by Tamsin Baker
Maybe I was just in post multi-orgasmic haze, but that was how I felt. Despite so many wrongs in my life, this was something right. There had been nothing to doubt all along.
I studied Cassius’ mussed-up hair. The short, blond strands were tousled and were standing up in any which way. I smoothed out a wayward strand from his forehead and his eyes opened. His mouth curved in a sleepy smile. “Good morning, Tu Ena.”
Before I could answer, he kissed me. It was soft and languid. So different from the passion of last night but I loved it just as much. His fingers curled on my hip, swirling in little circles. His hand slid behind and cupped my buttock, kneading the flesh. It hadn’t taken much at all for my body to hum with instant arousal.
“I could wake up like this every morning,” I spoke against his lips.
“It is a nice way to begin the day, I have to say,” Cassius said.
Xander’s arm tightened across my waist as he stirred. I felt the moment he woke, even though I kissed Cassius. An energy sparked in the air as a part of me locked on to his consciousness.
“I see you’re awake, Ella. I wish to offer you a good morning.” He nipped my ear and his fingers dipped down my abdomen to plunge straight into my slit. He stroked his finger through the wetness there and then swirled it around my clit, pressing just the right amount to make me moan and crave more. His lips caressed my ear, his warm breath tickling inside the shell as he kissed me there.
They’d unleashed something I never knew existed within me and I wanted more. I craved it. “Oh, that’s a wonderful good morning greeting.”
Xander’s chuckle vibrated in my ear. I relaxed my thighs and opened my legs to let him touch me wherever he wanted. He didn’t disappoint. His finger slipped through my folds and he speared into my entrance, stroking in and out.
“I wish to offer a good morning to our Tu Ena as well.” I guess our movement had woken Davon.
He leaned over Cassius and lightly kissed my breast. “Good morning, Ella. It’s a wonderful morning, isn’t it?”
I wanted to form words and answer him. I really did, but Cassius kissed me and Davon returned his attention to my breast while Xander continued to stroke inside me, a second finger added to the first. He teased my clit with his thumb, while Davon gave attention to my nipple.
My senses overloaded and an orgasm swept through me. It was a gentle wave compared to the orgasms of last night but it been gifted to me by the three of them. I settled back into the warm cocoon of their bodies and drifted off to sleep once again.
* * *
I woke alone, although I was warm as someone had drawn the blankets over my still naked body. The curtain had been parted and light filtered through.
It had stopped snowing!
I bolted upright and threw my legs over the edge of the bed. I snagged a blanket and wrapped it around me and went to look out the window.
Snow sparkled in sunlight, and covered every tree limb and coated every leaf. Limbs bent to the ground beneath the burden of the weight of the snow. It was so deep, it looked like a soft pillow cover over the ground. Pristine and untouched.
I’d always loved freshly fallen snow. It was as though it was capable of washing away the evils of the world, and I could pretend that The Holy Trinity and Gary and his followers didn’t exist and couldn’t hurt me.
Maybe they wouldn’t hurt me anymore. Xander, Cassius and Davon were protective. I didn’t know what the future would hold, but I’d like to think it included them. Being here had brought such a change, I didn’t want to go back to Conway and live my old life.
Now it seemed so much better. Brighter. As though I might now find a way to leave.
My heart stumbled a little. Now that the weather had broken, I could leave. I could get to Mom. The farm. My responsibilities.
The thought didn’t fill me with the same sense of urgency as before. Suddenly I wished for just one more day of the storm. One more day, where I could hunker down and enjoy more time with them. One more day to be selfish and enjoy something for myself.
Reality infringed. The storm had broken.
I could leave.
There was a call of a voice. Xander stepped through the snow wearing only jeans and a light, long sleeved tee. Didn’t that guy ever get cold? More voices followed and I saw Cassius and Davon walking after Xander.
