Waiting (34 page)

Parker gave a nod of his head and Gunther grabbed Brian and left the room, closing the door behind him. A few seconds later Parker was on Sam, wrapping a silver chain around one of her wrists, then slowly sat her down on the opposite end of the couch.

I was utterly confused
but Sam seemed to accept it, probably thinking Parker meant to end her for her betrayal. But there had to be something more than that. Parker wasn't one to put on a show for no reason. He welcomed her back into his house for a reason, not for fake sincerity.

“That's for your safety.” Parker moved to sit back next t
o me, closing his arms around my waist
and burrowing my back against his chest as we both faced Sam. “Where are they keeping Francis?”

She described a building he was ob
viously familiar with.
I was lost, but that didn't matter. I'm sure his friends could hear her talking and were on their way now, unless they were waiting for Parker.

“Thank you, Sam. Your reward will be my complete forgiveness when we get Francis back. Your other reward is the truth. Lyle is alive.”

Her eyes popped at his words
before her face fell again, seeming to not believe him.

“I saw the blood, he's gone.”

“He's alive. I feel his aura when I call out for him. He was in on the lie. He played a part to get you to do their bidding, much like they did to me when Francis was with them.”

Shock covered her features before they darkened again, finding his betrayal the worst of everything. Her left hand was wrapped in silver, so she used her right one to make a claw and was about to jerk it across her throat before Par
ker caught her wrist, making me
fall back fro
m the lack of my stability.  He
wrapped another silver band around her right wrist, not letting her harm herself.

“I'm not sure if he's your
mate, or if you're even sure of it, but he played you. How long have you thought he was yours?”

Tears streamed down her cheeks
but
she didn't cry, if that makes sense. She had very little left to keep her going
.  H
er anger would keep her moving, motivated, until she felt the score was settled. My guess was she wanted to live more now, than she ever had before.

But how had he tricked her into think
ing he was her
mate? Because if she was his, there's no way he could've acted like that, treated her like that, and even manipulated her like that. Parker was thoughtful to all of my concerns and opinions. I doubt it would be that different with others who are mated.

“A few months. We used to hang out every once in a
while
but then he came back into town and stayed with me,
played me
.” Her voice was
thick
ice, mentally picturing what she was going to do to him once she found him. “He was everything you are to Piper, and I fell for it, even when the mark never showed.”

I unthinkingly moved my hand to cover the name now scrolled across my back. Poor Sam.

She stared into
thin
air, not really seeing anything until her gaze snapped to Parker's.

“If I do a blood oath not to kill myself, will you let me go with you? I n
eed to be there. I need to kill
him myself!”

Boy did Lyle have it coming! He probab
ly thinks he's in the clear.  W
ait until Sam and her wraith showed up. Now
that
, I actually wanted to see.

“No.”

“Parker...” I was going to insist on letting her go, but he stopped me.

“Let
me finish.” His words were soft
with a twist of his lips, before turning back to Sam. “I don't want your blood oath. I'll let you come with us, get your revenge after we get Francis, but I won't make you promise me anything. You aren't stupid enough to kill yourself. Or selfish. We have something in common, our gullibility
, and the same people abused it. B
ut we're strong. You can move on, get a hobby or something. Everyone knows what mine was now.” He cast me a sly grin, making me blush. “But to kill yourself, after I give you the gift of life, would be the biggest slap in my face. So if not
for yourself, then think of me
before you do something stupid.”

While he spoke
he gently lifted the silver off both her wrists with his hand clad
in
a small black leather glove. Her skin barely, slowly started healing, though not all the way. She must not have fed very much.

“Sorry, but did you say you called for Lyle? Doesn't that mean that he has to come to you?”

Maybe we could go get Francis
then come back here and everyone watch, or at least me, Sam get he
r revenge on her so called ‘
mate'.

“It was a different call. I was just probing the air waves to see if I could feel him, and I can.
If he's not where we're headed
I can call him at another time to keep things less messy for Sam.” He narrowed a good stare at her, holding her attention. “Everyone will be under the instruction to keep him alive, but hostage, if we do come across him. He will be yours for the taking after this is done.”

She stood and nodded. Accepting everything that was just thrown at her.

Parker gave another nod of his head and she disappeared, leaving us alone.

“I need to leave now.” I stood and threw myself at him,
not
wanting him out of my sight. “I'll be
back in a few hours at the most.
I promise
,
Love.” He gave me a gentle squeeze when I still didn't bu
dge. “I can't bring you with me.  I
t's
not safe and I'd be distracted.  A
nd plus I need you to make me a grocery list.”

I finally released him and punched his arm while rolling my eyes.

“I don't want you to
go. Can't everyone else and
you
can stay here with me?  O
r better yet, we can go grocery shopping together?” I gave him the same lame excuse he gave me.

