by K Loraine
“Are you? If they find out this is a sham, it’s both our heads.”
I bit my lower lip. “I know. I’ll do better. I’ll forget him.”
He stepped closer, cupping my face between his large palms, and pressed our foreheads together. “You don’t have to forget him. Just make room for me. At least until we do our duty. After the heir is born, we can reassess all of this if you want.”
I know he wanted me to say I wouldn’t end things between us after we had a child together, but I couldn’t. I’d been deeply in love before. That’s not what this was. This was a marriage of convenience, a way to stay alive, not true love. Instead of answering, I nodded and turned away from him.
“Are you ready to go back inside?” His voice was a tight whisper.
“Not yet. I need a few minutes.”
He squeezed my shoulder and pressed a soft kiss to the exposed skin of my neck. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Fear gripped me, and my pulse sped. “Alone?”
“You’re completely unappealing to any creature in existence save me now. Remember that. I am the only one your blood sings for.” He took a long breath, inhaling my scent and letting out a low moan. “I’ll need to feed soon. Tonight, when you come inside.”
My nipples tightened with unwanted arousal. I nodded in response before he left me alone in the garden. When I was sure he was gone, I strolled slowly through the winding maze of well-manicured hedges and rose bushes. My feet crunched on the gravel path, making the only sounds in the silent night. Until another pair of footsteps joined mine. I made to turn, but he was on me, against me from behind, his lips on my throat, hands around my waist and between my breasts, pressing me to him. My heart fluttered and I gasped until he whispered, “Careful, little bird. Someone might hear you.”
7
Olivia
Everything in me broke into a thousand shards of razor-sharp emotion. It couldn’t be him. Not Cashel. He was gone. But the scent of bergamot overwhelmed me, and his voice shattered me. “Cashel?”
“My little bird. You are safe. Logan wasn’t lying.”
I turned in his arms and stared at the man I loved. “You’re alive? But—”
“The hunters took me. Before I could save you. I thought Logan had killed you.” He threaded our fingers and stared into my eyes. “I can’t survive losing you again.”
“Cashel,” I whispered, my heart torn to shreds.
He leaned in and crushed his mouth to mine, the desperate kiss of a man given a second chance. His hands slid into my hair before they wandered down my back and to my ass. Then he lifted me, and I instinctively wrapped my legs around his hips. He carried me to the stone bench in the middle of the path, laying me out on the cold cement. I didn’t care. I had him back. He was here, alive, mine.
Our bodies connected as he pressed his hips between my thighs and kissed me into oblivion. I needed more of him. I needed everything he could give me. “Cashel, I…God, I missed you.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. I was…I would have died if it hadn’t been for Hector.”
“Hector? As in the hunter?”
He nodded between kisses. “He kept me alive. Offered me a place with them, an alliance.”
“What did you say?”
“I escaped before I gave him a definitive answer.”
My eyes widened. “Escaped?”
He nodded. “I had to get to you. As soon as I woke, I came for you. I’m only sorry it took so long.”
My head began to clear at the realization of the very real danger he was in. Anne had said as much. “Cash, you have to go. You can’t be here.”
“What? This is my home as much as it is theirs.”
I shook my head. “No. You don’t understand. You killed a council member. Anne won’t be able to keep them at bay.”
“They don’t have to know I’m here.”
“They’re all here. At the manor right now.”
The confusion on his face made my stomach churn. “Why?”
“For the wedding.”
He stood and held out a hand for me. With my left hand, I reached for him and let him pull me to my feet. I saw it the instant he caught sight of the large red diamond on my ring finger. “What wedding, Olivia?”
I stared down at the ring, a heavy weight settling on my shoulders. I didn’t want to answer. Couldn’t admit the truth.
“Olivia, tell me. What fucking wedding?”
My heart hammered against my ribcage, anxiety rushing through my bloodstream. Swallowing hard, I locked eyes with him and said, “Mine.”
A tight breath from him was all the indication of his pain. “Yours.” He looked toward the house, then back at me. “Who?”
Pain stabbed my chest as I forced the name free from my lips. “Lucas.”
“You…you are marrying my brother?”
“No.”
Relief flooded his features. “Of course. Now that I’m here—”
“I married him a few nights ago.”
He dropped my hand and took a step back. “You can’t be serious. This isn’t happening.”
Tears stung my eyes. But this wasn’t something I could take back. It wasn’t possible to change anything now. Not with so much on the line. “I’m…so sorry. I didn’t know. We both thought—”
“That I was dead. So you’ve said.” He paced the path, agitation setting his jaw in a tight line. “How could you give up on me so easily?”
Anger blossomed in my chest, hot and intense. “No. You don’t get to make me feel any more guilt about this. You were gone. We…God, Cashel, they buried you. It’s been months. And the things they did to me until Lucas found me…” I trailed off and had to sit down again as I fought the wave of cold nausea curling in my stomach.
He growled. “What did they do?”
I shook my head, unwilling to discuss it. “It’s not important. It’s over. They can’t hurt me anymore.”