They must have been feeling a bit of cabin fever as well. A small smile touched my lips as I watched them out in the snow. Davon threw a snowball and hit the back of Xander’s head. Xander turned to him with a scowl, but I knew he really wasn’t upset when he wiped the flakes sticking to his hair and flicked them away. He muttered something to a chuckling Davon but through the glass it wasn’t clear.
There was movement beneath a shadowed low hanging branch. A flash of a dull brown body and a snout disturbed a clump of snow. My God! A bear! And its attention was riveted to the guys.
I banged on the glass, “Hey. Stop. Over there! A bear!” But my voice was muffled by the thickness of the glass. They couldn’t hear me.
They slowly moved in the direction of the bear. They were too close. Didn’t know it was there. Bears could run fast, and when feeling threatened, nothing would stop them.
Heat condensed on the window, haloing my open palms. I hit the glass again, but my slaps were nothing but dull thumps. I couldn’t break the glass.
Gathering the blanket around me, I bolted from the room, my heart thundering. My breath came in hard pants as I sprinted down the long corridor into the front entrance hall. My sweaty hand slipped on the door knob, once. Twice.
I used the blanket to turn the knob. I shoved the door open and stumbled down the snow-covered front steps.
And slid to a halt.
It took a moment for my brain to keep up with my eyes. Blood sprayed the snow, staining the spotless perfection with deep red. The bear lay, still and unmoving, surrounded by the guys.
They were doing something to it. I couldn’t understand what I saw, only that they had their mouths on it as though they were…feeding from it.
But that…couldn’t be right.
There was no fight. No struggle. The guys weren’t hurt. The bear was unmoving. It was almost…peaceful.
Xander lifted his head then and speared me with his gaze. His eyes were a burning crimson. His mouth was parted. Gleaming fangs descended past his bottom lip. His mouth was coated with blood.
The bear’s blood.
Davon and Cassius stopped drinking to look at me as well. Their eyes were the same crimson color as Xander’s. Fangs descended, glinting white. Dripping with red. So much red.
Heat infused my body. My lungs shrank as I struggled for air. I gasped, wrestling for sweet oxygen. My mind struggled to grasp elusive meaning.
“Ella. You will forget.” Xander’s voice reverberated, imbrued with a powerful command that captured my whole attention. His voice filled my mind, syphoning through my will.
Compelling me.
Yes, yes I needed to forget. I would forget. That was a good idea.
I sank into a warm fog, my attention turning to more pleasant things. Not the bear and the blood and the fangs. The guys with red on their faces. In their mouths. Over the snow.
Something in my mind screamed. Fire licked my mind, scorching me from the inside, forcing me up through the layers of fog into crystalline clarity. My mind revolted with sheer terror. I was thrust back into reality, rejecting the compulsion that I wanted to accept more than anything. It would be easier. So much easier. But I couldn’t.
Get away.
I had to get away.
I raced back inside. Eyes blind, mind blank except for the terror filling my veins.
Get away.
I had to get away.
Chapter Thirty Two
I ran blindly through the foyer, my panicked brain trying to work out the best path.
“Ella!”
The staircase rose before me, but I darted to the right and ran down a dark corridor. I had no idea whe
re I was going. What I was doing, except to follow my brain’s command to flee. Find somewhere safe.
Yellowed light barely lit the corridor. I came upon a closed door, fingers desperately grabbing the door knob. It was stuck. I glanced over my shoulder. I heard them calling me, but couldn’t see them.
I had to find a safe place to hide before they found me. Heart thundering in my chest, I lurched for the next door. It, too, was locked. Stuck fast. I pounded a fist on the wood and dashed down the hallway.
My feet pounded on the floorboards, breaths coming in quick gasps. Sweat slicked my body. I tripped and the blanket fell away, leaving me as naked as when I’d left the bed.
How deliriously stupid I’d been. Thinking I’d found peace for the first time in my life. I’d never seen the truth, but how could I have known?
Vampires.
The word spurned me on. Charged my footsteps with desperation.
