“Have you ever heard of Aphrodite’s Hunt?”
He shook his head, his eyes locked on her face. Her happy smile and calm eyes worried him almost as much as the fact that he could feel the same mindless peace emanating from his own wolf.
“Aphrodite infused me with her magic. It’s meant to help me find the perfect mate.” She smiled and kissed him on the lips. “Aphrodite has given us her blessing.”
He didn’t respond to the kiss, her words echoing inside his head. Dread surrounded him like a fog and he pulled back, trying to tear the connection that seemed to grow stronger between them with every passing moment.
“You speak of a mating ritual.”
Gia nodded, not seeming the least bit concerned with his reaction. He stared at her peaceful expression and suddenly it all made sense. She was besotted by Aphrodite. The goddess of love and desire had laid her magic on the lupa of the Red Water Clan and now he was steeped in a mating spell. Horror dawned on him as he realized that everything they’d shared, everything he’d felt, had all been the result of a spell.
“You came here and asked me to protect you from your kin,” he whispered.
“I didn’t want to be part of the ritual at first,” Gia admitted. “My human self thought it could pick a better mate than my wolf.” She sat up and then reached out to trail a finger along his jaw. “I was wrong.”
“You thought I was a vampire and would not be affected.”
She nodded.
Anger sprang to life in his breast. “And after you discovered what I was, after you realized I was suffering the effects of your love spell, you still said nothing.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, confusion shadowing the happiness in her eyes. “You’re angry.”
The anger turned to fury, one small flame erupting into a blazing inferno. “So now you can read me like a book, can you? Your magic has bound us together so that I am not to have a moment’s peace?”
“I don’t have to read your mind, I can see the anger all over your face.” She frowned. “Why are you so angry?”
Fear joined his anger, twisting his gut into knots. Pain ricocheted through his skull as terrifying images from his past roared forward like demons from the gates of Hell.
“You have thrown away your humanity for a woman! A woman!”
Sorin crouched on the floor, his hands soaked in the blood of the woman he’d loved. His eyes were trapped on her body, her broken neck at a sickening angle where she lay on the floor.
“Sire, I—”
“You had a choice, Sorin! Man or beast, beast or man—never both!”
“I am a man—”
“You think I don’t know you’ve been drinking her blood? Her BLOOD?” Disgust twisted his sire’s features as he stood over Sorin, glaring down at him like a judge over a guilty man. “Blood leads to death, Sorin. I gave you the gift of life, the gift of drinking the very essence of existence. I warned you that blood would lead you back to the den of iniquity you lived in as a beast.” He trembled with rage as he viciously kicked Sorin in the ribs, sending him rolling to his side as physical pain joined his mental anguish. “Look at where your choices have gotten you!”
“I’m sorry,” Sorin gasped. “I’m sorry, sire.”
The ancient vampire knelt down, putting his face a hair’s breath from Sorin’s.
“Listen to me, Sorin. Women are temptresses. It is their nature to sway men from the righteous path and lead them into sin. This woman stole your manhood, stole your honor. Her death does not absolve you, it damns you further.” He stood. “Remember this lesson, Sorin. Remember it.”
“He was right,” Sorin whispered.
“Who was right?”
An icy numbness crept over his skin, stealing the warmth he’d felt only moments ago. He stared at Gia with new eyes, seeing her for the evil creature she was. Her heart beat faster, the sound hailing her nervousness like a trumpet. Was she thinking of what she’d done? Did she realize what she’d started, what she’d unleashed inside him?
“How could you do this to me?” he whispered. “You’ve enslaved me.”
“No,” Gia protested. “That’s not how it works. It’s not enslavement—”
“Do not lie to me!” He tightened his grip on her arms until she winced in pain. “It is all a lie! This is not love, not affection.” The taste of such soft words on his tongue twisted the knife in his heart. He’d dared to believe--to hope. She’d showed him a world he’d dreamed of in the deepest corners of his heart. His throat constricted. But it was all lies. “Aphrodite’s magic is riding both of us. You have bewitched me.”
“Sorin—”
“A werewolf ritual,” he hissed. “No wonder you pulled the beast from its imprisonment inside me. No wonder my hard won control was shattered so completely. You did this. You took everything I fought for, made me into everything I’ve tried so hard not to be.”
He clutched his fury to him, using it as protection against the pain in her eyes. The peace he’d once found with her vanished, leaving behind only the horror of the new urges she’d unleashed inside him. Painfully aware of his bloodlust and the beast howling inside him, Sorin finally realized the full effect of what she’d done. He knew what he had to do.
He leaned in, throwing all the power he’d drank with her blood into his eyes. Catching her in his gaze, he poured his power through their sudden connection until the golden orbs glazed over and her eyelids began to droop.
“A vukodlak is part werewolf, part vampire,” he said softly as she drifted off to sleep. “You counted so much on the first part . . . that you clearly forgot the second.”
