“You think I have an interest in your body? Guess again,” he said, his tone dripping with condescension. “I only care about my brother. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect him, including protecting him from himself. His judgement has clearly been impaired and I won’t stand for it. You may have asked him to train you, but I think it’s only a ruse to get closer to him. To bind him to you somehow. I think you’ve already been trained, either by that fake aunt of yours, the Darken, or that useless warlock. Consider this a final warning to keep your distance from Loch before I start breaking bones.”
He released me then, leaving as silently as he came. I slid to the floor in a trembling heap, coughing and heaving in great gulps of air, more terrified of him than ever.
28
KENNA
I was ready for him this time.
The second Everett stepped through the door, I bludgeoned his skull with a heavy candlestick holder. When he dropped like a sack of grain, I hit him again. If only they had silver in this blasted place. I wouldn’t hesitate to stake him through the heart. Yeah, the king would probably kill me if I did that, but it would be worth it.
I hated the terror still pumping through me, even as he lay unconscious at my feet. Why he had returned so soon, I didn’t know. Maybe he’d forgotten one of the lines he wanted to threaten me with. No matter. I wasn’t sticking around to find out. With him temporarily subdued, I’d have a better chance of finding Lochlan’s bedroom. I had no idea which floor he was on, but I wouldn’t stop looking until I found him.
The moment I stepped over Everett’s prone form though, his hand shot out and grabbed my ankle. I squealed and tried to yank free with no success. Raising the candle holder, I brought it down on him again. Only this time, he caught it. A split second later, he swept my leg out from beneath me and I crashed down on top of him. Not to be outdone so quickly, I attacked his face. Only to be thwarted again.
“McKenna, stop,” Everett ordered, easily flipping me beneath him and restraining my hands.
Dread suddenly filled me, not because Everett had the upper hand again, but because it wasn’t him.
“Lochlan?” I choked out, gasping in dismay when I at last focused on his face. “I-I’m so sorry. I thought . . . I thought you were . . .” Tears clogged my throat and I began to tremble uncontrollably.
“Don’t worry about it. I heal quickly,” he said, trying to calm me with his soothing voice. When it didn’t work, his eyes shot up to take in the room. He stiffened, a growl rumbling in his chest. “What happened?”
When air hitched in my lungs with every breath, making it impossible to speak, he picked me up off the floor and moved us farther into the room.
“Someone’s been in here,” he snarled, his grip on me tightening possessively. “Who, McKenna? Who do I need to kill?”
I shook my head, unwilling to tell him. Everett was his brother, after all.
Lochlan suddenly stilled. I looked to where his gaze had gone and stopped breathing. Oh fates, his shirt. He’d spotted his torn shirt. Without a word, he released me and bent to retrieve the ruined material. I hugged myself, worrying my lip as I watched him slowly figure it out. First the glass shards, then the dresser, then . . . he inhaled.
Panic swarmed my insides. Some mine, some his.
He slowly faced me again, scanning every inch of my clothed body. But I made a mistake, then. I gripped the collar of my replacement shirt. He was instantly in front of me, tipping my chin up with a gloved finger. As soon as he saw my neck, he began to shake with rage. “Everett,” he growled, the sound more animal than man.
My eyes widened. Crap, was I losing my healing abilities already? That should have kicked in by now.
“What did he do?”
I shook my head again, too nervous, too ashamed to tell him. But of course he felt the emotions, which only intensified his fury. “Lochlan, p-please don’t—”
“Did he tear this shirt off you? Did he touch you?”
“Yes, but n-not like that. He was only trying to scare—” I gasped as he tore from the room in a swirl of shadows. “Lochlan!”
I ran after him, barely able to track the writhing shadows trailing him, even with my enhanced sight and speed. I lost him on the fifth floor, but not for long. A resounding boom, followed by exploding wood, led me directly to him.
The air stalled in my lungs when I finally caught up, only to see Everett pinned against the wall of his bedroom, Lochlan holding him off the floor by his throat.
