Chapter 64

Chapter 64

“I’m pathetic,” Indie admitted with a soft sigh as she pressed her forehead against her bedroom door, hoping that the admission would be enough to make her finally do this, but…

She was definitely pathetic, Indie decided as she turned around and dropped her bag on the floor as she sat down and resigned herself to wait until everyone else left for patrol. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way, she thought, settling to get more comfortable against the door as she glanced at her bedroom window and debated taking the coward’s way out. Even if she twisted her ankle jumping out the window, she could probably manage to hobble into town and buy a ticket for the first bus leaving town before anyone realized that she was gone.

Then again, with her luck, she’d probably break every bone in her body and end up lying there until the jerk that she was really hoping wasn’t standing outside her bedroom door still, would find her first and she’d be forced to talk to him. Since she really didn’t want to talk to him about that night, that wasn’t really going to work for her. In fact, she’d be more than fine if they never talked about it, but the jerk, as she now thought of him, wouldn’t let it go.

When she woke up after the incident that she would really like to pretend never happened, it was to find Chris and Trace tackling Ethan to the floor as he told her just how sorry he was that he hurt her. It had taken her a moment to figure out what he was talking about and when she did, she turned away from him, mumbled something about letting him go, and pretended to fall asleep. For about an hour after that, she was forced to lie on her side and squeeze her eyes shut as she waited for Ethan to finally leave and when he did, she made her escape.

It had taken longer than it normally should have, but that probably had something to do with the fact that she’d been forced to bring her IV pole with her. Once she finally made it upstairs, she quickly made her way to her room, quietly closed her door behind her and went to lock it, only to remember that she didn’t have a lock on her door. The reminder led to her trying to push her bureau in front of her door only to give up when she realized that she wasn’t going to be able to push it across the room by herself.

That led to her shoving her desk chair against the door and retreating to her bathroom where she curled up in the tub behind the safety of the shower curtain and told herself that everything was going to be fine. She kept telling herself that until she finally worked up the courage to pull the bandage off her neck and run her fingers over the puncture marks that changed everything.

He’d marked her.

The realization left her struggling to breathe, telling herself that he wouldn’t have done that to her, not when he knew what Mary’s Pack did to her. She’d spent her whole life as nothing more than property to a Pack that went out of its way to make her life a living hell and now, thanks to Ethan, she was going to spend the rest of her life marked as a minion, letting every vampire, shifter, and demon that crossed her path know just how pathetic she really was.

She hated him.

When he quietly walked into her bathroom hours later and sat down next to the tub, she’d hated him even more. While she sat there staring at the wall feeling sorry for herself, he’d sat next to her, mumbling that he was sorry until she finally fell asleep. The next time she opened her eyes, she was curled up in her bed alone, the IV had been removed from her arm, and there was a brand-new lock on her bedroom door.

Over the past few months, she’d put that lock to good use, keeping her door locked during the day and sneaking out at night when she knew that Ethan was on patrol so that she could grab food, check on the babies, and sit with Danni only to return to the safety of her room as soon as she knew that he was home. Whenever she tried leaving her room during the day, she always found him standing outside her room with those two little words that she was sick of hearing, waiting on his lips.

Before he managed to get them out, she’d close her door and-

“Are you ever going to talk to me again, Indie?” came the quietly murmured question from the other side of the door.

“There’s nothing to say,” Indie said, wrapping her arms around her knees as she dropped her head back against the door and resigned herself to waiting until he left to go on patrol.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“I really don’t have a choice with this mark on my neck,” Indie pointed out, wondering why he wouldn’t let this go.

Ethan didn’t like her, never wanted her around, and now that she’d finally accepted the fact that he hated her, he wouldn’t leave her alone. She didn’t want to hear him apologize again for something that he would never be able to fix. She just wanted him to leave her a-

“I’ll change you, Indie,” came the softly spoken words that left her frowning.

“What?” she asked, knowing that there was no way that he was suggesting what she thought he was.

“I’ll change you, Indie. We can do it tonight after I get back from patrol and make this right before you have to go to the compound. I should have done it sooner,” Ethan said, sending a chill down her spine.

“You’re talking about turning me into a vampire,” she said hollowly, not bothering to mention that she wasn’t going to the compound since he’d figure it out on his own later.

“It’s the only way,” he said, sounding like it was the last thing in the world that he wanted to do, which was fine with her because there was no way in hell that she was going to let him turn her.

“No,” Indie said, stubbornly shaking her head because that was the last thing that she needed.

“Indie,” Ethan said, sighing her name while she reached over and grabbed her bag, more determined than ever to go through with this.

“No, thank you,” she mumbled, knowing just how badly this would end for her if she did it.

There were Packs all over the world looking for her, determined to make her pay for what happened to Mary and she really didn’t think that it was a good idea to add new ways to torture her into the mix. She could only imagine what they would do with holy water if they ever got their hands on her again. Then again, the same could be said for when they found out that Ethan was the one that marked her. Not that she could blame them since he seemed to go out of his way to hunt down shifters. She could only imagine what they’d do to her if she allowed him to turn her. No, she was definitely better off staying human, more than fine, in fact, especially since she fully planned on leaving here and never looking back.

She’d go to Boston like she’d originally planned, create a new life for herself, and then…

She’d figure it out as she went.

There was a heavy sigh from the other side of the door and then, “We’ll talk about it when I get back.”

Since she didn’t plan on being here when he got back, Indie didn’t say anything as she waited for him to finally walk away and when he did, she shifted her attention to the alarm clock by her bed and waited ten minutes before she got back to her feet and-

Quickly decided then and there that she was never having children when Danni released a scream that sounded like she was being ripped in two. Definitely going to take that off her bucket list, Indie decided, wincing in sympathy when the next agonized scream came seconds later. Knowing that this was the best time to make her escape, Indie quickly made her way to the stairs and-

“Marc!”

Sighed when she spotted Jessica standing in the hallway, hugging her blanket against her tiny chest and looking adorably grumpy. Before Indie could say anything, the toddler was turning around and marching towards Marc’s room. She didn’t bother knocking, she simply pushed his door open and went inside. When Indie heard the grumbled, “I just tucked you in,” she smiled sadly as she headed downstairs.

She was going to miss them.

They were the only family that she’d ever known, but she didn’t belong in this world. She was human and they were…they were…

What the hell was he doing? Indie wondered as she found herself watching Michael inject black liquid into a pack of blood. That quickly led to her wondering why she’d walked into the infirmary to get a better look instead of running away when she had the chance.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Michael said as he carefully placed the bag of blood down on the gurney with the others and set the needle down.

“The bad guy always says that in the movies when he gets caught,” Indie said, swallowing nervously as she risked a glance over her shoulder, really hoping to find the vampire that loved to glare standing behind her, but there was no one.

“Then you should know what comes next,” Michael said, sighing heavily as she glanced back at him in time to watch him grab another syringe out of his pocket.

“You let me go?” Indie said, sounding really hopeful as she took a step back.

“Not this time,” Michael said with a pitying look that really didn’t bode well for her.

“Oh…” Indie mumbled hollowly with a nod as she moved to take another step back when he grabbed her, covering her mouth before she could scream and-

“Change of plans,” Michael murmured in her ear when she felt the pinch in her side right before her legs gave out.