Snow’s pale eyebrows rose. “I am. I feel good.”
Sera listened to their banter, feeling strange as she watched them laugh and tease each other. She felt as though she had fallen into their group and they had accepted her with open arms, welcoming her into a theatre that felt more like a family than a business.
As Snow talked, a hint of red touched his irises and then faded again. How in control of himself was he? The crimson that bloomed in his icy eyes at times scared her but she felt sorry for him too. If Antoine was right and Snow couldn’t remember the terrible things he had done, she pitied him all the more. She could understand why Antoine refused to tell him though. He wanted to protect Snow, and everyone he cared about.
The smell of blood drifted past her and she turned, thinking someone had finally opened the bar. Her gaze fell on a beautiful woman drenched in scarlet, bleeding profusely from long gashes on her arms and clutching her stomach. She walked forwards, stumbling towards the centre of the room. Vampires all around her backed away. One stood his ground.
Antoine.
A flood of panic surged through Sera. The woman was going to hurt him.
She rushed two steps towards him and then her feet froze, her heart turning to ice in her chest. Antoine’s usually cold eyes were warm as he approached the woman, full of disbelief that she could feel in her blood through their lingering connection.
Disbelief that was rapidly becoming panic and concern.
Sera looked back over her shoulder at Snow to gauge his reaction to the woman and the look he gave her said it all. His surprise quickly became pity. The red around his irises increased as the scent of blood grew stronger.
Sera wasn’t sure how to react as she turned back to watch Antoine with the woman. Her blood carried the scent of fear and Sera wasn’t sure whether she would last much longer without assistance.
Her heart ached.
She had never wanted anyone dead, but she wished for it now.
“Antoine... help me,” the woman said and reached for him, her steps faltering. “I am sorry for all I did... I was scared... but I always... followed your life. I came here... to see you. Please, Antoine... help me.”
She collapsed and Antoine caught her, going down with her and breaking her fall. He knelt on the wooden floor with her in his arms, his face a mask of horror, pale eyes wide and blood relaying feelings to Sera that cleaved her heart open.
“Hold on,” he whispered and scooped her up into his arms, rising with her. “I need to get you out of here.”
The look of concern that filled his eyes slashed at Sera, cutting another deep wound in her heart.
She felt ill as she watched him carry the woman out of the room, adrift and lost, her legs trembling and heart threatening to shatter. Part of her said to leave now before anyone could say anything to her. She didn’t want to hear their questions or see the pity in Snow’s eyes. Antoine loved this woman. He wanted to be with this woman and she should let him be with her, not stand between them. She had realised shortly after finally meeting Antoine that he would never love her as he loved the woman who had been in his heart for centuries.
Sera turned to make her excuses and leave, but Snow’s hand on her arm stopped her. She looked up into his eyes and saw more red in them. His hand shook against her.
“Are you unwell?” She grabbed both of his arms to steady him when he swayed.
Snow gritted his teeth. “Can you lend me a hand?”
Sera nodded without thinking, her mind wholly on helping him because she could see that he was fighting hard against whatever darkness was trying to seize control and there was so much pain and fear in his eyes. She cared about him, had grown to like him in the short space of time they had spent together, and she wouldn’t leave him in his hour of need.
She manoeuvred his arm around her shoulders, unafraid of how it placed her close to him, her belief that he wouldn’t hurt her as strong as the one she had about Antoine. She helped him from the room. The scent of blood lingered in the staircase that led up to the floor where his apartment and the others were, and didn’t lessen until she had passed Antoine’s door. Antoine must have taken his woman to his apartment to help her. Sera ignored her anger and jealousy and kept walking, focusing all of her attention on Snow. He needed her and she wouldn’t fail him.
He clumsily banged into the panelled door of his apartment and fumbled with the handle.
“Let me.” Sera gently took his hand away, twisted the knob and pushed the door open for him. He thanked her with a tight smile and she helped him inside, leading him over to the bed.