“She’s mine!” Lochlan roared in his brother’s face. “When you hurt her, you hurt me. She is everything. My world. It’s not her who can’t be trusted, Everett. It’s you. And I won’t let you hurt her again. This ends now.”
Everett couldn’t have looked more shocked, so shocked that he didn’t struggle when Lochlan grabbed his head as if he had every intention of ripping it off.
“Lochlan,” I cried, rushing forward. “Stop! He’s your brother.”
When I reached him, I clutched at his arm. The corded muscles beneath his shirt trembled as fury coursed through him. As the Lochness Monster roared to the surface.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, desperately trying to calm him. “He won’t hurt me again. Just let him go. Please, Lochlan. Don’t do this.”
It took several long moments, but his breathing eventually slowed. When his grip on Everett loosened, my knees weakened with relief. He set his brother down and let him go, but didn’t back away. Indecision warred within him. The need to finish what he’d started.
Before he could hulk out again, I placed my hand in his and gently squeezed. Slowly, he turned, lifting his eyes to mine. There was still anger in them, but relief too.
Thank you, they seemed to say. Thank you for stopping me.
I smiled tremulously as I felt the warmth of his gratitude.
My hand was suddenly ripped from his.
“You want to touch my brother?” Everett barked, yanking up Lochlan’s shirtsleeve to expose his bare skin. “Then here.” Before either of us could fully grasp what he planned to do, Everett forced me to grab Lochlan’s wrist.
It happened so fast. So unexpectedly. We couldn’t break apart in time.
Everett gripped my hand and Lochlan’s wrist tightly enough that I cried out from the pain.
The pain. The pain.
It triggered my abilities like a gushing waterfall. The second that heat warmed my palm, Lochlan jerked, emitting a strangled sound.
“This. This is what happens when you touch him, Syphon,” Everett bellowed, digging his claws in to prolong the connection. “You can’t help but hurt him. You can’t help but destroy him.”
“Stop. Stop!” I shouted when my palm grew hotter and hotter. Red flames engulfed my hand and his wrist.
Lochlan’s eyes rolled back and he crashed to his knees. Everett and I were yanked down with him as he groaned and convulsed, his jaw clenched in agony.
“Please,” I screamed, frantically prying at Everett’s gloved fingers. “He’s in pain! I’m killing him. Oh God, I can feel it. Please make it stop. Please. Please!”
Sobs racked me as Lochlan curled forward, as if trying to hide from this nightmare. The sight ripped out my heart and shattered my soul.
Everett suddenly broke the connection with a stifled cry. He scrambled backward until he hit the wall. “I . . . I’m . . . Lochlan, I’m . . . I shouldn’t have . . .”
“Leave,” Lochlan rasped. Still trembling, he slowly lifted his head to stare at his brother. Everett flinched at whatever he saw there. Guilt lined his face as he nodded and climbed to his feet. He studied me for a moment, tracking the tear that fell down my cheek, then left.
The worst kind of silence followed.
My emotions were too raw, too heavy. I couldn’t properly feel his. I didn’t know if he wanted me to leave too. I didn’t know if he loathed me now that I’d hurt him, now that I’d done the one thing he feared I’d do. So I kept my head down. Didn’t dare look at him in case his
eyes were filled with hatred. For me.
“Come here.”
The words were whispered so softly, I thought I’d imagined them. It was stupid, thinking he’d want to be near me after what had just happened.
“Come here, solemae. I need to hold you.”
I sucked in a tight breath as the words squeezed my splintered heart.
He came to me, then, slowly gathering me against him as if each little movement caused him pain. I resisted at first, my pulse pounding frantically at the close contact. But when I couldn’t detect any fear or hatred coming from him, I gave in. If he wanted to hold me, I’d give him that. I’d give him anything, everything for what I did to him.
“Stop,” he quietly chastised, bringing both legs up to cradle me between them. “I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault.”
My lips quivered. “But I h-hurt you. I f-felt your pain.” I tucked my hands close to my chest so they couldn’t touch him.
“But you tried to stop it. You tried so hard that I felt the keening of your soul. It broke me when I couldn’t respond.”
