My eyes must have said all I was thinking because she said, “He is not truly your brother. You and I are half-sisters because we share the same father, but Andrea my mother was the most powerful witch of her covenant. Before becoming queen, and before I was born she was lovers with father’s right hand man the Duke of the Northern Lands of HerLa. He married her and she became pregnant, having twins, Andres’s brother died many years ago in war.”
“Shortly after Andres’s father saved the King’s life, but didn’t survive the attack, killed in war with the Lycans, so father did what he thought was necessary and adopted Andres as his son giving him his name, and later marrying my mother. It is why my mother didn’t oppose the union between your mother and our father. Please understand our brother has dedicated his life, after you were taken, to finding you. He is the only one capable of truly loving you without greed coming between the two of you.”
“Why did you wait all this time to tell me?” I asked shocked because they planned a union between us. It was there in the light of her eyes, expectancy shown on her face.
“He wanted some time to pass for you to actually get to know him, without the pressures surrounding your birthright. Our kingdom expects to be reunited with their Queen. Father made it known that you would be found and immediately after married to our brother, it is expected. He wanted the royal bloodline to continue. You are the purest carrier of the royal bloodline, but not only do you have it- you exceed it. You have the blood of dragons and gods. It is as father decreed, his last dying wish.”
My eyes closed from the sudden sharp pain. I would not know my father. She’d just hastily said the words and the last hope I held on to was gone. A hopeless dream all along. After all these years hearing about him, only now to find out he was dead. If Darius knew and never told me, I would never forgive him because we spoke of him so my times, I’d carried so many hopes I would see him again. “How long has he been dead for?”
“Two years, about the same time the Lycan king was killed. We believe Eros assassinated both kings, so he would be the only king from the three kingdoms looking for you. He believed Andres would be too consumed by pain to continue his search without father. We, the Dragons, Lycan’s, and Vampires are the three most powerful kingdoms, Emma. He did everything he could to keep the vision from coming true. He’s obsessed he is the one.”
I traced in front of her, not too gently shaking her, “Please tell me father is still alive… that he lives because there’s just so much I can take. I can’t believe Eros would kill my father, he loved me. Through it all, I know he loved me, he would not tear me up this way… inside. He was cruel, but not like this.”
She gently touched my tears, “I’m sorry dearest, but I cannot lie to you. Father searched many worlds looking for you. He had Andres covering as much ground, they were never together… always searching. We lost so much when you were taken. Our loving family separated, each member fighting war after war in search for you Emma. We have all suffered and now to finally have you with us… it is our greatest victory. We will finally know what it is to be happy.”
She hugged me then, breathing me in for the first time, finally able to take the time to cry. I tried to comfort her the only way I knew I could. “Please don’t cry. I will do as you ask. I will honor my duty to our family, give you the happiness you so deserve.” I said realizing now, I’d been so stupid, still held hope that Eros would change, had changed. Now I knew how hopeless it truly was.
Everything was lost to me, all I had left was to make my brother and her happy and honor my father’s last dying wish.
She interrupted my thoughts, “It will all be fine soon, I just needed to let out some of the emotions I have been carrying with me, for so long… pretending to be strong in front of our brother. He loves you, you know. Mother gifted him with the visions, she wanted so badly for it to be him. She knew you would capture his heart with your good, caring heart, and your exquisite beauty. She just wanted him to be happy.”
“Everyone is obsessed with visions of what is to be. I’m tired of hearing of such predictions… I only seek to have my family whole.” I smiled at her, not wanting to show her my heart was breaking because she asked me for so much. I always wanted to be free, but in truth I was never fated for freedom.
Is there anyone fated to such bliss because the things we want most and work our hardest to gain, the ones we think will bring us happiness are the same things that pull us down, caging us. Andres would chain himself to me with the hopes of happiness when I couldn’t love him the way he hoped, yet by the time he realized this it would be too late for him.
We were still talking when we heard Andres walking into the bedroom. I stiffened as I smelled the Lycan’s blood while smelling the clean masculine scent of the soap he used. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t escape the Lycan, his blood, and whatever else it was that drew me to him. The flipside was at least I didn’t have to look at silver eyes while I drank.
She smiled gently at me, “Don’t worry he knows to take things slow with you. Take all the time you require, just tell him what you need. He just wants to be kind, gentle with you.”
She held me whispering in my ear, “He’s afraid you’ll run away, please try to dispel his fears where you are concerned.”
I tightened our embrace, “Of course sister, all will be as it should be.”
She smiled one last time, turned lifting her hands to remove the barrier she’d placed on the door so we wouldn’t be heard, and left.
I waited until I heard her leave the bedroom… feeling for the first time the drops of water fall from my hair, against my lower back, then took a deep breath for valor, and stepped out of the bathroom.
He was waiting a few feet from the bedroom door. My sister was right… he feared I would leave. I thought of what to say to lessen his fears, feeling I owed him as much, and tried to make the moment less difficult than it was. “I wish I would have met our father, somehow found you before his death.” I stopped a few feet away.
