The Breed Casstiel's Vow (25 page)

He hadn’t even batted an eye at her. He accepted her
with open arms and love blazing in his eyes.

 “I have something else to say but you’re not going
to like it, so just hold me for a minute more,” she sighed against his chest,
and felt his muscles stiffen in anticipation of the fight.

“Alright, here goes,” she pulled out of his arms.

~

Casstiel’s face was visibly contorted with rage as he
pinched the bridge of his nose. He had been like this for several minutes after
Tessa had told him she was going to question the hunter and he couldn’t stop
her. If he said no, she would go to the other men, even Sebastian if she had
to, and convince them to let her.

 “You… that’s the worst… absolutely the worst… over
my dead body,” he finally choked out, his eyes tightly shut, his jaw clenching
with the effort to speak.

“I know you think it’s a bad idea,” she replied in her
lightest voice, “but I’ll be totally safe. You can even come in the room with
me. He’s already been captured, he doesn’t have any weapons, hand cuff him to
the chair if that makes you feel better.”

“It doesn’t,” he roared, his eyes flaring open with
rage.

She shrunk back in fear, but managed to hold her ground.

“They shot you, they’ve killed hundreds of my people,
they’re manipulative, and evil to the core. You think you’re going in there to
talk to a man, but you’re not, you’re going in there to talk to a serial
killer. Would you go talk to Ted Bundy?” he raged as he stormed through the room
picking up his clothes and violently putting them on.

“If it could help me find my brother,” she replied
stubbornly, putting on her own clothing.

“And what are you going to do if your brother is with
them? What are you going to do if that hunter tells you he’s been working for
them for years and is trying to kill us all, would have killed Nora in that
subway if he hadn’t been so outnumbered?” his chest was heaving with the effort
to breathe, could she really not see how badly this could end for her?

“He won’t say that, because there is no way in hell
Quinn is with them,” she shut her eyes and tried to keep calm, she had to get
him to agree with her, “You don’t know him but his heart is just like mine, he
could never stand to be around people like the hunters, and he’s not a killer.”

“That was before he joined the Breed, you don’t know
what he’s like now Tessa,
he
could be dangerous.
Joining the Breed can change people, sometimes humans aren’t strong enough to
handle it,
they
break down. Look at Memphis’ son,
maybe you should ask Nora what he did to her,” he snapped and walked away,
choosing to pace in front of the windows instead of look at her.

She let him go without a
fight,
if she wanted to win this battle she would have to stay calm and focused. She
knew her proposition was a good one, and all the members of his team would jump
on the chance in a heartbeat. She could be a valuable asset; her gift could
help them unlock all the hunters’ secrets.

 “I understand where you’re coming from, I know not
all Breed members are good people; but you have to trust me when it comes to my
brother,” she pleaded, “what if it was Sebastian out there, and my gift could
give us a chance to save him, wouldn’t you want me to use it?”

He grunted and stared out over the sky line. She could
see the muscles of his back flexing and straining, and hoped she was wearing
him down.

“I can help you guys find the hunters, maybe even find
out which Breed members betrayed you,” she
slid
her
arms around his strong torso and hugged him tightly. 

His shoulders tensed at the contact but he didn’t pull
away, instead he hung his head low, causing his thick black hair to fall around
his face.

“They don’t know I can read their minds. I’ll go in with
you, you question them and I’ll just sit in a corner. You can tell them I’m
there to write down there answers like a court reporter or something, hell you
can tell them I’m there attorney if you need to. They can’t feel me reading
their minds, they’ll never know,” she said gently, “they’re not going to be
paying me any attention because they’re going to be so focused on you. I’ll be
safe, and I’m not scared.”

“I have to get out of here,” he pulled away from her.

“Casstiel wait,” she tried to grab onto him, but he was
too quick.

“I’m gonna go down to the gym and work off some steam.
Just think it over tonight ok? Really think it over. Talk to Nora, catch up
with your parents and really think things over. If you wake up and you still
feel like you want to do this, we’ll worry about it then,” he refused to look
at her.

Whether he made her think it over once, or a thousand
times, she was going into that cage and talking to that hunter.

“Ok, I’ll think it over. Can Nora come up here? If you
want me to live here, you’ll have to get used to that,” she suddenly felt cold
and lonely. She wanted to wrap her arms around him again, wanted to tear down
this wall he was putting up, but she knew he would just pull away again.

“Give me time to adjust to that, I still don’t like the
idea of anyone besides you being in my personal space… and promise me you’ll
actually think about it,” his fists clenched at his sides.

“I promise,” she replied quietly, her mind still firmly
made up.

“I love you,” he stormed off down the hallway and out
the door.

Tessa watched him go and hated the mountain of emotions
that welled up inside her.

