“You’re only featured in my nightmares, madam.”
“Nonsense. You enjoyed it just now when I touched and kissed you. You recognized my touch and you craved more. I watched your man part harden and lengthen when you became aware of my presence, so it appears you were having a nice dream about me. Very nice.”
Modez put his hand over his eyes. He was getting a headache. “I thought you were someone else.”
“Ridiculous. I am your mate. There is nobody else.” Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized him more closely. “Have you taken a lover, Modez? I thought there was only Elsa and I know she isn’t here.”
“Modez has not taken any lovers, this I know.” Snotti came from out of nowhere to lurk in front of his face. “He turned down a number of perfectly good opportunities offered to him. He didn’t want to ruin a hybrid female. He asked Diermont to let him have a human slave to slake his lusts, but you know how we feel about human-hybrid sexual relations. He has no reason to deny you, Gwyneth.”
“I don’t care if Gwyneth is the only lady left on the planet. I’m not giving her my bite. End of story.”
“Diermont and I are tired of your stubborn streak. Gwyneth is very sorry and is willing to make it up to you. She is your mate. You have to do right by her and accept her.”
“I am eager to consummate our union.” Gwyneth raked her fingernails across the flesh of his stomach, drawing blood. “I will lay with you on a regular basis. It won’t be like last time.”
Gwyneth had never been an enthusiastic bed partner, even when their mating bond was strong. But it hardly mattered. He hadn’t forgotten her betrayal and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice. “You need to leave my room and take your friends with you.” Gwyneth wasn’t the only one who didn’t belong. Princess Snotti and his cousin, Lasair Halloran, had no business being inside his chamber.
“You will not turn Gwyneth away this time.” Snotti’s eyes swirled with various shades of crimson and violet. She stared into his eyes. “You will bite Gwyneth. She is your mate and you desire no other.”
“You would use mind control on me?” Modez was shocked that Snotti would abuse her position as well as her talents. Snotti possessed the ability to force another to do her bidding by using her mind, but she was well aware that compelling a nobleman to do something against his will was unlawful.
“I will do whatever is necessary to protect my family. Modez, I love you the most out of all Diermont’s relations. Gwyneth is my dearest friend. I want the two of you to be as happy as I am with Diermont. You were once a most loving couple.”
Modez wondered how happy Snotti would be with her mate if she knew what he did in the dungeon with other females. “If you compel me to bite the bitch, I will kill you. I will not be enslaved to any female, and especially not one I despise.”
Snotti licked her lips in a nervous fashion. “You’re distressed. I know you don’t mean what you just said. You would never harm me.”
“Don’t try me. I don’t care who you are. I’ll fucking kill you if you use compulsion on me.” A bite would trap him into a relationship with Gwyneth again, one that was supposed to last for a lifetime. His life wouldn’t be worth living if he had to endure that hell with no way of escape.
Snotti placed her hands on both sides of Modez’s face and forced him to hold her gaze. Her eyes swirled and blazed as she repeated her earlier command. “Bite Gwyneth and make her yours again.”
Gwyneth bared her throat while Lasair helped hold Modez’s head in place. Modez tried to resist the magnetic pull of Snotti’s control, but he felt his will fading away. He told himself to close his eyes. That was all it would take to break the hold over him. He couldn’t do it.
“You will bite Gwyneth. She is your mate. The only one you want.”
He didn’t want her at all. There was nothing about Gwyneth that attracted him and he could honestly say he didn’t like the woman. Suddenly soft skin was at his mouth. Bite her. Bite. Her. They were chanting. His mind was fuzzy. Where was he? He felt a hand lower to his midsection where it wrapped around his cock. Bite her. Accept your mate. They continued to chant but he knew he didn’t want a mate. The hand squeezed his cock and fingers pressed his nostrils together, cutting off his air. He would suffocate. He opened his mouth to breathe. There was an obstruction there, a warm body. Bite her. Bite. He heard the instruction aloud but it also came from inside his mind. They wanted him to use his mating fangs. He felt them lengthen, felt them scraping against the female’s skin. Which female? His foggy mind wasn’t clear on her identity. Bite. Bite.
