Bound by Night (The Moonbound Clan Vampires) (29 page)

Bastien gave a decisive nod. “Then I’ll give him a chance.”

Grinning, Nicole leaned over and pulled Bastien into a big, squishy hug. “You’ll love him. You’ll see.”

For a long moment, Bastien remained rigid in her arms, so stiff she wasn’t sure if he breathed. But as she stroked his hair and just held him, he relaxed, and his arms went around her. She smiled when he snuggled closer, burying his forehead against her neck.

“Nicole?” His voice was tentative, barely audible.

“Yes?”

“He won’t hurt me again, will he?” he whispered. “Chuck can’t find me here, right?”

Nicole’s heart stopped.
Chuck?
Dear God, it was Chuck who had beaten the boy? With all the strength she could muster, she found her voice.

“No,” she croaked. “He can’t. I promise.”

N
ICOLE.” RIKER’S HEART
jackhammered in his chest at the sight of her outside his door.

He allowed himself the luxury of a slow visual ride down her body, taking in the worn jeans that hugged her softly rounded hips, the fluffy green sweater that matched her eyes and outlined her perfect breasts. She’d slicked her hair back in a barrette, and his fingers twitched with the desire to let her hair down and make it messy.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around much.” He gestured for her to enter. “We’re working twenty-four/seven on the ShadowSpawn problem.”

He’d spent three full days on the edges of their territory with the clan’s mystic-keeper, Sabre, while they set new wards and traps. ShadowSpawn would have their own mystic-keeper to identify and neutralize their setups, but they’d be slowed, and they’d take injuries.

Nicole stepped inside, bringing her fresh pear-ginger scent with her. “Have you come up with any solutions?”

“No.” He didn’t even wait for the door to shut before he gathered her against him and nuzzled her throat. He’d missed this. It had been far too long since they’d had a private moment together. “How’s Bastien?” It had been killing Riker to not visit the boy, although he’d spied on him from afar when he could.

“He’s doing great,” she said. “He’s so curious. He’ll read anything you put in front of him, and he’s trying really hard to help Grant in the lab. He’s even in his own quarters now. And Myne’s been working out with him in the training room.”

Riker had wanted to be the one teaching Bastien about vampire life, about being a warrior, and a twinge of jealousy shot through him even though he’d asked for Myne’s assistance. Riker had also had to suck it up and apologize to Myne for his behavior the night of the full moon, but like the male he was, Myne had shrugged it off with no more than a clasp of hands and a pat on the back.

“Does he seem happy?”

“Mostly,” she said. “But he needs a father.”

Riker’s chest cramped. “I wish I knew how to be there for him.” Immediately, he sensed a change in Nicole, and when she pulled away, he went on alert. “What is it?”

A shiver wracked her, but he wasn’t sure how that was possible, because it suddenly felt like it was a million degrees in the room. “I know why he freaked out when you told him you were his father.”

“I’m listening.”

She shifted her weight. Glanced around the room. Stalled until he was ready to shake the words out of
her. But as impatient as he was to hear what she had to say, he owed her a lifetime of patience. She had been instrumental in bringing Bastien out of his shell. Hell, if not for her, Bastien wouldn’t be here in the first place.

“I’m not even sure where to start,” she finally said.

He brushed his knuckles over her silky cheek. “Take your time.”
But, you know, hurry
.

“Promise me you’ll stay calm,” she said, and shit, this couldn’t be good, but he inclined his head in solemn agreement. “Okay.” She inhaled and exhaled. Did it again. “When I was little, Chuck hung out with me a lot. I thought it was because he loved me and wanted to spend time with me. Now when I think back, I realize he was usually only around when Terese was there. When she wasn’t there, he always asked about her. I figured he asked because he was uncomfortable around vampires. He didn’t grow up with them the way I did.”

The mere mention of Chuck made Riker’s teeth clench. “Go on.”

