Dark Secrets

by Ana Calin

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  Publisher’s Note:

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and events are the work of the author’s imagination.

  Any resemblance to real persons, or events is coincidental.

  Copyright 2017/March 2020 new edition – Ana Calin

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dark Secrets (Dark Lords, #2)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dark Secrets

  Ana Calin

  Dedication:

  Dedicated to my husband – the man who inspired Damian’s character – and my son, Jonas.

  Chapter One

  My neck hurt, probably from having slept too high and too hard on Damian’s chest. The sheets were ruffled under and over me.

  Damian stood by the open window, his godlike torso naked in the chill, boxers on, jeans undone, belt hanging loose from his hips. His gaze was keen, as if I weren’t naked enough, as if he wanted to x-ray me with those devil-like eyes. I grabbed the duvet and covered my breasts, embarrassed and afraid he didn’t cherish our lovemaking the way I did.

  “I hardly think that’s necessary,” he said, without inflection, and bent for his t-shirt. The way his raven locks caressed those muscled shoulders . . ..

  “Don’t go,” I whispered.

  He froze, looking at me with an impenetrable gaze. Tears pooled in my eyes, and I was pretty certain my feelings showed. Maybe that softened him in some way, because he walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, inspecting my face as if I were a strange bacterium under a microscope.

  “What do I mean to you, Alice?” he said in a low voice.

  I felt too ashamed to tell the truth. That I was madly in love with him, despite all the blood that clung to his hands. I was in love with the peasant boy who’d been used as a lab mouse and made into a monster. A villain my father trusted like an adopted son, and who’d betrayed him by sleeping with his mistress, and now, even his daughter.

  “Was it the same with Svetlana?” I demanded, leaning away from him. “Did you consume her the same way?”

  “No,” he replied evenly.

  “Did you leave your seed in her?” I said on impulse.

  He cocked an eyebrow. “You care about that?”

  His seed. That was still in me. Sweat shot out from all my pores.

  “Oh, God,” I cried.

  “What is it?”

  “We didn’t use protection!”

  It didn’t seem to worry Damian in the least. “I’m an Upgrade, Alice. I’m immune to all disease, and I can’t pass on what I don’t have.”

  “Well, disease isn’t the only nuisance that might appear, is it?”

  Damian’s eyes became slits.

  “I suppose you don’t shoot blanks, do you?” I babbled.

  “Not as far as I know.”

  I thought I’d pass out.

  “There is such a thing they call the morning-after pill, though,” he said.

  And now I felt like an idiot. Intimacy had been off my menu for so long that not only had I become the target of jokes about my fanny having cobwebs, but much of what I knew about birth control measures was buried under long-time abstinence. I blushed. I had to save face, and reviving anger seemed like a good strategy.

  “Do you have women take it often? Or, what? Should we expect Svetlana to pop out a baby anytime soon, maybe put it in Dad’s arms and claim it his?”

  His eyes flashed with fury. “If you must know, I used a rubber with her. I didn’t lose my head as I did with you, and it’s not Svetlana who’ll have to spread her legs for me from now on.”

  My scalp prickled. “From now on?”

  “You unleashed your talents on me, Alice,” he said darkly, pinning me down with those pale green eyes. “You acted against me alongside BioDhrome. Everything I worked toward for over a decade went to hell last night at the Marquette. I gave it all up to save your skin.” His eyes narrowed, and he tilted his head to the side like a curious raven. “You didn’t expect there would be consequences for that, Alice? A price to pay?”

  “A price?” I whispered, staring, bewitched, into his eyes.

  He ran a granite thumb over my lower lip. His voice rippled darkly, like a drug, “You belong to me.”

  I should’ve said something, but I was too stricken to think, let alone come up with a witty reply.

  “So we have to consider regular birth control,” he decreed.

  He stood up, avoiding further eye contact. With his back at me, and facing the open window he said, “I was your first man in a long time. I can live with you having a past, Alice, but I demand exclusivity from now on.”

  “Are you saying you would’ve expected to be the first ever?” I dared.

  “No, not expected. I’m not an idiot.” His voice fell to a whisper. “But I would’ve liked that.”

  “That preference will prove hard to satisfy in our century. It’s almost a fetish.”

  He turned to me, eyes flashing angry. “That preference isn’t general, Alice, it’s only related to you.”

  I stared, my brain on pause. Damian lowered his voice to a deep threat, baring his bone-white teeth like a predator with fangs. “I swear I’ll have the head of any man you show the slightest interest in. I’ll serve it to you on a golden platter, apple in snout and all, if you don’t take me seriously this time.”

  He looked me up and down as if he read my mind. “Don’t look so scared,” he said. “I’m not some love-sick stalker. I’m doing this because you know too much. I can’t take the smallest risk that you go lovey-dovey some day and decide to betray me again.”

  I’m not some love-sick stalker. My heart sank, and my shoulders slumped. I looked down, hoping against hope the heat in my cheeks didn’t stain my whole face, exposing the feelings bustling inside me. My fingers curled tightly on the duvet above my breasts, wishing I could make it part of my skin.

