My blood burned under the surface at the mention of her. I was pissed, which meant, fortunately, I was gaining more control over myself.
“Well, see, she wasn’t exactly forthcoming with the information until I motivated her. She forced me to resort to threatening her Keepers. I hoped you wouldn’t force me to do the same, darling. Because she stopped being so useful and look where it got her.”
It was good to know Helen was still technically loyal to the others, even though she inadvertently brought an assassin army to our door. I could see how she thought she might be protecting them, but it was the wrong way to do it.
“I’m not Helen. I’m not weak.”
“Do you not have weaknesses? My darling daughter, if you have something I can exploit, you are weak. Love is an Achilles heel. I would hate for each of your new friends to end up like your old one. What was her name again…? Holly?”
Rage welled up inside me, so potent and toxic, I lost my mind for a split second. I charged and only saw the dagger a little too late. Correcting my path, I managed to dodge the killing blow and took a blade to the stomach.
I tasted bile in the back of my throat as the fiery pain shot tiny shock waves through the rest of my body. I breathed deeply through clenched teeth to stave the agony.
Nope. Not working. Still hurts like hell.
I directed several curses in daddy dearest’s direction and told him, once again, where he could shove his offer.
“I figured you might be difficult. After all, you are my daughter. So I’m giving you time to think it over, and to help you decide, I brought a friend.”
With no further explanation he hoisted me up over his shoulder and darkness shrouded us as he entered the musty old warehouse. I heard it then, the sound of feet shuffling and an erratic heart beat. On top of that was the mouthwatering scent of warm blood mingling with a hefty dose of… fear. He had a human captive.
Shit. I was really beginning to curse myself for wanting more worthy opponents. This monster had pure evil down to a science.
He dumped me onto the floor, but a wall caught me from the fall. No. Not a wall. I realized it was a cement pillar. When I looked up, I noticed a man tied to an adjacent pylon twenty feet from me. He was in his early twenties with light hair and golden eyes. My father must have picked him up at the local college after a night class. The guy had a backpack by his feet that appeared fat with books.
I was about to spring, but before I could regain my bearings, my father reached into my cargo jacket and pulled out my railroad spikes.
“I’ll expect to get those back,” I threatened.
“Your wish is my command, Lucille.”
He then proceeded to snatch my hand and lift it over my head, driving one spike through it and nailing me to the cement in under a second. He did the same with the other hand, and the stretching of my stomach caused the knife wound to pull open. I screamed through my gritted teeth.
“Don’t worry, sweet girl. This is for your own good.”
Now, I knew without a doubt he was cold to the core. What kind of a monster used a girl’s favorite weapons against her?
He moved toward the man who began begging for his life. His pleas fell on deaf ears. My father pulled his own knife, the same with my blood on it, and sliced across the man’s arms and his face. The sound of blood rushing in my ears drowned out his screams.
The scent hit me immediately. My fangs descended, and I knew without looking, my eyes had gone nearly white.
“Now, sweetheart, I know how hungry you get after blood loss. You can join me willingly or try to keep denying your inner monster. Inside, we’re the same kind of evil, you and I.”
“I may not be human, but I’m sure as hell nothing like you. I’ll never join you, so you might as well kill me now.”
“Oh, darling daughter. Where’s the fun in knowing I’ll win? No. You’re not ready for that yet, but you will be by the time I’m finished with you.”
With that, he walked backward, toward the exit, and turned to disappear into the night. The craving was too strong to hold my breath and let it pass. It wouldn’t be long before my body found what it needed, one way or another. Choosing how it got what it needed was a decision that would soon no longer be up to me.
Ripping one hand free of its stake, a pitiful scream escaped me before I grabbed the knife at my hip. With immense effort, I focused on the man’s restraint while ignoring his incessant pleading.
“Don’t kill me. I can give you money. I don’t have much, but it’s yours. Just please let me go.”
This went on as I centered my aim. He squeezed his eyes shut when I released the blade. It hit the cement in front of him with a loud clang, ricocheting several feet away, but the ropes connecting his wrists that once bound him to the pillar were now severed.
“Run. Fast,” I rasped.
His eyes bulged out of his head, and it took him three more agonizing seconds to realize he was free. When he made it to the doorway, I ripped the other spike out of my hand and fell to my knees in pain. My wounds were slow to heal with the whole lack of blood condition I had. Without thought, my legs carried me toward the exit and toward the delicious aroma fading around the corner.
He wouldn’t make it far at that ridiculously slow pace. Just as I rounded the same corner he took, headlights appeared in front of his retreating form. I shrank back in the shadows, barely able to contain myself. I needed blood, now.
†
With a single destination in my mind, I bolted away from the lucky coed and made it back home in under a minute. I ripped the bloodied shirt off my body and zipped the jacket all the way up. Dried blood stained my hands and dotted the side of my army green jacket, so it was useless to hide at this point. Not bothering with pleasantries, I bypassed the early morning receptionist, opting for the quickness of stairs rather than the elevator.
