Evelyn was halfway down the stairs when an arm wrapped around her waist and clamped over her mouth. A scream tried to escape, but nothing would come out. This was a fucking resort—where was everyone? She couldn’t see a single soul, anywhere.
Suddenly, as if they had just appeared, they were back in Brandon’s apartment. Stephen was still standing in the same area as before, but now was pacing angrily. Evelyn kicked and tried to bite Brandon’s hand. She was willing to do whatever it took to get loose so she could try to escape again.
“What the fuck are we going to do now?” Stephen snapped at Brandon.
“Well, my friend, that is up to you.” Brandon released his hand from her mouth. With the amount of burning in her throat, she knew she wouldn’t be able to yell for help. Her mind raced while she tried to think over a solution.
“What the fuck about me, damn it,” Evelyn whispered. “I should have a say about what the hell is going to happen to me.”
Stephen walked over to Brandon. “Let me take her, make her my mate, and that way no one has to know. If anyone asks, I gave you permission. She’s allowed to know if she’s my mate.”
Brandon tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, but Evelyn doesn’t want to be with you. She already asked you to remove the bond you two share.”
“She hasn’t even given me a chance to redeem myself. I was young and stupid. The way I ended things was all wrong. I should have never lied and said I loved someone else when I didn’t,” Stephen growled.
“It took you two years to remember about her. Give me a break. Plus, if she wasn’t marked to begin with, I could have wiped her memory completely. If she was truly your mate then I wouldn’t have been able to get to her anyway. You would have protected her. She’s supposed to be glued to your side, your wife in every sense.”
Evelyn could see another fight brewing. This was just beyond ridiculous. Although she feared what they were, she couldn’t let them kill themselves. Her mind might have been screaming,
Run
, but her heart wouldn’t let her. “I have an idea if you both would just shut up and listen,” Evelyn said, stepping away from Brandon. “How about Stephen removes the mark, and then I will gladly let you erase my memory and we can all move on like nothing ever happened. Sorry, but I’m not sure I want to be with either of you. I’d rather start off brand-new and make my own decisions.”
They both looked at her. Brandon was smiling, and Stephen looked confused. The room became eerily quiet as everyone thought over the options. Stephen was the one to break the silence.
“I don’t know, Evelyn. Why can’t you just give me a chance? It would be so much easier.”
Evelyn took a deep breath. “Because, Stephen, what happens if it doesn’t work? Then what? We’ll go through the same scenario as we are now? I don’t think so. We should start over new while we have the chance.”
“She’s right, Steve. It’s the best decision concerning Evelyn.” Brandon walked over and cupped her face.
“No, let go of her. I won’t give her up. Not to be with you,” Stephen snarled, pulling Brandon off her.
In a blur of color, Brandon, with his hand around Stephen’s throat, had him against the wall. Fear consumed her. She needed to think of something fast or else they were going to kill each other.
“If Evelyn wouldn’t go through any pain, I’d kill you now. Keep your fucking hands off me. If I want to touch her, I will, and there won’t be a damn thing you can do about it. Maybe I
should
call Ayden. He needs to get his cub in check.”
“Fuck you,” Stephen growled, his eyes glowing.
Just at the confirmation of seeing her ex with light coming from behind his eyes, Evelyn’s stomach flipped. But what could she do. The world tilted and she tried to get a hold on herself. If they were going to come to a conclusion, they had to do it fast.
“Enough…both of you. Shit, this is absurd. If you both don’t stop, then I’ll never speak to either one of you again. Now, Stephen, can you please stop attacking Brandon long enough for us to figure out what we’re going to do? For one, I’m not being forced into becoming your idea of what a mate entails. And, two, I’m not sure I’m ready to bask in the life of vampirism. This shit just isn’t normal and I don’t like it!”
“Oh come on, Evelyn. Just me and you, days and nights of endless lovemaking,” Brandon teased.
“That’s my point exactly.” Evelyn rolled her eyes. Her heart was pounding. Thoughts wouldn’t process anymore. She kept trying to show them she wasn’t afraid of what they were, but some of the unknown details scared her and left her wanting to run, regardless of what her heart made her feel. The two parts of herself, reason and feeling, fought what felt a never-winning battle.
“That hurts. It truly wounds me.” Brandon let go of Stephen and walked away from him without even looking back.
“Knock it off. Now let me just think, all right,” Stephen said, sitting on the couch. “How do I know as soon as I break the bond, you’re not going to sink your fangs into Evelyn? I’ll never know then.”
“No one is sinking anything into me, is that clear?” Evelyn eyed both of them while she fought the pain in her chest. “We wipe me clean of knowing anything about Stephen coming back or Brandon sinking his…teeth into me. I don’t want to know about a mark or anything I’m not supposed to. If either of you are interested in a few weeks…” Evelyn paused and went over her thought before she said it, “come back to me. That’ll be the true test on whether my feelings are true or because of something one of you did. Otherwise, stay away and I’ll never know. And what I don’t know can’t hurt me.”
“But what about what happened between you and me? Do you want to remember everything but the bite?” Brandon asked.
“Yes, don’t wipe that clean. Just make me think I was drunk, like I thought before.”
Evelyn and Brandon turned to Stephen. He looked up angrily. “So I guess this is the part where I break our bond and everyone is happy-go-fucking-lucky. Fine, whatever. Evelyn, don’t move. This is probably going to hurt. I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of anyone breaking the bond before. It’s just something werewolves don’t do. Ever. ”
“What do you mean, hurt?” Brandon asked, walking quickly to Stephen.