He had heard similar instructions many times during the mating tests. Nothing ever came from the bite. Well, almost nothing. The voices would stop once he bit the female. They would go away and leave him alone. His fangs penetrated her skin, just barely. He hadn’t meant to do it. He didn’t want a mate and didn’t want to chance the bite taking, trapping him into an unbreakable union. The scent of the female’s skin and her taste—both were familiar. Gwyneth. He mustn’t bite Gwyneth. He tried to pull away from her but the hold on his mind strengthened and held him imprisoned. The hands around his head squeezed him tighter and his airways were mostly blocked. They forced him to open his mouth wider. The throat pushed into his mouth like a cock deflowering an unwilling virginal maid. His fangs scraped against her throat. One fang made contact and slid inside for only a fraction of a second. He sensed the mixing of their fluids and knew he had marked the bitch. Since he had marked Gwyneth before, it hadn’t taken much to mark her again. His body recognized her as a compatible breeder even though his mind rejected her.
Finally he was free. Snotti and Lasair had released him. His mind was clear and he felt the effects of the mating bond that had been forced on him. His body felt drawn to Gwyneth but he was determined to resist her. He refused to accept her as his mate. “You don’t know what you’ve done.” The message was directed at Snotti. “I can no longer call you my friend. Stay out of my sight or I’ll give into my urge to choke the life out of you.”
Snotti paled. “I did this for you. So you would be happy.”
He gave Gwyneth a hard look. “I will not mate with you. I will not accept this bond.”
Gwyneth smiled and appeared unconcerned. “You have no choice. We are mated now.”
“I’ll break the bond.”
“That could kill you, or at the very least, drive you insane. You must accept me. I’ll make you very happy.” Gwyneth tried to lay her hand on his lap, but he forced it away. “The bond will produce an unquenchable need for me, for my sex. Giving in will stop the agony. I’m willing to lay with you.”
“If my suffering becomes too great, I’ll use a different female.”
“You’ve already rejected all the females here. You don’t want them. You know I have what you want, what you need. That is what you said to me when I lay beside you in the bed.”
“I was in a deep sleep. Had I known it was you, I would have sent you away immediately. I don’t want you.”
Gwyneth pouted. “Well, you have me. Accept it. We are a pair and we will be together always. Deny me and you’ll go insane from neglecting the mating bond.”
“I’ll take insanity before I take you.” Modez pointed toward the door. “Get out. All of you. Get out and never set foot inside my chambers again. I’d gladly rip your throats out for what you’ve done. All of you. So get out of my room and stay from my sight.”
He knew his voice was deep and chilling. All three ladies looked at him with fear. Good. They should be afraid. They had all contributed to a deed that could result in his death. Once a mating bond was initiated, it was hell to break. But he had gotten through it once before when Gwyneth broke their bond to mate with another male. He had survived against the odds and he would make it this time as well. He had even done it without the mind wipe technique that the druids employed.
He dreaded going through this ordeal a second time. He knew what to expect. He would be consumed by a desire for sex and it would be centered o
n Gwyneth. But sex with other females could help manage his condition. Kiera. He would use Kiera to get through this. Elsa had been the one to help him the first time around, but he knew that it would be easier with Kiera. He didn’t think it would be possible to want another female when he was inside Kiera’s sheath. Even though he felt the effects of the mating bond taking hold of him, he didn’t desire Gwyneth. Not like he had the first time they had bonded. He would use Kiera when the physical effects of the mating bond became intolerable. He would beat this and his little mongrel would be the one to save him from a match in hell.
* * *
Kiera clutched her stomach as the waves of nausea hit her. She had taken too much blood when she had been with Modez and it had made her sick. It was no wonder. She didn’t know when she had last eaten real food and some meat and bread would settle her stomach.
“What’s wrong with you?” Cassia asked.