In my weakened state, I couldn’t tell if he was awake yet, but I crept through the door quietly. The darkness in the penthouse fell over my eyes like a heavy blanket. Stumbling like a drunk to the kitchen for a late night snack, I managed to make it to the refrigerator without knocking anything over.
I pulled out a handful of bags and tore into them with my fangs, downing five in record timing. When I could see straight again and was hole free, I moved to the sink to rinse off my hands and wipe my mouth clean of the spilled blood.
“I smelled it as soon as you walked in, so don’t bother.”
I jumped at the sound of his hardened voice and spun in place to see him shadowed in the living room. He sat back in his chair, his posture stiff.
I wasn’t exactly hiding it from him. I just wasn’t ready to divulge the events of tonight. I knew I should tell him about my father, but I was a lot like him when it came to big issues. I needed to internalize it for a while until I could express it in words. Unfortunately, it would seem from his confrontational demeanor that I wouldn’t get the opportunity.
I skirted the couch to face him across the space of the living room. “I thought you’d be sleeping. You still need rest after everything you went through.”
He chose his next words carefully, as hesitant as I was to engage one another. His mouth tipped up at the corner in a playful way, but I knew he’d broach the real issues sooner rather than later. “Couldn’t sleep.”
I nervously ran my fingers over the charm bracelet nestled on my left wrist and noticed the area rug had fresh vacuum tracks on it. The cleaning crew must have been in recently. I hadn’t even paid attention earlier. My gaze found the polished wood of the coffee table, and I briefly wondered how many times that thing has been replaced.
Good times.
Finding the uneven but smoothed surface of the Chi Ro coin, I cleared my throat and treaded with caution as he waited for my next move.
“So I went by my old neighborhood. I stopped at St. Andrews and saw that it’s closing. Insufficient funding I suppose, but it sucks either way. And I was just thinking… well, I don’t know what I�
��m saying.”
I still stood across the coffee table from where he sat like a total tool, but I was having trouble reading his mood. I began picturing being anywhere but here in this tension filled moment, and my mind instinctively went to that secluded beach with just the two of us.
He leaned forward, eyes narrowing and pinning me to my spot as he rested his elbows on his knees. His hands clasped loosely together as he studied me.
“Lucy, is there something you want to ask me?”
“I just… I want… Is there anything you could do?”
His expression morphed into an earnest one. “Why?”
“Well, I…” I thought about what I was really asking and paused. It was too much to ask of someone. I would just go to the bank later when they opened and withdraw my savings. “Never mind.”
He stood slowly and walked around the coffee table. He approached and I witnessed the concern in his tightly drawn lips and pinched brows. Two fingers tipped up my chin. My gaze had trailed down to his bare feet when he stepped close, but he forced me to look directly into his eyes.
“Lucy, I’ll help, but I’m a business man who likes a good investment. Tell me why I should.”
By the way he looked at me, I knew he would do it, but he wanted to know what it meant to me. “It’s just that… Father Thomas was there for me when I needed him, no questions asked. The community needs more places they can go in times of need. I don’t want to see one of the few good places in this town turned into something that evil can corrupt.”
I had flashbacks of a different church being converted into a bed and breakfast or something. I almost died there until Gavin saved me. Shuttering, I brushed off the horrible memory.
His eyes turned from ice to warm summer pools. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you.”
As the tension began to return, I still held onto the image of my happy place.
“Lucy, is there anything else you want to tell me?” His poker face was back in place, and I hated it. I just wanted to erase this cool aloofness and get my Gavin back.
Dropping the image in my head, I focused on all the love and desire I had for this man when he wasn’t being a jackass. I pressed into his stiff form and lasered my gaze on him, his lips, his eyes… his lips. I let him feel everything I wanted and it worked like the perfect distraction I hoped for.
His eyes brightened with lust, but he quickly shook it off. “You’re not getting off that easily.”
“I’m not? What exactly does that say about your skills, Mr. West?”
He laughed and the sound was utter perfection. Finally, my Gavin was returning. “You’re starting to think more like me every day, Ms. Masters, but you know for a fact that is not at all what I meant.”
He leaned in to whisper reminders of our very heated moment in his weapons room in Canada. Try as I might, I couldn’t keep the blush from forming at the descriptive words he used. Damn him.
“Tell me what happened, Ms. Masters.”
And just like that, Mr. Hot and Cold replaced the smugness easily with his signature business-like façade. I hated that he still used it on me. It was fine in a boardroom somewhere, but not in our home. I matched him with my own standoffishness.
My eyelids fluttered closed when I basked in the tropical blue waters and sunk my toes into the powder soft sand of a hidden island. The sun drenched every inch of my exposed skin, as warm and soft as any Egyptian cotton. His hand clamped over my arm and shook me out of my daydream.
My eyes flew open to meet his now frosty cold ones. “Why are you hiding yourself from me?” he ground out.
That did it. No more stalling. We were having it out, here and now. He hit a nerve and I jerked out of his grasp, putting several feet between us. We circled the space, spanning the length of both the living and dining rooms, like two caged lions.
“Why are you always hiding from me?” I countered, rounding the dining table as he matched my steps just on the other side of it. “You never let me in and now you’re pissed when I hide something from you?”