“Remember in the lab when he got so angry when he talked about you killing Terese?” All Riker could do was nod. “I think it’s because he was obsessed with her. Maybe even in love with her.”

Riker’s skin grew clammy, and he felt sick to his stomach. “If this is some sort of joke . . .”

“It’s not.” She shifted her weight again, fidgeted with her hair, swallowed repeatedly. And she kept looking at the papers on his desk. Origami withdrawals, he was sure. “I think he transferred his obsession to Bastien. Chuck told him he’d be like a father to him, but when Bastien didn’t return his feelings the way
Chuck probably thought he should, he beat him.” She closed her eyes. “I asked Grant to look him over, and he found a number of healed injuries, including some broken bones.”

Nicole’s revelation hit Riker with the force of an avalanche, literally knocking him back a step. A black, indescribable rage carved out his chest, turning it into a fathomless cavern of frost. Even his heart, which had been beating obsessively fast for Nicole, seemed to have iced over.

“Riker?” Nicole reached out, but he dodged her touch, not ready to be consoled by the sister of the bastard who had tortured an innocent boy. “I convinced Bastien that you weren’t a . . . father . . . like that. I told him he could trust you and that you’d never hurt him. Please don’t go to him like this. He’s timid around males as it is, and he associates the word
father
with what Chuck did to him.”

Father.
The word he’d always wanted to hear a child call him was now associated with terror and pain. Just when he thought the Martins couldn’t fuck with his life any more . . .

He concentrated on breathing. Breathing was good. It would keep him from bolting out of headquarters and leaving the entire city of Seattle bleeding behind him as he tore the city apart in the search for Nicole’s brother.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

He had to see Bastien. He glanced at Nicole, which should have comforted him, but right now, all he saw was a Martin.

“I need to go.” His voice was utterly shredded.
He didn’t even sound like himself. Fitting, he supposed, because right now, he didn’t feel like himself, either.

Nicole held out her hand to him. “Can we talk about this?”

Dismissing her offer, he went to the door. “Later,” he said, although deep down, he suspected that what he really meant was
never
.

RIKER SEARCHED THE
compound for Bastien, using the time to calm down. By the time he decided to check Bastien’s room, his desire to level Seattle had eased enough that he’d settle for only killing everyone Charles Martin had ever known. Then he’d spend a year breaking the man, piece by piece.

He forced himself to walk slowly up to Bastien’s door. The boy was skittish as it was; if he sensed Riker’s anger, every bit of progress Bastien had made could be reversed.

Bastien’s door opened as he approached, and Morena emerged, her curly brown hair piled on top of her head in a messy knot.

“Good to see you,” she said. “Bastien just had breakfast. Myne should be coming by in a little while to take him to the training room.” She smiled. “He’s going to teach him to shoot a crossbow today.”

If that wasn’t a punch to the gut. Yes, Riker had asked Myne to engage Bastien with physical activity, but Riker should be the one to do it. He should be teaching his son to shoot and fight and hunt. “Thanks, Morena.”

He knocked lightly and entered. Bastien was curled
up on the couch with his nose in a book, but when he saw Riker, he froze.

“Hey,” Riker said. “Do you mind if I come in?”

There was a heartbeat of hesitation and then a shy “Okay.”

“I brought you something.” He moved to Bastien, going slowly, slowing even more when the boy tensed. Riker silently cursed Chuck to an eternity in hell. And Riker planned to send him there.

“You’re angry.” Bastien inched toward the far end of the couch, and Riker’s throat constricted with disappointment and self-loathing.

“I’m sorry, son,” Riker said. “I’m not angry with you. I’m angry about what happened to you. You never should have grown up the way you did.” He paused. “Do you want me to leave?”

Several agonizing seconds later, Bastien shook his head. Relief practically made Riker light-headed. He crouched next to the couch and held out Terese’s ring.

“This was your mother’s. Nicole kept it safe for a long time, and I think you should have it.”

