“I cannot believe I am siding with him over you. Nikolas is right, Brianna. Demetri is dangerous.
You never should have allowed him to get into your head. He could have killed you.”
“Why? Because they all say he is evil?”
“I have been around Demetri.”
“So have I, now isn’t it odd that since he’s such a powerful and dangerous cold-blooded killer and
even though our mates are his enemies, we’re all still alive and well?”
“Who knows why he does what he does? Killing you would prematurely would shorten whatever
pleasure he hopes to receive by dragging it out. He is playing a game. He is using you to torture Nikolas,”
Mia said.
“She’s right, Brianna,” Caylee said. “And so is Nikolas.”
“I hope they are wrong, but it does not matter. I will do whatever it takes to find my sister as long as
there is a hope she’s alive. Do not lie to me and tell me that you wouldn’t do the same if she were your
sister.”
“You will not be visiting Demetri again,” Nikolas said.
By the time Brianna turned to look at him she was able to see. “Why are you here?”
He smiled as if he had done nothing wrong. “I brought Zack to talk to Julie.”
“Don’t blame me. I told him it was bad judgment to send you away like that. I also told him I could
come alone,” Zack said. “Where’s Julie?”
Brianna turned to him. “She’s in the back. I’ll take you.” Nikolas started to follow but Brianna
stopped him. “Now would be a great time for you to go find something else to do.”
“After we’ve talked.”
“We’ve talked enough for now.”
“I’ll pick you up later to take you to the auction.”
“I might see you there at some point tonight.” She wanted to make sure he understood that sending
her away wasn’t acceptable. Of course she would’ve liked to have the ability to do the same thing to him.
“You are being ridiculous. You said you wanted to go. I only gave you what you wanted.”
“Be consistent. Give me what I want again.”
“You want me to send you away?”
“No.” She turned and pointed at the door. “I want you to go away!”
“You know I am right.”
She took his arm and turned him around. “Yes you are. After giving it some thought I am happy you
sent me back here.”
His brow shot up. “You are?”
“One hundred percent.” She pushed the door open and shoved him outside.
He gave her a stern look. “Nothing has changed between us.”
She shrugged. “Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better.”
***
He picked her up, carried her outside for privacy and set her down. “I am not leaving until we reach an
agreement.”
“You can stand out here.” She patted the building. “Try having a deep and meaningful conversation
with the bricks. Don’t be bossy. Be polite. I am sure with a little effort you will be able to convince one to
agree with you about something by the end of the day.” She took one step to the side.
Struggling to keep a straight face, he moved closer. “I am not nearly as fond of talking to or making
pacts with bricks as I am with you.” Pressing one palm against the wall on her left side and the other on
her right side, he caged her in to prevent her from taking another step in either direction.
“That’s a shame. Being picky about choosing your friends will leave you sad and lonely. I’m going
inside.”
“Not yet.” He continued to inch his way closer as he used his body to back her up against the brick
wall. “As a matter of fact, you are not going inside at all unless you admit that you are coming home with
me tonight and every night after.”
“I suppose spending a night or two with you is one of many possibilities, but I cannot commit to
more. We simply won’t last for very long as a couple.”
He held her gaze as he pulled her hair behind her right shoulder. Once her delicate flesh was exposed
he dipped his head and leisurely feathered his lips from the crook of her neck to her lobe. “Eternity is an
incredibly long time. Every night,” he growled softly in her ear, “it is the only possibility.”
“You’re wrong. Besides, I am not sure I want to be involved with a know it all who lacks the
strength to bend every now and then.”
Knowing she entertained any doubt in his ability to take care of her bothered him. He decided to
remind her of the advantages his strength gave him to make sure she always experienced the greatest
possible sensual pleasures while making love. He reached down, caught her hips and lifted her so that she
automatically wrapped her legs around his waist. “You think I am not strong enough for you?”
Appearing to consider the question, she looked into his eyes as she massaged the back of his neck
with her fingers for several seconds. “I don’t think it. I am convinced it’s true.”
“Why?”
“No matter how big and impressive a tree appears to be on the outside it will topple over when a
violent wind blows if its roots are damaged and it’s weak on the inside.”
“You are comparing me to a diseased tree.” He didn’t like it.
“A healthy tree with strong roots is sturdy enough to bend with an even stronger wind. It might lose
a branch or two, but the tree will remain standing to meet the next wind.”
“Are you saying that I’m going to be knocked down if the wind blows?”
“Not alone. You’re going to take our relationship down with you.”
“How?”
“You refuse to compromise. If it’s not your way it’s the wrong way. You don’t trust my judgment at
all. I need you to be willing to listen to me.”
“I might disagree with your opinions from time to time, but I take note of every word you say.”