~

Cass threw open the doors to the gym so hard they hit
the wall and bounced back. He was furious, and needed to hit something, badly.

What the hell is she thinking?
He raged to himself.

She was beyond insane. She had been shot less than a
week ago, and now here she was ready to throw herself into the fire again.
There were grown men who fought in wars that didn’t have balls as big as her.

Yet she had been nearly petrified to walk down a hallway
alone with him.

He let out an exasperated growl then smashed his fist
into a locker door, denting it severely.

“Cass? You alright man?” Memphis called out from behind
him.

He closed his eyes and desperately tried to hold back
his temper.

“Didn’t see you in here,” he bit out, heading towards
the gym equipment.

“With the way you blew in here like a bat out of hell
I’m not surprised,” he put down the heavy bar bells he had been lifting, “you
still pissed about the fight with Sebastian?”

“It’s that girl again,” Cass erupted, “Now she’s trying
to go in and question the hunter about her brother.”

“Her and Nora just can’t give up that Nancy drew shit
can they?” he shook his head, “They’re worse than Lucy and Ethel. Come on, I’ll
hold the punching bag.”

Casstiel let out a small sigh of relief. Not only was
Memphis a perfect person to rage to, he was also strong enough to take the hits
that were about to be heading his way.

“Tessa has a gift, has she told you?” he asked as his
fist collided with the weight of the punching bag. The slight sting in his
knuckles was soothing, making him
crave
more.

“Sebastian told me. Her parents said the gift was how
they found us, but that she never talked about it,” he replied as a wave of
blows sent him jarring backwards.

“Yeah well she wants to use this fucking
gift
to
read the hunters mind,” his fists built up momentum, each punch gaining speed
and strength.

Memphis didn’t respond to the news, just quietly thought
it over while the tirade continued.

He relished the pain and hated her gift and her brother
for bringing this mess to them in the first place. He hated being the leader of
the defense team and being in the position he was in. As the leader he knew he
had to put her in there, her gift was the most amazing asset the Breed could
hope for when it came to the war.

As a man, however, he hated himself for considering
putting her within a hundred feet of those evil bastards. How could he even
think about using his mate like that?

Now that he finally had her she should be out enjoying
her life and getting spoiled. Instead he was going to throw her to the dogs.

 “Hey man, stop beating yourself up,” Memphis
interrupted his thoughts, “not all women want to be pretty princesses, she just
wants to help find her brother, it’s not like she’s asking for a bullet proof
vest and to go out with us.”

“I feel like I’m using her, exploiting her,” he was
working up
a frenzy
, his fists almost blurred with the
speed of the blows, “I hate this fucking war.”

With a loud ripping noise the bag finally deteriorated
under the strain and sand gushed out of it like an open wound.

 “She’s gonna be alright man, you got yourself a
brave little mama and you should be happy about that. You bonded with a woman
who’s growing into her own strength every day. Being with you has helped her
come out of her shell so much, you don’t even know. You’re not using her,
you’re helping her. She wants to do this, wants to prove she’s not the helpless
little girl she always thought she was, and she needs you and your strength to
lean on while she does it,” Memphis laid it all out.

 He was right, and Tessa was right, and no matter
how much he hated it, he was going to have to get over it and let her do the
questioning.

“Where are the boys?” he asked pacing.

“Well your brother is probably upstairs destroying
furniture and cursing your name, Jax and Kain went to the bar to find some
lovelies like always, and Ghost went to the same place he goes every night,
where that is, your guess is as good as mine,” Memphis replied replacing the
punching bag.

“We’ll call a meeting tomorrow morning and make a game
plan for how this is going down,” anger still coursed through his veins.

“We’ve got four more punching bags after this one, may
as well put them to good use,” Memphis nodded,
then
held the sides of the bag again while Cass went to work.

“You’re lucky I don’t need to sleep or you’d be dead,”
Nora snapped as Tessa climbed into her bed, “It’s three thirty in the morning,
what couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“I told Cass I love him,” the words rushed from her
throat, “and I mean it, not some stupid high school crush. I mean, I’m moving
in with him, I’m calling my parents and telling them everything.”

“Damn!” Nora was suddenly wide awake.

She was overjoyed with her
friends
new journey, but deep down she was terrified the bond would take her over as
well.

As Tessa gushed on and on about the night she had and
her feelings for Cass, Nora put on a happy smile and swallowed the bile that
was rising up in her throat. She couldn’t let this happen to her.

He’s not coming back, you’ll never see him again
, she comforted herself.

“Can I ask you something?” Tessa asked shyly, peeking
over the blankets at her.

She stiffened immediately, “no.”

Not today. Not ever if she could help it.

“Casstiel thinks Quinn might have… gone crazy when he
ingested the Breed blood, he thinks it might have changed him, made him a
killer, like Memphis’ son,” her voice quivered a little as she spoke, she knew
she was entering dangerous territory.

