Chapter 30

My father appeared in the doorway as Valen was helping me to my feet. The questions began all over again, and I rolled my eyes, choosing to ignore them and let someone else give the answers. We stepped around the body of the Aswang and headed toward the bathroom. I needed to shower off the blood that was coating my body first before I left the estate for good.

I could hear the man who’d come with Valen speak to my father in the same calm tones, explaining the situation. I doubted it would do any good. The day my father cares more about people than his career plans is the day I fall into a dead faint.

As soon as the door was closed behind us, Valen began to undress me with the gentleness one would show for a newborn baby. My plain white cotton nightgown was sticky and wet with dark blood, so he held it away from my face as he lifted it over my head, which I was eternally grateful for. It dropped to the floor, and I was left in just my panties. He knelt down and, while looking up at my face, tapped first one foot and then the other after sliding them down my legs. Once I was fully naked, Valen quickly stripped out of his own clothing.

We took a hot shower together where Valen did all the work and I let him. Exhaustion from the adrenaline crash was making me want to close my eyes and just lean on him. The gentle brushing of his hands against my skin felt so soothing and the way he kissed the dark bruise on my ribs where the wood had dug into me made tears spring to my eyes.

“Valen,” I whispered hoarsely, but he just shushed me softly as he stood to his feet and gathered me in his warm embrace. In his arms, I’d never felt safer, and I never wanted to leave them again.

I wasn’t sure if Kallista was aware of how much her body was shaking throughout the shower. I was so proud of her for battling the demon and winning. I shudder to think of what would have happened if we hadn’t arrived when we did. I had faith that she would have been able to find the strength to get out from under the Aswang demon, but there was no use dwelling on it. She was safe, and I could touch her again and feel how alive she was.

Once I turned the water off, I quickly dried her and wrapped a towel around her body. It didn’t escape my notice that while she had a nice bedroom and attached bathroom, she had just the barest of essentials available. With as much money as the large, fancy house indicated her parents had, I would have expected more.

I peeked my head out of the bathroom door to see if anyone was around, only to find the bedroom empty except for a young woman who held a pile of folded clothing. When she heard me open the door, she jerked her gaze away from the bloody mess on the other side of the room. Her eyes widened in shock as she took in my appearance with just a towel wrapped around my waist.

“Are those for Kallista?” I asked in a gruff tone to get her attention back from my body.

“Um, yes.” She walked over to me, scanning my chest again, her gaze turning predatory. “I am usually responsible for taking care of her. If you want, I can come in…”

I didn’t like her eyes on me, and I didn’t like the way her face had changed when she mentioned my mate. I grabbed the clothing from her. “No, thanks. You won’t be needed any longer.” I replied curtly and shut the door in her face, reaching for the lock only to realize there wasn’t one. I shook my head and turned back to Kallista, who was leaning heavily on the counter.

“That was Martha. My mother put her in charge of bathing and dressing me to make sure I didn’t do anything she would disapprove of. She has taken her job a little too seriously.”

“I don’t like her,” I muttered as I took her panties and had her step into them.

She huffed out a laugh. “Neither do I.”

I froze at the strained tone of her voice. “Did she hurt you? Who else in this house caused you harm?” I demanded, lifting her eyes to meet mine with a finger under her chin. “Tell me, Mate.”

She blinked at me, then smiled brilliantly. “Are you going to avenge me?”

I growled, then bent to nip at her bottom lip. “You’re damn right I am going to avenge my woman. No one is going to get away with hurting you. Ever.” I had plans to make my mate’s parents suffer as well, though it would be a much longer torture than what the others would get.

She was hesitant but told me what I needed to hear. “There is a guard that I may have threatened last night.”

I cocked my head as I studied her. “Oh yeah?”

She looked sheepish as her face turned red, but didn’t break eye contact. “I, um, may have said that my mate would kill him for laying his hands on me.”

I carefully pulled her close with my hand against her lower back, mindful not to jerk her body as I did so. “He touched you?” I growled as my demon came close to the surface. She immediately began shaking her head.

“Not the way you are thinking. He was just rough when he grabbed me.”

It was enough, in my mind, to deserve to die. The guard, as well as that woman. I kissed the top of her head as she rested her cheek on my chest. “Thank you for telling me.” She said nothing in return, and I could sense her guilt. I would have tried to convince her that she had nothing to be guilty for; she wasn’t the one who’d hurt another. But her soft heart would just have to get used to having a mate who wouldn’t allow transgressions against her to go unpunished.

As soon as we were finished getting dressed, I found a brush and worked the wet tangles from her hair as carefully as I could, not wanting to cause her any more discomfort than she was already in. After I set the brush down, I looked her over. She was wearing a plain beige pantsuit that, while she looked good in anything, it just didn’t suit her. I cursed myself for leaving behind her bag of clothing in the SUV.

“You ready to get out of here?” I held out my hand and she took it with a relieved expression.

“Yeah, pookie bear. Extremely.”

I growled, but inside, I was secretly smiling.

When we exited the bathroom, the room was empty. Even the body of the dead demon had been removed. I opened the bedroom door but paused. “Is there anything here you would like to take with you?”

