Page 48 of Blood Moon Bound

How long would I wait here, hoping that Constantine would come back to me, that he’d give me a few crumbs of affection, when that day might never come, and if he did come back, how long before I woke to discover him gone again? How much longer would I allow others to treat me this way?

The answer filled my head.

Not one more night.

Nerves filled me—fear—but I squashed it.

Not one more night.

I was leaving this place, and I wasn’t coming back. Constantine didn’t love me, and he never would. I refused to turn into my mother, cold and emotionless, and that’s what would happen if I stayed here, if I allowed the pain to devour every emotion I had, until there was nothing left. I lay in bed, waiting for the house to quiet, for everyone to go to bed, then quickly packed only what I could carry.

I dressed in trousers and a sweater, pulling on a coat with a hood and a pair of sturdy boots, slung my bag over my shoulder, then slipped from the room. As I rushed quietly down the stairs, voices came from the library.

Morgan and another of the guards.

In the three weeks since Constantine had left, I’d never come down here at night, and I’d never attempted to leave. They wouldn’t be expecting it now. I slipped past the library and into Constantine’s office. A flash of lightning lit up the room momentarily, followed closely by thunder.

I rushed to the phone and dialed John’s number for the second time that day.

“Delphine?”

“I’m so sorry to wake you.”

“It’s fine, I told you I’m here for you.”

I looked around Constantine’s office and my heart gripped in my chest. His scent was still so strong in here, it was like he’d walk through the door at any moment. But that wasn’t going to happen. “I was wondering…if you could come and get me, please. I’d like to leave now.”

There was a beat of silence. “Can you get to the back garden undetected? There’s an old gate back there, behind the hedge. I can be there in twenty minutes. I’ll wait for you on the other side.”

“I’ll be there.” I disconnected, checked that the hall was clear, and headed toward the kitchen. That’d be the easiest way out, and the least likely chance of being seen.

I’d behaved, done everything I was told, and because of that, Morgan and the other security guards wouldn’t expect me to try and leave now.

I made my way from the kitchen to the back garden without detection. I’d only had to hide once, behind one of the trees surrounding the grounds when a guard walked by.

John arrived a short time later, right where he said he’d be. He jumped out and rushed over to me. “Are you okay?”

I shook my head. “Please, get me away from here.”

He pulled me in for a hug. “Anything you need, I’m here for you, Del. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

I nodded even as the pain grew. The sooner I was away from here, the better. I would not spend one more moment in this loneliness. Not one more.

Fourteen

DELPHINE

My eyes opened when John’s car drove over a pothole, then stopped suddenly.

A grogginess had come over me not long after we’d escaped in John’s car. He’d stopped once for gas and got us a hot chocolate about fifteen minutes into our drive, to help calm me. I’d fallen asleep straight after and was having trouble opening my eyes now.

“John?”

“I’m here. You need to wake up now, sleepyhead.”

I rubbed my eyes and blinked several times, feeling heavy and sluggish. My sight was blurred, and I blinked again when it cleared a little. I stared through the pelting rain. We were in front of a set of massive iron gates—gates that I recognized instantly, that I’d looked at from my bedroom window, wishing I could walk through them and never come back.

No.