“Changing over to the Breed doesn’t make you evil; you
have to already have the evil inside of you. Quinn isn’t anything like
that,
he isn’t evil or a traitor. The guys just think that
because they have to look at the situation from every angle,” she tried to be
reassuring. She wouldn’t talk about Billy, he didn’t deserve her breath.

Guilt dug into Nora. Tessa was her best friend, and now
it seemed she was keeping a vault of secrets from her; first Billy, and now the
bond.

She trusted Tessa with her life, loved her as more than
a sister, but when you kept things locked inside your heart for so long they
just festered there, making it almost impossible to bring them to the surface.

As far as Quinn went, she wasn’t even ready to admit
what happened to
herself
, let alone to his biggest
fan.

“So you don’t think my brother’s a killer?” she
instantly brightened.

  “Oh honey I didn’t say that,” she laughed, “I
would say he’s seen a lot of death since he left your family, but he doesn’t
kill for pleasure. Just like Cass and all the other guys here, he kills because
he has to.”

 “I told Cass about my gift,” she sighed, and began
to fill her in on her plan to question the hunters and how he had reacted to
it.

“He better just get over it,” Nora huffed, “even if he
says no, we’ll find a way to break into the holding cell and question him
ourselves.”

The two girls pounded fists in agreement, but Tessa
still seemed in low spirits.

“Come on love, let’s get some ice cream. I’ve got moose
tracks, and you can tell me all about sex with Cass,” Nora went immediately
into cheer up mode.

“Moose tracks?” she laughed, clearly happy for the
distraction.

 “So… is he big?” Nora winked at her.

“You have
no
idea,” her face flamed as she held
her hands apart to give a size estimate.

As their conversation turned to talk of amazing sex
Nora’s thoughts snaked to what sex might be like with Quinn.

Would he be a sweet and gentle lover?
Passionate
and romantic?
Maybe even dominating and aggressive?
Her heart skipped a beat, and she forced herself to focus on their
conversation.

She would NOT be having sex with Quinn.
Ever.
So it didn’t matter what kind of lover he would be.
Period.

~

Ghost arrived first to the office as usual and Cass
quickly pulled him aside to apologize about his desk.

“I figured something like that was going to happen,” he
replied, a rare smile tugged the corner of his mouth, “Sometimes the bond just
surprises people.”

“Yeah well, I’ll get you a new desk tomorrow,” Cass
sighed, embarrassed at how easily Ghost read into other peoples personal lives.

Memphis and Sebastian walked in next, heads bent in
conversation. Sebastian looked up and gave him the slightest head nod in
greeting.

He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding
and nodded back. Sebastian had taken the night to reflect on everything, he was
sure of it, and had decided to accept the bond and move on.

There would be no emotional movie reconciliation for him
and his brother, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Everyone looked up as Jax and Kain straggled in last,
evidence of a hard nights partying written all over them.

They both sported 5 o’clock shadows along with clothes
that had clearly been slept in.

 “Alright, now that we’ve all decided to show up to
work,” he shot a very pointed look at the boys, “let’s get down to business.”

Was he really going to go through with this?

 “Tessa can read human minds... she can read the
hunter’s minds. I am very
very
fucking against this,
but I understand that sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the good of
your people,” he spit out bitterly.

“So wait a minute… are you saying what I think you’re
saying?” Kain shook his head slowly, his brain working through the hangover.

“What I’m saying is that we are going to lock that sack
of shit down, one of us is going in there with her and we’re gonna question him
while she sits very far the fuck away from him and reads his mind,” his fingers
speared through his hair, he still couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“You’re not going in with her?” Jax blurted out in
surprise.

“Do I look like I could go in there with her?” he
snapped, “I can barely stand to talk about this idea. If that piece of shit
even looks at her wrong I’ll tear him apart, and we’ll lose any shot we had.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll make sure he’s focused on me and
barely has time to think about her being in the room,” Kain piped up, cracking
his knuckles.

Cass closed his eyes and tried to stop his anger from
boiling over. He knew they would be excited about the news, but in this moment
he hated them all.

“No I’ll do it,” Sebastian’s icy voice cut in, “Your
reputation for losing control of your temper is legendary, you’ll scare the
girl half to death before she’s even gotten a chance to use her gift.”

 “Thank you brother,” he let out a sigh of relief.

Sebastian was an excellent interrogator and could guide
the conversation to make sure that Tessa got all the information she needed.

He still didn’t like the idea of her being in the cage
with the hunter, but he was starting to feel like he could breathe again.

He would wake her up and get her ready, coach her on how
to act during the questioning and send her in. by the time she was ready for
lunch this would be all over.