“They can always hurt you. If you think just because my brother has given you our name that you’re safe, you’re delusional.”
“He didn’t just give me his name. He bonded with me. He did what you never had the guts to do.”
Cashel’s eyes widened. “I’ll kill him. I’ll stake him to a fucking tree if he touched you.” He was on me in a blur of motion, his hands gripping my shoulders and dragging me up against his body. There, he pressed his face to my throat, breathing me in, the barest flick of his tongue along my jugular making me shiver. “It’s true. He…took you.” He released me from his hold and stared at me with hurt radiating in his eyes.
“You need to go. If they see you—”
He nodded and crushed his lips to mine again. This time, everything hurt. We couldn’t be together without risking his life. I wouldn’t be responsible for his death and could only hope that maybe someday, he could forgive me.
Cashel
Olivia was his. There was nothing I could do to change it. She‘d taken Lucas’ blood, taken his bond, a bond he shouldn’t have been able to give her unless they were meant to be. But what was worse, he’d married her. Olivia was a Blackthorne. She was trapped in a forever with the wrong man.
My chest felt like it might explode from the weight of it all. The mixture of emotions rolling through me was so painful I was tempted to lock away the humanity Olivia had awoken. Wasn’t it better that she was alive? That Lucas had saved her when I couldn’t?
Soft shuffling of sock-clad feet on hardwood caught my ear, turning my attention from the flames in the hearth of the King’s rooms. No one could get in here, save me. But sure enough, the door opened, and Olivia stood before me.
“What are you doing here, little bird? Shouldn’t you be with your…husband?” I couldn’t mask the pain in my tone.
“I couldn’t sleep. Daylight is what my body wants, not night. I…come here while they rest. It makes me feel…closer to you.”
“How? Only my blood can open this door.”
“Anne fed me your blood.
It must still be in my system.”
“She has my blood?” That was news to me.
“She said your father had a secret store of all of your blood. You, Sorcha, Lucas, everyone.”
“That means she can get in here. If she really wants.”
Olivia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve been watching her. She tries and it never works. Even with her witch at her side.”
“The blood has to be living. I’m surprised she hasn’t tried to use you.”
She bit her lower lip. “I make it a point not to spend any time with her. Besides, I think she believes my blood is ruined beyond all use aside from…”
“Breeding.”
She swallowed and nodded. “Why are you here, Cashel? Someone might see you.” Her voice was soft and tender. Not what I needed, or maybe it was exactly right.
“This is my home. I won’t be driven from it.” I looked her over. The thin nightgown she wore did nothing to hide her curves. I thought of my brother, sharing a bed with her, touching her. Rage followed.
“Are you all right?”
“Of course I am. I’m bloody fantastic. The woman I love is married to my brother. Bonded to him, It’s like a Shakespearian tragedy.”
“We thought—”
“That I’d died. Yes, I understand. But you should have known. You should have felt me.”
Olivia’s heart fluttered angrily. “You don’t know what I went through in the weeks before Lucas found me. The pain, the grief over you. They took my blood until I lost consciousness, over and over. They would have let McKinley rape me too. I’m sure of it. But Lucas found me. He saved me at great risk to himself, and he didn’t have to. He bound himself to me just as much as I’m bound to him.”
I clenched my teeth and kept from telling her exactly how much I didn’t want her to be sharing any kind of bond with my brother. “And does me being alive mean nothing to you?”
Her breath caught in her throat. “It means everything. My heart was broken.”
I stepped close, taking in the scent of her, colored by my brother’s bond. “Have you let him inside what’s mine?”
She shuddered and took a ragged breath. “Not yet.”
A low growl rumbled in my chest. At least there was that. He hadn’t taken every part of her. “Good. He may own you in name, but let’s be absolutely clear, little bird. I own everything else.” I reached out and brushed the hair from her shoulder. “You’re mine. If you were going to marry anyone, it should have been me. Not him.”
My fingers trailed along her throat, down between her collar bones and to the swell of her cleavage. She stepped closer and let out a low moan as I found her right breast. I can feel the raised scar of my mark over her nipple. Mine.
“Cash,” she whispered.
“A bonded vampire doesn’t share, little bird.” I brushed my lips over her ear and whispered, ”We’ll have to be quiet and careful.”
Her nipple hardened under my touch, and the scent of arousal filled the room until there was nothing left of my brother coming off her.
“He doesn’t want me. Not like that. Not really.”
“If you believe that, you’re more naive than I thought. Lucas has wanted you since I first brought you to Blackthorne Manor.”
“Like you did?” Her words were laced with pure venom. “I remember you despising me.”
Did I deserve that? Probably. I had wasted so much of our time together by fighting our connection and not letting instinct bring us closer. Now, my brother had made her his.
I pressed my palm to her chest, feeling the erratic beating of her heart. “No one wants you the way I do.”
Cupping the back of her head, I closed the distance, unable to fight the need she always elicited in me. My lips brushed hers, testing, tasting, desperate for her to return my kiss. But she turned her head, a soft sigh escaping. “We can’t. Not now. Not after everything Lucas has done for both of us. He deserves better.”