Chapter 9
Gia groaned as bit by bit, she became aware of a growing coldness along the right side of her body. The sensation made her flesh ache and she shivered as she rolled over. The sound of clinking metal tickled her ears and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Opening her eyes seemed to take a lot more effort than it should have, but eventually she raised her eyelids enough to look around her.
Stone walls adorned with torch laden sconces greeted her fuzzy brain. She frowned, running her gaze around the room. Here and there metal bits on the walls dangled chains and shackles. One wall held a rack of weapons. There was a spear, a mace, and some other instruments that looked foreign and wholly unpleasant. Her gut recognized the room before her brain.
A dungeon?
Even in her mind the word sounded ridiculous. Dungeons belonged in old movies and castles. They had no place in reality. She lay there, letting her brain catch up with her surroundings. Maybe I’m dreaming.
She took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind. Her body ached from lying on the hard floor and her muscles screamed in protest as she shoved herself into a sitting position. The sound of metal brushing metal split the silence and she turned her gaze to find the source of the sound.
Shackles. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the chains curling around her body like a nest of grey snakes. Cold iron banded around her wrists and ankles, chaining her to the floor. Very slowly, her memory came drifting back.
Sorin’s eyes rose in her mind, the emerald irises swirling like deadly whirlpools, pulling her deeper and deeper until darkness closed over her head. The memory held enough power that she swayed, almost feeling the urge to sleep again. Anger tightened her jaw and she clenched her teeth, the ire helping fight off the drug-like after-effects. He used vampire wiles on me. How dare he? I-
“It is all a lie! This is not love, not affection. Aphrodite’s magic is riding both of us. You have bewitched me.”
“Oh, goddess,” she whispered.
“Aphrodite infused me with her magic.”
”You’ve enslaved me.”
An ocean of pain rose up to quench the fires of her anger as she realized what Sorin must think. She’d been so caught up in what it meant for her that he was a vukodlak, not a vampire, that she hadn’t considered what it meant for him. How must he have felt with that mind-numbing desire riding him so m
ercilessly? She’d known what was happening to her, but he’d had no clue.
She covered her face with her hands. “He must have thought he was losing his mind.”
Without her confusion or anger to distract her, the warm feelings of affection that had so overwhelmed her last night rose up again. She thought of how they’d come together as mates, how they’d hunted and fed, how they’d run through the trees. They’d been so happy . . .
We can be that way again. I just have to explain the Hunt to him.
Her wolf howled inside her, a long soulful cry for its mate. Her human heart echoed the longing sound and she straightened her back. The sounds of the chains against the floor pricked at her pride, but she ignored it. She would not have reacted any better if the situation were reversed. He thought she’d used magic to enslave him—until she convinced him otherwise he had no reason to trust her.
The sound of a heavy lock opening pricked up her ears and she jerked her head around just in time to see Sorin step through the door before closing it behind him. She breathed in his familiar scent as he detached himself from the shadows, the soft darkness seeming to caress him as he moved forward. The sight of his pale face made her heart skip a beat. It pained her to see his hair bound back in a tight ponytail again instead of falling in wild waves around his naked body as he loomed over her.
Her gaze traveled down his body, once again encased in the formal clothes he’d worn when she first showed up. A grey suit jacket with black pinstripes and matching pants, white shirt with slight ruffling on the chest, and a charcoal vest showed underneath the open jacket. There was even a small gold pocket watch chain draped under his right breast.
She wanted to rip them off of him. Somewhere in that shell of a society gentleman was the man who had claimed her body and soul. A man both she and her beast had cried out for. He’d pleasured her, protected her. How could he have vanished so completely?
Her body reacted to him as it always had, irreverent toward her current state of turmoil. Her breasts ached, feeling too heavy, her nipples too tight. She pressed her thighs together, helpless to relieve the aching emptiness and frustrated with the wet heat throbbing to be touched. Get a grip, Gia, now is no time to think about sex.
Sorin’s nostrils flared and his eyes darkened. “Still under the hand of Aphrodite, I see.”
His tone lashed at her skin and she jerked back. He sounded so . . . angry. Ignoring her heart’s cry of pain, she steeled her nerves against his ire and tried to speak with a calm clear voice.
“I owe you an explanation.”
Sorin’s raised an eyebrow. “Indeed?”
She flinched at his cold attitude hurt, but still she plowed forward. “Two nights ago, my mate was unfaithful to me. My pack discovered his adultery at the same time I did and before I could react they demanded Aphrodite’s Hunt.” She met his eyes. “I came to you for protection because I wanted the chance to handle my mate’s infidelity my own way. I didn’t just want to be saddled with a new mate.”
“I have never heard of a pack exerting any kind of control over a lupa.” He stared her down, his eyes boring into hers as if he could see through her skull into her mind and tell if she was lying.