“Well, you didn’t think it would just go away, did you? No, she’s going to feel like the love of her life just died. She’s going to be heartbroken all over again.”
“It won’t last long, right?” Evelyn felt the all too familiar anxiety course through her. She was so tired of feeling pain.
“No, I’ll wipe your memory as fast as I can, I promise.” Brandon wrapped his arm around her, trying to comfort her.
Stephen pulled her out of his arms and tightly embraced her, burying his face in Evelyn’s hair. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me,” he whispered.
Teeth sank into the junction of her neck and shoulder, and Evelyn felt like her very soul was ripped from the confines of her body. What she had experienced when Stephen left wasn’t a fraction of what she felt when he broke his bond. The air completely left her and was replaced with a grief so overpowering that she collapsed in his arms. When the air rushed back into her lungs, her hoarse screams of agony filled the apartment.
Tears raced down Evelyn’s cheeks as she writhed and screamed. Images of their past flashed in front of her eyes, blinding her from the men. Fear like nothing she had ever felt before in her life took over her mind. She was desperate to find solace.
“Stephen! Stephen, no, come back. Make it go away! Stephen!”
Evelyn clawed to get closer to him, even if it was her physical body looking for the contact of his nearness, and what she needed was on the inside. A tear from Stephen landed on her face as he held her still and against his chest.
“Brandon, do something, damn it! I can’t take seeing her like this.”
“Hold her head to the side. It’s the only way I can make sure I clear everything out,” Brandon snapped.
Stephen growled, but obeyed. A sharp pain made Evelyn aware of reality for the first time in her hysterics, and before she knew it, everything was black. She was falling slowly down a tunnel of darkness, and then nothing.
Chapter 12
Brandon watched Evelyn’s memories as they flooded him. Like a card catalog, he sifted through her routine for the last two days, taking out everything he could think of so she wouldn’t remember. The broken table, the bite, doubts that he couldn’t possibly be human.
Taking Stephen’s memories had been easier. They registered to him like a red flag. She loved him, Brandon knew that, and it wasn’t just the bond. Yes, the bond had been extremely strong, but Brandon caught flashes of before the bond had been placed on her.
In the thirty seconds it took him to feed, shift through her memories, and wipe out everything they needed to, he got a chance to view Evelyn’s life. She was as easy to get into as any normal human, which scared him. Would another vampire take advantage of her, use his good looks to hypnotize her into doing whatever he wanted? The thought made Brandon’s stomach drop.
There weren’t many vampires around Corpus Christi, but he knew of one, and he left her doubts right where they were, with Paul. He wasn’t going to risk Paul taking advantage of her if he wasn’t around to watch over her.
Brandon eased his lips off Evelyn’s neck, and he licked the wound, closing it. She’d never know she was bitten. She wouldn’t even have many memories of him at all. Not any of her stroking his hair, or of sharing coffee while he comforted her, of nothing but rejecting him and a scrambled one-night stand. But there would be more, he’d make sure of that. He wasn’t going anywhere.
“Is she okay? Did you get everything?” Stephen asked, lifting and cradling her in his arms.
“Yeah, I got everything. Let’s go and put her in her bed. She probably won’t wake up until the morning. Tomorrow is Sunday, right?” Brandon asked, shaking his head. He was so lost on time.
“Yeah, she’ll have a day to recuperate before she has to go back to work. Do you think she’ll be upset like she was, before you cleared everything?”
“No. I took out enough that I don’t think she’ll be that bad off. She might be quiet, a little distant, but not screaming like she was.” Brandon eased Evelyn’s hair off her face while he took in her relaxed features. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful. Wiping the streaks of tears away, he looked up at her ex-fiancé.
“Look, obviously you feel something. All right, I accept that. But we both know what is best for her, and it’s not you,” Stephen snapped. “She needs a stable home, a family…kids. Evelyn won’t get that with you. I want to give her that.”
Brandon watched as the big blond turned toward the door. He knew that Stephen was right. He couldn’t give Evelyn those things. Yes, he owned a house, just outside of Austin. But he was never there. The world held too much to stay in one place for long, but he’d give it up if he found the right person. As for kids, well, that was debatable.
As myth goes, vampires are dead, no heartbeat, no soul, dead once the sun comes up. Horseshit. Except for a sensitivity to fluorescent lighting and a sunburn if in the sun too long, he was fine. He could stay up for days if he wanted to—dead at night, his ass.
Brandon lived his everyday life like anyone else. So did all the other vampires. Between that and being able to make people forget about the consumption of blood, why else did everyone believe vampires were myths? No one wandered around and found vampires in coffins. That was ridiculous.
“Let’s put her to bed. And truthfully, I don’t think
you’re
right for her, Stephen. You’ve already hurt her before. What makes you think it’s not going to happen again?”
Brandon peeked out the door. The coast was clear. No one was out. He walked over, using Evelyn’s key to unlock the door, and motioned Stephen to proceed.
Once Evelyn was changed and tucked into her bed, the guys looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to leave her. How long would it be until she finally woke up? Would she remember?
“To answer your question, I’m right for her because I left to protect her from what I am. If you had seen how Sheila reacted when she found out she carried lycanthropy, you wouldn’t blame me for removing myself from Evelyn’s life. Ayden’s sister went ballistic. I’m talking suicide attempts, massive fits of rage, and the works. You really think I wanted to bring the love of my life into that situation?”