He nodded searching my eyes, for what… I didn’t know. “I’m sorry you’ve lived such a hard life, Andres.” His eyes closed at my words, so I asked him, “Are you gifted in the arts such as Allessa is?”
“To some degree, I didn’t have much time to learn… fighting as I was. And when I was young and carefree, I didn’t take the time to learn always chasing after some new girl.” He said smiling. He had a nice smile making me wonder at the life I would have led, had I grown up with my family.
I appreciated he was reminding me it wasn’t always difficult times. “Maybe she can now find the time to teach us both… so we aren’t as dependent on her, she needs the rest.”
“You don’t need her to teach you. You have more power than all of us combined- rooted within you. What you need is to learn to tap into the source of your power.”
“Easy for you to say, with me it’s sporadic at best.”
“You’re afraid of your own strengths.”
“I can assure you, it’s not the reason.”
He is looking at me with a strange expression again, so I quickly change the subject.
“What was father like with me?”
“He was so different with you than from how he’d been with all of us. You were his Sun, lightened up his features every time you were near, he couldn’t get enough of your company. He had all the time in the world for you, I can’t say it was because it was what your mother expected because most of the time she argued he was spoiling you too much. It was you, you were infectious.”
He looked into my eyes and said, “I wish one day you could gift me with a daughter as infectious as her mother. I know it is soon to be speaking of this, but after so many years of war and death I wish to know the joy father felt in those few years, with you.”
I looked beyond him towards the window. “I wish I could remember. I’ve tried to remember him, our short time together… so many times.” He walked towards me raising his hand and touching my shoulde
r, “It does the heart no good to dwell in the past.” I held my breath at his touch, my heart no longer having room to love him in the way he expected- making his touch difficult to accept.
I looked up to him smiling over the pain I felt, masking it. I exhaled my held breath when I said, “You’re probably right. I had so many plans of meeting him one day, and look at us now.”
“Yes, look at us, just as father wished us to be.” His fingers started to trace my lips. I caught movement in the distance beyond the window.
“He watches us, I saw silver eyes flashing in the night.” I whispered.
He turned towards the window, but the Lycan no longer stood were he’d been. “There is nothing he can do Emmaley, I have guards surrounding this place. Our sister has ensured our safety with her spells. He is fortunate I’ve given orders that he shall not die. No harm will come to him because your life depends on his.”
“Did you drink enough of his blood, Andres?” I asked him because this was the reason he’d come into this room. He wanted to test his theory, and I was eager to be freed from the beast.
“Yes, the blood that runs through the Lycan is very strong. I was able to drink much, and even after drinking him, he got away. I understand the appeal, power attracts power.” He said lifting his white shirt making his upper body ripple as his muscles stretched. He threw his shirt on the floor between his feet.
I thought of warning him that I would never love him as he wished, but instead the words came out wrong and I said, “Please sit on the chaise, it will be easier to drink from you.” I didn’t have the strength to break his heart, so soon…who knew, time had the power to change everything, maybe in time he would end up being my prize and not the other way around. The chaise I spoke of was underneath the window my eyes kept reverting back to.
He did as I asked, his green eyes illuminating all of me… the room. I looked beyond his eyes not wanting to be drawn in by them and concentrated on the window. It was not difficult for me to do since he was lower than I, and I found those silver eyes watching me… daring me to unleash the side he’d said he kept tightly locked away.
If there was anything I knew about myself with all certainty, it was I never turned away from a challenge. “It may hurt a little at first, but I promise not to lose control, and I’ll try to cause you the least amount of pain.” I said walking up to him.
His eyes never leaving me, watching me intently as I approached, he began breathing me in. He drew in his breath and held it, excitedly anticipating what was to come.
“Where would you prefer to drink from?” His question took me by surprise as I stood between his legs. It felt so wrong… him and I, but he believed in us and more importantly it was father’s dying wish.
He was too eager for this, my mind reproached.
I wondered if I was even really here, in front of him, willing to carry out my sister’s plan, by trying to make this work, because now studying him I couldn’t deny the resemblance he shared with Darius.
I had to hinder my urge to run from him… quickly remembering what my sister had confessed.
“I don’t know, where would you feel most comfortable with, your wrist?” I nervously asked while silently pleading he would say yes.
“I need my hands to hold on to the chaise. I don’t want to lose control with you, either. He said it apologetically, and I was thankful he would try to keep his hands off me. He grabbed the chaise’s arm and the front end of the seat’s cushion as he leaned back, closing his eyes with his head resting back.
His vein rapidly fluttered against the skin on his thick neck, his breath quickening with his pulse.
He was trying not to use his light on me. I was grateful to him because he did seek to make this just about nourishing me. I placed my hand by his head, holding onto the backrest, needing the stability and fortitude for what I was about to do while my other held his shoulder as I took in a breath, leaned in, and bit him on his neck. His eyes shot open as I closed mine savoring his blood. There was something very recognizable about his blood… control, it penetrated the cells- I knew it, perhaps in myself or from someone else.
Would demons from the past always stand in my way?
