Bound in Darkness

by Nicole Edwards

  However, there was no way around his bob-and-weave exercise. Ever since he’d witnessed Bijou feeding from Madok, that lucky bastard Fae with the magic blood, he hadn’t been able to so much as look at her. It hurt too damn much to think about, so he’d gone back to his old, grumpy ways, hiding out when he wasn’t in the war room using those fancy systems to hack whatever the angels needed access to.

  With his path clear for the time being, Oliver hurried down the front staircase to the main floor, strolled down the wide hallway, over the fancy blue rug, past the weird lobby/living room that no one ever mingled in, then on to the kitchen, where he found Emily, the heurosp who’d just magically arrived with about a dozen others in the past month. Oliver had no idea where they came from, but they’d integrated right into the day-to-day, helping out with the many goings-on at both Angel Central and the Lair.

  “Hey,” Oliver greeted with a half-ass wave as he made his way to the pantry with the fancy opaque glass and the curly-cue etching that announced what was discreetly hidden behind it.

  “Sire,” Emily said softly, ducking her head.

  “Oh, no,” he corrected, gripping the knob and twisting. “I’m no sire. Just a plain ol’ boring human.”

  Who couldn’t feed a vampire, thus sending that vampire to bite the neck of a male worthy of her.

  Oliver shook off the thought.

  “Shall I prepare you a meal?” Emily offered, her kindness exactly what he expected from those who worked in the mansion.

  “I can get it.” Last thing he wanted to do was put more on her plate.

  “As you wish.” She returned her attention to the few dishes that were in the sink.

  Oliver stepped inside the “pantry”—what mere mortals referred to as a decent-size bedroom—snagged a loaf of bread from one of the many shelves, grabbed the gallon jar of peanut butter, headed back out, then over to the complicated contraption they called a toaster oven. What happened to the good ol’ spring-loaded thing that launched the toast high in the air when it was perfectly browned on both sides in like two minutes? This ridiculous thing had about fifty settings and took three times as long to make toast.

  Resigned to spending a good portion of his twenties waiting for bread to brown, he tucked two pieces inside, began punching buttons, because toasting bread had been relegated to a fucking science and this thing had all the buttons to prove it. Once the heating coils were flaring red behind the little glass door, Oliver tied the plastic bread bag off and replaced it in its home in the enormous pantry that had its own stairway leading down to a wine cellar fit for a kingdom.

  When he returned, there was a fancy glass plate and a sterling silver butter knife on the counter beside the peanut butter.

  Oliver peered over his shoulder at Emily. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she kept her chin tucked down as though he might not possibly be able to figure out she was the one who’d brought the utensils over. She was the only other person in the kitchen. How would he not know?

  While he waited the remaining six minutes to toast bread, he turned around to face Emily, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, how’s it going? You like it here?”

  Pretty brown eyes lifted to meet his. “I do, actually. It’s quite pleasant.”

  “What did you do before?”

  Her eyes quickly lowered. “That I do not recall. It was part of the agreement.”

  “Agreement?”

  Her attention remained on her dishes. “Yes. Aside from recalling that this was a choice I made, to come here, I do not remember anything about my past.”

  Wow. That … kinda sucked. Who would want to spend all their days living their life only to have their memories yanked away from them? Well, clearly Emily since she’d evidently agreed to it. But still.

  “Was it worth it?” he asked, wishing he could take the words back as soon as they were out.

  “I… In my humble opinion, I believe it was, yes. This is an opportunity to serve my Lord and Savior; therefore I find it quite worth it.”

  Well, then. Didn’t he just feel like a dickhead.

  “And you?” she asked. “How do you like it here?”

  It was his turn to drop his gaze. “It’s fine. I enjoy the work.”

  “As do I,” she added, as though he’d suggested otherwise.