I darted around a corner, using my hand on the wall to propel myself. The corridor ended with stairs. There was no other way out. I sobbed. No choice. I couldn’t go back. No choice but to stumble down the stairs, two at a time.
My ankle twisted in the semi-darkness. Pain shot up my leg and I crashed to the ground. Weak light flickered and danced on the walls as I moved. I clutched the banister with two hands, using my arms to take my weight, stumbling as quickly as I could, ignoring the jab of pain each time I put weight on that foot.
Their voices echoed above me. Sounds without words, their shouts edged with determination and steel.
This was what nightmares were made of. Where women disappeared, never to be seen alive again. I should have tried to get away sooner. Escaped in the middle of the night.
But there’d been an element of trust, hadn’t there? They’d saved me and I was lulled into a false sense of security. Surely men who rescued a woman and saved her life didn’t do that just to murder her later, did they?
Maybe it was more insidious than that. They’d saved me, healed me, only to use me for God knew what. A sex slave. A meal. Body parts. Anything.
No one knew I was here. They could keep me prisoner here for a very long time before they grew tired of me.
Hadn’t people been imprisoned in people’s houses for years? Hidden. Chained. Used. I’d be one of those people. Never seen or heard from again.
Only my captors weren’t even human. They were… I’d seen… It couldn’t possibly be true…
“Ella. Stop!”
They were close. Too close.
I collapsed to the ground after I stumbled down the last step. The pain from my wrists and knees barely registered as I lurched to my feet and tripped towards the first door I came upon.
Relief coursed through me when the door opened. My ankle gave way and I fell to the floor again. Pain burst up my leg and I cried out.
“I heard her. In here!”
Oh, God. No. I scrambled to my feet, barely registering the room I was in, only focused on the door across the way. Every step was torture, but I thrust it aside, forcing my legs to move as fast as I could.
Davon stepped through the door, blocking me. I screamed, turned back the way I came and ran into Xander’s chest. Hands curled around my biceps. I struggled, blind to everything except escaping.
“Ella. Stop.”
“No. Get away. Let me go!” I lashed out, wrenched and writhed, feet slipping on the floor, blind terror scorching my brain.
Suddenly I was free, but my ankle gave way and I tumbled backwards, onto the ground.
“We’re not going to hurt you, Ella.”
Cassius reached for me. I scrambled backwards, clawing at the floor, kicking out, hands and feet slipping, limbs jolting hard and awkward with each uncoordinated terror-fueled movement.
I hit a wall and yet I still couldn’t stop the urge to keep pushing away from them. I slid backwards. Hit a corner. Nowhere to go.
Nowhere to go.
I rose up on my hands and knees. Xander crouched next to one wall, stopping me. I changed directions. Davon shouldered the other wall. Cassius in the middle. I pushed back into the corner, wedging myself in as far as I could go, curling in on myself to make myself as small as possible. My breaths came in tight, sharp gasps, hitching and struggling to make more than the barest intake.
I shook, uncontrollable, violent movements that took over my whole body. Sweat slicked my skin, coating me in a stinking, hot, sticky mess.
Trapped.
Chapter Thirty Three
“Ella, we’re not going you hurt you. You’re safe.”
I don’t know how long Davon had spoken to me. It could have been a minute or an hour, but my brain started filtering words, morphing them to understanding. I clutched my knees, my knuckles white. “You’re…” My breath wheezed out.
“Yes. We are Vampires.” As Xander spoke, I glimpsed the end of his fangs.
I shuddered, remembering them coated in thick, red blood. “The bear.”
If they could take down a wild bear, I really had no hope. They could do anything they wanted to me and there wouldn’t be a damn thing I could do about it.
“Ella, we had to feed. After we all made love to you…like that…our energy reserves were low. The bear was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.” Cassius was on his knees before me, shoulders hunched, weary lines over his face. I almost didn’t recognize this side of him. Gone was the carefree smile. The light in his eyes. He looked… destroyed.
