very far. “Congratulations.”

I grinned.

“Things are good now?”

“Getting there,” I replied with a nod.

“Good. She’s the other half of you, brother. Protect that.”

“I know.”

When I got back to my room Reese was already off the phone and was waiting impatiently.

“All set?” I asked as I pulled my suitcase out of the coat closet.

“Rena is jealous as hell, and Mr. Miranda said to make sure my passport is still valid.”

“Is it?”

“I don’t have one,” she muttered, her cheeks pink. “I’m sorry. I’ve never needed one. This screws up our plans, right?”

She shifted nervously, waiting for…What? Did she think I’d be angry? Fuck, we still had so much to learn about each other.

“You’d need a new one anyway,” I said, dropping the suitcase so I could reach for her. “You’re considered part of the Vampire Federation now, remember? Your passport should reflect that.”

“But this time we could’ve just used my old one if I had one,” she said, wincing. “I know we’re in a hurry.”

“I should’ve thought of it before,” I assured her, brushing her hair back from her face. “Ambrose is across the hall. Go let him know that we need to stop in Vermont on the way to get your papers.”

“Vermont?”

“Headquarters,” I murmured, leaning down to kiss her. Now that I knew what I’d been missing, it was hard to be so close without the contact.

“I didn’t know your headquarters were in Vermont,” she said, pulling away. “Are you sure he’s not going to be pissed?”

“That’s by design, and no, Ambrose won’t be pissed. He’ll be annoyed that he didn’t think of it first. I’m going to get my shit packed, and we’ll leave for your place in fifteen.”

“If your brother gives me shit, I might sling it back,” she warned, stepping away.

“Make it sting,” I replied, tapping her on the ass as I headed toward my bedroom.

I felt lighter than I had in longer than I could remember. We were getting close to finding the last piece of Zeke. My brothers and I would find Charles Franklin and his sister. Command was searching for the people who’d gone after my baby brother, and I knew they wouldn’t stop until they got answers.

Reese and I were falling into the bond that I’d imagined when I was a kid and my parents promised me that she was out there somewhere—a mate that was made just for me. She didn’t trust me yet, and she had every reason not to, but I’d prove myself. I had no doubt that we’d get to that place eventually. I just had to be patient.

I thought about Zeke’s other half as I threw clothes into my suitcase and grabbed my Dopp kit. It was wild to think about my baby brother’s other half. All of us probably felt that way. Knowing that your sibling had a match out in the world somewhere had always been something that the five of us wondered about. Would Ambrose’s mate be as serious as he was? Would Chance’s be sarcastic and borderline rude? Would Danny’s be as easygoing? Would Zeke’s mate be like Reese, full of piss and vinegar, or would he be quiet and gentle?

The protectiveness I felt when I thought about Charles Franklin was almost as strong as when I thought of my brothers. He was one of us even if he didn’t realize it yet.

“Danny wants to come with us,” Reese announced, storming into the room. She looked at the zipped suitcase. “You’re already done?”

“I’ve been a soldier since before your great-grandfather was born,” I reminded her, lifting it. “I know what I need to pack.”

“I hope you’re not expecting the same when we get to the apartment,” she said, hurrying over to her bag. She haphazardly stuffed back in the clothes that were spilling out. “Because I have no clue what to bring.”

“Anything you forget we can just buy when we get there,” I told her, setting my hand on her lower back as we left the room.

“Yeah, okay, moneybags,” she replied dryly.

“Danny’s coming with us?” I asked, bringing the conversation back around.

“I think he wants to scope out where I live,” she joked, glancing over her shoulder at me as we left our rooms. “I told him it’s nothing special.”

“He probably wants to make sure we don’t take too long.”

“I’ll take as long as I take,” she replied formally. She hurried down the stairs, belying the words.

I was glad that no one was around as we headed out to the garage. After the scene at the table, I wasn’t in a hurry to deal with any of the older generation. I’d dropped it, and Reese was right, we’d worked shit out, but I wouldn’t forget what they’d done any time soon. They hadn’t always been so intrusive, but after I’d walked away from Millie, they’d worried.

“You didn’t have to sit in the back,” Reese told Danny as she climbed in the car. “Aren’t you squished back there?”

“I’m fine,” he replied, sitting in the center with his arms spread out across the backs of the seats.

“He knows I would’ve made him move,” I informed her as I backed out. “You’re not sitting in the back seat.”

“I’d fit fine back there,” Reese argued.

“You sit next to me.”

“Oh, good grief.”

I listened as Reese and Danny chatted about her apartment and Europe and a hundred other things as we drove to her apartment. The conversation never lagged, and I relaxed into the seat. They got along well. Actually, Reese got along well with my entire family. At some point when I wasn’t looking, she’d settled into our unit like she’d always been there.

The apartment complex was quiet when we got there. Most of the people living in Reese’s building worked during the day, and we didn’t see anyone as she led us up to her door. She and Danny were bickering good-naturedly, and I was enjoying the fact that they were in such good moods.

I think that’s why I didn’t realize that things were too quiet.

The sound of Reese’s scream was something I’d remember until they burned me.