“Because of the pain,” I choked out, curling into a tighter ball. “You couldn’t r-respond because I was killing you.”
“No,” he said, gently running his fingers through my hair. “I didn’t respond because I was trapped in a painful memory of my past.”
I held my breath, waiting for him to continue like I always did. Hoping, always hoping, that he’d finally open up to me.
“Please,” I said, when he let the silence stretch. “Please tell me.”
He continued to stroke my hair, refusing to speak as if he didn’t know how to.
So I opened up first, tilting my face up to his. Guilt hit me hard when I saw the pain lining his eyes, whether from my touch or some unforeseen memory. Maybe both. But I held his gaze, even though I ached to look away and hide my shame.
“I know you want to protect me,” I began, clearing my throat when my voice cracked. “I admire and appreciate that about you, but this is different. This is something that I want to face head on. I can handle it, even if I seem pathetically frail at times. So I’m asking you to trust me. Trust that I don’t need protection from this. Trust that I will protect you whenever you decide to let me in. I never, ever want to harm you, Lochlan. I hope you know that.”
His chest deflated as he heaved a tired sigh. “I do know. You’ve proved that tonight. But this will change the way you look at me. It . . . won’t be easy to hear. Or tell.”
“It won’t change anything. But if it’s too painful, I can wait.”
His gaze caressed my face, paying ample attention to each small detail. “I’m in awe of you,” he suddenly said, reaching between us to pick up my hand. When it dawned on me what he was about to do, panic fluttered inside my chest.
“You’re selfless,” he said, brushing his lips across my knuckles. I sucked in a breath, focusing hard on controlling my ability. “And kind.” He pressed his mouth to my fingers without an ounce of fear. “And tenaciously courageous.” When he flipped my hand over and kissed my palm—the same one that had hurt him—tears spilled down my cheeks. “You make me want to be a better person,” he said, then added with a slight smirk, “Or vampire.”
I sniffled noisily and huffed a laugh. “Does this mean you’ll talk to me?”
“Yes,” he said, smiling wide enough that I caught a flash of fang. “But we’re going to my room first.”
He was on his feet with me in his arms before I could protest, stumbling a little, but quickly righting himself. I held my tongue, sensing that he needed to do this, to prove that he was still strong and capable of keeping me safe. He didn’t need to prove what I already knew, but I let him carry me without complaint anyway.
His room wasn’t far, only one hallway over. I wondered if Troy was on this floor too, finishing what he started earlier at dinner. Renewed thirst tightened my throat, a reminder that I’d touched and hurt Lochlan, that the consequence was another week of craving blood.
“You okay?”
I blinked up at him as he deftly opened his bedroom door and closed it without setting me down. “You’re asking me? I’m the one who nearly drained you of your life force.”
Crap. Now that I’d said the words out loud, it hit me how close I’d come to losing him.
“I’m fine, McKenna. Just a little tired and sore,” he tried to reassure me, carefully watching my face. After a moment, he said, “You’re thirsty.”
My mouth fell open. “How did you—?”
“Good at guessing, remember?” He didn’t hide his satisfaction at having guessed correctly, openly smirking as he dropped me off in the center of his gigantic room.
“Holy . . .” My eyes widened.
Two of my rooms could fit into his. It was more of a suite, really, with a sunken-in lounge area and stainless steel kitchenette. Lochlan headed for the fridge, removing his gloves as he went. He was almost at ease, now that he was in his private domain. Me, not so much. This was Lochlan’s bedroom, with his scent saturating the air and his personal effects scattered throughout. I had the craziest itch to explore every nook and cranny until they gave up their secrets about the enigmatic man before me.
“Why red?” I asked, still taking in the elegantly modern space. Was that a shelf chock full of Lochlan diaries? Err, I mean, journals?
“Red is my favorite color,” he said over his shoulder, oblivious to my slack-jawed expression.
Red was his favorite color?
Well, crap, that explained a lot. Like why Kade kept buying me red freaking clothing. That sly devil.
