by Sicily Duval
“This is ridiculous,” I said. I shook my head and walked away from him towards the kitchen. He grabbed my wrist before I got very far, and yanked me back. His fingers curled around my wrist and he squeezed hard. There would be five little round bruises tomorrow morning.
“Let go of me,” I said hoarsely, looking at his hand, and then up into his eyes. They were furious. Dark and foreboding, and I didn’t know what to make of them.
“Where have you been?” he asked again.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, hoping that answering a question with a question would throw him off track.
“I expect you to be home when I get here. I don’t work myself to the bone every day so you can go out and have the time of your life.”
“I’m allowed to have a life outside of this house. I’m your wife, Lashan. Not your maid.”
“I will not be made a fool by you because what I give you is not good enough.” His words left me cold. I wondered how much he knew. Until a week ago, the only thing that I had done wrong was not tell him the truth about where I was every day. I didn’t lie, I just omitted it. But now? I’d done everything wrong.
“Made a fool?” My voice was tiny.
“I have a merger to think of. What do you think those people will say of my ability to run a firm if I can’t even keep my wife under control?”
Relief washed over me that he didn’t know about Donald. And almost immediately it was replaced by anger.
“Control?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. “This is about you controlling me? Since when am I an object of possession? I have the right—“
“After what I’ve done for you? You have no right at all. I didn’t marry the girl my parents chose for me. I married you even though you had no bloodlines to speak of and your idea of riches was ‘a large family’. I didn’t have to take you on.”
“Well, how noble of you to pity me,” I spat. The anger had changed into full on rage. Who the hell was he to make it sound like he’d been doing me a favor when he’d married me?
“I loved you,” I said, barely audible. I didn’t look at him.
“What’s that?” he asked, leaning closer. His eyes were still full of menace.
“I said I loved you!” My voice was rising, I was screaming now. “I loved you; I married you because I loved you. Your money was just a bonus, but I would have been happy to go without it if it meant that I could have you. You used to mean something to me.” I could feel the emotion bubble up in my throat. My voice cracked. “Why did you do it? Was it so that you would look merciful? Was I your charity case?”
He let go of me, shoving my hand away from him. He turned and walked away from me.
“I don’t have the time or the energy for this kind of nonsense,” he said. “We’ll talk about it again when you’ve pulled yourself together and you can be rational.”
I shook my head. Something snapped inside of me.
“No.” I said. “I need to leave. I need space to think this through.”
Lashan stopped in his tracks, his back still to me, but I could see how rigid he had gone.
“What?”
“I said I won’t do this anymore. I’m not a maid. And you can’t wear me on your arm like something expensive you can brag about.”
Lashan turned around, a lazy grin on his face. “Oh, sweetheart,” he said in a syrupy voice. “I didn’t realize you saw yourself as expensive.”
I heard a loud crack, and something else snapped inside of me. Something bigger.
“You bastard!” I shouted and flung myself at him. I was ready to claw his eyes out. To hit him in the face. To leave marks on his skin. But he was a lot bigger and stronger than I was. And faster. Before I managed to do any damage, he moved towards me and pinned me against the wall.
It hurt. His nails dug into the skin on my arm where he held me with one hand. His other hand was around his throat and his face was pushed up so close to mine. I couldn’t breathe; his hand was an iron clamp, choking me. It was ironic how many times he’d been this close to me and I’d embraced him as a lover.
White spots danced in my vision, and everything was laced in black. Lashan’s eyes were empty. Merciless. I saw death in them.
I heard a wild roar, and raw power gushed through me, spinning around the room. Loose papers flew up in a whirlwind of emotion. I wondered vaguely when Lashan had become so powerful.
But then Donald was in the room, big and angry. He was still in human form, but he seemed bigger than usual. My knees buckled, and when Lashan saw we had company he let me go. I sank to the ground, coughing and heaving. My throat was raw.
“Who are you?” Lashan demanded. He didn’t look scared.
“Don’t you touch her again,” Donald warned, and his eyes promised death. “If you lay one finger on her, you won’t make it through the night.
“This is personal,” Lashan hissed with fangs bared. “Is he your side dish?” he asked me, his eyes still on Donald.
I couldn’t answer. Before I had a chance to, Donald roared again, and fear hung like a cloud in the room. It was Lashan’s.
They circled each other, sizing each other up. I didn’t know how Lashan thought he could win this one. Donald was in a class of his own.
Lashan charged forward, and attempted to bite Donald, but he deflected him easily, and sent the vampire spinning into the ground.
“You’re making a mistake,” he said calmly. Lashan looked at Donald like he was going to strike again, but instead he rushed towards me, and grabbed a handful of hair.
“If you don’t get out of here now, she’s going to get really hurt,” he said. I couldn’t believe my own husband was using me as a bargaining chip. A hostage.
“Lashan—“ I started but he squeezed tighter and my sentenced trailed off in a moan. I watched Donald. He stood casually, his hands in his pockets.
“Let her go,” he said. “If you do, I won’t kill you.”
Lashan barked a laugh, but just tightened his hold and yanked slightly on my hair for effect. The sound of my voice seemed to be what set Donald off. He started shifting. His skin became stubbly with hair, until it was a thick coat of brown fur. His teeth sharpened into a mouth with a bad attitude, and his muzzle lengthened. He almost tripled in size. Within seconds the giant bear stood where Donald had.
Lashan finally saw reason, and let me go. I tumbled back to the floor. He backed up until his back was against the wall, and then he shimmied his way around the room to the door that led to the kitchen.
“You can have her,” he spat. “She’s worthless, anyway.”
Donald didn’t answer. He waited until Lashan was gone, before he shifted back into a human. He crouched down next to me.
“Are you alright?” he asked, brushing the hair that had escaped out of my face. I wanted to say yes but instead tears ran over my cheeks and my hands trembled when I tried to wipe them away. My vampire mate, my partner for eternity, had just threatened my life.
“How did you find me?” I asked.
“Your blood calls out to me. Not in a food-way. I don’t know how to explain it. It has from the start. When you were in trouble, I had to come.”
He wrapped one arm around my shoulders, and the other arm under the crook of my knees. I curled into a ball against his chest. He picked me up like I weighed nothing, and carried me into the night.
THE END
If you or a loved one is suffering from domestic violence please reach out to your local church, battered women's' shelter, or contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline www.thehotline.org or 1−800−799−7233.
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Copyright 2015 by (Sicily Duval) - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
Ó Copyright 2015 by (Author Name) - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
