by Lexi Blake
“Naturally he survives.” I hated Chad with everything I had. Before all of this was done, I was going to kill that vampire. I knew Neil would be upset but I wouldn’t let Chad get his hands on my best friend after what he’d done to Dev. I would protect Neil by avenging my husband. “How long do I have before sundown?”
Trent checked his watch. “Fifteen minutes. If you’re all right, I need to get down to the dungeons and check something out. This morning a couple of the guards found a wolf prowling the sewers. He won’t leave his wolf form, and they couldn’t chase him away. It was like he was tracking someone and wouldn’t give it up. I think he’s sick but I need to figure out if he’s a friendly before Marini up and kills him. Maybe I can get him out.”
My hands started shaking. “Is he white?”
“I think so,” Trent said.
I was running for the door before Trent could get up.
* * * *
“Neil?”
My voice was hushed in the gloom of the dungeon. I forced myself to go in. I was pretty sure that my every nightmare would take place in this dark prison from now on. The first thing I saw when I entered the dungeons was Dev, that big body of his hitting the floor with a resounding thud. He wouldn’t get up again. I hated the fact that when I closed my eyes and thought of my husband, this was the image I got.
I shook the thoughts from my brain and rejoined reality. A white wolf lay on the stone floor of the same cell where my husband had died. He was so still, his fur matted and drab, and I feared I was too late again.
“You know this wolf?” Trent was careful now because there was a shifter watching us.
I nodded. “He’s my friend. He was tracking me. I have no idea how he managed to get all the way here, but I’m sure he was looking for me.”
“Marini will be thrilled to find out he got close enough to sniff out his companion,” the shifter muttered. I was almost certain he would shift into a large snake. There was something about the eyes even in human form that reminded me of the cold dead eyes of a snake.
“I need to get in there with him.” I forced myself to concentrate on Neil and not the predators that surrounded me.
“No,” the men said in perfect harmony.
“Please,” I begged. “He isn’t dangerous.”
“I’m not taking that chance,” the shifter said. “The master is going to be pissed enough we let him get anywhere close to us. The last thing I need is him knowing I let his companion into a cell with an unknown wolf.”
Neil’s white head struggled as he tried to look around for me.
“I’m here, sweetie,” I said through the cell bars. I moved to the cell and shoved my hands through. I was able to get close and Neil whimpered as he finally caught my scent and realized it wasn’t a trail but the destination. His clear blue eyes turned and found mine, and I cried as he crawled toward me. “It’s all right, Neil. I’m here. It’s going to be okay.”
I didn’t know why he wouldn’t change, but I didn’t care. He often stayed in wolf form when he felt vulnerable. I just let my fingers run through the soft fur of his back. He crawled close and turned over to offer me his belly, a sure sign he needed comfort. I rubbed him and murmured reassuring words to him.
That was how Louis found us some time later.
“I see you woke up,” the vampire said, staring down at me as I kneeled by the cage. Even with some distance between us, I could feel his rage. “And you found a friend.”
I kept my expression as soft as I could. Louis’s beast was dangerously close to the surface. Daniel’s plans were working. Marini was losing control and he was more prone to make mistakes when he panicked. Unfortunately, he was also more likely to beat the shit out of me. I had to avoid that at all costs. “You remember Neil.”
He should since he was the one who had given Stewart permission to cart him off to the Hell plane.
“I remember the wolf,” Louis said with not a whit of concern in his voice. “He was given to the demon as payment for the demon’s betrayal. He looks worse for the wear.”
“I need to get him out of there and take a look at him,” I said quietly. “He needs food and water.”
The vampire’s dark eyes were calculating. “I think not. The faery’s body didn’t seem to move Donovan much. He killed another two of my vampires while you slept and he stole Rose. I was going to use her as payment to a loyal subject. Now I have to come up with something else. This one was his servant. Perhaps his death will mean something to the king.”
