by Mara Leigh
“My friends can keep me safe.”
“If that’s true,” I ask her, “then why are you here?”
She frowns. “So you’re going to keep me trapped down here forever? Torturing and raping me like you did in the dungeon?” The hate in her eyes is a million stakes to my heart.
Things much worse than murder happened in Xavier’s dungeons.
I lift my gaze from the tiled floor. “I will never hurt you.”
“Bullshit.” Her chains clank. “You’ve hurt me before, you’ll do it again. You’re a monster. I hate you. I will always hate you.”
“I only want to keep you safe.”
“Safe? At what cost?”
Unable to bear the hate in her eyes, I look down. She’ll never love me like I love her. She’ll never forgive me, and as much as that hurts, I understand. I don’t deserve her. I don’t deserve forgiveness. And I certainly don’t deserve love.
I’ve done terrible things. Unforgivable things. And she’s right. I can’t keep her here forever. It’s wrong to keep her apart from the men she loves. I’ve caused her enough pain.
But if I let her go she’ll be killed, and that would kill me, too.
So we’re stuck here, and I need to bear the pain of her anger, of her unhappiness. Her hatred.
I long to tell her the truth, that I never hurt her and kept others from hurting her on many occasions, but sharing that truth wouldn’t ease her trauma; the truth would only unburden me.
And besides, my attempts to protect her, to lessen her pain, weren’t enough—not nearly enough. I don’t deserve to explain.
“You don’t trust me,” I say as calmly as I can. “I understand that. But know this.” I force myself to look straight into her accusing eyes. “I will never, ever hurt you. And I will never let anyone else hurt you again.”
Chapter 7
Grayson
I slump against the wall inside the warehouse, letting the cold from the bricks penetrate my back. I have no idea why I came here, to the last place I saw her. If she escapes, she’s more likely to go to Rock’s bar. At least there I know she’ll be safe, able to hide in his subbasement.
But nothing in this world seems safe anymore.
The windows, high in this warehouse and smashed when Xavier’s team broke in, have already been repaired, no doubt arranged by Astrid or Malcolm. I’ve been part of FJS for close to twenty years, but at times I’m still taken aback by their efficiency.
If only I’d asked Astrid to assign a security team to guard this warehouse every time we trained. But we were trying to keep Selina on the down low. Or I certainly was. I did not and do not want anyone else to suspect who she really is. I still can’t believe it myself.
If I’d done my sworn duty, she’d be captive somewhere else.
I slam the back of my head against the brick wall a few times, hoping the pain will snap me out of my terror- and grief-induced fog. I was foolish to leave the others and head out on my own. Did I think I’d just find her by randomly searching?
The city is huge, millions of people, and by now Pike could have taken her out of Toronto, he could have taken her anywhere.
Seeing stars from banging my head, I turn and punish my fists against the wall instead of my skull.
I am an idiot, a failure. I’m so weak. I know better. I should have taken Selina away the first night we met. I should have turned her over to the Order. I swore an oath, but then let lust overrule my sacred duty.
I squeeze my eyes shut to mirror the tightening in my chest. I’m kidding myself to claim it was just about lust. Even on that first night, there was more. And my intense initial reaction to Selina is quickly turning into love. Not that I’d ever tell her I love her. And not that she’d ever love me back.
Even if she didn’t already love Rock—which she obviously does—as soon as I tell her who she is, who I am, and return her to her rightful place, Rock will lose her too. She’ll hate me for it but neither Rock nor I are worthy of being her mate.
Sensing the air moving, I spin around.
“Who’s there?” I call out.
Pike steps onto the warehouse floor.
I pull out a stake and leap forward to attack, but stop with my weapon an inch from his heart.
Pike stands, arms extended to the side, chest open, head tipped back, throat exposed. It’s the universal vampire posture for submission, surrender. And my training and instincts stopped me from killing him instantly.
