He took a step towards her, his gaze locked on her, assessing her.
Elissa trembled and said the one thing that sprang into her mind. “He is my mate.”
Arnaud threw his head back and laughed. Not the reaction she had hoped to gain from him. He snapped his head down and stared straight into her eyes.
“You believe that, don’t you? Poor child. No spawn of mine would tie themselves to a witch. Has he told you that you are his mate now and forever, that he will never be with another?”
She shook her head, cold creeping in again.
“He will leave you. He strung you along and made you believe you were special, and now he has you as his plaything... and when he grows bored of you, he will move on... and you will be left at the mercy of your coven.”
She knew he was playing on her fears and she told herself not to listen, but her heart didn’t heed her. It ached at the thought that he might be right and Payne would leave her as soon as he had the ring from his grandfather. She had given him no reason to stay with her. She had provoked him at every turn, using him to get her here, so she could take Luca home. She was no better than everyone else who had manipulated him or hurt him.
“You know I am right. I see it in your eyes. Come, child, console yourself.” He opened his arms to her and she felt the pull, a deep need to go to him and nestle in his arms. She wanted to cry in his embrace and let him comfort her. “I will make you forget my grandson.”
Elissa moved to the edge of the bed, nodding in agreement. She wanted to forget Payne and all the hurt he had caused her. She wanted Arnaud to take her in his arms and hold her close to him, making love to her until she no longer remembered his bastard grandson.
Arnaud took her hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a long kiss to the back of it. She shivered, a hot rush racing through her blood, and stared up into his beautiful eyes.
“Give yourself to me and I will give you his true name, and you can take your revenge.”
Elissa froze and pulled back. “No.”
She shook her head to clear the fog of desire from it.
“No!” She tried to tug her hand free of his grip. She would never do that to Payne. She would never use his true name against him, never wanted to know it so she couldn’t be tempted to betray him just as his love had.
Elissa clawed at Arnaud’s hand and froze again. The ring that Payne wanted. The gold band encircled Arnaud’s little finger, the rubies set into it sparkling and taunting her. She could get it for him. She grabbed for it. Arnaud snatched his hand away.
“You won’t enslave me, little witch.” He shoved her hard onto her back on the bed and was on her before she could move. He grabbed her left wrist and she punched him hard with her other fist as he pulled the blanket off her, baring her to him.
He forced her knees apart and she wrestled with him, heart pounding and blood rushing. She fought harder but he was stronger than she was. Too strong.
His free hand went to his trousers.
“I will enslave you.”
CHAPTER 14
Payne stood in the middle of the blue room he had waited in with Elissa the night before when they had first arrived, surrounded by books and the sumptuous antique furniture. The dark-haired male who had escorted him down to the reception room had disappeared, leaving Payne alone to mull over what he had done. He had buttoned as much as he could of his shirt and tucked the rest into his jeans, trying to conceal the fact it had lost half of its buttons. He closed his eyes, hating the instant replay of Elissa’s wicked smile as she tore it open, passion flaring in her eyes. If only things had remained that way, harmless satisfaction of their desires, rather than taking a sharp downward turn.
Guilt gnawed at his heart and he wanted to head back upstairs to check on Elissa and try to repair the damage he had done, not that it was possible. He had condemned her. He had done his best to resist, had warned her to stop, but she hadn’t listened and he hadn’t been able to keep control of himself.
He scrubbed a hand over his hair, raking the blond strands back, tugging at them until it hurt. Pain that he deserved but that wasn’t enough. He should suffer a thousand times worse for what he had done tonight, to her. He had tried so hard to claw back control, had almost succeeded once or twice, horrified by what he was doing, by how far gone he had been in that moment. The combination of twin hungers, the constant thrum of sexual energy in the air of the mansion, and Elissa’s actions and his deep need for her had conspired to strip away all sense of control and push him firmly over the edge, beyond any hope of salvation.
His stomach turned over and over, churning like a tempestuous ocean. How could he have done that to her? He should have forced her to stop somehow, or fought harder against the urges that had consumed him. He should have done something other than destroy her.
He found no consolation in the fact that she had said she would use a spell to protect herself. He couldn’t shift the blame to her, not this time. It lay at his feet. She had trusted him, had given herself to him despite her fears, and he had ruined her.
He was a monster.
And he wasn’t sure whether she would stay as he had asked.
Part of his heart felt certain that when he returned to their room, he would find that she had left already, unable to bear the sight of him, unwilling to hear what he had to say.
He still wasn’t sure exactly what that was.
Deep in his soul, he knew what he wanted to ask of her, but he feared that she would reject him. The thought of her turning on him as others in his life had, scorning him and telling him that he was a monster and she hated him, chilled his blood and froze his breath in his lungs. He struggled for air, his throat closing, and barely stopped himself from teleporting back to their room.
The door opened and he steadied himself, unwilling to show weakness in front of anyone, especially his grandfather.
The man in the doorway looked nothing as Payne had expected. He was middle-aged in appearance and had short fair hair, but he didn’t resemble Payne in any way, and he certainly didn’t resemble his mother.