“I want to find
Francis. Once I have him
I'll return here.
I’ll be back no later than tomorrow morning.
”

Fine. Be logical, I guess. Doesn't mean I have to like it.

“Go. I'll be here when you get back.” He smirked. Like I'd even have a choice what with being on top of a mountain. If I tried to leave I'd have to follow the barely there trail that he calls a road. “With a shopping list.”

Parker picked me up and carried me in his arms, mine wrapped around his neck. He walked while I attacked his mouth, kissing him, silently letting him know how much I'll miss him. He kissed me just as deeply and urgently while walking into the kitchen, then plopped me on the counter with his arms on either side of my legs.

“Be safe. Don't go outside. I'll change the code on my way out and anyone who tries to get in will be caged with silver. There's a video screening in our room
now,
that you can hit the red button and will show you different angles around the house, inside and out. There's instructions in the closet.”

“What if I
need
to get out?”

“There's instructions on everything in our closet. I was prepared for anything, and I don't w
ant you to feel like a prisoner
or that I'm hiding anything from you.” He kissed me quickly before taking a step back. “I have to go. Brian is here, in Sam's room, listening to us.” His lips twitched, though I wasn't sure why. “Call my cell if you run into trouble. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

It
sounded like I was pouting, and I probably was, but I hated when we were apart. And if the past taught us anything, it was that being apart wasn't good at all. Bad things always happened.

He disappeared and I could hear the slide of the door at the end of the hall before a loud click sounded.

It was now just me and Brian. Two helpless humans who had to sit back and wait while the big bad vampires went off to war.

What to do, what to do.

TWENTY TWO

Brian and I sat in Parker's closet, or
ours
as he liked to say. I liked the sound of it too. We were going through all the
papers, playing with the camera
s outside, zooming in on a mou
n
tain lion that had to be at l
east a mile away. He had camera
s
that could see every angle of the mountain
.
  With heat sensors and night vision.

On one of the sheets was a note to me that had the new
door code, which Parker
must've written before he left.
 
It was my birthday. My actual eight digit birthday was the passcode to get in.
It seemed like a lot of numbers
but I guess it was better to be safe than sorry.

“Oh, check this out.” Brian's voice pulled me from my thoughts. “They're totally getting it on.”

On the screen he pulled up and
enlarged a view of some campers
who were indeed getting it on.

“Stop watchin
g them, it's rude.” He chuckled
but clicked a few buttons to change the screen. “By the way, did you and Sam really have sex?”

Maybe it was rude to ask
but Sam thought she had her
mate, so sex with someone else didn't really seem right to me. Or the fact that she would even
want
to have sex with someone else.

“Yeah. We did. She told me later it was because she was afraid Parker or Francis would check and her mind altering skills wouldn't have done anything against Parker's.
  She made it clear it was all to save her boyfriend.
” Wow. Used and then tortured. Poor Brian. “Side note, it was incredible
!
I was sore after, sure, but holy hell it was amazing!  The
best sex I’ve ever had, that’s for sure.
She didn't hold back much I'm guessing.”

Alright, so maybe he didn't mind
me asking
.

“Sorry about all of this.”

“No need.” He cast me his boyish grin, making me smile. “Aside from the torture, this has been the best week of my life. Seriously. I'
m sorry if I came on too strong
but I can't really be sorry for the after effects. I mean, look at us.” He waved to our surroundings. “We're inside a
vampire’s
home. We're not on the menu, at least not to be killed. We now have stron
g friends who will keep us safe
from everything. And if we're lucky, I'm not really sure what happens, but maybe we'll get to be like them. Be turned, I mean.”

“
You’re
right. We are very
lucky. And I don't know how,
when
or if
we'll be turned, but we
are
safe. And our
families
are safe. That's all that matters at this point
. After Francis is back
we can figure more things out. But for now, let's figure out what
that
remote does.”

He chuckled but picked it up. It had more but
tons than a space shuttle and
looked intriguing.

We spent the next half hour mastering the
controller
after finding it acted as a sort of
universal
remote. It turned on and off lights,
TV’s
, opened and closed doors and shutters over windows, and it even turned on the hot tub.
Parker added all the screens after my first night here.

Walking all throughout the cave tunnels we soon learned all that it could do. This was going on my
Christmas
wish
list for sure.

When my phone rang
we both bolted back into the bedroom,
relaxing
once
we saw it was my mom calling.
At seven in the morning? Holy crap we’d been up a long time. And where’s Parker?

I flopped back onto the bed.
Brian took a seat and waited.

“Hi, Mom. How are you?”

We usua
lly talked at least once a week
but I hadn't call
ed her in two.  S
he must just be worried.

“Fine, Fine. How are
you
? Julie called me and she's worried about you. Says one day you're happy as can be and the next you're borderline suicidal.” That seemed a bit dramatic, coming from Jules. “She says you called in at the last minute and said yo
u were taking vacation all week.  I
s everything ok?”