  “Now play along,” he said.

  I looked up shyly. “What?”

  I heard the doors to the antechamber creak open and then closed. I threw a glance at the clock on the chest of drawers – eight. Indeed, Mom and Leona should’ve been home long ago.

  The doors opened, and Leona stood between them with hands on the knobs like a ravished queen, white dress stained, long black hair frizzed, make-up patchy on her olive skin.

  “What is this?” she whispered in surprise, – almost dread – eyes darting from Damian to me.

  “We....” But I had no idea what to say. Damian took over and, walking closer to the bed, he faced Leona.

  “I wanted to get out last night, but we slept in. Then I intended to get out just a moment ago, but I wasn’t fast enough,” he said, gesturing to the window. He spoke as if he didn’t quite regret being caught.

  “Did you two...?” Leona looked baffled. She couldn’t help ogling the breathtaking barbarian from head to toes for a few seconds, but then she got a grip.

  I wanted the ground to swallow me, but just a second later, someth
ing else drew my attention. A face I spotted over Leona’s shoulder. Round and pig-cheeked, small eyes darting from me to Damian the way hers had.

  “What’s he doing here?” I shrieked.

  That made Leona blink a few times and come back to herself. Motioning with her thumb over her shoulder she said, “Oh, Tony? I found him on his butt in front of the corner bar, waiting for a chance to see you. He insists it’s dead important. Your phone was off, and he couldn’t get past viciously barking Vasile and Chanel last night. Didn’t dare call the landline ‘cause of Jenna, I guess.”

  Damian’s eyes flashed hostile at Tony. “I should go. I’m sure Mr. Anghel won’t be opposed to leaving with me.”

  Oh, he was opposed all right. His face sagged rapidly, and his eyes swelled from their sockets.

  “I’m afraid it’s too late to avoid Jenna,” Leona said through her teeth. She clearly didn’t like the situation either. “She was on her way back from Mrs. Teodorescu’s house as I walked in. I’m also afraid she’ll be actually happy to see you, Damian. She might even ask you to stay for breakfast.”

  “Or she’ll be angry as hell,” Damian retorted. “If I’m here at this hour it’s evident I slept with her daughter, isn’t it?”

  Slept with me . . . We’d really slept together....

  “Jenna might actually be glad the two of you got this close.”

  “Leona!” My cheeks burned.

  “Well then,” Damian said with a sneering grin, “If she does suggest breakfast I’d be rude to refuse. I hope she’ll suffer Mr. Anghel’s presence, as well, though.” A metallic glint crossed his eyes, fixed on Tony. “After last night, I want him where I can see him.”

  Tony turned purple, and Damian measured him from head to toe as if he were a maggot. He shuffled his t-shirt on and grabbed Tony’s arm like a bully, leading him out.

  Leona got out of their way. To top the whole thing, just as Damian opened the door, George, Leona’s still-boyfriend, stumbled into the antechamber. I wondered where he’d been all night. Surely not with Leona by the way he scowled when he saw her. His sandy hair was tousled, his narrow face even narrower and paler than usual, and dark rings circled his eyes like trenches. Was he on crack again? I shook my head. No, I couldn’t think about this now.

  Damian ushered them all out, and gave me a green crystal stare over his shoulder before he closed the doors behind him. My ears buzzed as I clutched the duvet to my chest, still wanting to pinch myself to make sure this was real. We actually slept together....

  I scrambled out of bed and dragged myself in their wake to the bathroom with the same towel around me that Damian had stripped me of last night. I was reluctant to step under the shower right away. That meant washing the scent of Damian’s skin and of our lovemaking off my body. I reminded myself I needed to get back with them as quickly as possible.

  Ten minutes later, dressed in the best pair of jeans I found in the wardrobe and a tight black sweater, I headed for the kitchen to join them. Mom stood by the stove, hand on the kettle, wearing an elegant, green silk shirt and a black pencil-skirt, pumps, and an elegant blond chignon.

  “I imagine her shock to see you,” she was just saying, amused. I understood she meant the moment when Leona had walked in on Damian and me, even though Leona must’ve left out the naked part.

  “There you are,” Mom said as she saw me, her face brightening. She motioned me to the table and encouraged me to toast, marmalade, Nutella, eggs, cheese, and sausages. “Tea’s coming up.”

  Embarrassed, I thrust my teeth into my lower lip, but Damian seemed to be feeling quite at home. As my eyes searched for a place at the table, he held out an arm, inviting me to sit on his stone hard thigh, his devilish eyes not leaving me a choice. My heart drummed. I hoped with everything I had that he’d lied earlier, that he was, in truth, what he professed he wasn’t – a love-sick stalker. I wanted it so badly that it hurt.

  From his lap, the world looked different. I had a high perspective. Tony kept his head down, inspecting the hands he knotted together between his knees, looking desolate. George munched and stared at Damian and me without the slightest attempt at hiding his curiosity.

  “So, now you’re together?” he yelled. He must’ve spent the whole night by the loudspeakers.

  “Yes, we are,” Damian replied.

