by Scott, Talyn
“No and yes. This is the way I normally look. The natural way I was born to look. But I can change upon will anytime, anywhere, and for any length of time.”
“So you’re boundless.”
“In some ways I am, especially my love for you.” She just stared at him so he continued, “You know the adage about a tiger not changing his stripes?” He didn’t wait for her to respond. “Whoever started that never encountered a Habaline.”
“Habaline?” she licked her lips nervously, but she stayed put.
“I am one-half of a species of many, many immortals that walk among the mortals.”
“Like some Greek…tragedy.” She shook her head until hair flew around. “The myths…the fables…don’t tell me those are true.”
“I won’t,” he said softly. “Although you have to consider creatures of mythoi intricately weave themselves within those fables and the world as you know it. All challenge your intrinsic understanding of reality. I get that, Blythe, and I will help you understand.”
“I don’t want to understand.”
“You have to. There’s no other way for you to go. You most certainly can’t run.”
“If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would have…” She stared up at him horrified. “You were marrying me,” she accused. “You never told me any of this. Were we going to have kids?” She shuddered.
“God, I hope so. Do you know what it would feel like to watch you grow with my child?”
“What…would it have…been?”
“What will it be? Hmmm. Let me think. I’d say if it were a boy, he’d spend his teenage years thinking he was the hottest thing out there and commit selfish atrocities left and right until he meets someone half as wonderful as his mother. Only then, would he settle down and play well with others. If he’s a she? Well…she’ll probably have our combined looks and those unbelievable curves of yours, so she’ll be locked away until she’s a hundred or so. After her daddy-imposed imprisonment, we’ll discuss the possibility of her dating someone.” He flashed a brilliant smile. “Someone I’ll probably kill the minute he rings our doorbell, so be prepared for that mess.”
“It’s all funny to you.”
“No, moja láska, there’s nothing humorous about this, or the way you’re looking at me. You’re mentally pushing me in the distance because it hurts for you to realize there’s only one way for you to go.”
“Alternate realities are hard to believe in, even if they’re staring you in the face.”
“There’s nothing alternate here. It has always been this way, angel. The truth, as you knew it, wasn’t exactly the truth. That’s all.”
“No. You’re recreating my world…everything I understood to be normal.”
“I can do a lot of things. Recreation isn’t one of them. Just so you know, I never wanted to be human. I like being me. The me I am for you is the best I’ve ever been.”
She heard what he was saying, but he knew that her mind refused to understand. “When were you going to tell me?”
He didn’t bat an eye, knowing exactly what she was talking about. “After a while into our marriage, I wasn’t in any hurry.”
“You will go on forever, right? I wither and age.” She closed her eyes against his masculine body. Unlike her, he’d always be that way. “How did you expect it to work? I can’t think of a single time when I wondered if others were not human. I never contemplated living infinitely, at no time fathomed whether others made it to their graves…and got back out.” Icy fingers crawled up her spine. “I just assumed you live, you die, and then you move on to something better.”
“I would’ve died alongside you.” He grew sad. “There are ways.”
“You can’t mean that.”
“If I didn’t mean it, then why did I choose to attach myself to you, a mortal, in the first place?”
“Attached?” She pushed wisps of hair from her eyes. “After our break-up, you went on just as I did.”
“Going on without the one you love is insurmountable. People do it all the time. Yes, somehow, I did it, too. But not that well, considering I begged you to come back year after year. Still, even though you turned me away, I knew you were healthy and alive, so that helped. Even so, there’s no comparison if you were to die. You were a mortal with the barest whisper of a lifespan. To know you could’ve gotten into an accident or be harmed by one of my enemies tore me up daily.”
“Tore you up? Were a mortal? Past tense?”
“Brace yourself, angel.”
“There can’t be more.”
“It seems you’re not exactly human.”
She heard this strangled, choking sound and realized it came from her.
“Deep breaths, Blythe, bring them in and push them out. I don’t have all of the facts and neither of us has the time to fact-find right now.”
“I don’t believe any of this.”
“Yes, you do. I can smell many things from you and distrust isn’t one of them. Right now, you’re stunned, but you believe what I’m saying. We’ll work through how you’re really feeling when you settle down.”
“I’m really feeling like leaving.”
“Never.”
“You said we’ll work through it. I have no clue how to deal with this. That’s how I’m working through it.”
“No. Chaos threads your mind. I can see it churning in your eyes. But leaving me is never, ever going to happen again, so you’ll find another way to deal with all of this.”
“You have no say.”
He laughed, “Wrong.”
“I mean…you have power that I obviously don’t. But you wouldn’t hold me with it, or else you would have for years.”
“Those humanistic idealisms have left me. Besides, I kept you for years.”
“Kept.”
“I paid your brother to keep you in luxury, to see that you finished your studies. Not that your education mattered to me, but I knew it did to you. I paid for…everything… you to go to the best schools, stay in the best homes, wear designer clothes, and dine on the finest cuisine. All while staying behind the scenes, negotiating with your brother, keeping your wishes, the ones that insisted you wanted no part of me.”
“I want no part of you now.”