Mostly everything else was either cream-colored or black, but the massive bed in the room beyond was covered in red satiny fabric. My mouth dried even more. Sure, we’d shared a bed a few times, but this setup felt different. More intimate. Far more intimate.
Maybe because things had changed a lot between us in the last twenty-four hours. It felt like days, weeks had passed since I’d woken up in Lochlan’s arms this morning. We were no closer to breaking the curse, but we were closer.
Surprisingly, though, our bodies weren’t calling all the shots anymore. They obviously still wanted to have sex, lots of it, but now that our bond had strengthened in other ways, the need to complete it through the conjoining of our flesh had lessened. Not by much, but at least I didn’t want to jump him every two seconds.
“What are you thinking about?”
I yelped, heat roasting my cheeks when I realized he’d been staring at me. “Just . . . things,” I sputtered, tossing around for a distraction. His movements were languid as he moved toward me, quadrupling my nervous energy. He was way too hot and I was way too— “Oh,” I said, accepting the drink he offered me. “Thank you.”
“I took the liberty of adding a little rum to your drink,” he said, heading back to the kitchen. “You’ve had a trying day.”
A snickering laugh slipped past my lips before I could stop it.
He threw me an inquisitive look before opening the fridge again. “What’s so funny?”
I hesitated, then blurted, “Sometimes you just sound so . . .”
He cocked a brow. “Old?”
I clamped my lips together, hiding a smile.
“Does that disturb you?” he asked casually, removing a tupperware container. I knew better though. I could feel his uncertainty.
“No,” I didn’t hesitate to say, smiling again when I felt his relief. While he busily prepared a plate of food, a thought came to me. “Where’s your mother?”
He stilled, then resumed his task. “Dead. She was mortal. As were Everett’s and Troy’s mothers. Our father has never taken a vampire as a wife, hence why our kingdom has never had a queen. She would need to be a Venturi, and there aren’t many female Venturi in the world. It wouldn’t work anyway. Ambrose wanted heirs, and vampires can’t procreate with one another.”
I plunked into a chair at his small breakfast table, trying to wrap my brain around this bit of news. �
�Wow, so your mother was human? And Everett and Troy are your half brothers? Wait, I thought vampires could have children. Isn’t that how Venturi are born?”
“Correct,” he said, joining me at the table with his own drink and a heaping plate of assorted meats and cheeses. He nudged the plate toward me with a pointed look. Eat, the look said. So bossy, I silently threw back, but picked up a wedge of sharp cheddar.
Satisfied when I took a bite, he continued. “It’s true that Venturi are conceived, but only of a male vampire and female mortal. We grow at a similar rate to humans for the first eighteen years or so, but once we reach our age of maturity, the aging process all but stops. At that point, our immortality is complete. No trace of humanity remains in our DNA.”
I was nowhere near a science nerd, but this was fascinating stuff. If humans ever found out about vampires, they’d force them into labs, for sure. The thought soured my stomach, but when I moved to set down the cheese, Lochlan narrowed his eyes. Fine, I inwardly huffed, wrinkling my nose at him.
Another thought came to me then. An extremely awkward one. Still . . . I took a large gulp of my drink, nearly choking in the process, before saying, “So the women who were with your father earlier today. You know, the half naked ones that were, uh . . .” Wow, I did not word that properly.
His left cheek dimple appeared. “They’re his wives.”
My jaw fell on the table. “Wives? Plural? How many does he have?” Wait, was that an offensive question in their world?
“Fourteen now, I believe. All human, of course. He usually only keeps two or three, but he’s been wanting another heir. Chances of conception are higher with more females.”
Okay, mind blown. Especially since Lochlan said it all so casually, like having a harem was totally normal. I mean, I knew they still existed in some countries, but this was freaking America.
Wait. Did he have a harem?
My blood heated to a raging boil faster than I could blink. The crystal glass in my hand shattered, spilling droplets of blood everywhere. I gasped as a shard embedded deep into my palm. Cringing, I opened my hand and reached for the shard.
Curse Touched: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (A Touch of Vampire Book 2) Page 25