“He won’t care,” I lied quickly. “He and Neil haven’t worked together for a very long time. Neil turned his back on Danny and Danny won’t forgive him. He only lets Neil stay around because he’s my pet.”
Louis laughed, a nasty sound. “Of course. So I get to be the bad guy once more. It seems to be the role you have me cast in. You blame me for the prince’s death and now it seems I am cruel even to your little pets. I don’t think I can win with you, companion. Perhaps it’s time I cut my losses.”
Some big part of me panicked at that thought. He could do it, and I had always known he could. He could decide I was far too much trouble and slit my throat and toss me on Daniel’s doorstep, but I doubted he would do it himself. He would let one of the guards do it because no vampire would waste what I could give them. Then again, the sun had only been down for a few minutes. He must have run to find me so quickly. I had to gamble that he was trying to get the upper hand.
Pushing down the bile that threatened to rise at the thought of what I was about to do, I stood. Neil whimpered at my feet and it was a sad, pathetic little sound. I glanced down and I could have sworn that wolf winked at me. He knew what I had to do and he would play his part, too.
I walked up to Louis and got close enough so I knew he could smell me, hear my heart beating in my chest, see the pulse quickening at my throat. My voice was slow and the words honeyed. “If you’re going to kill me, Louis, please make it quick. I would prefer not to suffer. I haven’t done anything to you but give you my blood, my body. I think I deserve a quick death.”
I stood there as he watched me like a hawk watches a fluffy bunny right before she becomes dinner. His eyes told me he wasn’t thinking about how to kill me anymore. “If I allow the wolf to live, what do I get, companion?”
“Louis, you don’t have to negotiate with me,” I replied, my voice soft. “I’m already yours.”
Louis looked around and realized the two guards were listening to everything we said.
“Out,” he barked and the shifter and Trent walked away, closing the door behind them. I knew in that instant that I had him. If he didn’t want to look weak in front of his employees, then he wasn’t really thinking about killing me.
The vampire walked around me and toward the cage where Neil lay. He regarded the wolf seriously. “He doesn’t look like he’s doing well.”
“Yes,” I explained. “He isn’t on vampire blood and he wasn’t the strongest wolf to begin with. As you can see, whatever Stewart did to him has weakened him further. Oh, Louis, he isn’t a threat to anyone.”
He stared for a moment and seemed to come to a decision. “If I allow him to join you in your rooms, you would vouch for his good conduct?”
Neil’s tail started thumping and I nodded my head vigorously. “I promise. He’ll be good. I’ll be good. I’ve lost so much. Please, just let me have this one thing.”
The vampire’s hands found my shoulders and he held me carefully. He glared down at me, the full extent of his will my way. “No more grieving, Zoey. I’m sick of tears. You’ll do your job. You will warm my bed and you will do it willingly. You just laid beneath me the last time. I found it unsatisfying. I want your passion. I want what you gave to Daniel.”
He wanted me to make passionate love to him when my husband probably hadn’t even been buried yet. I knew Daniel wouldn’t send his body back to the sithein. Dev belonged on the Earth plane, where he’d been happiest. He belonged with us. We would be the ones
who would truly mourn him. We deserved to keep his body close. Daniel would send him back to Dallas where we could see where he was buried, where I could take our children to visit.
“Zoey,” Marini’s voice startled me out of my thoughts. “I said no more tears.”
I felt the wetness on my face and brushed it off my cheeks. “I’m sorry.”
“The pain is still fresh,” Louis conceded, and his eyes were softer now. He crowded me and his hands found my waist. He pulled me close and one hand reached up to tip my chin toward him. “Give me what I need, companion. I’ll be good to you. I’ll make you forget.”
He could never make me forget my faery prince. He could never take his or Daniel’s place, but I went up on my toes and placed a tentative kiss on his lips, pretending all along that they were Danny’s.