Everything began to crystallize. The things I’d questioned, but let go. They didn’t seem to feel the cold. They moved so fast. Too fast to be natural. The crimson glints I’d caught in their eyes.
They never ate with me. They didn’t eat at all. There was an otherworldly feel to this house and now I knew it came from them.
“So you just…killed it.” It shouldn’t be possible. A bear could annihilate three men. Just how powerful were they?
“It isn’t a choice we easily make, but there are…limits…with how we can exist.” Davon’s eyes, usually so bright were dull and heavy.
“Limits? But you’re…” I swallowed hard. “Strong.” And vampires. And not of this world. And could rip me apart with your teeth. They can do anything. Be anywhere.
A fresh wave of tremors racked my body. It was so cold in here that my breath frosted and my teeth chattered. I was never more aware of the fact I was naked and helpless in the face of all of them. The walls and floor were freezing, the intense cold leaching through my skin, into my bones. The terror inside me was like liquid ice in my veins. My ankle throbbed in time with my pounding heart, sending a fiery wake of pain up my leg with each pump.
Xander cursed and ran both hands through his hair, spiking the strands in all directions. He strode to a sofa and ripped away a blanket that was folded across the back. He opened it and walked towards me. My heart raced and I shied away from him, my arms coming up to protect my face, the stink of fear radiating off me in waves.
He stopped dead, before slowly sinking down onto his haunches. I held his gaze, very much the prey I knew I was, not able to tear my eyes away. I took in every movement, too smooth to ever be human. There was an otherworldly grace about him, like a mountain lion stalking prey, each motion economical and restrained. Why hadn’t I noticed that about him before? “Ella, this room is too cold for you. I’m going to put the blanket around you. Okay?”
He edged the blanket up as though to cover me. I flinched. I couldn’t help it. I’d done this to injured birds I’d caught before. Crept up on them, so slowly they didn’t notice, so preoccupied with their pain, until it was too late and then I’d throw a towel over them and I could do whatever I wanted to them after that.
“Here, I’ll slide it across the floor, okay?”
He bunched it up and pushed it across to me. The edge brushed my bare thigh. The material was warm. It was a temptation. My fingers were jammed tight, locked together over my knees and I worked to unhinge them.
Slowly I let my arm drop and brought the blanket
over my shoulder, keeping my attention locked on them. There was no way I’d be able to bring it about my shoulders. My body seemed to have locked up, but it was a relief even half covering my body, both for the cold and my nakedness
But I still didn’t know what they wanted from me. Hell, they could take anything they desired and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. “Let me go.”
Davon looked to the floor. Cassius looked even more destroyed and Xander cursed beneath his breath. “We can’t do that, Ella.”
“Why not?” I ignored the fresh wave of tremors that racked my body that didn’t have much to do with the cold.
Xander looked at me, locked his gaze with mine. His expression was fierce. Intense. Poignant. “Because you’re our mate. We will never let you go.”
My brain seized. “I’m your…what?”
“You’re our mate, Ella. Against all odds. It shouldn’t have been possible, given our circumstances, but you’re here. Finally here,’ Davon said.
“You must feel it. The connection between us. Especially after what we shared. If you concentrate, you’ll be able to feel it,’ Cassius said.
A deep ache settled in my chest. A throbbing, painful mix of regret, distress and guilt, But beneath all that was something more. Something warm, something pulsing with life and energy. Something that inexplicably drew me towards it. A delicate thread that called to me on a deep, deep level.
But how could I feel anything? It didn’t make sense. It didn’t make sense.
Nor did being Vampires, and having a Grimoire, and being stuck in a blizzard for days on end. It wasn’t natural. Nothing about this was natural.
“I don’t understand.”
“Will you let us take you back to your room? It’s warm there and I can tend to your ankle,” Cassius said.
While my breath still condensed, theirs did not. They only had light clothing on and didn’t seem to be affected with the cold. It was freezing in here. Probably little difference between inside and outside. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what’s going on.”