She looked around the room and shook her head sadly. “No, there’s nothing here for me.” She gave my hand a squeeze, and together, we exited the destroyed bedroom and headed toward the stairs. As we descended toward the main floor, voices could be heard nearby. We followed the sound to see Crispin standing in front of what looked to be the entire staff.

It only took a minute to figure out what was going on. I could feel Kallista relax into my side as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She, too, had realized Crispin was using compulsion to manipulate their minds. He was erasing our presence and everything that had happened this morning.

“Kallista is free to go and will no longer be under your control. You won’t have any contact with her in the future. If asked by anyone, you will explain that she is exploring the world and that you support her, wishing her a happy life.”

Her parents nodded, agreeing with his commands readily. The rest of the staff, including the maid who had delivered the clothing, all murmured their agreements as well. Crispin turned to Kallista. “Is there anything you want to say or something you would like for me to include?”

She looked at her parents, the same sad expression she’d had while looking at her bedroom crossing her features briefly before turning away from them, her spine straight and her shoulders held back. “No, I think you’ve covered the important bits. Thank you.”

Crispin inclined his head regally. Before we turned to leave, I stepped forward and eyed the guards with speculation. With his menacing glare even Crispin’s compulsion couldn’t tame, it easily became clear to me which one had placed his hands on my mate. I turned to Kallista and indicated the man with a jerk of my head and a raised brow. She sighed but made me proud when she squared back her shoulders and lifted her chin, giving me a jerky nod.

Without another word, I turned away from the assembled group of people and took Kallista’s hand. Together, we walked toward the front door. Before we’d even reached the foyer, screams, both masculine and feminine, echoed around us. I gently squeezed my mate’s hand as her steps faltered. Again, she had pride warming my chest as she determinedly strode toward the door without looking back.

The two victims of my wrath would be dead before we drove away from a sudden and mysterious illness. Her parents, on the other hand, would suffer much, much longer.

The SUV was waiting near the front door for us as we walked down the front steps and into the sunshine, leaving the horrors from the house behind. Crispin opened the back hatch of the vehicle and let out a shrill whistle. The sound of racing feet came from around the side of the house, and he held the door open wide as the German Shepherd didn’t hesitate to leap into the back. After we all climbed inside and buckled our seatbelts, Kallista turned to me as she scratched the thick fur at the neck of the dog.

“What do we do now?” She looked a little lost and a lot hopeful. I noticed she hadn’t bothered looking back as we drove down the long drive and out onto the street.

“That’s entirely up to you,” I told her as I put my arm around her and held her close to my side. “We can go anywhere you like. I have places just about everywhere.”

She wrinkled her cute nose. “Are they all like the warehouse loft? I mean, it wasn’t a bad place, but it had no… warmth.” She looked up at me. “It was pretty plain,” she said with a small smile.

“You can decorate any of my homes however you like. I have a feeling we will be staying in one place more often than I used to.”

“If I may make a suggestion,” Crispin called from the front seat, turning to look at me over the headrest. “There is someone who I think you should meet.”

I studied his face, but he kept his expression neutral, not giving away any indication of who or why. I glanced down at Kallista, who gave a shrug. “I don’t have anything on my agenda. Do you?”

There was plenty that I wanted to do, but none of it would be appropriate in front of our audience. After my mate was physically healed from her trauma this morning, I would be making her mine again in every way possible. The need to reestablish our bond was a growing compulsion I wouldn’t be able to ignore for long.

“Okay,” I told Crispin after reassuring myself that Kallista looked comfortable with his suggestion. “When would you like to go?”

He glanced at my mate, then back to me. “Why don’t we give it a day? We’ll get a hotel near the airstrip, and you can relax. I’m sure by tonight you’ll be feeling much better,” he said to Kallista. “Tomorrow will be early enough to go.” Though I did like his suggestion to wait, considering what I planned to do with my woman once she could move without pain, his vagueness in regard to our destination was making me suspicious.

We pulled up to a nice hotel where Crispin got out and walked inside to the front desk. It only took him a few minutes before he returned holding two sets of room keycards.

“There is a restaurant inside that is currently serving lunch, with room service available 24 hours. I’m going straight to bed. I can withstand the sun for extended periods, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need to sleep. I think we could both use some rest.” He snapped his fingers and the dog came to sit at his side while looking up at him adoringly.

I took the keycard gratefully. “I owe you.”

“Stop saying that. You don’t owe me shit. I am happy that I get to know you again, and I’m glad to help you with your mate. Ivy will want to get to know her as well, so plan to visit the island regularly.”

“I think that would be nice,” Kallista answered, giving him a smile as she leaned against my side.

As soon as we made it into our room, I set the two bags down on the floor and stripped her of the ugly pantsuit. “I’d burn these, but we would get kicked out of the hotel,” I muttered as I dropped the clothing in the wastebasket.”

I ushered her to the bed and pulled the covers back. “In you go.”

“What about you?” she asked with a wide yawn.

“I haven’t slept since you disappeared. I’m going to be right by your side.”

She yawned again and gingerly laid down. I hadn’t bothered to put new clothing on her so I could see every delectable inch of her body. My gaze stopped on the bruise along her ribs. It was already changing colors, yellow forming around the edges as her accelerated healing took over. Crispin was right; she should be back to normal by the time we wake up later. And then, I would show her exactly how much I missed my mate.