Bound by Danger (The Alliance #6) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,57

her fresh blood on his tongue, but he’d promised Callie he wouldn’t feed on women unless it was a necessity, and it was not a necessity.

The woman looked at him and broke into a smile. “You shaved the beard.”

He ran his hand over his jaw as he remained standing in the doorway. He’d decided not to completely scrub her memory of him and Callie last night. He couldn’t have her, or the clerk who would come on after her, spotting them on camera outside of their room and calling the cops.

Instead, he’d left her with clear instructions to deny they were here if anyone came looking for them, and to call him immediately after they left.

“It was time,” he said.

“It looks good.” It was impossible to miss the lust in her gaze as it ran over him. “Did you enjoy your night with us?”

“Yes.”

It was the best night of his life, but she didn’t need to know that. He sent his ability out to take control of her mind as he glanced at his room. Everything remained calm outside, and there weren’t any other windows in the room, so the Savages couldn’t get at her another way. If they went after her, they would have to go through the front door, and he would see them.

He shifted his attention back to the woman. “Come here.”

She hesitated before putting the bottle and rag she’d been holding on the counter. She walked over to stand in front of him.

“Is there anyone else here?” he asked.

“No, my replacement doesn’t arrive for another hour.”

“Good. Give me your phone.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She handed it over to him, and he took it. “Go back to cleaning.”

She nodded, and he slipped out the door. Before he could think too long about it, he dialed the last number he had for Ronan and hit send. He kept his attention focused on the parking lot and their room as he listened to the phone ring.

There was a good chance Ronan wouldn’t pick up. They never kept their phones long, but if Ronan still held any hope of hearing from him, then he wouldn’t have gotten rid of this phone.

It rang five times, and he was about to hang up and dial the last number he had for Declan when the ringing stopped and a gruff voice asked, “Lucien?”

Despite his uncertainty over how this would all go and what they would think of him, relief and joy filled him at the sound of the familiar voice. You did not become a monster, he reminded himself.

But he would have if it wasn’t for Callie, and he couldn’t forgive himself for that. However, he may not be able to forgive himself, but once he heard the hope in Ronan’s voice, he realized they wouldn’t care. They wouldn’t hold his actions against him; they would just be happy to have him home.

“How did you know?” he asked.

The harsh release of Ronan’s breath sounded across the line. “Everyone else has a new number for me.”

“I thought you might have gotten rid of this phone.”

“I was hoping you’d call.”

“Here I am.”

“And who are you?”

Her mate. “I’m not a Savage.”

Ronan hesitated long enough that he thought he’d lost the connection. “You’ve been gone a while.”

“I have, and they starved me for most of that time, but I’m not one of them.”

“What happened?”

Lucien gave him a rundown of the details he remembered. A lot was a blur that revolved around thoughts of death, starvation, and feeding, but there were breaks in his cruel reality before Callie entered his life.

“You didn’t kill her?” Ronan asked when he told him about Callie.

“I could never kill my mate.”

Ronan’s breath hissed in. “You’re shitting me.”

Lucien chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair and tugged at the ends of it. “I’m not. I hurt her, badly, when I bit her, and that pierced through my madness. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be calling you. Or who knows, maybe I would, but the conversation would be a lot different.”

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, for now, but I have to get her somewhere safe.”

“Tell me where you are, and we’ll come get you.”

Lucien told him the name of the motel and the town.

“It’s going to take a while to get there; we have to be careful when we travel,” Ronan said.

“I know.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“We’re safe here; take your time.”

He said the words, but he wanted them here now. Callie