Love Bites

In the meantime, he’d try Luke’s cell. Again.

He wasn’t surprised when the call went to voicemail, but he didn’t expect the phone to then go off in his hand before he’d set it aside. He clicked it on. “Luke?”

“Why the hell is she going to Budapest?”

Relief surged through him at his best friend’s voice. Whatever their differences over the years, Kellan loved Lucas like a brother. An annoying brother, but a brother just the same. He hated the thought of him searching alone for Emily, but it wasn’t as if he and Sydney were wanted on the journey. No, this trip was about the two of them, and their presence wasn’t needed.

And if Lucas didn’t come back, Sydney would forever be caught between two worlds. There was no one else he wanted to sire his woman, and that was even if Luke agreed to do it.

“Kell?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the vague ache in his temple. Stress was taking its toll. “You’d have to ask Sydney that question. Though I doubt she’d tell you, because she wouldn’t tell me. Emily vowed her to secrecy.”

“Then put her on the phone.”

“I can’t. She’s incapacitated.”

“Jesus, couldn’t wait till I was gone to bang her senseless, huh?”

“It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The bond between us scares me, Luke. When you love someone this much, the threat of loss is terrifying.”

“Yet you can’t really make her yours.”

“She is mine, in every way that counts. As for the rest….”

“I don’t want to go there. Not now. I have to find Emily.”

“I understand that. But once you have, we’ll need to sit down and talk. The four of us. You know there’s no one else I’d trust her to.”

Silence reigned on the other end of the line for so long Kellan wondered if Lucas had hung up. “Is this where I’m supposed to thank you for saving Emily’s life? And to offer my siring services to your mate?”

“You need time to think.”

“That’s not all I need, believe me.”

Lucas let out a breath, a sure sign he wasn’t feeling himself. “What was Em’s change like?”

Kellan didn’t press. He knew Luke would find his way to helping him and Sydney, in time. “She went through most of it peacefully, thanks to my mate’s extra-refined blood.”

“Well, the rest of her’s extra-refined, so it only makes sense her blood is, too.”

“Yes, well, hold on to your memories, because you’re not going to get another shot at her body up close and personal.”

Though they both knew that probably wasn’t true, Luke didn’t argue. “At least remembering will keep me warm tonight,” he muttered. “You didn’t tell Emily about the three of us?”

“Of course not. The goal is to get you together, not to keep you apart.”

“Kell, she’s gone. You saw how quick I left, but she must’ve had somebody clean out her apartment for her. Or she lived like a nun because the place is practically empty.”

“You broke in?”

“No, I coerced the landlord to let me in through some less-than-legal means.” Lucas’s voice was grim. “He’s no worse for wear. Me, on the other hand, I’m not so good. I really don’t want to go to Budapest, especially since I have no clue why I’m going. Well, I know why I’m going, but what I can’t figure out is what Emily could possibly want in Hungary. She’s a librarian, not a world traveler.”

Kellan glanced at the snoozing woman beside him and thanked God she was at his side. “I think Emily was abused.”

“Don’t put that in my head.” Luke’s agitation all but poured over the phone line. “Not now. Not until I can be sure she’s okay.”

“You need to be careful with her. There may be more behind her prickly exterior than just a distrust of men in general. She’s fragile.”