Vampire instincts were nothing if not efficient, and before she ran out of breath, I’d shoved her between Danny and me, taking in the scene in an instant.

Reese’s long-haired neighbor was on the couch, and he was absolutely mutilated. There was blood everywhere. The floor, the table, the lampshade, the wall. The couch was saturated.

“Behind,” Danny said sharply.

Reaching back for Reese, I yanked her inside the apartment with me and listened as Danny slammed the door closed behind us. He was already on the phone, calling in help.

Reese made little mewling noises, but I couldn’t focus on her yet. I was still taking in the apartment.

All of her books had been pulled from the shelves. Every cupboard in the kitchen was open. The pillows on her couch had been sliced open. It was chaos.

Then I saw the boot prints.

Bloody and headed toward the back of the apartment.

“Danny,” I said quietly, shoving Reese toward him.

I strode quietly toward the hallway, but my silence made absolutely no matter because before I’d even reached it, a man came out of Reese’s bedroom, and he didn’t hesitate.

Smart man, but he should’ve brought a knife.

I rushed him as he fired, the bullets hitting me center mass. He’d been trained well, but he’d never had a chance.

Making sure that I kept my body between him and my mate, I met his eyes as I reached out and slammed his arm into the wall so he’d drop the pistol. It took seconds.

His head was in my hands in the next moment, and I’d never been more satisfied by a sound as when I snapped his neck.

Before his body had even hit the floor, I rushed into Reese’s room. Trashed but empty.

Bathroom—the same.

“Beau?” Danny called.

“Clear,” I called back, bracing my hand against the wall as I blinked. Shit.

Giving my head a shake, I strode back out to the front of the apartment. Danny had tipped one of Reese’s bookcases in front of the door.

“How many?” I asked, slowing.

“Not sure,” Danny replied, peeking out the curtains. “Two that I can see.”

I nodded and found Reese. Danny had tucked her in the little corner where the two couches met. She was unhurt and shaking so hard that I could see it from across the room.

“Pull back the bookcase,” I ordered, looking back at my brother.

“Ambrose is ten out,” he argued. “Fifteen tops.”

“Move it,” I ordered again.

His eyes lingered on my chest, but I refused to look down. If I saw how many times I’d been hit, I’d feel it.

I needed just a few more minutes.

“I’ll go,” Danny said, pulling his Beretta out of the shoulder holster he never went without.

“No, you fucking won’t,” I ground out. “Stay with her until I give the all-clear.”

“We can wait them out,” he argued, even as he tried to hand me the pistol.

“Not taking that chance.” I shook my head. “Keep it.”

“Bjorn.”

“Move the bookcase, Arne,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. If he kept me inside much longer, we were fucked.

As he slid the bookcase back, I met Reese’s terrified eyes.

“I’ll be right back, baby,” I promised.

“Don’t,” she rasped.

“Right back,” I repeated.

The next thirty seconds passed by in a blur, muscle memory carrying me through as I took down the man outside the door. Another bullet hit my thigh as I jumped over the railing and landed on the top of a piece of shit sedan, but I kept moving. Stopping wasn’t an option.

The last one ran. He wasn’t fast enough.

Scanning the parking lot, I let myself pause, waiting for anything to stand out. There was nothing.

Straightening my shoulders, I ignored the black spots that danced in my vision as I forced myself back up the stairs. I’d barely made it to the breezeway when the sound of chopper blades sounded from somewhere behind the building. Ambrose.

Danny stood in the doorway when I reached it.

“All clear,” I mumbled, stumbling against the doorframe.

“Got you,” he said, helping me slide to the floor.

“Beau,” Reese screamed as I closed my eyes. “Oh, god.”

Fuck, it hurt.

“Hey, asshole,” she said frantically, her hands cupping my face and brushing the hair back from my forehead. “Look at me.”

“Did you just call me an asshole?” I grumbled, dropping my head back against the wall as I opened my eyes.

“I’m going to kill you,” she stuttered, her face covered in snot and tears. “What did you do? Oh, god. What were you thinking?”

“Stings a bit,” I grunted as someone pressed against my gut.

People were moving around us, but all I could see was her. Gods, she was beautiful.

Beautiful and safe and whole.

“Danny,” I called, not looking away from her. Damn, I wished that my arms didn’t feel like they had weights holding them down. I wanted to touch her.

“Right next to you, Bjorn,” Danny said calmly.

“Stay with Reese.”

“He’s helping you right now,” Reese said gently, hiccupping. “I’m okay.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Danny promised.

Someone helped me lay flat, and I grit my teeth to keep myself from yelling as pressure against my chest felt like it was going to crack my ribs. People were talking, and there was movement around the room, but the entire time, Reese’s face stayed close to mine.

“You’re okay,” she whispered as I arched, trying to get away from whoever was tearing my leg off. “It’s okay, Beau. Let them help you.”

“Reese,” I groaned.

“I’m okay,” she replied, brushing her lips over mine. “I’m right here.”

“Stay with Danny,” I muttered, repeating myself twice because my tongue didn’t seem to be working correctly.

“I’ll stay with Danny,” she agreed.

I let my heavy eyes fall closed.