When they reached it, he collapsed onto the black covers and sprawled out, breathing hard. Sera raced back to the door, closed and locked it. As much as she feared being alone and trapped with Snow, she feared him escaping even more. Not for the sake of those on the other side of the door, but for his sake. She didn’t want him to suffer more than he already had. He feared being around people and was afraid that he would lose control and hurt them. It must have taken a lot of courage for him to come to the party tonight.
His breathing was too laboured for him to speak. He grunted and stretched one arm out.
Towards the restraints fixed to one of the thick metal bedposts.
Sera nodded.
She grunted herself when she tried to haul Snow up the bed. Dear God, he weighed a tonne. Sera kicked off her heels, mounted the bed and stood near his shoulders. She hooked her hands under his armpits and dragged him, growling with effort. Her bottom banged into the wall behind his headboard and she looked down at Snow. He was already fumbling with one restraint, trying to close it around his right wrist.
Sera gingerly moved over him, trying not to draw too much attention to herself in case it prompted him to lose control and tear her throat open. She knelt on the bed, covered his left hand with hers and smiled when he looked at her, the red filling almost all of his irises now. She closed the cuff around his wrist and locked it, and Snow collapsed onto his back, breathing hard and radiating his struggle in waves so strong that she felt it right down in her core. He was fighting it but he was losing. She hitched her long black dress up and scrambled over him, risking his wrath. He surprised her by placing his other wrist in the open cuff on his bed. He was more coherent than she had thought. She locked the cuff around his wrist and moved to his feet.
She had to tug his boots off to get at his ankles and Snow growled when she was none too gentle about it. She smiled her apology at him and dragged each foot to the corners of his bed so the restraints reached them. When she had both ankles secured, Snow began to settle and his breathing became more controlled.
Sera backed towards the door. She had helped him and now she had to go, before anything else happened.
“Wait.” Snow opened his eyes. His pupils were changing. He sucked in a hard breath and gritted his teeth, lips peeling back to reveal his huge fangs. “Do not leave. My brother... he is worth fighting for.”
Sera stopped and took a step towards Snow. He wrestled the restraints, growling at them, and then settled again.
“He makes mistakes... does not say or do the right thing at times... but he is worthy of being loved.” Snow struggled to sit up and failed, the restraints stretching his arms too tightly for him to get any leverage from his elbows. Sera moved closer to him so he could see her. His eyes were completely red now, his pupils stretched into narrowed slits. “He deserves to be loved... after all I have put him through.”
He looked so sad that Sera couldn’t stop herself from sitting on the bed beside him.
“I have put him through so much.” Tears lined his eyes and Sera resisted the urge to lay her hand on his cheek to comfort him. “It haunts me.”
“I know,” she whispered and laid her hand on his chest. His heart pounded like a drum against her palm through his dark shirt, strong and powerful.
“If I could make his life better, I would do whatever it took... if you have feelings for him... then fight for him.” Snow
closed his eyes and frowned, tipping his head back into the black pillows. Tears cut down his temples and soaked into his white hair. He snarled, his body as taut as a bowstring, and then relaxed into the bed again. He panted and looked at her, his pupils struggling between cat-like slits and circles. “Do not let Antoine draw away from you just because of the terrible acts I committed.”
An icy chill washed through her. Snow knew. Good Lord. He knew what he had done, not just to Antoine, but to his whole family.
Sera couldn’t stop herself then. She cupped his cheek, hoping to comfort him.
“He needs you. He just does not realise how much. Make him see. Sera. You are right for him. Not her. Never her.”
Sera nodded and held his cheek. She didn’t want to talk about that right now. She wanted to talk to him, to make him tell her that he knew what he had done. She felt sure that part of the reason his bloodlust had such a firm grip on him was those memories. He needed to share the burden with someone in order to overcome it, just as Antoine had confided everything in her, but that someone wasn’t her and it wasn’t Antoine. Snow clearly didn’t want Antoine to know and she could understand that. Antoine already suffered enough as it was.
