by Joey W. Hill
Which might have worried her far more if she still wasn’t holding those words to her heart. I am very, very proud to call you mine.
He brushed his lips over her forehead, a confirmation, but then looked pensively down at their hands, loosely linked on his chest. “There are very few of us, Ella. About five thousand. We don’t reproduce enough to grow that number. Made vampires often have impulse problems that mean they don’t make it to their first century. Sometimes not to their first decade. As a result, any sort of perceived vulnerability to vampires, born or made, is squashed harshly or regulated to keep it from being a liability to our survival. To many vampires and most of the Council, letting yourself love your servant, a human, is a liability.”
“But…” She frowned. “There’s another side to that, isn’t there? Your servant can be your greatest strength. Someone to give you blood, watch over you while you sleep, be someone you can trust, because your minds are so close...”
She trailed off, her heart thumping hard as she remembered Bill telling Wolf to drop the net over himself. “Oh Goddess. They're right. If you hadn’t felt the way you had about me…”
“No.” Wolf gave her a firm squeeze. “There are some who will see it that way, but the truth is how you just said it. A vampire’s greatest strength, their greatest weakness. Loving a servant, that can be both. But the same thing could be said about loving anyone. If I loved another vampire, that vampire could sabotage me, or be used to sabotage me.”
“Yes, but that’s going to be viewed differently, because vampires see one another as…equals.”
He was silent, which she knew acknowledged the uneasy truth to that. His fingers slid up her spine, then back down, over the rise of her buttock, a caress meant to reassure, but she sensed he was also thinking. “What?”
He sighed. “There were some recent protocols approved by Council to give servants more…consideration. I’m wondering how Hollow’s actions are going to affect that.”
He tipped up her chin then, so their eyes could meet once more. “Ella, there are ways to separate a vampire and a servant. Erase the three marks. It isn’t approved lightly, but with everything that has happened these past few days, I could likely get it.” He hesitated. “It comes with a memory wipe. You won’t remember what I am.”
“Or who you are to me,” she realized. Maybe he had his mind closed to her, but some things had nothing to do with mind reading. She felt it in the way he held her, looked at her. Or who I am to you.
It went back to her thought about what pleasure her surrender gave him, how her willingness to belong to him filled his soul. If she forgot who he was, if she even believed such a powerful feeling could forever be erased, she would be taking that from him as well.
She gripped his hand, flattened her fingers in the spaces between his, and didn’t look away. “You can see down into my soul. Surely you know I don’t want that.”
No matter how difficult, morally or physically, she was going to be with him. Because she couldn’t imagine it otherwise.
Wherever this takes us, whatever we face, it doesn’t change what I am to you, Master. Whatever you need, I’m here to serve.
He was silent a long moment, and then he spoke in her head.
It’s Dauntless. Leroy Dauntless Wolfram.
She would have loved his mother.
Her own mother used to say a good night’s sleep helped everything. With a vampire, she guessed that would be a good day’s sleep, but the same maxim held true. Once they woke, the evening started off with fairly normal expectations. Wolf had to go off for a thorough briefing with the vampires in residence. He told Ella not to leave Atlantis.
I don’t even want you in that cat alley without me. Not for a decade or so at least.
Last time I was in the alley with you, I got blown up. Maybe we should both stay away from it for awhile.
He’d had a threatening response to that which warmed her, head to toe. Since he’d started his “day” exactly as he’d warned, by taking her thoroughly, she should be sated for the time being, but maybe third marks received an elevated libido to keep up with the expansive vampire one.
Left to her own devices and looking for a place to be useful, she sought out Gideon first. Their escape was coming back to her in more detail. She remembered Gideon’s reaction to Wolf drinking from her. She wanted to assure him she was okay.
He was on the first level at the bar, sharing a beer with Allan. There was a tension to both males, as if they were killing time, waiting for the next step in what needed to be handled.
“Do third marks want to have sex all the time? Like rabbits on Viagra?”