Louis swept me up into his arms and he carried me out of the dungeons. He instructed the shifter to feed my wolf and settle him into my rooms comfortably. He practically ran the rest of the way to his apartments. Several vampires tried to stop and ask him seemingly important questions about the war going on all around us, but Louis was horny and didn’t seem to care that his world was falling apart. I was satisfied with the annoyed looks I caught on the vampires’ faces as Louis brushed them off. It was another way I could screw with him.
When he finally got me back to his rooms, he tossed me lightly on the bed and was on top of me before I could breathe. He spread my legs and used one hand to hook my knees around his waist. I was still dressed, but I knew that wouldn’t last long.
“Do you have any idea what you do to me?” Louis asked, nuzzling my neck. I felt the wet warmth of his tongue there. “When you put your arms around me, I am enveloped by your light, mon ange.”
I did what he wanted and wrapped my arms around him. I tightened my legs around his waist, feeling the hardness there grinding against me like he couldn’t wait to get inside.
“Please bite me,” I begged, thinking all the while that I should get an Oscar for my performance. Even to my own ears, I was breathless with anticipation. “Take me, Louis. Take me away from everything for a little while.”
His magic filled the room. He slammed it into me and I was overwhelmed by it. I closed my eyes and let it flow over me, let it take me to that place only a vampire can take you to, but in my mind’s eye it wasn’t Louis who found my neck and bit down. It was Daniel I shared my body and my blood with. It was Daniel’s sandy hair I sank my fingers into as he groaned against me. It was Daniel, my love, my friend, my husband, who took my mind off my grief.
I think I went a little crazy that first full night in Louis’s bed because I really saw Danny. He was there with me, whispering to me. He loved me. He would forgive me for anything I had to do as long as I was alive at the end of it. When the vampire released the vein in my neck, it was Daniel’s blue eyes that smiled down at me, happy and eager to get to the next part. It was Daniel’s hands that undressed me and his strong body that moved against mine. It was his blood I took into my body and his voice that urged me on.
A long while later Louis pulled me against his satiated body and I knew my blood was working inside him. His hands moved over my skin like he couldn’t quite stop himself from stroking me.
“Je t’aime, mon ange.” He sighed as he kissed my forehead.
There was a loud knock on the door. It wasn’t the first time, but Louis had completely ignored it before. Now he was irritated. He gently disentangled himself from me.
“I will tell them to go away, my sweet companion. It’s our wedding night. I’m sorry we didn’t have a properly observed ceremony, but there isn’t time. The least I should expect is to be left alone to enjoy my wedding night,” he grumbled as he got out of bed and wrapped a robe around his body.
I felt sick again at the thought of it. According to the laws of the vampire world, I really was Zoey Marini now. Daniel was an outlaw, declared by the full Council, so I was fair game. Louis had performed the ritual. He had taken my blood and I had taken his. We were married legally. It would be a short marriage because I was already planning a really permanent divorce from husband number three.
Louis was frowning when he returned. “I have to go, Zoey.”
I forced myself to pout. “You’re leaving me?”
He sighed and knelt by the bed, taking both my hands in his. He brought them to his lips and kissed them fervently. “Forgive me, darling girl. Niles and Elof are very insistent. They’re being entirely unreasonable about interrupting our wedding night.”
They were being entirely pissed about Louis screwing around in the middle of a war. I had to stop myself from smiling, but I was delighted at the chaos I’d created. I wondered how much more I could cause.
“Can I go with you?” I had just taken a full dose of his blood. It should have made me more pliable, more willing to do as he wanted and to want to be near him. It had been explained to me that this was part of the bonding process, but I was somehow different. I enjoyed taking Danny’s blood but it never made me his slave. Louis’s didn’t touch me either, but he didn’t know that.
“I don’t know if that is a good idea, Zoey.”
“You don’t want me anymore?”
“How can you ask that?” Louis quickly moved in to allay my fears. “Believe me, if I could I would stay in that bed with you and never again allow you out of it. We’re bonded now, Zoey. I told you it would be this way. You feel it now. I can see it.”