“That’s wonderful. I’ve a morsel of very helpful information for you to bear in mind and dredge up
from time to time. Denial might enable you to pretend that you have it all together, but it never conceals
such an enormously dreadful personality flaw from others.
“Enormously dreadful?”
“I’m so sorry, Nikolas. I didn’t mean to baffle you. For the sake of minimizing the possibility of
completely obliterating your self-confidence, I greatly understated the severity of your colossally
unattractive defect.”
“Making little of it? I don’t think so. You’re exaggerating.”
“You are willing to poof me away when you do not want to hear what I have to say.”
“What I’m about to say will likely shock you, but I must get it off my chest. To my absolute
amazement I realize doing so lacked an extremely large measure of good judgment. Forgive me, little
one. I shouldn’t have poofed you away. I should have known that, despite your insistence, you did not
really want to be separated from me. It was a stupid mistake. Why wouldn’t you want to be with me as
often as possible? After taking a moment to think about it I cannot come up with even one reason.”
“I hope that wasn’t your best attempt to convince me to forgive and forget your bad behavior.”
“Not at all. I plan to wipe it out of your memory.”
“I doubt it’s doable, but it sparks a slight amount of curiosity in me. How do you plan to do it?”
“I’ll give you a small sample of how I intend to achieve the impossible.”
His kissed his way from
her collar bone up her neck, and then he nibbled on her ear as he
sandwiched her between and the brick wall. “It’s easy. I love the way you taste. I plan to spend hours
between your legs; teasing…licking; savoring your sweet intoxicating nectar.”
***
Zack walked into the backroom. “I’ve been told you can help me locate Emily.” The moment he picked
up on her heartbeat, he realized being alone with Julie was a bad idea. Most likely being alone with any
human would be a bad idea.
“It’s a mistake. I don’t know where she is.”
Zack knew she was lying. Emily had recently been in the back area of the store. She was trying to
protect Emily. “I can help her.”
“She doesn’t need help. She doesn’t want it. She’s fine.”
“She isn’t alright. I know you’re trying to protect her, but…”
“It’s your fault,” Julie interrupted. “You left her alone. She went to look for you again. She was
worried about you.”
“You’re right. I made a huge mistake, but she is in serious danger and I can help her.”
Julie took her phone out of her pocket. “She won’t answer.”
Convinced that he could use a compulsion over the phone to get Emily to answer, he reached out for
it. “Let me give it a try.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Emily.” Julie rushed over to her.
“No.” Emily held up her hand to stop her. “Don’t get any closer to me.”
“You shouldn’t have left. I told you to stay.” What was he doing? He knew it was the wrong thing to
say.
She glared at Zack. “Did you?”
Rather than apologize, he nodded. He couldn’t even pretend it wasn’t a bad decision. Knowing he
was in such a delicate position should have caused him to pause long enough to use his brain before he
opened his mouth.
Flames ignited and burned in her eyes. Zack immediately pushed his way into her mind. He hoped to
calm her down before she lost control, but quickly realized it wasn’t going to happen. She was determined
to rip him to pieces. Nothing would stop her. He stayed merged with her to prevent her from being injured
when she pounced on him. The idea of a woman attacking him scared the hell out of him. It had never
happened to him before. He couldn’t hurt her. He wouldn’t. What the fuck was he supposed to do? With
her fists clenched at her sides she took a step toward him. His heart stopped. Literally. Not Figuratively.
He was damn sure the sight of her making a move to assault him gave him a heart attack. What was he
supposed to do? How could he stop her without hurting her? Better yet, how could he prevent her from
hurting herself?
Mia pushed passed Zack. “Emily!”
Growling, Emily shifted her gaze to Mia. Her anger instantly turned to pain. She was a monster. And
she knew Mia saw her that way.
“No. I don’t.”
Irritated that Mia heard her thoughts, Emily's emotions changed just as fast again. Her pain turned to
rage. Flames began to swirl around her. “What do you mean? I know what you think about vampires.
Why would you lie about it?”
Zack knew Emily was out of control. In her right mind she would not want to hurt anyone. She was
about to attack Mia. She wanted to kill her. He needed to take control of the situation. “Leave her to me.”
Nodding Mia started to back out of the room. “We love you, Emily. We will be looking forward to
seeing you again.”
“I know you can’t love me. You know what I am.” Emily turned her head and stared at Julie for a
few seconds. “I am so very sorry. I want you to make things right with Caleb. Don’t throw him away. He
saved your life. I would have killed you. I couldn’t stop. She turned to Zack. “Stay away from me. You
will be sorry if I ever see you again.” She shifted away without leaving behind even the smallest trace of
energy to track her.