“I’ll be okay. I just need some food.” Modez’s blood had been much too rich for her and she felt like she had consumed a dozen cheesecakes. She hadn’t felt well since her heat ended. It had been several days. She should have recovered by now. She was also feeling a tremendous amount of fatigue, but this time, she didn’t crave blood. She didn’t think that would help her. She hoped her fatigue illness wasn’t returning. She couldn’t afford to be sick.
Kiera didn’t see Modez until later that evening. Her stomach was still upset and she didn’t understand the reason. Perhaps his blood had poisoned her. She knew some people sickened from bad food so maybe something was wrong with his blood. She had no further desire to eat or drink anything any longer. The smell of her breakfast had turned her stomach and so had her lunch.
At dinnertime, she was forced to kneel at Modez’s feet in the same manner as she had done her first night at the villa. The lord ignored her. He finished his meal quickly, hardly eating a thing. Kiera had noticed him eyeing the empty seat beside him where Seamus used to sit. She knew he missed his friend. Gwyneth had sat beside Modez during the meal. There was tension between the two of them and Kiera wondered at it. Gwyneth tried to converse with him but he gave her the cold shoulder along with the silent treatment.
Kiera felt irritated that Modez ignored her. He had what he wanted from her and now he acted like she was beneath his notice. Fine. She could forget him as easily as he had forgotten her. She had no need of a lover. The pleasure she had found in his arms could be found in any man’s. That was what she told herself, anyway. When she finally got the opportunity to eat her meal, she tried to eat the roasted venison on her plate but it made her feel like hurling.
“What’s wrong with you, Kiera?” Druscilla asked. “You look sick.”
Kiera pushed her plate away and took a sip of the watered down juice. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Some bad food, I guess.” Modez had made her sick, apparently. His decadent tasting blood could only be taken in small amounts. “How have you been?”
Druscilla looked at her with concern. “It’s better. The prince says I please him so I cannot complain.” Druscilla leaned to whisper in her ear, “I think he felt bad about what was done to me. He hasn’t taken the whip to me since. And Torin has been especially careful with me. I think I love him.”
Kiera shook her head. “He’s only using you. He’s not going to take you as his mate.”
“You don’t know that,” Druscilla said with a hurt look in her eyes. “Many of the palace courtesans end up mated. I know you do not approve of the choice that I have made, but you’re destined to share my same fate. I heard them say that you will be taken to the dungeon tonight to observe…what happens there.”
“To observe you being used by the prince, you mean.” Kiera already felt sick to her stomach and viewing Diermont’s sexual escapades with her friend would send her over the edge. “I have to get out of here.”
“You have nowhere to go.” Druscilla took her hand in hers and squeezed. “You feel cold as ice. Do not worry so. Diermont has unusual needs but you’ll learn how to please him. I know that he wants you very much. And Torin wants you as well.”
“I cannot do what they want.”
“It will not be so bad. I would rather partner with you than some strange girl I don’t know. You will not mind Torin’s attentions. He is a fabulous kisser and he likes to lick every inch of a woman’s body. You may not enjoy Diermont nearly as much…”
“Please stop talking about it.” Kiera couldn’t bear to hear any more. She had to leave the villa and proceed to Plan B. Staying made no sense. She would never be mated. She had no intention of serving as a palace courtesan.
“Lord Halloran was acting rather rudely toward his mate at dinner. His heart must be made of stone to treat his mate in such a callous manner.”
“She is his ex-mate and he has every reason to repudiate her.”
Druscilla emitted an unladylike gasp before covering her mouth with her hand. “You mean you haven’t heard? I thought everyone knew.”
“Heard what?”
“He gave Gwyneth the mating bite. They are bonded again. Mated.”
Kiera was so stunned by this news that she dropped her fork. It clanged against the metal plate. “I didn’t know. When did this happen?” She wanted to kill him. She had known he would eventually take her back, but to do it so soon—it was unthinkable. He had made it clear he wasn’t interested in creating heirs, so why would he take that despicable female back into his bed? The thought that he had feelings for the other woman, sexual or otherwise, crushed her.