A full minute passed as my words sunk in before I was bombarded with his overwhelming concern and worry, overlapping his constant love. The vertigo nearly knocked me off my feet. I staggered back until my butt hit the back of the couch.
“Because you don’t want to feel my protectiveness all the time.”
“Yeah, speaking of your protectiveness, why keep the message from me?”
He raked his dangerous gaze over my features. “I thought that’s where you might have went.”
“Don’t you think I needed to know that he was here waiting for me?”
His rage blared through my head like a drum, and I watched as he flashed over to the coffee table and sent it soaring across the room, where it crashed into the book shelves. And there goes number… who knows how many at this point?
“That’s why you were scared?” he shouted. “He came to you?”
“Yeah, and it would have been nice to have a warning before going out.”
He barked out a cruel sounding laugh. “And would you really have stayed home, knowing he might be out there waiting? Tell me, Lucy, did you come home immediately after you found that message? Because your fear woke me out of a dead sleep about 45 minutes ago, and I went to bed hours before that.”
My anger rose to match his as I screamed at him across the couch. “I might have. I would have at least been able to talk to you about it. We could have been in it together, like I thought we were supposed to be.”
My voice shook violently as my anger suddenly transformed into sadness. We were divided, and that hurt worse than any stab wound. “No more secrets, remember?”
I felt my eyes burning and immediately turned to cover the tears.
Too late.
He flashed to my side and snagged my arm, spinning me back around to face him. He hugged me tight to his chest. His voice had gone soft and full of remorse, not even a hint of ire lingering.
“I’m sorry, Lucy. You’re right. I didn’t want to scare you, and I ended up leaving you more vulnerable to that monster. The truth is I freaked out when I saw the note and old instincts kicked in. I’m so, so sorry, gorgeous. I may never get it right when it comes to your safety, but nothing can stop me from trying.”
I considered his sincerity and nodded against his chest, unable to speak through the lump in my throat. His hands came up to my face, lifting my eyes to his. His thumb made gentle swipes across my tear stained cheeks as his icy blue depths filled with tenderness. He opened up to me, and I only swayed on my feet this time as the vertigo passed. His love unfolded in layers so deep they reached new places in my heart.
I didn’t want to fight him anymore. I hated the secrets and didn’t want anything else between us. “No more hiding from me.”
“Deal.”
A long moment passed where he just held me until we were both breathing normally again. He lifted me up and moved back into his chair, keeping me planted on his lap.
When the heaviness lifted, he cleared his throat and asked with feigned jealousy, “So should I be worried you’re sneaking out in the middle of the night?”
I sat back to put an arm’s length of distance between us. “Well, I did run into a couple guys who liked to party. But it turns out, they couldn’t handle me like you can, so you’re still stuck with me.”
“Glad to hear it. Are you okay? You still seem rattled. You’re shaking.”
I was. The hatred I felt toward my father still buzzed in an underlying current through my body, needing its outlet.
An outlet he could provide in other ways.
My eyes conveyed what I couldn’t verbalize. There was no indication he understood, except for a slight lift of his chin and narrowing of his eyes.
I continued as I grasped the back of the chair behind him and pulled myself up to my knees, which sat snuggly on either side of his thighs. “I’m good. Like I said, no one can handle me like you can.”
H
eat radiated off of him. Following along with the conversation, his hands slid up the sides of my legs and gripped my hips in a show of agreement. He pulled them down until my body was flush with his. My heart did a happy dance, and the heat was nearly unbearable.
My voice turned raspy against my will. “When things got a little rough, they just seemed to vanish into thin air.”
To prove that he wouldn’t disappear on me, I hopped out of his lap and yanked him up, pushing him backwards until he landed against the wall beside the fireplace, next to the shattered remains of the coffee table. Books toppled off the shelves.
“Still here,” he noted.
Yes, you are.
“None of them were up for any real challenges. They were all talk when it came down to it.”
With impressive reflexes, he reversed our positions, and the next second, I was the one shoved against the wall.
Finally.
He growled in my ear. “Just remember how good you have it when the next guy comes along thinking he can do this better.”
He grabbed the backs of my thighs and pulled them up and around his waist. I wrapped my arms around his neck and whispered in his ear.
“Show me what better feels like.”
The following kiss was rated M for mature and could never be properly described in words. There were a whole lot of explorations of the hands and mouth, but by the time we broke apart, I was on the verge of combustion. But there were still so many things on my mind to discuss. We needed to make plans.
When I finally broke the kiss, I doused him with a big bucket of figurative ice water. “So we really should talk about my father.”
He growled low, and the heat in his gaze cooled instantly. “Really, Luce? You had to word it like that?”
“I think I did. Sorry.” I wasn’t sorry. Well, okay, my body was the epitome of remorse, but that could wait.
I told him about my interaction with daddy dearest, watching him grow very still as his posture filled with anger, ready to snap him in half. By the time I finished talking, he couldn’t contain it any longer.
“No fucking way are you joining him!” he burst.
Beautiful Eternity (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 3) Page 9