“Come back, Emily!” Julie shouted.
“How did she do that?” Mia asked.
Zack glanced at her. “I can’t believe that you’re Joseph’s mate and you need to ask.”
“She’s alone. How did she learn to do it?”
He shrugged. “She’s a fast learner. Finding her is going to be a challenge. She also managed to
completely cover her tracks. I have nothing to follow.”
Julie grabbed his arm “You won’t hurt her, right?”
“I would never do anything to harm her.”
“She plans to go visit Demetri. She is convinced that he will help her. I told her that he is dangerous.
She refused to listen. She kept defending him. For some reason she really believes that he is her friend.”
~Fourteen~
CARL COULDN’T BELIEVE that he had just witnessed his bride fucking around with another man.
How could she allow the dirty bastard to grope her in plain view for any and every person to see? She was
a nasty, filthy, treacherous bitch. She looked right at him and smiled to mock him while she rubbed her
body up against the piece of shit.
He had to teach her a lesson. If he had any hope of training her to be virtuous he had to get her under
his control. He thought about it for a few minutes only to realize it was too late. She was a whore. He saw
her getting off on the way the dirty bastard touched her. There was only one solution. He had to kill them
both. No. He wanted to kill them for the humiliating him. Everyone that walked by stopped to point and
laugh at him. Everyone knew his bride was screwing around.
He would kill her first. He would do it slowly. Yes. That was a good plan. He liked the idea of
dragging out her suffering for as long as possible. He would allow the scum that ruined her to watch from
start to finish. He wouldn’t permit him to look away. If it were necessary he could cut his eyelids off to
prevent him from closing his eyes. He couldn’t remember if he had ever removed a person’s eyelids, but
it did not seem that difficult. He would need a small, super sharp blade. Actually, a razor blade would
work great. It just so happened to be that he had one or two in his junk drawer. It would feel good to
know that he watched all the while knowing than he was next. Looking up at his reflection in the rearview
mirror he smiled at the thought of the idiot begging him to spare his life.
It might be fun to let him feel hope once or twice just to watch the look in his eyes when he took it
away.
“Just like he stole your dirty bride away,” his mother said in a sarcastic tone.
It was just like her to rub salt into his wound. He knew she was sitting in the back seat, but he
wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing he heard her. That’s what she wanted. If he ignored her she
might get bored and go away.
All of the sudden the realization of no longer having a bride hit him hard. His stomach was all
twisted in knots. Why was he grieving? She was a no good, dirty whore. He should be happy to get rid of
her. Rage began to build up in him. He held it back as best as he could, but it kept stabbing at him.
Feeling his control slipping away he made an attempt to drive away and find some seclusion before he
lost it.
From behind he heard his mother laughing at him, mocking him. He dared a glance over his
shoulder. “Get out of here!” She just continued to laugh louder and louder.
This is what his bride wanted. She wanted to help his mom prove that he would ne
ver be free of his
father’s curse. The sound of her amusement over his terrible misfortune was driving him insane. He
couldn’t take it anymore. Not while confined with her in such a small area. He had to get out the car to get
away from the horrendous noise of her laughter.
He managed to get around to the other side of the block. He pulled up to the curb and put the car in
park just in the nick of time. He opened the car door and jumped out. He had to try to find a way to calm
himself before he lost control, but he couldn’t get the vision of his bride letting the man touch her out of
his mind. And worse, she was touching him. Her hands were moving all over his body.
It wasn’t as if he didn’t try. He did everything he could think of. He even made an effort to walk it
off by circling the car, but rage built in him until a substantial burst of pain erupted in his head. Screaming
in outrage and agony he began to violently bash his fists against the hood of the car repeatedly until he
collapsed.
At that very moment, sitting on the cold pavement, a terrible sadness came over him. With his back
to the front bumper he pulled his knees up and lowered his head onto his knees and wept until his tears
ran dry. After a short while he faced the fact that he could not escape the truth. He had to deal with it
properly. She was practically screwing the bastard right there on the sidewalk. Obviously he was
mistaken when he looked at his collection of pictures. It was not perfect. He’d looked at it wrong. The
truth didn’t lie. She was not a decent woman. He had known all along that finding one would be nearly
impossible. Women were naturally unclean. He simply needed to search a little longer.
Just to be sure he got into his car and headed for home. Another look at his collage would certainly
prove what was so apparent. A bride given to him by God would never mock him by getting it on with a
loser. Not on the sidewalk in front of so many people. Luckily there wasn’t much traffic. Maybe it was
not just luck. He had missed two red lights in a row. It had to be a sign of God’s favor. What else could it
be? No one else got one green light after another. It was a miracle. Pulling into his driveway in record
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