  When she resumed her scrubbing of the dishes, Oliver watched her. It was hard to pinpoint her exact age, but he had to assume she was somewhere in her mid- to late-twenties. In human years, anyway. Here in the land of immortals, age was irrelevant—quite literally just a number—so their physical appearance could bely their actual number of years since, like angels and apparently vampires, heurosp didn’t age the same as humans.

  But she was pretty in a sweet, innocent way. Long blond hair that she kept up in a ponytail, kind brown eyes, and a warm smile. Those were the things he’d noticed about her since her arrival. It was the sort of thing he noticed with most of the heurosp who wandered the estate taking care of the lot of them. For instance, Jeffrey: brown eyes, light brown hair, eager to take care of everyone. And then Phillip, who he suspected was the BMOC: dark brown hair, pale blue eyes, and a quick smile. Oliver was pretty sure Jeffrey and Phillip were a couple, but he figured asking was a violation of their privacy. They seemed happy, whatever their relationship, and that was all that really mattered.

  Ding!

  Finally. Two days later, he had lightly toasted bread.

  Turning back to his task, Oliver slid out the pieces of crusty brown bread, slathered each with peanut butter, smashed them together, then returned the PB to the pantry where he’d gotten it. When he returned, there was a linen napkin, a perfectly ripened banana, and a glass of milk sitting beside his plate.

  He peered over at Emily, noticed she was blushing sweetly.

  “Thanks, Em,” he said. “You’re far too kind.”

  “You’re more than welcome, sire.”

  Shaking his head at the title she used, he carried his plate and glass into the breakfast nook—though nook seemed to imply it was a small area and this one held a table that sat at least twenty-four people. It was used for meals that weren’t eaten in the enormous dining room (think commercial cafeteria). Many times, he would see one of the heurosp having their meal in there, and he briefly wondered if Emily would’ve joined him if he’d asked.

  Oliver closed his eyes and sighed. No, he didn’t wonder.

  Because it wasn’t his place.

  He seriously needed to get a grip.

  So he did, using both hands to tilt his sandwich up to his mouth. With his first bite, he groaned in pleasure.

  Plop.

  Peering down the front of his shirt, he sighed again.

  “You dropped some.”

  His head jerked up to see Kaj passing down the hallway, his finger aimed directly at Oliver’s shirt. The vampire offered a grin and kept on going.

  Oliver glanced down, shook his head at the melted peanut butter running in a river down the front of him.

  If he had any luck at all, it was shit luck.

  With a grunt, he lifted the sandwich to his mouth and mentally gave the shit luck the finger.

  It replied by dropping another load of peanut butter.

  Fan-fucking-tastic.

  Chapter Two

  Alpha vampire radar.

  Yep, Acadia had it, and right now, it was homed in on the male who was circling back through the kitchen after going … wherever he’d gone. The first time he’d passed, Kaj had been focused on Oliver’s peanut butter fiasco, so she’d been given a reprieve. Thinking she was safe, she had remained right where she was.

  Should’ve known better.

  Now that radar was beeping loudly in her brain, seeming to grow louder the closer Kaj got. That was how it worked, as though they were tethered in some way. Part of it had to do with the fact that her blood ran in his veins, but she suspected there was something else that connected them, something deeper. Perhaps it was all the time they’d spent t
ogether back when she’d first learned of his existence, back when he’d suffered a near-fatal injury. After all, it had been during those six months that she had fallen in love with the male. That pure, unfettered love that would withstand time and tragedy, even if they were not together.

  Not that she’d shared as much with him. Kaj had far more important things to worry about than her and her broken heart.

  And it was most definitely broken. More so because she’d learned he was feeding from another.

  Ever since he’d been injured during Eevuhl’s attack on the mansion, Kaj had taken to feeding from one of the other Fae. And because he’d rotated through them, she couldn’t quite place who it was. Not that it mattered. The Fae weren’t the ones who had betrayed her. That had been Kaj. Initially, she’d been hurt by the disloyalty, then angry. Now that some time had passed, Acadia was merely resigned to the fact she and the male were not destined to be together, despite what he had told her.