I drew in deeper, taking it while not wanting to dwell on thinking about his blood remembering the Lycan’s warning about the allure of dragon’s blood. Then, I couldn’t help but remember the Lycan… tasting him in my brother’s blood, and I was past holding on- I was out of control wanting more.
I tried to reason with myself to turn… walk away, but I knew I couldn’t do this to Andres.
Trying to forget everything but the blood and the relief it brought, my legs became weak, and I found myself slowly kneeling between his parted thighs, gradually losing sight of the window I thought would help me through this- holding him as he leaned in towards me. The more I drew from him and into me, the more the blood demanded I remember whose blood it was that nourished me… Luke. It was so tempting and too easy, he tasted just like him and with my eyes closed all I saw was Luke.
I felt him hold me to him, pressing us together, lifting me over him… “Emmaley, how can you make me feel such… raw hunger? Just one bite and you are in control of my fate, yet you always were,” he groaned. As my hands found his chest, and I started to feel him, my skin anxiously prickled.
I came to my senses because within the next moment I found myself with my palms and elbows against the floor as I lay on my back quickly moving away. He watched me with an unshakable intensity as he tried to catch his breath, sitting completely still on the chaise. His mouth was open, panting with fangs extended, looking like he was doing everything not to come after me. He was on the brink of losing his nerve, but he was very good at controlling his emotions.
“I’m sorry, but that will have to suffice for tonight.” I said scooting away from him. He had to understand we would go no further. He was laboring to breathe as he watched me move away. His hands were digging into the cushions as he firmly nodded. I licked the blood from my lips and watched as he quickly flashed into the bathroom. For a second, I’d feared he would come for me.
I lay there motionless for some time, staring at the ceiling, as I too caught my breath because for a moment there… he had felt just like Luke. The witches were to blame. I’d wanted Darius, but something happened to me in that circle. I wanted to go out and find Luke, demand he reverse whatever the witches did in the circle.
It wasn’t fair to Andres, I’d let myself think of Darius first then the taste of the Lycan got the best of me. The only thing I could do to stop it was to tear myself away from him.
I heard him turn on the water, and decided it was for the best he flashed away. Taking advantage of the circumstances to get in bed, I remembered Darius once told me… things were so much worse than I imagined, now I knew full well what he meant. I walked over to the bed and did everything to refrain from looking at the window, but just as I made it to the bed my eyes met silver ones out in the distance.
He needed to stop, leave me alone. If this worked, tomorrow I’d find him, demand he continue on his quest for Eros, and he would thankfully leave us alone- the spell would make sure of it.
I fell asleep soon after, thinking of what tomorrow would bring.
__________________________
My dreams were filled with ghosts. I dreamed of the father I would never meet, in my dreams he looked very similar to Andres, leaving behind his suffocating expectations. I dreamed about my journey tomorrow. The journey I never got to make because in my dream a storm came preventing me from reaching my kingdom, instead becoming lost in harsh crushing winds, while it annihilated my brother and sister. So close… yet everything was lost once again. Then my dream shifted, a mist enveloped me, and I relived something I’d begged Darius to make me forget. I realized it was the reason behind Eros’s ability to compel me. Another piece of the puzzle was added.
Chapter 19: He Haunts Me. Drip…Drop is his Blood
I’d been pacing my rooms for the
past half hour. I’d come back from riding tonight, to find myself more restless than when I left. I knew he was to blame, but I refused to seek him when I knew I would find him with some new slave girl. I didn’t understand why I had to ride back home at a break neck pace… knowing what would be awaiting me.
I would end up killing him one day.
I think I almost killed my beloved mare, Treasure, riding her so fast- perhaps because she’d been a gift from him. Before she was able to halt, I jumped off needing to find him and stop him.
He had to stop. He needed to know where to draw the line… we needed boundaries between us, I wasn’t an infatuated little girl anymore.
Frustrated, I gave up my pacing and found myself hurriedly making my way to him… but right before reaching him I heard her passion filled screams. I abruptly stopped myself because what would I do this time… cause myself more embarrassment by drawing attention to the fact that I was jealous. That nothing ever changed, and I was still silently waiting for him to choose me.
I was to the point of begging him not to continue his rampage, all in the name of my mother’s pride. What a stupid idiot I was. He was playing me. He’d been lining up his cards and now he was ready to take a clean sweep. He wanted me to admit my feelings for him, and until I did- he would make me pay, the man loved to punish me in the worst ways.
I would show him punishment worked both ways… he was too invested. He would learn… the punisher could be made to feel the sting of his own blow.
I’d gotten a glimpse of this on a previous occasion- I almost killed the last girl when I tore her from him. The stupidly blind fool didn’t see him for what he was, a master at deception, and she wouldn’t let him go. I couldn’t forget what he’d said while laughing at me, “Is my sweet little Emma… finally willing to grow up and take her rightful place?” He showed me then, he was after me, all of it was to shatter my resistance to him.
Savage Awakening: A Blood Thirst Novel (Book 2) BDSM Erotica/ Paranormal Romance/ Romance Erotica Page 12