I forced my lips to smile. “Can I wait here for you?”
Louis stood up and started to dress. He seemed to come to a decision. “No. You may come with me. You’re my wife now. They will accept you. You must behave though.”
I sat up on my knees, completely heedless of my nudity. It was a lesson Dev had taught me. “I promise. I just…would rather be with you.”
The man who’d effectively murdered my husband finished dressing and leaned over to kiss me. “I knew you would once we were properly bonded. You’ll see, Zoey. You’ll like your new life.”
He looked around but seemed unhappy with my clothes. They were definitely worse for the wear.
“I don’t guess I’ll much look like your wife in jeans and a T-shirt,” I said, happy with the embarrassment in my voice. I’d just had a brilliant idea, but I was going to need to go about it slowly. I didn’t want him suspicious.
He hauled me up and wrapped his robe around me. It was very masculine and it swallowed me, but I knew he would like me dressed in something of his. “You look perfect. Come along.”
Louis led me through the sitting area, and my heart raced as he walked straight to the office door. I was going to get a good look at the scene of my future crime.
Niles and Elof stood up as Louis entered the room.
“Finally,” Niles said in that upper-crust accent of his. “We’ve been waiting for hours…what the hell is she doing here?”
Louis’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have a problem with my companion, Niles?” The question was an obvious trap.
“No, Louis,” Niles replied, but I could see he was lying.
Louis sat down in the big wing chair behind his imposing desk and I began to sink to my knees beside him as he’d had me do before. It would be hard for me to see anything but the front of the desk and Louis’s lap, but I needed him to trust me. The vampire made it easy on me. He pulled me up and indicated that he wanted me in his lap. I gave him an intimate smile and curled against him.
“Do you really think it’s appropriate to have her in here?” Elof asked, obviously exasperated as he reseated himself.
I was going to have to think about changing my name to Yoko. I was really giving this little band of Louis’s hell. I cuddled against Louis, and he practically purred at the close contact.
“She isn’t going to cause trouble,” Louis said sharply, his hand tightening like they might try to take me away from him. If I played my cards just right, I might be able to start a fight. “We just performed the ceremony, Elof. The two of
you interrupted our bonding time.”
“Well, excuse us, Louis,” Niles said bitterly. “I don’t think Donovan is going to stop his campaign against us because you need a honeymoon with his companion.”
Now Louis was growling. “She’s mine. Do you question my right to my companion?”
Elof rolled his eyes. “Of course not. Give it up, Niles. He’s going to be unreasonable. You know how it is when you get that first real night with one of them. Can you imagine what she tastes like?”
“Yes, I certainly can,” the Brit replied. “Which is why he shouldn’t have taken her as his companion when we’re in the middle of a bloody war and we’re losing.”
Then they were off and arguing about everything under the sun. Niles wanted to go after Daniel hard and immediately. Elof wanted to start waging a more guerilla-like approach to the war, and Louis was waiting to see if his demon contacts would come through. I heard them talking about the possibility of dealing with the Hell plane. It sent off alarm bells in my head. Thus far, the demons had stayed out of our skirmishes. That could go poorly for us, but I forced myself to remain in full-on sexy kitty mode. I rested against Marini’s shoulder and pretended to doze as they argued on and decided to at least talk to the demons. They would call one tomorrow night once their witch was prepared.
I let my eyes drift around the room. It was very masculine, like the rest of Louis’s apartments. It was stuck in the sixteenth century or somewhere close to it. Everything was dark wood and rich fabrics. There was his large, neatly appointed desk with everything in its place. There was a computer, but I was surprised to see it wasn’t a sleek laptop like Dev and Danny preferred. It was a solid-looking machine, but it couldn’t be easily moved. Dev never employed anything that couldn’t be moved or destroyed fully and at a moment’s notice, but then Dev was thorough…I took a deep breath. I had to keep my mind from going there. I had to focus. I couldn’t think about Dev. I couldn’t indulge in grief or memory.