“Where is she?” Hatred floods through me, my own heart pounding so hard I can barely hear my voice. “Why did you come back here? Did you already kill her?” I press the stake against his T-shirt, nestling it between two ribs, ready to drive forward at any moment.
“She’s alive,” he says. “Unharmed. Safe.”
Relief dilutes the hatred in my heart. Even though I’ve been a vampire less than sixty years, as a Knight of the Order of Sanguis the rules of engagement are a part of me. Killing is against the law unless it’s in self-defense, and to kill a vampire in this submissive pose is worse than illegal, it’s immoral.
I knee him in the balls.
I may be schooled in the rules of gentlemanly combat, but I’m no angel.
His scarred face barely reacts to the pain, but anger burns in his eyes, his irises such a light brown they’re almost yellow. In other circumstances the shade might look striking, but at the moment it evokes pure evil.
Grabbing him by the throat, I lift the fiend off his feet and smash his back into the pillar closest to the door. The fiery anger in his eyes threatens to erupt, but he keeps it contained.
I fight to hold back my stake, and my arm shakes from the effort.
My stake wants to be piercing his heart. I want it there, too. “Why did you come here?”
“To tell you she’s safe.”
“Safe? Like she was safe when you were raping her in that dungeon?”
He casts his gaze down. “I would never hurt her.” His voice is strained against my hand that’s constricting his airflow.
“But you did hurt her, you asshole! And for that you will die.”
His body goes slack, held up to the wall only by my hand at his throat and the pressure of the stake jabbing at his chest. If I’m not careful, I’ll choke him, or stake him, but why be careful?
Because murder is the highest crime in the vampire world. Even with the most lenient sentence, I’d spend the next two or three hundred years in prison. But no one is here to witness. If I told Astrid that Pike attacked first, Astrid might believe me.
My stake arm twitches. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t drive this stake through your heart.”
“If you kill me…” he can barely talk now “…you’ll never find her.”
I drop him and drive the stake against the wall. The splinters scatter onto the floor.
“What do you want?” I ask, knowing I’d give my life to find her.
“I want to protect her.” He coughs and rubs his throat. “She’s being hunted.”
Yeah. By my Order. But I quickly realize that’s not what he means. He means Xavier.
“Xavier won’t rest until he finds her,” Pike says. “He wants to see her suffer. He wants to see her dead.”
This mirrors what Kwana said. She claimed Pike wasn’t part of their team. I wonder if Pike will contradict that.
“How do I know you haven’t already taken her to him?”
“I would never.” He looks down.
“Liar.”
“I will die before I let him touch her again.” His gaze rises to meet mine.
Pain and shame are palpable in his eyes, in his entire expression and posture.
His emotions hit me straight in the gut and make me want to trust him, even though I know I shouldn’t, even though I know I’m looking at the vampire who tortured the woman I love.
“Why should I believe you?”
“Why else would I be here?” He stretches out his arms again and exposes his chest, lifts his chin.
<
br /> “I can’t erase the past,” he continues. “I tried to lessen her pain, but it wasn’t enough. Not near enough.” Dropping his arms, he punches his leather-clad thighs. “I won’t make that mistake again. Xavier must die for what he has done to Selina.”
“You should die for what you’ve done to Selina.”
He nods an acknowledgement, and it almost knocks me off my feet.
“I do deserve to die,” he says, “but first I’ve got to know that she’s safe.”
“Why take her if you meant to let her go?” My suspicion won’t let me feel hope.
“I took her to keep her from Xavier,” he growls. “Something you failed at.” His eyes flash, revealing the warrior, the man capable of despicable things. It reminds me with whom I am dealing. I cannot trust Pike. Not this easily.
“If the Guard took her back to Xavier, you can’t imagine…” His voice trails off.
“Why did you turn on your own team?” I ask.
“My team?”
“The group you attacked this place with.”
He looks down, shaking his head. “It’s my fault they found her. They followed me.”
