Page 86 of Bonded By Blood

Brianna shifted around until she was sitting beside Joe, facing the sofa, no longer so mindful of covering herself with the comforter. “You really just came here to remind him that he begins formal duties tomorrow, didn’t you?”

“Of course not,” Trista said. “I also came to offer my congratulations. I realize I may not have been overly supportive before.”

Joe glanced down at Brianna and she looked over at him briefly. A smile lifted her lips. Her mother’s approval hadn’t been something she’d required, but he knew it would make her feel better not to feel as if they were at odds.

“Thank you,” Brianna said.

“If you’re interested, I could also update you,” Trista said after several seconds.

Brianna let out a breath. Somehow, Joe felt as if he understood her sentiment. They weren’t even back on their feet yet.

“News on Boris?” Joe asked. “Or did the Slayer catch the wayward Wilson?” Frankly, until he’d caught his breath, he was hoping for the latter. He brought his bottle to his lips again for another drink while he waited for the answer.

“No, unfortunately, my bastard of a brother has disappeared.” Trista’s expression hardened for a moment, mirroring her spoken disdain. “Jasen has fully recovered and taken leave in an effort to find him. Now that you’ve survived, I’ll likely send Seth out to conduct a similar search. There aren’t many vampires I’m willing to trust this secret with.”

Brianna licked a droplet of blood from her lips and asked, “You’re giving up on the Wilson hunt?”

“Not at all,” Trista replied. “I’m working on my trust. The Slayer is still under my employ, and still chasing him.” She shifted in her seat, casting a quick glance toward the closed door, and lowered her voice. “Which brings me to the main thing you might want to know.”

Warning bells went off in Joe’s head. “What’s going on?”

In his peripheral vision, he saw Brianna look between them. She remained quiet, waiting for her mother’s answer.

“I would like to qualify what I’m about to tell you with the disclaimer that this was not my idea,” Trista said. “Further, I advised very heavily against it. I believe I said ‘absolutely not’ or something similar. Repeatedly.”

Brianna groaned. “What did Kendall do?”

Joe cringed. He really hoped whatever Trista was about to say had nothing to do with Kendall. But they hadn’t heard from the girl since their first day of self-imposed Bonding-Quarantine—Kendall’s term—so she had to be doing something.

Trista let out a breath. “After you two locked yourselves in here, she decided to follow after that Slayer boy and help him chase down the Wilson that escaped.”

Joe nearly dropped his bottle of blood.

“She what?” Brianna exclaimed, a hand flying over her mouth. “Why didn’t you stop her?”

“You were very clear to me in the past about not physically restraining her.”

“Except when it’s to protect her!”

“As Kendall pointed out she is, by all societal standards, an adult,” Trista said. “And I’ve never instituted any such law in my territory that travel is forbidden.”

Brianna groaned and slumped into Joe’s shoulder. “But it’s been three days,” she said. “She could be almost anywhere! How are we supposed to get her back here? How am I supposed to find her?”

Joe frowned at the bottle in his hands. “I think that’s why she didn’t tell you herself,” he said carefully.

Brianna sat up. “What?”

Trista arched a brow at him but stayed quiet.

“She had to know you’d disapprove, and do whatever you could to keep her from going,” he said. “So she deliberately waited until you were indisposed and left without saying anything. Knowing it’d be too late by the time you found out.”

“How is that helpful?” Brianna asked, frowning at him. She stood, holding her half-finished bottle at her side. “Maybe I can track her phone again. Honestly, after everything that happened last week, what was she thinking going off on her own—”

“Brianna,” Joe said, cutting into her building rant before she could get herself too worked up. When she looked at him again, he continued. “I won’t pretend to know Kendall better than you, but I have to think that she’s mature enough at the age of twenty-six to learn from past mistakes. I know you’re worried about her, and you want to protect her, but running after her now and dragging her back here won’t teach her anything good. It will only teach her that she can’t stand on her own two feet. Or worse, that she can’t trust you.”

Brianna’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth, but only a squeak came out before she closed it again. She looked away and her shoulders slumped.

“This is as much my fault,” Trista said.