At her cheerfully delivered question, Gideon nearly fumbled the beer, eliciting a chuckle from Allan. Gideon rose, scowling, but it wasn’t a real scowl. His gaze swept her quickly, taking stock of her condition. She propped a hip against a table, her arms crossed. She’d donned her spare set of clothes from her locker, a worn pair of jeans and a pink T-shirt. On the shirt was a pen and ink drawing of a variety of insects, beneath which was written “Don’t Bug Me.”
“You look better,” he said.
“I feel better.” She came to him, gave him a hug. She made a little noise as his arms tightened around her, harder than she’d expected.
“I had your phone,” he said gruffly. “I’ve never been so damn glad to see a text message in my life.”
Her heart overflowed. She ran her hands up his broad back in reassurance, even as she baptized his shoulder with a couple more of her endless tears. “I’m okay,” she whispered. “Thank you.”
When she was a little more composed, she turned her face toward Allan, including him in that statement. “Thank you for rescuing me and my Master. I’m glad I didn’t stake you with a pool stick.”
Allan grinned. “Me too. But watch the smart mouth, young one. One wiseass around here is enough.”
“I’ve no idea who you’re talking about,” Gideon said.
Since he seemed recovered from the emotional moment as well, Ella cocked a brow. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I think you already know the answer. You were just trying to lighten the mood.”
“Did it work?”
“Brat.” He pulled her hair.
“That’s a yes.”
Allan’s attention moved abruptly away from them. When Ella turned, she saw another male headed their way, striding through the public area.
“Wow. Oh wow.”
“He’s not that good-looking,” Gideon grumbled.
“It’s not that,” she elbowed him. “Though he is. It’s…”
It was the delight one felt at meeting a family member of a good friend, and she considered Gideon one of her best.
During her drowsy pillow talk with Wolf, she’d learned Lady Lyssa’s servant was Jacob Green. Gideon’s brother. She would have known it without being told.
The two men had matching midnight blue eyes, though Gideon’s hair was black and Jacob’s was brown, with traces of reddish-copper. Gideon had a bigger build, while Jacob was all tensile strength. But the set of the face, the way they moved, the eyes—they were obviously related.
It could give anyone some pretty serious threesome-with-two-brothers fantasies. She hid a smile, knowing for sure she’d hear that thought echoed by most the female staff, if they had the chance to see the two men together.
Her teasing of Gideon wasn’t an act. She’d woken in an almost ebullient mood. They’d survived the unsurvivable, and Wolf was now her permanent, forever Master. But the serious look on Jacob’s face, the concern it created on Gideon and Allan’s faces, put a cloud in that blue sky.
Gideon touched her shoulder, drawing her attention. “Lady Lyssa wants to talk to you, Ella.”
Could he and Jacob communicate without words? Or was someone like Daegan or Anwyn with Lyssa, able to relate it to him?
Less than twenty-four hours ago she’d been tortured in a lab, expecting herself or Wolf to die. Or be burned to dea
th. Her nerves hadn’t settled as much as she thought.
Wolf...
She had the thought before she could quell it. She didn’t want to seem needy, but she felt that humming connection with him, and wanted to know what she should expect, what was going on.
I’m on my way. After he’d finished the general briefing, he’d headed to the security office, directed there by Lady Lyssa to work with Fort and Saturnia. They’d been discussing the technical mop-up steps to handle Hollow’s mess. But Wolf left them now, headed toward her.
And not at a casual pace. He appeared behind Jacob so quickly, she knew he’d used vampire speed to get there.
Jacob pivoted. “Lady Lyssa will interview your servant now. Alone.”
Wolf’s lips tightened. “You should have come directly to me with that request. Not to my servant.”
Jacob inclined his head. He didn’t have the edge Gideon had in his tone, but an interesting mix of formality and easy amiability that she expected could be sharpened to match the cut of a sword blade when needed. But right now he was all neutral deference. “Of course. I was on my way to you when I saw her with my brother. I was going to ask her to accompany me to where you were. Your work with Fort and Saturnia is considered a priority, since my lady will be awaiting the final threat assessment report before dawn.”