Bastien took it as if it were made of the most delicate glass. “What was she like?”

“She was beautiful.” Riker smiled, recalling her fine features. “She was very quiet and shy, even with me.”

“You were the wild vampire who killed her, weren’t you?” Bastien asked, and Riker broke out in an
oh, shit
sweat. “Chuck said that if Nicole hadn’t raised the alarm that day, you would have killed everyone.”

Wait . . . Nicole?
The crystal-clear recollection of that day shattered into a million pieces, each shard of memory sharper than the next. He’d been on the verge
of talking Terese out of her suicide attempt when the siren went off, and she’d plunged the blade into her throat.

Nicole
had been responsible for the alert?

The world fell away as his rage from earlier roared back, and Bastien, who was apparently as sensitive to negativity as his mother, shrank into the couch cushions.

Get it together, dumbass
. Riker cursed silently and forced himself to relax.

“I swear I didn’t kill her, Bastien. Humans killed her.” Now wasn’t the time to tell the boy that she’d killed herself. Hell, there might never be a time or need to tell him that. “They drove her to her death. You can’t believe anything they said to you.”

Very precisely, Bastien placed a bookmark in his book and set it aside. “But Nicole is human.”

“And it was her family who killed your mother and who kept you in a cage for twenty years.” He probably shouldn’t have said that, but at least he’d said it very calmly. Progress.

Bastien frowned. “Then why is she here?”

Well, shit.
Riker had stepped in that one, hadn’t he? He didn’t want to vilify Nicole, and he certainly didn’t want to destroy her relationship with Bastien. No matter what her family had done to him, she’d helped the boy more than anyone else. More important, Bastien was still working on trusting his instincts and trusting people. He trusted and cared about Nicole, and to make him second-guess his own judgment could be damaging.

“We needed her help to rescue a vampire her company kidnapped,” Riker said.

“Did you rescue the vampire?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“But Nicole helped, right?” There was so much hope in Bastien’s voice that Riker had to smile.

“She helped a lot.”

Bastien smoothed his thumb over the ring’s smooth surface. “She loves you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say
that
, but she might like me sometimes.”

“
She
said that,” Bastien insisted.

Riker’s gut plunged to his feet.
Love?
Nicole had told Bastien that she loved Riker? Bastien must have misunderstood. Surely Nicole wouldn’t do that to him, wouldn’t expect him to give himself to not only a human but a Martin.

The door swung open, saving Riker from thoughts he wasn’t ready to explore. Myne strode in, ready to hit the gym in sweats and a T-shirt that was stretched to the limits on his muscular upper body. The duffel in his hand had a crossbow handle poking out the unzipped top.

“Hey, man,” he said to Riker before turning his attention to Bastien. “You ready to put on some muscle and then blow a few holes through some melons?”

“Ready.” Bastien’s shy smile reminded Riker so much of Terese that fresh anger reared its ugly head again.

Myne, always on top of things, gestured to the duffel. “Rike, you wanna come?”

As tempting as it was, Riker sensed that he’d done enough with Bastien for now. Time to let the boy absorb the visit and end it on a good note.

“Thanks, but I need to see Hunter.” Riker came to his feet and shot Bastien a wink. “I’ll see you later, okay? Have you ever had a root-beer float?”

Bastien shook his head.

“Ah, dude,” Myne said, “you’re in for a treat. Riker makes the best root-beer floats ever.”

“Really?” Bastien asked.

Myne nodded. “Really.”

Riker had never made Myne a root-beer float, and seriously, how did anyone screw one up? But he appreciated the male’s help.

“I’ll come get you later, Bastien,” Riker promised. “I’ll show you how to get in and out of the kitchen without Syrena the Wooden Spoon Tyrant catching you.”

Bastien’s grin spread from ear to ear, and for the first time, Riker felt like he had a chance to truly be a parent. To live the life Terese had been denied.