“If one half of the alpha pair commits a crime against the other alpha, or the pack, than either the injured alpha or the pack may call for a test of the offending alpha’s worthiness.”
Sorin’s eyes narrowed as he stared at her. He seemed so calm and collected, standing there in his fancy clothes. She clenched her teeth in frustration as another urge to tear his clothes off sent another wave of desire over her already heated flesh. He couldn’t be as composed as he sounded, not when her body was driving her mad. After the connection she’d felt between them last night, he had to be as affected by her presence as she was by his.
She scented the air, searching for a trace of his own arousal. His body jerked back and her eyes widened at the flash of rage that passed over his face. Her nose wrinkled as the smell of death filled the air. Sorin’s skin seemed to pale even further, his face becoming more drawn. Unease crept over her body.
“Sorin, what’s wrong with you? What are you doing?”
“So you saddled your pack with a weak alpha male and then tried to cheat the ritual that would have given them a proper one by using your blood and your body to make me your slave?” His eyes burned like torches in the hands of an angry mob. “That makes you a pathetic lupa and a manipulative bitch, does it not?”
Shock shot through her body, dropping her jaw and widening her eyes. Pain and anger warred in her heart, each one fighting for the right to respond.
“If you could stop throwing a tantrum for two seconds and actually let me explain things to you, you’d realized what a complete ass you’re making of yourself,” she ground out, almost choking on the desire to drag her claws down his haggard face.
“Oh?”
“Shut up! Just listen.” Her beast howled inside her, bemoaning the anger radiating from Sorin. She took a deep breath, trying to think past her beast’s pain and her human’s anger so she could make him understand. “Aphrodite’s Hunt doesn’t enslave anyone. It’s a gift.”
“If it is such a gift, why did you—”
“I wanted to have a choice!”
Sorin fell silent, staring at her with suspicion in his eyes. She ignored the fresh stab of pain and continued.
“Humans choose their mates for all kinds of reasons. A wolf doesn’t. A wolf chooses a mate based on survival. Aphrodite’s Hunt gives the wolf inside an alpha the strength to overcome her human side and find a true mate. Someone strong enough to protect her, someone who can make her feel safe enough to truly find peace.” She looked into Sorin’s eyes, desperately searching for some sign that what she was saying registered. His expression was too guarded, giving her nothing.
“Aphrodite’s Hunt is a gift,” she continued quietly. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel happy when you’re with me. That you don’t feel,” her voice wavered and she didn’t bother to fight it, “safe.”
“Safe?”
He whispered the word so softly that if she hadn’t been looking at his mouth she may have missed it. Her wolf’s hackles went up as tension crackled in the air between her and Sorin.
“Safe?” he repeated. “How could I feel safe? You have destroyed everything.” He took a step forward, a fine tremble running over his body. “I fought for years to control my beast, I fought even longer to control my bloodlust. I finally had my life as I wanted it and you . . .”
Gia gasped as he suddenly appeared before her, moving too fast for her eyes to follow. His face stopped inches from her own, his eyes so close to hers that she could practically see the fire of his fury in their depths.
“You smeared your cursed blood on my lips, reached into my body and pulled out the monster I fought so hard to imprison! You let your goddess bind us together, crushing my free will and enslaving me to a ravenous hunger for your blood and your body. How can I feel safe when you have infected my ordered life with your bestial chaos? How can I feel human?”
He choked and the sound pierced her heart like a knife. “Sorin,” she whispered, raising her hands to hold his face. “I can help you. The control you had wasn’t natural, it was repression. I can teach you a true control. Accept the gift—”
“Stop calling it that! It is a curse.” He reared back and Gia cried out as he tore his face from her hands. “Your false promises won’t help you. You will stay here chained up until I am free of this spell.”
Anger swam up through her pain like a shark through storm-tossed waters. It broke the surface with a fantastic splash and she shot to her feet.
“I am lupa of the Red Water clan and I will not be treated this way. You think you’re such a gentleman, well then honor the bargain you made. Get me out of these chains.”
“You were remiss in your mention of the details of our bargain,” Sorin sneered. “You specified only that you would offer up your blood in exchange f
or my protection. You did not clarify the conditions under which you would remain protected. I assure you, you are quite safe here.”
Before she could open her mouth to voice her rage, he pointed a finger at her.
“I would remind you that, before you demand the respect due to your position, you should remember for a moment what that position means. You keep offering to help me control my beast, but you seem to forget that it was you who ripped it out of me in the first place. You came here thinking I was just a vampire, but you figured out I was suffering the effects of your Hunt long before you revealed its existence to me.”
He stepped closer and her body ached with awareness of his proximity. She clenched her teeth and fought not to let her reaction show on her face.
“You saw me struggling and you still put your own needs first. Just as you put your needs ahead of your pack’s when choosing a mate, you put your own needs ahead of a wolf that was suffering. Tell me, lupa, exactly how much respect do you feel you deserve?”
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