Interesting. That’s the first thing he’s said that contradicts Kwana’s story. She said that creep Louis told them where we were. But Pike’s guilt is obvious. He thinks he led Xavier’s Guard to Selina.
I can use that guilt against him. “Take me to her.”
He nods.
I blink. It can’t be so easy. This must be a trap.
“I’ll get the others,” I say. But if they managed to get inside Xavier’s compound they may still be down there—or dead.
Pike shakes his head. “Just you. Come. Right now.”
“Why the sudden urgency?” Narrowing my eyes, I square my stance.
He drops his head. “She’s hurting herself.”
My heart rises to my throat. “You fiend!” I grab his throat again.
He shakes his head over my hand. “Please. There’s no time for this. I’m afraid of what she might do.”
He sounds desperate. Looks desperate.
I’ve replayed the events of last night over and over in my mind and I can’t deny that his explanation fits with the facts.
I signaled Astrid the second the warehouse windows broke, and if her team had arrived moments earlier, Selina would have been safe—I have to believe that. But it’s also true that when Pike swooped in and took her, she had a stake aimed straight at her heart. Rock and I were caught up in combat. I can see how Pike might believe that he saved her life.
Maybe he did.
And if he’s willing to take me to her now, I can’t let that opportunity pass, even if I walk into a trap.
Chapter 8
Selina
Pike has been gone for hours. I tried three more times to pull the bolts from the wall, but it’s time to admit that the effort’s futile. I need another plan, but what?
One of my wrists has just healed, the other is mending, but my ankle and shin are fully smashed and sending so much pain through me it’s still hard to breathe.
I close my eyes against the pain, trying to go somewhere else in my mind while I heal, but it drifts to even worse places.
What if I never see Rock and Gray again? After just a few weeks, I can no longer imagine my life without both men.
Rock has my heart, fully, and while Gray remains a mystery—his emotions, his past fully guarded—he’s so much a part of me already that I can almost sense him here with me now.
I draw a long breath, amazed at how vivid my memory of Gray can be. I can smell his scent like he’s near.
“Selina!” His voice comes into my daydream.
My eyes snap open.
Within an instant, Gray’s on the mattress beside me, holding me tight. But this is no dream.
“Are you hurt?” He looks down to my ankle. Shock fills his eyes and he springs up, grabs Pike—who I hadn’t realized was with him—and throws the large vampire against the wall.
“You bastard!” Gray says to Pike. “You said you didn’t hurt her.”
“He didn’t,” I call out. “I broke my ankle and wrists while Pike was gone. I was trying to get free.”
Gray drops Pike and pulls out a stake. “Release her. Now.”
Pike crosses the room, slowly, hands out in a submissive gesture.
Looking up into his amber eyes, something inside me stirs. He is doing this for me, and it’s causing him pain.
Good. He should feel pain. And once I’m released I’ll kill him, if Gray doesn’t do it first.
Pike pulls a key from the front pocket of his leather pants and unlocks the shackle around my broken ankle. I gingerly test the movement. It’s starting to heal, but I don’t think I can stand.
Gray puts his stake away and I give him a questioning look.
Pike moves to release my right wrist, and with his body so close, his scent is overwhelming. He’s so close I could lick his skin, sink in my fangs to feed. I shake my head to force the thoughts from my mind.
My arm drops to the mattress.
In an instant, Gray pushes Pike out of the way and rubs my arm.
“Does it hurt? Look at the bruising.” He glares at Pike.
I cup his face to turn it back to me. “The bruising will heal quickly.”
Gray takes my lips softly, unlike the way he usually kisses me. He’s so tender it’s like he thinks my mouth is bruised too, and I moan, my tongue darting out to catch the edge of one of his soft nibbles.
My left arm drops from its shackle, and I wrap it around Gray’s neck to deepen our kiss, needing the taste of him even more than I need blood.