He inhaled again and gave her the cockiest smile she’d ever seen. “You’re full of shit.”
She scooted back and he tracked her movements in a clearly predatory way that made goose bumps pop up on her flesh.
“I can’t say anything you want to hear,” Sixten’s breath rushed out on a long sigh. “But I didn’t treat you as badly as you think.”
“Even if I could accept that you’re not human…maybe I’m not human. You were still faithless. No matter what you are, you’ll do it again. Faithless people remain faithless.”
“Now, you need to understand that it was Rave, my brother, that night and not me.”
“I saw you.”
“You saw a Habaline Shapeshifter that formed himself into his brother and had sex with your friend. Not me. Never me. Nevertheless, I couldn’t tell you then, could I? I figured it out later, after I calmed down. You didn’t know she wanted me. I never took her…touched her at any time. Rave was around at our engagement party. Do you remember meeting him then?”
She shook her head numbly.
“He decided to have fun with my predicament,” he said tightly. “I didn’t want you to know, especially right before our wedding, that your best friend didn’t have your best interests at heart. She’d been after me all night. Rave got wind of it, and without my prior knowledge, played me perfectly.”
“And you figured all that out, huh?”
“Yeah. She wouldn’t stop badgering me afterwards, so I had to erase her memory. I couldn’t stand the notion of her thinking I betrayed you. And in the back of my mind, I knew what happened, but Rave took off. Only recently, years later, did I get a chance to confront him.”
“And?”
“Humans are a game to him. He has
no qualms with playing with them and putting them away for another day. I don’t condone his actions. Unfortunate for us both, he chose that particular situation to play in, one which ruined our lives for years.”
She asked skeptically, “You expect me to believe your brother impersonated you?”
“Yes,” he replied solemnly. “He’s truly a monster.”
“I’m to accept everything you say?” He saw she had so many questions; they jumbled inside her and got lost before she could call on one. “You’re screwing up my head.”
“No. You’re allowing newfound knowledge to screw with your head.” He paused heavily. “Why should I hold anything back now? You’re acclimating as we speak. Quite nicely, I might add.”
“Stop talking.”
“It’s cruel to keep you in the dark, and you need to know what’s in store for you,” he said hesitantly. “By the way, we’d both feel a lot better if we played in that bed over there.” He cocked his head toward the bed draped in gossamer and wicked, crimson sheets.
She shook her head, refusing to look it. “Let’s say I believe you about your brother, even though all my brain waves are screaming ‘you fool’. Why didn’t you tell me all of this a long time ago?”
“I had Anthony cart you off to Italy because I didn’t know how far Rave was willing to go. I was stupid enough to think he’d leave you alone, but in a very meaningful way, he hurt you more than words can suffice. Me, too. Within hours of your pitiful discovery of them in bed, a heavy raid went down that obliterated many of the Habalines on this island. One I knew nothing about, but one my brother asked me to take sides on – specifically his side. On the other hand, my Coven Master, Maestru, expected me to stay where I was. Loyal to the Vampyr Vojaks, in which I was one of the warriors who protected our race. So that’s why I allowed you to finally leave. I’m selfish, Blythe, but not when it comes to your safety. I never once set you free, though - not in any way. I cared for you implicitly with hopes you would return to me one day. And here you are in our bedroom.”
“Just talking.” No matter the situation, he still made her blood boil, and it wasn’t from anger.
“As I said, this can only go one way.” His eyes flared carnally, incinerating her obstinate will.
Weary to the bone, she still asked, “If you say I’m not completely human, then what am I?” Did she really want to know the answer?
“Let’s take this step by step.”
“How?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “Maybe you should close your eyes.”
“Maybe, I should turn my head and run.”
“Hmmm.” He inched closer. “I don’t think hard to get will do it for me right now. Not when I’m so hard.” He placed her hand on his bulge and she felt him jerk under her touch. She quickly removed it. He loomed over her with the slow, lethal grace of a lion herding his mate, or maybe his prey.
She was sweating bullets. “If I lost my mind and believed everything you said. I still couldn’t go back, and I don’t want to go back.”
“I understand, moja láska,” he purred, bracing his arms on either side of her head, caging her.
“I’m definitely afraid of you, freaked out is more like it. But I should be terrified right now, truly terrified. As time passes, my fear seeps away. Until l feel eerily calm, Six. Is that something you’re doing? Are you pulling my head together when it wants to scatter into a million pieces? I think it would be easier that way, for me at least. Just allow me to disassemble.”
“I love you too much to watch you disassemble, so yes, I’m helping you stay focused.”
“There’s nothing left to focus on.”
“Listen to me.”
“I don’t love you anymore. I refuse to…to let you… I won’t take you in my body again.”
A small hiss left the back of his throat. “When I look at you and see all the things that I did wrong; I want to fix the past. But I can’t, and that’s the part that just sucks. You,” he murmured, touching his forehead to hers, “you’re the one that can make it right. Right now, it’s you. The sad part is that you don’t give a damn - not about me, you, or us. You just don’t care.”
