Page 29 of Blood Moon

“What about Delilah? Is she OK?” Terror crossed his face, and then I understood. Strain had threatened his family.

I had been just about to dig in his brain with compulsion to see what he was keeping from me when I heard Delilah coming down the hall. I knew there was no way to get the truth from him without her seeing. There were still things she didn’t know about me, and I intended to keep it that way.

“She’s fine. She will be in momentarily. I told her I needed to talk to you first. When she gets here, you aren’t going to tell her anything, right? She doesn’t need to be any more scared than she already is. Understood?” I towered over the small man in his hospital bed. Was it horrible of me to intimidate someone who’d almost been beaten to death? Yes. Would I do it again? Absolutely, if it was necessary.

Vinny nodded just as the door opened and Delilah walked in. She was flustered, but I couldn’t tell if it was from being at the hospital or if something had happened.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to take so long,” she apologized as she walked past me to her uncle. A strange scent wafted in the air as she passed by. It must have been the soap in the bathroom. There was something familiar about it. Something I just couldn’t quite place.

“I have some business to take care of, so I will leave the two of you to visit. I’ll be back in about thirty minutes to pick you up, Myshka.” I waited for her to nod in response and left the room.

They didn’t need me interrupting their family business. Besides, I needed to talk to Jones. I shot him a text when I walked into the hall.

Where are you? I’ll meet you.

He responded, third door to the left.

I walked down the hall and opened the third door on the left. “This is a nice set up. How did you get by with bringing surveillance equipment in here?”

Jones laughed. “They don’t even know I’m here. I charmed the desk nurse to put the room out of order for a week while repairs were made. She has everyone convinced that there’s a water leak in here. No one bothered to check it out for themselves.”

I nodded. “Good. Has anyone been in to see Vinny?”

“No one has been to visit him except you and the girl. But I don’t think he’s the one you need to be worried about. Look at this.” He turned on the video and tilted the screen toward me.

I watched as Delilah headed down the hall toward the bathroom. She ran into someone and was whisked into a janitor’s closet. It happened so quickly that the camera barely caught the movement. “That has to be Strain. How did he get in here? Our guys were supposed to be keeping an eye out for him.”

“I know. I’m reaching out to them now. I suspect one or more won’t respond, then we’ll know who he took out.” Jones was typing away on his phone while I continued to watch the video feed.

“Why didn’t she tell me about this? Did he threaten her too? I have to get to the bottom of this.” I paced the room as I debated if I should just ask her. If he’d charmed her, she might not remember. If he’d compelled her, she might not be able to tell me. That meant I would have to wait and see if she said anything on the way home. I didn’t want to scare her more than she already was. I had meant that when I said it to Vinny. I wanted to protect her.

Chapter 29

Delilah

After Viktor left, I felt like I could relax a little. I sat down in the chair next to my uncle and looked at him. The bruising on his face and chest was bad, but the casts on his arms and legs looked worse. I worried that his injuries were more extensive than he let on. Viktor had been the one talking to the doctor, so I wasn’t really sure how badly Uncle Vinny was hurt.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked gently. I hoped that Viktor hadn’t upset him by asking questions about what had happened.

“Eh, I’m okay, kiddo. What about you? Did he hurt you?” Uncle Vinny looked scared like he wanted to tell me something but couldn’t.

“Who, Viktor? He wouldn’t hurt me. He gave me a room at his cabin outside the city. Why?” I stared at my uncle, willing him to answer my question.

He shook his head. “I just have to be sure. I promised your Ma that I’d take care of you. I don’t want to let either of you down.” It was a rare moment of actual emotion from him, and it caught me off guard. My uncle, whom I’d looked up to since I was little, looked so small and broken in the hospital bed with the wires and tubes coming out of him. He wasn’t a large man, but this was painful to see.

“He was a perfect gentleman. You have nothing to worry about.” It felt strange to comfort him, especially when I wasn’t sure if there was something to worry about or not. At the moment, all I knew was that two sexy, rich vampires were interested in me, and I wasn’t sure how to choose between them. I couldn’t tell either of them about my attraction to the other, although Eli seemed to already know and appeared more interested in sharing than I suspected Viktor would.

As if my thoughts had called him back, Viktor walked into the room in a rush. “We need to leave. Now.” He looked angry. Oh, no. Could he have discovered that I’d been with Eli? Shit, how was I going to cover that up? Should I even try?

I leaned over and kissed Uncle Vinny’s cheek. “I’ll see you soon.” The look on his face said that he didn’t believe me. I hoped I wasn’t promising something I couldn’t deliver.

“OK, let’s go.” I walked past Viktor without looking at him and headed down the hall to the exit.

He followed quickly, grabbing my arm to stop me. “I want you to tell me what that was about.”

“First of all, let go of my arm. Second, I have no idea what you’re talking about. You said we needed to go. I figured there was a reason that you would tell me once we were out of the room,” I countered. I hoped that I appeared more brave than I felt. My insides were quivering. I wasn’t sure if I was scared that he’d be angry about Eli kissing me, or if I was worried that Viktor wouldn’t want me anymore.

“What happened when you went to the bathroom? You were gone for a long time.” Viktor was trying to cover his anger with curiosity.