~

“Tessa, wake up my love,” soft hands rubbed across her
belly.

“
Mmm
…” she moaned rolling to
her side.

“Get up,” he kissed down the side of her neck “before I
keep going and then you’ll never get to question the hunter.”

She shot upright.

“Really!” she shouted in disbelief, hugging him around
the middle, “I’m sorry this is bothering you so much, but thank you.”

 “Just get dressed before I change my mind,” he
pinched the bridge of his nose.

“We’ll have to get my clothes from Nora’s place,” she
bounced out of bed.

“Tonight we move your things in here. Did you inform
your parents?” Casstiel asked, thinking that now that they had overcome the
mountain of Sebastian and Nora’s approval the next big obstacle would be to
gain her parents approval on their whirlwind relationship.

“No I’ll call them tonight. I want to wait until I have
some good news about Quinn to counter balance the news of me now being in a
relationship with a vampire I met a week ago and the fact that I’m not coming
home,” she laughed.

“As long as you do it soon,” he followed her down to the
elevator, “I want to get their approval before we’re married.”

“Married?” she choked on the word, “We’re not getting
married.”

“Of course we will,” he waved her off.

“We’ll argue about that later, I don’t have the patience
right now,” she grumbled. Wasn’t moving in together enough for him?

 “We certainly will,” his eyes burrowed into her.

The tension in the defense department was so thick and
uncomfortable when they walked in. Every man in the room seemed strained and
uncomfortable; no one was happy to be putting her in the same room with a
hunter, but it was a necessary evil.

“I’m not afraid,” she stared soberly at the faces in the
room. She didn’t know what else to say to them, but she wanted them to know
they didn’t need to worry.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, if he even looks at
you the wrong way I’ll cut his fucking balls off,” Kain growled darkly, the
hair standing up on the back of his neck.

“Charming,
really
,” Sebastian cut in giving him a
scathing look, “why don’t you run along and ensure our prisoner is properly
restrained before you start giving her nightmares.”

“Idiot,” Cass muttered, as he walked past.

“Who am I going with?” she did her best to be all
business.

“Me,” Sebastian approached her, “I’ll give you a pad of
paper and a
pen,
write down everything you hear him
saying, even if you don’t think it’s important.”

“Right, I’m going to stay quiet, not speak to him
directly, and if he says anything to me, I’m not to answer him,” she ticked off
the rules Cass had given her.

“Exactly… I’m ready when you are,” he nodded and headed
out to the questioning room.

“I’m going to stay here, I don’t think I can stand
seeing you go in there,” Casstiel swallowed hard, “just… just go before I
change my mind.”

 “Don’t worry, I got her, your girl’s got nothing
to worry about and neither do you,” Memphis clasped him on the shoulder and
squeezed hard, then walked out the door himself.

“I’ll be back in less than a half hour,” she kissed his
cheek and headed out the door with Jax and Ghost standing on either side of
her.

“You guys don’t have to act like body guards,” she laughed
nervously.

“You’re the bosses girl, whether you like it or not,
we’re gonna treat you like a Queen,” Jax smiled down at her.

Before she knew it they had reached the end of the
hallway and came to a thick steel door that looked more like the entrance to a
bank vault than a holding cell.

As Jax gripped the heavy looking handle and pulled, she
noted it had to be at least two feet thick. Whatever went
in,
had no chance of getting out.

The room felt like a meat locker and looked like a
maximum security prison, with iron bared jail cells covering each wall, and a
20 foot walk way through the middle.

Up ahead she saw a small room built out of what looked
like concrete cinder blocks, with another thick steel door and a long window
that ran along the front of it.

Sebastian stood stock still in front of the window with
his hands clasped tightly behind his back, observing the prisoner inside.

Sebastian could keep his cool in any situation, she
reminded herself and he had an uncanny ability to see through people, she would
be fine.

Cautiously she approached the window.

Aside from Kain, only a table and three chairs, one of
which held the hunter, were inside. He was hand cuffed to the chair facing the
window, which she realized was a two way
mirror
. The
chair was also hand cuffed to a thick iron bar that secured it to the wall; the
only way the hunter was standing up was if someone unlocked him.

She steeled her spine and focused. If she messed this
up, not only would they never give her another chance, she would be completely
disappointed in herself

“Tessa?”
Sebastian asked, his
bright green eyes sweeping over her face, trying to find weakness, looking for
any indication not to proceed.

“Let’s do it,” she said as firmly as she could muster,
then with her head held high followed him into the interrogation room.

~

Tessa pulled out the pad of paper and pen Sebastian had
given her,
then
sat quietly in the corner.

The hunter turned his face towards her for a moment but
quickly refocused on Sebastian, whose ridged posture and hard stare made him
seem more intimidating than she had ever seen him.