That was why part of her wanted to leave.
“I want Antoine to be happy, Snow, with all of my heart... and he will be now that she has come back to him.”
Snow shook his head. “You are wrong. I have seen him with her and I have seen him with you... Sera... and it is you who will make him happiest. Do not give up on him.”
Could he be right? It was too much to hope that he was, even when it was what she truly wanted. She wanted Antoine to be happy and with her. She didn’t want to lose him.
She had already fought so hard for him.
Sera frowned.
She had.
She had fought for him and had come too far to give up now.
The doorknob rattled, a harsh curse sounded on the other side, and then there was a scrape of metal on metal. Sera turned to look over her shoulder at the door just as it opened, revealing a bloodied and panic-stricken Antoine. She didn’t take her hand away from Snow’s cheek. Her heart thundered, adrenaline flooding her veins and making her tremble as she waited for Antoine to speak, afraid that he would say how happy he was now that Anya had returned and that he wanted her to leave.
Antoine fixed wild eyes on them. “I didn’t know what to expect when Javier told me you had left with Snow.”
Antoine looked relieved when he saw his brother restrained and then his eyes darkened when they stopped on her hand where it rested against Snow’s face. He growled.
Snow raised a single pale eyebrow at his brother. “Thank you for your low opinion of me. I can control myself around a beautiful woman.”
Antoine’s eyes flashed red and he snarled. Was Snow trying to piss him off? Her eyes widened. No. He was trying to prove to her that his brother cared more for her than he did for Anya.
Antoine stalked over to her and yanked her hand away from his brother’s face, holding her wrist in a bruising grasp. “And what did you think you were doing leaving with Snow?”
Sera frowned up at him. She wasn’t about to sit down and take that sort of attitude from him. He might be around a thousand years her senior and an aristocrat, but she wasn’t some serving wench he could order around and treat like his subordinate. She rose to her feet, squaring up to him, forcing him to back off a step, and tore his hand from her arm.
“Snow wanted my assistance and I could judge what he needed me for, so I came with him to help him restrain himself. It was the least I could do before I left.”
“Left?” Antoine’s anger melted as his eyes widened and then they narrowed on her, red bleeding into them. “Why are you leaving?”
“She isn’t,” Snow piped up and Antoine’s gaze flickered to him at the same time as hers did.
“I’m not. I am. I don’t know. I’m not?” she asked Snow and he shook his head.
“You’re not.”
Sera dragged in a deep breath and sharply exhaled it. Having an immense, dangerous vampire, a man who was the older brother of the one she wanted, on her side was certainly good for her courage. She felt brave knowing that Snow had her back. She couldn’t fail. She straightened and faced Antoine again.
She wouldn’t fail.
“I’m not leaving. She is.”
“She?” Antoine looked lost.
Snow huffed. “Anya.”
“Anya,” Antoine echoed.
“The woman you left the party with? I know you still have feelings for her... love that has lasted centuries. I get that. I saw the look in your eyes when she fell into your arms tonight... but I’m not going to stand by and let her just walk back into your life and take you from me.” Sera prodded her fingertip against Antoine’s hard chest, digging it deeper with each word. Her heart raced and blood rushed, knees weakening with each passing second. She wouldn’t falter. Snow was right. If she wanted Antoine, she had to fight for him, and she would, even if it was a fight to the death with the bitch who had broken his heart.
“Look?” Antoine frowned, his frustration flowing through her blood, and glanced over at Snow. “Are you alright? I did my best to get her out of the room straight away. I should not have brought her up here. My office might have been the better choice. I wasn’t thinking.”
It dawned on Sera that the look of concern in Antoine’s eyes when he had seen Anya bloodied and injured hadn’t been for her. She slowly turned her head towards Snow and looked at him, eyes wide and her body numb as she realised the gravity of her mistake. Antoine had been concerned about Snow. He had known the smell of blood would trigger Snow’s hunger and had tried to stop that from happening by quickly removing the source of the scent. That was also the reason why there hadn’t been blood on offer at the party. Antoine had wanted Snow to come down and socialise, and had taken steps to make sure his brother would be comfortable.
