“Not all rumors. It sounds like your ordeal was too serious to become gossip.”
“Right.” She smiled. “And since Anandur is the source of most rumors, he must have shared your opinion. Or maybe Brundar asked him to keep quiet about it.”
Vlad pushed his hair back. “May I ask you a personal question?”
“Let me guess. You are wondering how I ended up married to a psychopath.”
He nodded.
Perhaps it would help him understand why Wendy’s mother had married her father, and why she’d abandoned her child, leaving her with the monster.
Callie sighed. “I was young and naive and knocked up. I’m convinced now that Shawn tampered with the condoms to get me pregnant and trap me into marrying him. He was older, bossy, but also very charming. Still, it didn’t feel right, but I was carrying his child, so I ignored the small voice in the back of my head that was warning me not to do it. I lost the baby shortly after we got married, and Shawn wanted to get me pregnant again right away, but I resisted. When he became even more controlling, and his angery outbursts became more frequent and more violent, I knew that I had to leave him, but I didn’t know how. He had complete control over our money, monitored my every move, and was suspicious of me even though I gave him no reason.”
Vlad wondered whether Wendy’s mother had gone through something similar.
Had she run away because she’d feared for her life?
Except, it still didn’t explain why she’d left Wendy behind, which was why he suspected that the story about her leaving because of a drug problem had been a cover-up for her murder.
“How did you get out?”
Callie smiled. “Brundar showed up at the restaurant I worked in, and like a guardian angel, he offered to help me escape Shawn.”
“How did you meet him? And how did he know that you needed help?”
She leaned forward. “A year before that, Shawn and I went to Brundar’s club, but since I wasn’t twenty-one yet, we weren’t allowed in. After Shawn made a big fuss about it, the receptionist called Brundar. He thralled Shawn to calm down, but while peeking into his head, he realized that I wasn’t safe with him.”
Callie smiled. “Both of us felt something, a special connection, but I was married, so Brundar resolved to just keep an eye on me and make sure that I was safe. When things got really bad, he could no longer watch from the sidelines and approached me at work. I was desperate, so I took him up on his offer to help me escape my abusive husband.”
“Did he hide you?”
She nodded. “He put me up in an apartment, gave me a job at his club, and had Edna help me with the divorce. He then took the papers to Shawn and thralled him to sign them. Naturally, I was completely clueless at the time and thought that he beat Shawn up to make him sign.” She chuckled. “He did that too. But long story short, Shawn somehow remembered Brundar, figured out that he was my lover, and decided to get his revenge on both of us. His plan was to kidnap me, wait for Brundar to rush to my rescue, kill him, and then keep me as his pet slave until the day I died.”
Callie shivered. “If he’d succeeded, that day would have arrived sooner rather than later. I would have killed myself at the first opportunity. With Brundar gone, I would have had nothing to live for. Besides, Shawn promised me a living hell, and I knew he would deliver on his promise.”
“What happened to him?”
Vlad had a good idea, but he wanted to make sure. If Anandur hadn’t killed the monster, he would finish the job himself.
Callie smiled sadly. “You can retract your fangs, Vlad. Shawn is no longer a problem.” She tilted her head. “Why did my story upset you so much?”
He glanced at Wendy, who was standing behind the counter and smiling at a customer while taking his order.
She had changed so much in the short time since her transition.
Wendy was happy, confident, and she loved working at the café. The worry lines that used to mar her forehead were gone, and she was quick to smile.
Dragging out the past might ruin the progress she’d made, which was why Vlad hadn’t approached Roni yet and asked him to dig into what had happened to her mom.
“Someone I care for was abused by her father.” He knew that Callie would guess it was Wendy, but as long as he didn’t say her name, it would remain just a guess. “I have a bad feeling that he did something to her mother. If he was anything like your ex, it’s possible that he murdered her.”
5
Richard
“Do you have to leave so soon?” Marla pulled Richard down for another kiss.
So far, out of all the clan females who’d won him for the night, she was the best, but regrettably, Marla wasn’t 'the one' either. The sex had been great, and she was fun to talk to, but neither of them had felt that special connection.
“Are you kidding me? So soon?” He chuckled. “I need to go home and sleep for twelve hours straight to recover my strength. I’m getting auctioned again tonight.”
She pouted. “Poor baby. It’s such hard work being the clan’s gigolo.”
“You have no idea.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pushed up. Only to fall back down.
“What’s the matter?” Marla frowned.
“I feel dizzy like I used to after a night of drinking. But I haven’t had any alcohol in days.” With a groan, he dropped his head on his fists. “I can’t go on like this.”
She put a hand on his forehead. “Maybe you’re finally transitioning?”
“I wish.” He had only two more days left.
After three inductions performed by three different males, he was still a human, and it seemed like that wasn’t going to change, which meant that in two days, Bowen would erase his memories, and he would be sent on his way.
Except, Richard had no intention of leaving. Even if he didn’t transition, he was going to stay on as a human. The village was a beautiful place to live in, he had more friends here than he’d ever had on the outside, and if he could slow down the rate of his gigolo services, he could keep on going for a while longer.
Somehow, he had to convince Kian not to kick him out.
Bowen had promised to talk to the guy about inducing Richard himself, but he hadn’t heard back from Kian yet. As the goddess’s son, Kian was the clan’s most pure-blooded immortal, and therefore his venom was supposedly the most potent. If that didn’t work either, Richard would have to accept that he just didn’t possess the godly genes.
It was so unfair.
Bringing him all the way to the fountain of youth and then denying him access was just too cruel. What had he done to deserve such punishment?
It was one thing not to know about immortals and never to hope to become one, and another thing altogether to have the prospect of immortality dangled in front of his face and then snatched away.
“Do you need help getting home?” Marla got out of bed and put a robe on. “I can get the golf cart for you.”
“No way. I’d become the laughingstock of the village. But if you could be a doll and make me a cup of coffee, that would be great.”
“No problem, sweetie.” She patted his cheek. “I’ll do more than that. How about a couple of juicy steaks? That should replenish your depleted energy reserves.”