“A few days ago. The two have been secreted in his chamber, or at least I assume that is why we haven’t seen much of them. You know how it is when a mating bond is first initiated. Sex, sex, and more sex.”
“No, I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been mated.” She could imagine what it was like, though. It was no wonder he hadn’t thought to enforce his right to bed his serf. He wouldn’t desire another female now that he had his mate. She should feel relieved that she wouldn’t be called to his bed any longer. But instead she felt angry and betrayed. And jealous—horribly envious of Gwyneth.
Kiera was summoned to the dungeon that night. The first thing she saw was Druscilla strapped to a wooden cross. Her naked body was spread-eagled and her hairless sex was greased by the jellied substance hybrids used on the courtesans to ensure a smooth entry. Diermont swung the pendulum while Torin grazed her body with his tongue.
“That’s right, taste that fine jelly. It is made from apricots,” Diermont said as he urged Torin to lick her sex clean. “I have several jars here so the jelly can be reapplied when you are ready to poke her.”
Kiera gasped. She didn’t want to be in this dungeon. She didn’t want any part of this scene. “May I be dismissed? I feel sick to my stomach.”
“Try to remember you are a hybrid female, not some wretched human with physical frailties.” Diermont looked disgusted as he talked to Kiera. “I’m not going to use your body this night, Kiera. I want you to watch. Learn what is expected of you so when it is your turn, you will perform to my expectations.” Diermont looked down upon Torin. “My lord, resume your expedition into this woman’s fine orchard, if you will.”
Torin smiled. “I like the peach much better than the plum.” His tongue swooped down, right between Druscilla’s spread legs to eat the rest of the jelly. Druscilla whimpered and wriggled her body, but she couldn’t move much due to her restraints.
Kiera watched because she was forced to do it, but she felt awkward because it was Druscilla. She shuddered to think of herself on that plank of wood. She would leave the villa long before that happened.
Kiera turned as another person joined them in the dungeon. It was Modez. She wondered how he had managed to leave his chamber now that Gwyneth was in his bed. Surely he had not tired of her that quickly.
Modez walked over to Diermont but looked in her direction. “What is she doing here?”
“I wanted Kiera to watch and learn. Soon I will initiate her into my little club.
What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be cementing your mating bond?”
“That mating bond was forced on me. I did not consent to one and I have no intention of honoring it.”
Diermont sighed and shook his head, his every gesture indicating how irrational he considered Modez’s behavior. “You should be with Gwyneth right now, but if you’re determined to deny her, you are welcome to play in the dungeon. You will eventually give in to the demands of the mating bond, and when you do, I’ll miss your presence here.”
“I think we should delay these games until we have dealt with Lucine and located that hidden laboratory.”
Diermont looked aggravated. “Relaxation is essential to keep up one’s strength and sanity in the face of war. The dungeon is where I go to unwind after a full day of battle. You’re an uptight male. You need this more than I do.” Diermont waved his hands in the air in a dramatic fashion. “You will not fuck Druscilla or Kiera. Either of these ladies would be pleasing enough for any male here and I don’t understand why you are so finicky. I wouldn’t mind if your attention was directed elsewhere, such as on your mate, but you have no interest in Gwyneth. Do cunts no longer appeal to you? I’m beginning to think you’d prefer a cock up your asshole.”
“I’d rather save my fun for later. I need to stay focused on the task at hand and that has nothing to do with fucking.”
So Modez was not happy with his current mate. The knowledge that he intended to refuse the union made her smile, but she wasn’t fool enough to believe he would continue to resist her. He had given her the mating bite so there had to be something between them. She hoped he had not lain with the horrible woman. The thought of it made her want to hit someone.
Diermont shoved Kiera in front of Modez. “Do something slutty to remind Modez that he is a male and not one of those eunuchs from Flourda.”
“I have no skill at seduction,” Kiera said. “I thought I was here to observe.”
Diermont grabbed Kiera by her elbow and pushed her to the floor. “You will do as you are told. Tell the lord how you wish to please him.”
Vampire Enslavement (Lords of Bondage) Page 34
