“I have the right to know her,” he continued. “She’s my blood as much as yours, my family, my child, too.” His voice broke, but the accusation in his eyes cut her like shards of broken, lethal glass.
Head aching, she tried to think. His child. Their child. Dani.
Taking a deep breath, she wondered if she’d be able to convince him or if she was simply wasting her breath. Finally, she shook her head, sending her long hair flying. She had no choice but to continue to try. Especially taking into account the High Vampire Priestess’s warning.
Bravely, she lifted her chin. “All I’m asking for is the chance to raise my daughter in peace.”
“Raise your—She’s mine, too, Marika. Mine. It’s bad enough you didn’t think I had the right to know when she was born.”
“For her own safety.” The words exploded from her. “I couldn’t tell you. I’ve been warned. They’ve been after me from the beginning.”
He went utterly still. Finally, he was listening. “You keep alluding to her safety. If you’re telling the truth, tell me this. Who’s been after you?”
“I don’t know.” Even to herself, her admission sounded weak, contrived. Still, he was a Protector, sworn to protect his own kind. She couldn’t tell him what he wanted to know without risk. And if she did, she was certain he would think she was lying.
“Come on.” His gaze raked her face. “You’re looking for excuses.”
Lifting her chin, she let him read the despair in her face. “Beck, I can’t prove anything to you. Take my word for it. Dani’s in danger. I keep her hidden to protect her. I want her safe.”
“You know what? I honestly do believe you.” Dragging a hand across his eyes, his voice roughened. “I don’t know why, but if you think she’s truly in danger, then she is. Hellhounds. Let me help you.”
Stunned, she could only stare. She’d done nothing to earn his trust and everything to make him brand her a liar. Once she would have killed to have him say those words to her. Now, he represented both the past she tried so hard to forget, and danger.
“How you must hate me.” Eyes tearing, Marika turned away so he wouldn’t see.
“Look at me,” he ordered.
Slowly, she turned, wiping at her eyes. Her breath caught as she did as he asked. Even now, she found him beautiful. With his shaggy black hair and intricate tattoos, he looked edgy and more like a vampire than she.
Leaning forward, he spoke earnestly. “Marika, I’ve never blamed you for what happened. I blamed myself. I loved my sister. For the rest of my life, I’ll have to deal with the fact that I wasn’t there when she needed me. I failed to protect her.”
“Because you were with me.”
He dipped his chin, acknowledging the truth of her words, and the lie. “We both know it was wrong, but there was no way we could have predicted what happened.”
“Juliet paid the ultimate price.” With nothing left to give him but the truth, she kept her voice steady. “Dani resulted from that night. Life from death. I would have thought you would hate her.”
“Do you?” His hard voice made her flinch. “Do you hate her?”
She frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I don’t hate my daughter. What happened to Juliet wasn’t Dani’s fault, it was mine—ours. Dani was the only thing that kept me sane.”
“There.” He pounced on her words. “Don’t you see? I’ve fought my own battles with grief, with guilt over what happened. I would have welcomed Dani, loved her, let her save me, too, if you’d given me the chance.”
She refused to allow him to make her feel any guiltier than she already felt. He didn’t know what she knew. “I told you, I couldn’t. I was telling the truth earlier. She’s in danger. I couldn’t let anyone find out about her. Not my own people and certainly not yours.” She clamped her lips together in a straight line.
“Why certainly not mine?”
“For her own safety. And, Beck, I didn’t do what I did out of malice. I honestly didn’t know how you would feel about her, and worse, I couldn’t take the chance of trying to find out. Surely you can understand that.”
“No, I can’t.” His eyes narrowed. “Tell me what happened. That night, after we found Juliet …”
“I waited for you. When you didn’t return, I drove to Addie’s bar. The police were already there. When I learned what had happened, I knew. I searched for you, but couldn’t find you anywhere. Then I looked for Addie, but she’d disappeared, too. Someone told me you’d both gone to talk to the police.” She put her hand to her mouth, wondering if the pain and grief would ever lessen.
He must have felt the same. For a moment, he bowed his head. Then, swallowing, he seemed to force himself to go on. “When I got back, you were gone. You vanished. Why? Where did you go?”
“Hunting. I went to find the ones that killed her.”
“Vampire Huntress. Your skills are rumored to be unparalleled. Did you find them?”
“No.” She felt a shiver of remembered rage. “For the first time in centuries, I failed. I wasn’t even able to find a single clue.”
“Neither did the police, whether human or shifter. Still, even if you were hunting, even if you didn’t succeed, I don’t understand why you hid yourself from me.”
The time had come to tell him the truth.
“While I was hunting, someone else was looking for me.”
“Who?”
“Brigid. She’s ancient, one of the oldest of our kind. She’s also a Vampire Priestess, the leader of the order of Vampire Huntresses. She’s the one who told me I was pregnant. She called it a miracle.” She didn’t tell him what else Brigid had said. Not yet. She’d give him truth, but in bits and pieces.
“She was right. You getting pregnant is kind of a miracle. Who knew vampires could conceive a living child?”
“I certainly didn’t. But Brigid also warned me that I couldn’t take risks with my baby’s safety. She warned me of a threat, though she didn’t know when and from where it would come. I went into hiding to ensure that no one knew. No one except Brigid and Addie.”
“Addie?”
“Yeah.” Her voice softened. “Even though she’s human and a couple of centuries younger, she’s always treated me like a daughter. I trust her.”
“I do, too.” They shared a smile. Marika looked away first.
“Anyway,” she continued. “Dani was born in an old cabin high in these mountains. I had no one to assist me, because I trusted none. Still, somehow they—whoever they are—found out. Someone came hunting. Even though she was only a few weeks old, I knew they wanted my baby.”
“They?”