“So I’m to walk away? I leave, knowing that everything I hold dear resides in you, inside that frozen heart of yours. It’s the one that refuses my love, alongside the body that refuses my entrance.” He pushed his lips against hers, speaking into her mouth. “For years, I’m torn, torn between letting you go forever and locking you in my bedroom.” He flicked his tongue across her lips. “Would you be a willing captive? Would you surrender your heart if I took your body forever?”
“Never.”
“I didn’t think so. I guess that adds to the excitement. Anger, even fear, makes for more passion. I can hear it.” He dropped some of his weight on her, pushing her back onto the floor. “Your heart pounds, it’s calling to me. Do you wonder what it says?”
“No.”
“It says take me anyway and I shall.”
Chapter 16
Sven decided to drown his sorrows. When he was drunk, his southern drawl was the sexiest of all in his repertoire. Many chippies were hitting on him, and he knew he would bring one home. And the sad part was, he also knew he’d pretend she was Blythe. Not because he loved her or even liked her, but due to the fact she was sex on two of the most perfect legs he’d ever laid eyes on.
He would have landed her eventually, since he always got what he wanted. But the walking god who Ryan said was Blythe’s fiancé screwed him out of taking her to the theater. Where Sven was going to show her off in front of his snobby, artificial friends, and later, charm himself into her bed.
“And you’re sure about this, Ryan?” he asked for the second time.
“Yeah, don’t expect her to come back to the spa…or even give you notice. She’s back with Sixten and he won’t have her working in this building or probably anywhere.”
“So he’s in charge of her?” He laughed.
“Sven, listen,” Ryan said gravely, “don’t ever mess with Sixten. Seriously. It’s not something you wanna do. Alright?”
“Fine.” He tipped his glass, enjoying the burn that accompanied excellent tequila. He eyed the women, wondering whom he would choose. “So…this Sixten dressed as if he could afford something other than your efficiency upstairs.”
“Don’t worry about her. I know you paid her well, and I appreciate that, but she’s more than fine now.”
“They’re moving away?”
“I don’t think so. I’m sure he still has his place on Captiva. They were going to live there years ago, and I doubt he sold it. It’s close enough to his downtown office.”
Sven had thrown another one down, stoking quite a buzz. “Hey, earlier I thought the everglades were on fire again. You know that burning stench when it’s ablaze?”
Ryan smiled cynically and said, “Probably just a local brushfire, Sven. I went in the alleyway a few minutes ago, smoke’s all clear now.”
The buzz slammed Sven the moment he stood.
Ryan stood with him and pushed in their chairs. “I’ll call you a cab, man.”
“No need. I’m going back to the spa with a chippie, nailing something easy. By the time I’m finished with her, I’ll be good to drive home.” He shook his head, pushing through the couples that encircled the bar and heading out the side door that linked the club to INKS. A small passage separated the two buildings, barely enough to get a bike through. Sven reached around, and in his drunken haze, he realized he didn’t have a girl on his arm.
He rummaged in his pocket for his cell phone, found it and flipped it open. Many numbers to choose from and any would come to his carnal rescue for a good bump and grind. That is, if he could actually see the screen.
“Need a ride?”
Dimly, he realized someone was creeping forward, almost gliding. “No. Just a good lay.” Oh, he shouldn’t have said that.
“Well,” he murmured, “you are quite pretty, but I’m in a hurry.�
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Sven dragged his fingers through his hair, forgetting his cell phone was in that hand. It crashed on the cobblestone, but the stranger had it in his palm before Sven tried to pick it up. He stepped closer, closer, closer, until he had him against the jagged brick. His breath was intoxicating, more than the tequila. It was warm, sweet, and dangerous, all with a touch of cardamom. He slipped Sven’s phone inside his back pocket and suddenly gave his throat a hard squeeze.
“You smell like Blythe Giarrusso.” He sniffed his neck behind his ear.
“Who are you?”
“Salk.”
“How can you smell her on me?”
“You were way too close to her. That’s how.” He squeezed harder. “And she has a distinctive perfume.”
Sven swallowed thickly, frightened beyond anything he could remember, yet he couldn’t run. “I don’t think,” he stalled out when Salk moved his hand and scraped his sharp teeth down his throat, “she wears perfume.”
“Tell me everything you know about her.” Salk moved in on him, handling him in a way one could only describe as predatory.
“Okay.” Sven closed his eyes. Though Salk had produced no weapon, he knew he would save his life by opening his mouth. “Whatever you want to know, just don’t kill me.”
Rave followed their movements, transfixed. “Poison, can you understand the way the human male succumbed so easily to the Lovec? He was not entirely enthralled, though somewhat inebriated.”
“The human found his life was of more importance than the female’s, betraying her quite easily,” Poison replied, shaking his head in amusement.
“Ah, but what’s betrayal? A breaking of a contract? Or a treachery to pair evil with evil? Should he feel shame to surrender under a highly skilled immortal? We’ve all done that from time to time.”
“I doubt you have ever surrendered anything.”
“Not completely.” Rave swallowed hard. “Did you scatter Blythe’s clothes around the Vojak’s sanctuary?”