  Then again, she was destined to be with no one. Her ancestors had seen to that by defying the Heavens. Their punishment? Being relegated to the feeding tools for the warriors and the fiestreigh. Not much of a life, really, but on a positive note, Acadia was free, to a degree. At least within the walls of this mansion.

  Because she wished not to be a burden upon the Alpha, Acadia got to her feet when she heard his footsteps, felt his presence growing stronger. She had been in the sunroom—an odd name for a room that never saw the sun—waiting for Obsidian to give her the go-ahead to visit Penelope and Ari’el. It was the highlight of her nights to spend time with the new mother and the blessed child. Had she known Kaj was coming for a visit, she would’ve remained in her chambers until she was called upon.

  Anything to avoid running into him.

  Unfortunately, molecular drifting wasn’t an option because she had been putting off feeding for days. She was now too weak to do anything more than the most basic of daily functions. And even those were becoming tedious.

  Kaj appeared before she could make her way down the few steps to the kitchen. Their eyes met, held, and in that brief moment, she felt an echo of what they’d shared many moons ago, back when he’d been injured and she’d been at his side, nursing him back to health. Seemed like a lifetime, though it had been not quite two years.

  Ducking her head, Acadia intended to hurry down the steps and through the kitchen, but her efforts were thwarted when her legs weakened, sending her tumbling headlong toward the floor.

  “Acadia!”

  Kaj moved faster than the speed of light, materializing directly in front of her, saving her from what could’ve been a nasty fall down the stairs.

  The very instant her skin came in contact with his, she felt the fire bloom in her veins, the heat she’d been suppressing for as long as she could remember. It never failed—his touch lit her up from the inside out, no matter how much she pretended otherwise.

  “When’s the last time you fed?” he insisted, his voice like thunder rolling far off in the distance.

  She attempted to push him away, she really did. Or that had been her intention. Acadia wasn’t sure if he was simply too strong or she too weak, but Kaj didn’t budge. Instead, he shifted his weight, then lifted her off her feet.

  “Kaj, please,” she whispered, not wanting to cause a scene. There were heurosp in the kitchen, the evening meal being prepared well in advance of nightfall as well as the standard daily chores getting underway.

  His response was a grunt.

  The trip from the sunroom up to the second floor felt like a millennium, though it had taken Kaj only a couple of minutes to traverse the distance. He didn’t ask her where to take her, and she didn’t ask where they were going. She had a feeling she knew, and when he paused outside her bedchamber, she realized she was right.

  Part of her wanted to tell him she’d send for a male to take care of her, but she could see from his expression that would be a bad idea. According to what she’d heard, there was only so much a bonded male vampire could tolerate. And though Kaj seemed to be fighting this mating as much as she was, Acadia was not about to push her luck.

  “Open the door, Acadia.”

  His gruff words were spoken low and ripe with demand. Enough that she pursed her lips and narrowed her gaze in defiance.

  Of course, the door still opened behind her, pushed wide by his will.

  Those beautiful eyes remained locked on her face as he strolled over the threshold, making his way deeper into the room, over to her bed.

  “Thank you,” she said kindly when he delivered her into her room, setting her gently on the edge of the bed.

  Kaj didn’t say a word, but his eyes spoke volumes.

  Her breath caught in her throat as she saw so many emotions flitter across his handsome face. He was, by far, the most impressive male she’d ever laid eyes on. Didn’t matter the species, Kaj superseded them all. His black hair, those light green eyes, the hard angles of his face, high cheekbones, the perfect arch of his upper lip … it all came together to form a devastatingly handsome male. Not to mention the air of danger that surrounded him, which only added to his sex appeal.