The male stepped into the room, a forced smile plastered on his handsome face, and held out his hand. The cuff of his black shirt drew back as he extended his hand towards Payne, revealing the fae markings tracking along the underside of his forearm.
Payne looked at them.
He didn’t recognise any of the symbols.
“You’re not my grandfather.” He stepped back from the male and held his blue gaze. “Where is my grandfather?”
Before he had finished that question, flashes of Elissa burst into his mind and her panic flooded the lingering connection between them in his blood. His heart thawed and caught fire. His fangs elongated and his eyes switched, his pupils narrowing and stretching as crimson shot through his irises. He snarled at the sight of her with another man.
His grandfather.
Elissa was in danger.
Payne focused on their room and teleported. He landed hard in the middle of the bedroom and his heart turned over when he saw her on the bed, pinned beneath a male. He roared and launched forwards, grabbing the back of the large male’s dark red shirt. Elissa kicked and shrieked, the terrified sound driving Payne deep into a killing rage. He pulled the male off her and threw him across the room, sending him crashing into one of the green velvet armchairs. It tipped back and slammed into the wooden floor.
He turned his back on Elissa, facing his opponent, and spread his legs, setting his feet shoulder width apart. He growled low in his throat, threatening the male now getting to his feet, keeping his focus and his eyes locked on him so he couldn’t get the jump on Payne.
Elissa moved behind him, scrabbling across the bed, her sobs punctuating the heavy silence. Her fear filled the whole room and he snarled, mind black with the urge for violence and his rage. His mate was hurt, afraid. He would remove the source of her fear and protect her.
His grandfather found his feet and Payne didn’t give him a chan
ce to attack. He launched himself at him, taking him back down and shattering a wooden side table in the process. His grandfather grabbed one of the broken mahogany legs and swung at Payne as he moved astride his legs, pinning him down. Payne growled and blocked it with his left arm, the pain of the blow not registering in the haze of his lust for violence and retribution, and smashed his right fist into the male’s face, cracking his jaw.
Arnaud retaliated, disappearing from beneath Payne. Payne’s senses blared a warning and he rolled forwards. The wooden leg plunged into the floorboards, punching a hole where Payne’s heart would have been. He snarled, got to his feet, and flexed his fingers as his claws extended. His grandfather stood between him and Elissa, brandishing the makeshift stake. Payne assessed his surroundings, eyes darting and searching for any weapons he could use if it came to it. He didn’t want to rely on anything manmade, but it was nice to have a backup plan.
Elissa muttered something dark and unholy, and a black blast shot from her trembling hands and slammed into Arnaud’s back, sending him flying across the room towards Payne. Payne ducked and threw himself forwards, under his grandfather, and rolled to his feet in front of Elissa. Tears streaked her pink cheeks and swam in her eyes, and the way they met his, the need that shone in them, filled him with an urge to gather her in his arms. He wanted to go along with that and give her what she needed, wanted to hold her and whisper that she was safe now and he would never allow anyone to harm her ever again because she was his to protect, but now wasn’t the time.
Arnaud grumbled and got to his feet at the other end of the room. Payne turned to face him. His grandfather brushed the plaster dust off his dark crimson shirt and fixed him with a black look. He had lost his weapon when Elissa had blasted him with magic.
Payne flexed his fingers again and drew in a deep steadying breath. His blood screamed for him to kill this man for what he had tried to do to his mate but he fought to tamp down that black urge, knowing that if he succumbed to it that he would have the whole den after him. Elissa would be in more danger, and he had already put her in the path of angry witches. He didn’t need to throw enraged incubi into the mix too.
Elissa moved behind him. His grandfather stood before him, eyes swirling darkest gold and blue. If Payne could see his fae markings, they would be as black and red as his own were.
“Are you alright?” he said thickly to Elissa, his voice tight and dark, gravelly.
“I think so... I don’t know... I’m scared.”
Payne already knew that but her admission tightened his chest and darkened his heart. He would kill his grandfather for daring to touch her. No, he wouldn’t. He had to keep a level head. He would get what they had come here for and then they would get the hell away from this place and he would never see his wretched grandfather again.
The vampire side of him snarled at that, outraged that he was planning to leave this male alive. He had dared to assault his mate. He had frightened her, threatened her, hurt her. He deserved nothing less than death. A slow, terrible, painful death.
Payne growled, his top lip curling back to flash his fangs at Arnaud.
The incubus stared him down, no trace of fear showing on his face, but Payne could feel it in his blood, a rich tang that hung in the air and enticed him to sever his control and unleash Hell on this disgusting beast before him.
He drew in another breath, deeper this time, and tried to expel his darker needs, focusing on the woman behind him and his desire to protect her. If he fought again with his grandfather, there was no telling how it would turn out. He had ended up with Arnaud close to her once already. If it happened again, Payne had no doubt that the male would use Elissa as a shield. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to be Elissa’s shield against this man. He had to protect her.
“It’s okay now, Sweetheart. I won’t let him near you.” He kept his back to Elissa but reached behind him. A comforting rush of heat streaked through him when she placed her delicate hand in his and he closed his fingers, gently holding it and feeling her trembling. His heart took her quick response as a good sign, a gift of hope that when all this was over, he wouldn’t be alone in this world.
