Page 23 of Blood Moon

She squinted in the darkness, apparently not seeing the cabin. It was easy to forget that she didn’t have the same enhanced senses that I did. Since she couldn’t see it, I put my arm around her and escorted her toward the front door. Delilah stumbled on the steps, and I scooped her up, carrying her the last few feet to the door. I disabled the security system until we were inside.

I turned on a lamp inside the door so Delilah wouldn’t be in the dark. I didn’t need the light, but somehow I remembered that she might feel better if she could see. I reactivated the security system and turned to her.

“Let’s get you to your room,” I offered. She winced. “What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?” I scooped her up and ran to the couch, where I carefully dropped her to the soft cushions.

“I’m fine. I just can’t handle the thought of being alone right now. I’m worried about Uncle Vinny, and I’m scared.” Her lips quivered as she spoke, and I could feel her heart start to race.

“What can I do?” I hated feeling helpless, but I knew that I couldn’t leave her alone right now.

“Let me stay with you. Just be near me. Please.”

I couldn’t refuse her simple plea. I wanted to be near her as much as she needed me to stay close. “I need to watch the video feed. Are you up for that?”

Her wince told me that she wasn’t. I nodded, shrugging out of my jacket. I moved the thumb drive of the security feed from my jacket to my pants pocket. I would watch it after she fell asleep. It didn’t matter, as I was certain I knew what I would see. Only a vampire could have done that much damage to the bar in such a short amount of time. Strain had made the next move. No doubt it was because Delilah spurned his advance.

I relived the feeling of relief that I’d felt when she agreed to have dinner with me instead of insisting on going with him. I knew that I had almost screwed everything up by pushing her away. I wouldn’t let that happen again. I couldn’t keep letting my mistakes with Kat influence any potential future I could have.

I sat down on the couch with Delilah and encouraged her to lean on me. “I can deal with the security feed later. You need to rest.” I put my arm around her as she laid her head on my chest and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“Thank you. For everything.” The words were a whisper before she finally gave in and fell asleep. I leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then pulled the thumb drive out of my pocket, along with an adapter and my phone.

She didn’t budge the whole time I was digging things out of my pocket. Since I was convinced she was asleep, I hooked the drive up to my phone and played the video.

What I saw did not surprise me. I knew it had been Strain or his men who destroyed Midnight. From the video, I could see that he did all of the damage himself.

He walked up to the door like a man possessed. Strain started pounding on the door until it cracked under the pressure.

Once he was inside, he tore through the place, breaking anything that got in his way. I switched from the external cameras to the internal and continued to watch.

Strain made a show of breaking every bottle in the bar while screaming at the cameras. He knew that I would be watching. The whole thing was for show. He knew that it was pointless to damage property. That could be easily repaired.

I watched as he continued to destroy everything that Delilah and her uncle had worked so hard to create. It broke my heart. The moment Strain found Vinny was difficult to watch. It looked as if there was no way the human could have survived the attack. His doctors had assured me that he would make a full recovery, but maybe that had been because I told them I was paying for everything.

Delilah’s shocked gasp told me that she’d woken up at some point during the video. She had watched Strain beat her uncle nearly to death. The good news was that it didn’t look like Strain had bitten Vinny. I wasn’t sure how much comfort that would be to her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were awake,” I tried to apologize, knowing it would never be enough for the trauma I’d just allowed to happen.

She shook her head without lifting it from my chest. “It’s not your fault. I could have looked away. I wanted to know what he did. That man is a monster.” She started to cry and buried her face in my shirt.

I smoothed down her dark hair, letting her cry it out. If she thought Strain was a monster, perhaps she would have the same feeling about me if she knew everything that I’d been responsible for during this feud.

Chapter 22

Delilah

Viktor got quiet, too quiet. I wondered what he was thinking. Did it upset him that I’d called Strain a monster? Did he think it was because the man who’d almost killed my uncle was a vampire, like him?

I tilted my head up to look at him. His expression was serious, and he wouldn’t make eye contact. Apparently my comment had gotten to him. I refused to apologize. Strain was a monster. Nothing anyone could say would change my mind on that.

I put my hand on Viktor’s face and turned it, forcing him to look at me. “This isn’t your fault,” I said.

He didn’t respond, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he still blamed himself. I scooted up a bit until I was sitting closer to him. I put my hand back on his face, pulling him closer to me. I pressed my lips to his and kissed Viktor as if my life depended on it. He returned my passion with his own.

I had no idea if what I was feeling was real, or if it was just because of everything that had happened since I met him. At the moment, I didn’t care either way. I wanted him. I wanted him to want me. The rest of the world didn’t matter; neither did the future. We had this moment.

I kissed him again, taking control and climbing onto his lap. Our tongues tangled, then I trailed kisses down his cheek and nipped at his neck.

He growled, pulling me back to his mouth. His hands roamed down my back and grabbed my ass while his tongue battled with mine for dominance. I unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off his shoulders.