  And truth was, she’d been infatuated with him since their first meeting, the night Obsidian had removed the bullets that had riddled Kaj’s chest. He’d been in so much pain that night, so Acadia had remained at his side, watching over him while he healed. That night and the many that followed. As those minutes had ticked by, her love for him had been established, growing stronger and stronger until he’d shattered her heart into a million tiny pieces when he’d walked away.

  For a brief moment, she wanted to tell him how much she missed him, how her heart physically ached whenever he fed from another, how she wished she could have him in her bed for one more night. She would tell him none of those things, though, because Acadia knew, in the end, none of it mattered. They were simply not meant to be. The vampire Alpha and the lowly Fae did not a love story make.

  “You must feed,” he said softly, still holding her stare.

  “I will.”

  He shook his head. “Now.”

  She nodded because she was in agreement. As soon as he left, she would call upon someone to come to her. It didn’t make sense for her to ignore her health, and despite her black mood, she knew she had to pull herself together, move forward. After all, that was what Kaj was doing.

  Kaj didn’t turn away. Instead, he reached behind his head, grabbed the neck of the black T-shirt he wore, and pulled it off. He neatly set it on the bed beside her.

  “Use me, Acadia.”

  Her eyes instinctively dropped to his massive chest, to the thick muscles that padded his shoulders and arms, across his pectorals. She visually traveled downward, her gaze caressing every ripple of his abdomen, then onward to the stretched muscles that formed a V and dipped down into the dark jeans he wore. There were many scars that dotted his body, but they only added to his appeal. He was not a male who sat on the sidelines. He was in the trenches, fighting for the things he believed in, for what mattered most. It was one of the many things she loved about him.

  “It’s not a request,” he stated firmly.

  She met his stare, saw the same heat burning in his eyes that she felt igniting deep within her core. There was no denying the physical connection they shared. It had been almost immediate, from the very day Obsidian brought the injured male back. Acadia still couldn’t go back to where it had all happened, the Lair as they referred to it now, the very residence Kaj now called home.

  “I swear to you, I will not take anything in return.”

  The deep rumble of his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

  And wasn’t that the real issue here? Acadia knew if she put her hands on him, if she drew from his energy, there would be no stopping for her.

  “I can’t, Kaj.”

  “You must.”

  Acadia shook her head, and Heaven help her, a tear fell.

  It was all too much.

  The sight of tha
t single glittering tear sliding down her smooth cheek was enough to rip Kaj’s insides clean in two. Made him want to drop to his knees, pledge his love and loyalty to this female for all of eternity. He wasn’t the only one who’d been hurting as of late, and it pained him to know she was feeling it, too.

  “Acadia.” Her name fell from his lips as he swiped the wetness away with his thumb. “I assure you, I’m asking for naught. All I’m requesting is that you take from me.”

  He was lost in her purple gaze, the way the color shimmered with more unshed tears. It broke his heart to see her like this, knowing he was responsible for her pain. Not her hunger, no, but the emotional influx he could sense within her.

  They’d been through so much together, yet there was more keeping them apart. Hell, he held the entire future of her species, not to mention his own, in the palm of his hand. All he had to do was resurrect an ancient vampire and Acadia would be set free. Free to live without being enslaved to the angels, free to rule her race with fairness and certainty. He wasn’t even sure she realized her status within the Fae, nor was he sure she cared, but that wasn’t the point.

  Another tear fell from her lashes, slowly trailing down her perfect face, breaking his heart all over again.

  “I can sense your hunger,” he whispered, his hand still on her cheek, his thumb stroking the soft skin. “Take from me, Acadia. I beg of you.”

  Her eyes lowered. “It’s not fair to you.”

  “Who said anything about fair?” This was about necessity. He would deal with the aftermath, the need that would slay him. It was the least he deserved for all the pain he had caused her.

  “I’ll want more than you’re willing to give.”

  Kaj took a step closer, cupping her face with both hands. “There is absolutely nothing I will not provide you, Acadia. You are and will always be what matters most to me. Doesn’t matter what stands between us.”