“He hadn’t said a word yet,” Allan confirmed. “Easy, Wolf.”
There was a warning in his tone, and Wolf’s gaze flickered to him. Ella remembered how Lord Richard had reacted to Gideon holding the pool sticks and not putting them down when a higher-ranking vampire demanded he do so. By his lack of immediate compliance, Wolf was signaling a resistance to Lady Lyssa’s wishes. And that couldn’t be good.
She has to protect the whole vampire world, doesn’t she? So a few questions to everyone involved, on their own, makes sense.
It does. Doesn’t mean I like it. His jaw stayed tight, but Wolf inclined his head to Jacob. “My apologies. The things that have happened over the past few days have put me on edge toward those who do not deserve it. I have nothing but the highest regard for your lady. My servant will answer any questions she has.”
Ella understood that response was for Lyssa, not Jacob. Lyssa was very likely watching the exchange from Jacob’s mind. The slight head nod from Allan, subtle approval, and relaxing of Gideon’s shoulders, confirmed it. Until Jacob, whose expression remained more fixed, spoke.
“My lady says your regard, while appreciated, does not excuse the need for prompt and obedient response to a requirement from a Vampire Council member. She will question your servant without you providing her any direction. If she senses you speaking in Ella’s mind, influencing her answers, she will be displeased.”
Not “very displeased” or “excessively displeased;” just “displeased.” A woman who didn’t see the need to embellish. Displeased could run the gamut from mild dismemberment to death, because if Ella’s interpretation of the tone was correct, Lady Lyssa was already in a bitch of a mood.
Wolf’s expression was set in stone, but he inclined his head. “My apologies, my lady. You are correct.”
To his credit, Jacob almost winced, but relayed the response without hesitation. “Actions speak far louder than words.”
Even delivered in a flat, even tone, the edge was sharp enough to cut. Wolf wisely seemed to conclude no other words were advisable. He glanced at Ella.
I won’t be far, Ella. Just be truthful, as you always are. She will know a lie, regardless.
Despite the reassurance, she sensed his concern. As she accompanied Jacob through the club, headed toward the meeting rooms, she determined what it was. If humans had no status in vampire society, there was only one reason that Lady Lyssa would want to question her without Wolf. She thought something inappropriate had caused the situation with Hollow.
But Lyssa had openly declared her love for her own servant. That had to temper such thoughts, right? But was she queen or woman first?
“My lady is fair, but she requires complete honesty,” Jacob said, as they turned down the hallway which held the meeting room.
Ella looked at him. He was tall, like his sibling. “Was Gideon a good big brother?”
“Except when we were young, when he wouldn’t let me use his Legos,” Jacob responded promptly. A smile touched his firm mouth. “I asked my mother if we could give him away so I could have his toys. I told her she could give me a sister instead, one who only wanted to play with dolls.”
As they reached the closed door of the meeting room, she looked up at him. His faint smile hadn’t changed the seriousness in his eyes, or the tension around his mouth that told her things were no laughing matter right now, but she interpreted his direct look, the slight nod of reassurance, in the way she thought it was meant. She’d take it, along with Wolf’s advice, and hope for the best.
Play it straight and be herself.
Jacob opened the door and held it open, gesturing her to precede him.
The power emanating from Lady Lyssa was unmistakable. It pushed against the walls of the conference room, making it seem far too small. When the door opened, it hit Ella like a wall. She needed Jacob’s firm hand on her lower back, easing her farther into the room.
In marked contrast to that energy blast, Lyssa was a petite female. Dark, straight hair and almond-shaped eyes of a jade green, vivid as an exotic bird’s breast. She wore a silk blouse, visible over the table edge, since Lyssa sat at the head of it, at the far end of the room.