Gray gathers me into his arms and my good leg wraps around his back as he kneels beside me. Freed from bondage, I want Gray. I want him right here, right now. I need to have him inside me. I reach between us to find his cock.
He moans, then I hear another groan.
My eyes snap open.
I forgot that we aren’t alone. Pike is standing a few feet away, lust obvious on his face, but the moment our eyes meet, he drops his head.
That’s right, I think. You should feel shame, you perverted voyeur.
I move my lips close to Gray’s ear. “Kill him. Kill him now.”
Gray pulls back to look into my eyes. He shakes his head.
“Then I’ll kill him.” I grab Gray’s discarded stake and stand, ignoring the intense pain as I leap toward Pike.
Gray grabs me midflight.
I struggle against him. “He needs to die. He’s been holding me prisoner, and now he’s got you trapped down here too.”
Gray’s hold on me tightens, his arms trapping mine at my sides. “Princess,” he whispers in my ear. “Pike brought me here.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Don’t you think I thought of that?”
I struggle against Gray, unable to believe that Pike would just let me go, even though I realize he’s done it before. There’s no denying he’s the one who let me escape from Xavier’s dungeon.
“Princess, I know exactly where we are,” Gray says. “Abandoned tunnels that two hundred years ago housed FJS offices. I’ve got my phone. Astrid could have a security team here in a flash.”
I look up at Pike. He’s standing in that submissive position again, except that his head is down, face toward the floor. He looks so sad, so defeated.
I relax in Gray’s arms. “Why would he let me go?”
Pike raises his gaze to meet mine, and the look on his scarred face shows so much pain, so much conflict. My anger melts into compassion.
“Your vampire and that big man will keep you safe,” Pike says. “You’d be safer here, but I can’t bear to see you unhappy. Or hurting yourself.”
I test my broken ankle. It’s still stiff, but the bones are healed. I lean back into Gray and his tight hold on me loosens.
“Where are the others?” I ask him, over my shoulder.
“They’re looking for Xavier’s compound.”
/> “No!” Pike shouts.
Gray grabs another stake from the holster on his back. “You are still loyal to him!”
Shaking his head, Pike assumes the passive position, ready to be killed by Gray. “I fear for your friends’ lives, not his. Xavier must die for what he’s done to Selina, but that won’t be easy. He’s well protected. Everyone in his court is brainwashed, most trapped there for decades, some centuries. Many don’t know another life.”
The way Pike says this, the anguish in his voice, makes me believe that he’s telling the truth. I want to ask more. I want to know how he ended up in Xavier’s court—and most of all, why he let me go.
But if my friends and my love are in danger, I must go to them.
“Take her somewhere safe,” Pike says to Gray.
“Of course.” Gray turns toward me. “Can you walk?”
I test my ankle again and then nod.
Gray takes my hand. “I have somewhere she can hide until Xavier’s dead.”
“Good.” Pike nods. “Best if you don’t tell me.” He looks down. “If they follow me again…”
“How many are there?” Gray asks. “How soon will they come?”
Pike draws a long breath, as if thinking. “Xavier doesn’t allow his subjects outside. Not even most of his Guard. The ones last night, most of them had never been outside court. You killed the only ones who had. It could be weeks or months before Xavier selects others he trusts enough to leave. But he will. He will come for her again.”
“Thank you,” Gray says. “You’ve done the right thing. Keeping her safe is my highest priority, my sworn duty, my life.” Gray’s words stir inside me. He cares for me more than he lets on.
Pike nods just perceptibly as he backs away from us, and still holding my hand, Gray leads me through the curtains toward the darkness. Before the velvet falls back down, I catch it and turn back. Pike is slumped, crouched against the wall with his head in his hands, and the sight is a stab to my heart.
If he’s told the truth, Xavier’s Guard is now after him too. “Will you be safe here?” I ask.
“Go,” he says. “If they find me, I’ll get what I deserve.”