  We are? My heart raced.

  George nodded as if in wise understanding, and Tony threw us a red-eyed glare. Damian’s jaw rippled. Tony jumped to his feet, grabbed his backpack from the floor, and hastened out of the room with tears in his eyes. Both Mom and Leona watched him with false apprehension and chuckled as soon as he was out, but I didn’t want to be on the side of the bullies. I tried to jolt up and follow Tony, but Damian’s arm hardened like an anaconda around my waist.

  “Stay,” he hissed. I glared into his eyes that seemed to be reiterating every word of his threat: “I’ll have his head, apple in snout and all.”

  As we made our way to his BMW, Damian’s grip became a steel cuff on my hand. In the crisp sea breeze, he spun me around and hauled me against the car, his arms forming barriers on each side of my head. His eyes burned angry.

  “How can you, Alice?”

  “What?” I shrieked, puzzled.

  “How can you feel sorry for the man who treated you like junk? He was after your father’s money, and he broke up with you when he thought you penniless. He accused you of cheating when it was he who screwed around, even with some of your own friends, if you must know. Why won’t you let him suffer now?”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “What difference does that make? You know I don’t do lying.”

  I kept staring at him, speechless.

  “That’s news to you, isn’t it?” he hissed, leaning in to me. “That he fooled around with girls who called themselves your friends. But don’t worry, they cleared from your circle when he left you, and you fell into depression. It was all for the better, it turns out.”

  “How the hell do you know all this?” I insisted.

  “How can you still love him, Alice?”

  “I don’t love him.”

  “Don’t lie to me!” His fist slammed into the car roof close to my ear, making me wince. My heart drummed with anxiety. He looked like a mad beast.

  “I’m not! It’s just – I didn’t expect –”

  “What? That on top of everything, he used to screw other women in public toilets on your nights out with friends? That he’d then come back to join you and touch your face with the same fingers he’d dipped in their cans? There’s no end to all the harm this man did to you, how can you still want to protect him and his ego? Tell me, Alice, what must happen to purge your heart of him?”

  “My soul isn’t as noble as you think,” I muttered. I couldn’t believe he actually thought me capable of loving that rat Tony after everything he’d done to me. That he would think I’d still want Tony when I had him.

  I enjoyed Tony’s desolation. I’d wounded his ego myself at the club when I’d told him I was into Damian, but forcing him to sit with us for breakfast after he’d walked in on us half-naked seemed too much.

  “Then why are you crying?” Damian lifted my chin with two fingers, his eyes drilling into mine.

  Because I’m not worth having, except for my father’s wealth or his genius, a voice inside threw in the apple of discord. My jaw clenched.

  “As if you’re any different.” I slapped Damian’s hand off my face. He froze in surprise while I scowled at him. “I would’ve never caught your eye if you hadn’t known I was Tiberius Preda’s daughter.”

  Damian’s features turned to ice. For a moment there, I thought he’d say something hurtful, scan me up and down in contempt. Instead, he bent down, cupped my head with one huge hand, and his tongue pushed its way forcefully into my mouth. His other hand slipped to my backside, kneading possessively, making an almost aggressive point of his lust until it glided away. To his pocket, it turned out. I heard the car doors un
lock with a clunk just before Damian stepped away from me with a pained expression on his face and the car keys in his hand.

  “Get in,” he demanded, voice hoarse. My eyes fell to the bulge in his jeans. He was ready to take me again, right here, and I was ready to receive him.

  Still dizzy from his siege, I obeyed and slid into the passenger seat. I couldn’t help glancing at him all too often while he drove down the snaking street, holes in the asphalt making the ride a challenge of skill.

  “Where are we going?” I whispered.

  “We need the morning-after pill, remember?”

  We pulled up at a 24/7 drug store, and Damian insisted to go in with me. Arm around my shoulders, he led me to the young brunette in white scrubs and thick make-up who stood behind the counter. She eyed him with exceeding interest as we approached. She inspected me from head to toe with obvious envy. It felt surprisingly good.

  The pharmacist slid the pill over the counter along with a plastic cup of water. I gulped it down under Damian’s unreadable stare. For a moment though, it seemed he had second thoughts.

  “I’m sorry about the way I told you about Anghel’s affairs,” Damian said back in the car. “I didn’t intend to be mean. But I can’t accept your devotion to him.”

  He closed his big hand around mine, bringing it on the console between us. Electricity went through me.

  “This isn’t being mean,” I whispered. “Mean is what you were last night when you technically dragged me out of the club and said those things to me.” I kept my eyes down at our hands – mine soft and small in his big fist. I remembered he could crush it with a simple squeeze, and I tried to pull away. His grip tightened, keeping me hostage.

  “I’m sorry, Alice, truly, I am. But I was exasperated. Don’t take this wrong, but the way you idolize Anghel, it’s no virtue. It’s just a step away from stupidity.”

  Idolize him? I burst into laughter. But whatever happened inside Damian, he wouldn’t speak again until he had confirmation or denial.

  “I don’t idolize Tony,” I clarified. All I can think about is you, the entire time.