“My grandson, I presume?” Arnaud straightened to his full height and stared across the room at him, accents of gold and blue swirling in his dark grey eyes.
Payne had to wonder how he could doubt they were related when they looked so alike. Was this what he would have looked like by now if it weren’t for his vampire genes? He was aware that his dominant vampire side slowed his aging, so he looked far younger than most incubi his age.
He raised his other arm, revealing the markings that tracked along his forearm. Arnaud’s gaze dropped to them and narrowed. That reaction wasn’t only because his markings revealed Payne to be his grandson. It was because Payne’s markings were coloured by hues of black and darkest red, a sign of the fury he held just below the surface, the need to resort to violence and bloody his claws.
“He has the ring,” Elissa whispered and moved closer to him. She clutched his arm in one hand and pointed to Arnaud with the other.
Payne looked down at his grandfather’s hands. The man only wore one ring and it was gold and red, and on his little finger.
He held his hand out. “Give it to me.”
Arnaud shook his head. “I don’t think so. The ring belongs to me.”
Payne released Elissa’s hand and stared the man down. “I said give it to me.”
He didn’t give his grandfather a chance to respond this time. He teleported right in front of him and snatched his hand before he could react. Arnaud wrestled with him but Payne’s vampire genes gave him power and strength far beyond his grandfather’s grasp and he easily twisted Arnaud’s arm around. Arnaud’s only choice was to fall to his knees to avoid Payne breaking his arm and Payne used that moment to yank the ring from his finger.
He released his grandfather and backed towards Elissa, placing the ring on his little finger at the same time. Arnaud stood and stared at him, murder shining in his eyes. Payne knew he wore the same dark look.
“I want to kill you,” Payne growled low, his eyes locked on his grandfather’s. “One wrong move and I will. You dare to look at my mate and I won’t be able to stop myself. I will kill you.”
A soft gasp sounded behind him and he glanced over his shoulder at Elissa where she sat in the middle of the four-poster bed, the green sheets wrapped around her. She had her hands against her chest and the heat in her eyes struck him hard, causing his heart to skip a beat and thump heavily against his ribs. Had she doubted that he saw her as his mate now, his forever? He would have to make his intentions clearer to her later, so she would understand that he was never letting her go and that he belonged to her as much as she now belonged to him.
“Do you know the location of what you’re looking for now?” he said to her and she shook her head. He turned back to his grandfather, crossed the room to him, and grabbed the front of his red shirt. He twisted the material in his fist and dragged Arnaud towards him. “Where is your room?”
Arnaud stared at him in stony silence.
“I said, where is your room? You would do well to answer me this time. I am a man of very little patience and I’m itching for an excuse to draw blood.” Payne flashed his fangs.
“The next floor up, at the far end of the east wing.”
The other end of the house to where they were now. Could they make it there, retrieve what Elissa had come here for, and get out before Arnaud alerted the entire mansion and sent every incubus after them?
He couldn’t teleport there. It was difficult to teleport anywhere unfamiliar, not without risking ending up in a bad way.
Elissa slipped off the bed behind him. Arnaud’s swirling blue and gold gaze slid to her. Payne roared at the sight of desire in his grandfather’s eyes, dark twisted hungers that snapped what little hold he had managed to retain over his urge to spill blood.
“I warned you not to look at her.” Payne growled,
pushed Arnaud backwards and swiped his claws across his throat. Crimson flowed from the deep slashes, spilling down his neck and soaking into his shirt, darkening the already red material.
It drenched Payne’s hand and he released the male. Arnaud collapsed to his knees, gasping as he tried to cover his throat to stem the bleeding. Too late. Payne glared down at him, towering over him, feeling no remorse over his actions. He watched the blood flow from between Arnaud’s fingers, saw his eyes return to grey and the flicker of life in them die, and turned away as he fell.
Elissa stared at him, eyes wide and horrified, her skin as pale as moonlight.
“Come,” Payne said as he crossed the room to her, wiping his hand on his jeans to clean the blood away. He held his other hand out to her. “We must leave.”
“You killed him.” Her beautiful silvery eyes flickered between Arnaud and Payne, the shock in them not subsiding.
“I warned him,” Payne said on a dark snarl, unable to contain his anger. “I told him not to look at you and he did just that.”
“You wanted him dead though... for your mother... for you.”
“Yes.” He wouldn’t lie to her about that. He had wanted Arnaud dead. “But I did not intend to kill him... I would have let him live in order to protect you, so others wouldn’t come after us.”
“Us?” She almost smiled.
His heart missed another beat. “Us... I swear I will not allow anything to happen to you, Elissa. I condemned you with my actions and I will take responsibility and protect you.”
Her face fell and she looked away and busied herself with dressing, tugging on her black halter-top and jeans.
He had said something wrong. Was she angry because he had said he was taking responsibility for what he had done to her, rather than saying that he desired to protect her because he felt something for her and she was his mate? He hadn’t said such a thing because he wasn’t sure she was ready to hear it, not yet.
Bewitch (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 5) Page 15