Jacob gestured Ella to one of the chairs. While Ella gave him a courteous nod of acknowledgement, she moved to the right of the table, so Lady Lyssa had a clear view of her. The Council head wore flowing slacks, and her shoes would have made Madelyn salivate. The four figure designer heels would add several inches to the vampire queen’s stature. Ella could tell she wasn’t tall, probably no more than five feet in her bare soles.
Ella absorbed all that in one deferential sweep of her glance, headed to the floor. In the same motion, she sank to her knees, assuming a submissive posture, head dipped down, though back straight, hands on her knees.
“How may I be of service, my lady?”
A pause, then Lyssa proved she didn’t care to waste time with games or pleasantries, either.
“How deeply does Wolf enter your mind, Ella?” She had a fluid, sensual voice Ella suspected never had to increase in volume to be heard or obeyed. It brought gooseflesh up on her skin and made that swirling energy vibrate around them. She had to struggle to remember the question.
“As deeply as he wishes, my lady.”
“When was the last time he was soul deep?”
“Right after our rescue. I was empty, and it made me feel so much better, having him there. I wish he was that deeply inside me all the time.”
Too late, she thought that might show too much emotion. But the brief glimpse she snatched showed Lyssa simply nodding.
“How was Wolf captured?”
“When Wolf arrived, a metal net was dropped over him and electrified to incapacitate him.”
“Wolf didn’t see the net? Hear it coming down? He has exceedingly quick reflexes, I have been informed.”
Madelyn’s lawyerly advice in any precarious situation was, “Avoid nervous talking; answer a question in the fewest words possible. Never volunteer information.” Ella had a feeling that wasn’t going to fly with Lady Lyssa. She knew exactly which question to ask that Ella didn’t want to answer.
Be truthful. Her Master had told her that, and she would obey.
“He does, my lady. A man had a weapon against my chest, with three steel spikes in it. He told Wolf to drop the net over himself or he would kill me.”
The significant pause was telling. Ella threw Maddie’s advice to the wind. “He would have done it for Anwyn just as quickly as he did it for me. Because he’s honorable and good, and strong. I know maybe vampires aren’t supposed to do the same things for humans they would do for another vampire, but life isn’t easy to
split up that way.”
She took a breath, ostensibly to give Lady Lyssa a chance to talk, but then rushed onward. “I know Wolf would have burned down that whole building and killed Holliman and all his people to protect vampire kind, too. He didn’t know what Holliman was planning when he came to get me. He saw the net thing as him sacrificing himself, not endangering vampire kind. And maybe that’s not forward thinking enough, but...”
What was wrong with her? She was babbling. She shut down, and the palpable silence was damning. She had fucked this up totally. She swallowed, hard. As the quiet drew out, she could hear her heart hammering against her chest, and closed her fingers into balls on her knees. Everything had been going so well…but things didn’t always turn out well. Sometimes you had to take the moments of bliss you were given.
“Wolf was considering third marking another servant,” she said in the pregnant silence, every word cutting into her heart. “Circumstances changed, but if you think I’m the wrong servant for him, I can…not be.” Her voice trembled, but she firmed it. “I can be with Anwyn instead, so I’m not a security risk.”
Wolf’s opinion on that exploded in her mind, telling her she was in a lot of trouble with him for saying it, but Lyssa wanted Ella’s honest reactions, not those of her Master. And since Lyssa was still sitting there like a statue, Jacob another unfathomable wall of silence at her back, Ella might as well throw in something else, for what her opinion was worth.
“I think any race would want Wolf in a leadership role, looking out for the good of everyone.”
Lyssa shifted at last, those glossy shoes changing position as she uncrossed and re-crossed her legs. Her hand rested on the arm of the chair. She had a beautiful manicure, the nails done in deep green color with a feathery black brush mark on the three center fingers.
“He’s giving you hell for your opinion, isn’t he?” Lyssa’s tone was pleasant, but Ella heard the coolness beneath.