I stepped back and stared at her in shock. “So, it’s already taken hold, then?”
“What?”
“The bond. It’s taking you from me with every fucking moment.”
“You don’t understand. I made a vow. A promise. I won’t break it.”
Anger flashed through me. “And what about the promise you made me? What about the love you have for me? That was as good a vow as any.”
I could see her heart breaking right in front of me. “You were gone. I had no one. Lucas kept her from selling me off. He did what he had to do to keep me alive.”
“And I’m grateful for it, but I’m not dead. I’m here to make you mine again, little bird. Come away with me. Lucas will recover from losing you. I won’t.”
Everything stopped when our connection opened, and I was able to look inside her mind. Her heart ached for everything we might have had together. A future she thought we’d lost before we had the chance to make it a reality. She’d already given up. In her eyes, there was nothing we could do to change the way things were. The wedding was the final nail in our coffin. She had promised herself to Lucas to keep Anne from killing her.
“Don’t do this,” I whispered. “Don’t give up on us.”
She shook her head, blinking as a tear spilled down her cheek. “I have to.”
Shrugging out of my hold, she backed away. “Don’t let them find you, Cashel. You’re free and I’m safe. Leave it at that.”
Then she turned on her heel and ran. It took everything in me not to follow.
8
Cashel
Olivia wouldn’t stay away. Even if she’d made me wait two nights already, I knew she would be back. I could feel it in her, that need to be with me warring with the bond between her and Lucas. It was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. She knew it. I knew it. But if I wanted to be able to claim her as mine, to somehow take her from Lucas, I’d need to figure out how to get out of the situation I was in. Being trapped in the King’s rooms until the council was gone was not ideal.
Rustling outside of the door had me tensing, on edge, until Olivia stepped through the opening. She was the picture of beauty, clad in a gown of deep emerald velvet with an obsidian choker around her throat.
“What’s all this?” I asked, already jealous she’d dressed this way for my brother.
“Anne is throwing a wedding ball. She says since the ceremony was only for her and the council, this is the moment I’m presented as a Blackthorne to all the nobles. I think it’s to show off the fact that she’s able to claim ownership of my bloodline forever now. If she thinks I’ll give her my children, she’s wrong. I’ll cut off her head the first chance I get.”
“No. It’s to test your bond. Someone has put forth a challenge. They’re already questioning how real this is.” They wouldn’t be able to get through this tonight. Not if she wasn’t truly meant for Lucas. And then there was Anne’s plot. My gut twisted. Olivia’s children. The heirs Lucas would give her. I clenched my jaw and forced myself to remain calm. “Do you plan on having many children during your happy marriage to Lucas?”
Her gaze fell to the floor, and I wanted it back. “Don’t do that. Don’t make me feel any more guilty than I already do.”
Striding toward her, I pulled her into my arms and crushed her to my chest. “I’m sorry. Fuck, little bird, I’m so sorry this happened. I can’t change it now. You said the words, you took his bond. I can’t fix this.”
She tipped her face up toward mine. “I don’t know what to do now. How to stop Anne without committing treason and being caught by the council. She has them in her pocket somehow.”
“She’s got something on the leader. He’s afraid of her.”
“Can’t we just…run?”
I wished we could. I wanted nothing more than to steal her away and start over. But Lucas would use his bond to find her. Anne wouldn’t be far behind. But the ghost of a plot began forming in my brain. Something Hector said, buzzing with insistent energy. “We can’t run. But we can fight.
We just have to wait until the right moment.”
The clock in the study chimed the hour and Olivia’s shoulders tensed. “I have to go. They’re expecting me.”
“This won’t be like a typical human wedding reception, little bird. I hope you understand that. This is a bonding, not a simple marriage.”
She had turned away from me, but glanced back over her shoulder. “What do you mean?”
“Lucas will display his bond by feeding in front of them. Only after you’re passed to each nobleman for a dance, for them to take in your bonding scent as proof of its strength.”
“How do I know if they believe it?” The flash of anxiety in her eyes made me desperate to save her from this.
“If you’re truly his mate, there will be no question.”
“I’m not sure. When I’m with him, I feel the bond’s pull, but I forget him completely when we’re together, Cashel. It’s like the bond doesn’t exist.”
I groaned and grabbed her by the elbow, tugging until her body was pressed to mine. “Oh, little bird, you can’t know how that makes me feel.”
She ground her hips against the hard length in my trousers. “I can. It’s evident.”
I pressed my lips to her throat, trailing kisses up until I reached her ear. “I want you wet for me tonight. I want to know your cunt is slick and aching for my cock. No one else’s.”
My mouth brushed her cheek, and she shuddered and let out a soft mewl of appreciation. Then her lips were on mine and her tongue was working its way inside my mouth. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. “I need you,” she whispered against my lips. “God, Cashel, it hurts not being with you.”
I chuckled and backed away. “What happened to your vows, little bird? You were so resolute.”
She took a long breath and closed herself off to me. Fuck, I’d taken it too far. “You’re right. I can’t do this. I married him, and I owe him that commitment.”