Sera felt so stupid.
She had mistaken Antoine’s concern as love for the woman when it had been love for his brother.
“I am fine, thanks to Sera.” Snow looked at her and smiled softly, his eyes barely touched with crimson now. “Remember what I said.”
Sera nodded and felt a little more confident as Antoine turned back to her. He smiled warmly, his blue eyes bright with it, and placed his hands on her hips and drew her up against his hard body. Sera refused to give in to him, even when his smile widened. Mercy, he knew how to melt a woman’s heart.
“You were saying something about not letting someone take me from you?” he said and she blushed. He swept his fingers over the marks on her throat.
Sera dropped her chin but Antoine didn’t let her escape. He placed his fingers under her chin and raised it, forcing her eyes back to his. They were so warm now, a sea of feelings that she would willingly drown in. She could die happy lost in this man’s eyes, or in his arms.
“I won’t let her take you from me, Antoine. I fought too damn hard for you to lose you now, or ever. As soon as she’s able to move, she is out of here. I mean it. I want her gone. No one in this world is going to come between us.” Sera glanced over her shoulder at Snow. “Present company excluded.”
Snow just smiled.
Sera turned back to Antoine, her jaw set and heart steady. Snow had told her to make Antoine see that she was the one for him, the only one out of her and Anya who could make him happy. She wasn’t normally the type to command people, but then she hadn’t been the type to seduce someone either before she had found herself falling for Antoine. For him, she would do anything, no matter how embarrassing it was. If it would make him see that what they had together was stronger than what he’d had with Anya and that she intended to keep fighting for him, because she was falling for him and she needed him more than anything, and that she would love him forever and never hurt him, then she would lay it all on the line right here and right now.
“I refuse to let you go and I’m sure as hell not
about to let you or anyone else make me leave. You are mine, Antoine.” She snaked her arms around Antoine’s neck and drew him down for a slow, unhurried kiss.
Antoine’s hands settled against her lower back, holding her close to him as he kissed her, so softly and lightly that she felt as though she was floating. He pressed a final brief kiss to her lips and then pulled back to look down into her eyes.
“And you are mine.” His blue eyes shone with the promise behind those words, one of love and forever. His breathtaking smile warmed her right down to her soul. There was so much affection and happiness in that smile. Happiness that she had given him. “Anya got herself into a fight with a werewolf pack, but her injuries will not take long to heal. I will move her into one of the dormitory rooms and she will be gone soon. I would never allow her to come between us, Sera. I need you and you mean too much to me. If you wish her gone sooner, I will arrange for a doctor to take her away this night.”
The woman had been bleeding profusely from multiple lacerations. She didn’t look as though she was in any state to be moved tonight and Sera would never let her jealousy control her enough that she placed someone’s life at risk, but she appreciated the gesture.
“Move her out of the apartment and she can stay until she’s fit to leave, but I don’t want you near her.”
Antoine’s smile widened, as though he liked the jealous hiss that had been in her words and the possessive way she held onto him.
“As my lady desires.” He touched the marks on her throat again.
“They do suit her,” Snow said. “I take it she was yours long before tonight?”
Sera frowned at him. “Whatever do you mean?”
Antoine dropped a kiss on the scars and she looked back at him, deep into his eyes. There was an edge of concern in them now.
“Yes, Antoine, whatever do I mean?” Snow’s voice rang with amusement.
Antoine scowled at him and then smiled at her. His thumb swept over the marks.
“You are young, so you probably do not know, but in the time I was born and raised, biting another vampire was a show of possession.” He continued to stroke the place where he had bitten her. “I still believe in the old ways... so when I say that you are mine, Sera, I mean that you are mine, irrevocably, eternally.”
Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #3) Page 16
