Cole waited for him to launch a punch, but instead, the vamp turned toward Lexi and gave a small bow. “I will see you soon.”
The shoulder beneath Cole’s hand vanished as Malakai teleported away. Cole’s hand fell to his side, and he turned to find a pale Lexi staring at the spot where Malakai had stood.
Then, her eyes met his and she smiled.
CHAPTER 24
Lexi should politely thank him and make some excuse to retreat. She should be on pins and needles and terrified he’d somehow catch a whiff of his brother, but instead, her heart raced with excitement, and she felt almost giddy with happiness.
“It’s good to see you again today,” he said. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”
“Again today?” Sahira asked, and Lexi managed to stop herself from wincing.
“Yes.” She turned to her aunt. “I ran into Prince Colburn at the marketplace earlier.”
Sahira lifted an elegant brow as she looked between them. “I see.” Then her gaze settled on Cole. “And you’re helping Malakai hunt down your brother?”
She didn’t bother to hide her disapproval over this. No matter what he did, Sahira would have let them draw and quarter her before she ever turned on her brother.
“He is a traitor,” Brokk stated.
Somehow Lexi managed to keep herself from wincing at the callous words. Traitor or not, asshole or not, Orin was still their brother. But they seemed not to see it that way.
She didn’t know what had caused such indifference from them, or maybe she did; she had met Orin after all. She couldn’t imagine what it had been like to live with him for centuries. She wanted to kill him, and she’d only known him for a day.
However, despite the fact they’d probably hand her over too if they knew the truth, her smile never wavered. Maybe she was better at this deception stuff than she realized. It was not a discovery she liked about herself.
“Would you like to come in for something to eat or drink?” she asked, and Sahira sniffed disdainfully.
The idea of having them in the manor, above their brother, frightened Lexi, but she wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Besides, etiquette required she didn’t send two princes away without at least offering them something first.
Cole’s eyes flicked to her aunt before returning to her. “Thank you, but we should continue our search.”
She struggled to hide her disappointment. “Oh, yes, of course.”
“I’m sure I’ll see you again soon,” Cole said and gave her a pointed look that caused her toes to curl and a blush to creep up her neck.
He bowed his head to them. “Good day, ladies.”
He turned away, and Brokk duplicated the gesture while murmuring the same words.
Lexi watched them walk away before shutting the door and leaning against it. She closed her eyes as she tried to understand what happened. Malakai was pissed, and he would be back, but she couldn’t bring herself to care as she replayed Cole’s words in her mind.
“I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”
She was a fool for wanting him to return while his brother remained in her tunnels. However, she hoped she saw him again sooner rather than later. She just hoped it wasn’t anywhere near here.
“You should stay away from that man,” Sahira cautioned. “Anyone who would turn against their brother is someone who would turn on you.”
She opened her eyes to find Sahira studying her with a knowing look. She almost told Sahira she’d turn Orin in too, but there was no way Lexi could explain how she knew him.
“I doubt I’ll be seeing him again,” Lexi said.
“Hmm,” Sahira huffed as she folded her arms across her chest. She looked a lot more skeptical about this than Lexi felt. “With the way he was looking at you, I think he’ll be back, and you should stay away.”
“Sahira—”
“He’s no good, Lexi. You’re also completely different. He’s a seasoned warrior, a prince, and a dark fae. You know what they’re like with men and women.”
She did. She’d heard the stories about the twisted sex fiends the fae could leave in their wake. Heard how they went through sexual partners like most others went through clothes, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at Cole like that.
She was probably a fool for thinking he was different. She was sure plenty of other women probably convinced themselves of the same thing, but she couldn’t believe he was nothing but a callous immortal seeking only one thing from her… and every other woman he met.
“He’s also part lycan,” Lexi said. “They’re known to be notoriously free with their sexuality until they find their mate, and then they never waver from their partner.”
“Lexi—”
“I don’t know why we’re talking about this. Like you said, we’re completely different. He isn’t going to return here.”
The sadness those words evoked surprised her. She shouldn’t want him to return while Orin was here, or even after Orin left, but… but… she did.
“I need a shower,” she muttered.
“Would you like to finish our tea?” Sahira asked.
She was too annoyed for tea right now. Cole might not return, but Malakai would, and she suspected he would make her pay for the embarrassment he experienced today.
“No,” she murmured. “We’ll catch up tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
Lexi started to walk away, but she stopped and turned back to her aunt. “What do you think Malakai is going to do?”
“Nothing, if he knows what’s good for him.”
“That amulet proves he’s close to the Lord. With Father dead, he could make me marry Malakai.”
Sahira’s shoulders went back, and her nostrils flared. “Over my dead body.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, and we’ve had more than enough dead bodies.”
Some of the fight went out of Sahira. “Your father also fought for the Lord; he wouldn’t throw that away just to please Malakai.”
“My father is dead and can’t do anything for the Lord anymore; Malakai is alive, especially vicious, and obviously close to him. He might not ask the Lord to marry me. He may ask him to give me to him as his concubine so that way, when Malakai finishes with me, he can toss me aside again.”
Sahira opened her mouth to respond, but then she closed it. They stared at each other as her words hung in the air between them. The sad truth was, being used and discarded by him was the better of the two options.
Feeling as if the world rested on her shoulders, Lexi started up the curving stairs toward the second floor.
“Lexi.” She stopped and turned back to Sahira. “We won’t let it happen.”
Lexi didn’t say what they were both thinking; there was nothing they could do to stop it if the Lord decided to do it.
CHAPTER 25
“Your brothers were here earlier,” Lexi said to Orin as she set a basket of bread on the ground.
Judging by the color in his face and the fact he didn’t wince every time he moved, he’d taken some of the potion. Apparently, his concern over being unable to defend himself outweighed his dislike of having to rely on the witches for anything.
“Cole and Brokk?” he asked.
“Do you have any other brothers?” she retorted.
“Yes, but Varo is well hidden. The others are all dead.”
She winced at the reminder his family sustained many losses too, but then, many families lost so much. “I forgot they were dead.”
“Your father is dead too, isn’t he?” Orin asked.
Lexi stared warily at him as she stepped back. “How do you know who my father is?”
“It took me some time to remember, but I’ve seen your manor before. I rode by it once, before the war. It belonged to Delano Harper, and I heard that Del did not survive the war.”
Lexi wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her jeans. She hadn’t realized he knew who she was, but then, he would have figured it out once he left here. It’s not like he
couldn’t find her manor again, but she still didn’t like him knowing who she was.
“No, he didn’t,” she said.
“You’re Elexiandra Harper.”
“Yes.” She didn’t tell him to call her Lexi; she would not be friends with this jerk.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
Lexi blinked at him. After his words yesterday, she hadn’t expected any sympathy from this callous man.
“Thank you.” Then after a few seconds passed, she said, “I’m sorry for your losses too.”
His black eyes studied her. “Thank you. What did you tell Cole and Brokk?”
“Well, since neither of us is locked up right now, I’d guess I told them that I hadn’t seen you.”
A strand of black hair fell into one of his eyes as he examined her. The movement revealed the ciphers on his neck, but her father’s clothes hid whatever other marks he bore.
“You don’t strike me as a liar, Elexiandra.”
“Normally, I’m not, Orin.”
He lifted a loaf of bread and broke off a piece. “You are now. And you must be a pretty good liar if my brothers believed you.”
When he took a bite of the bread, Lexi contemplated kicking it down his throat. “You don’t know what I’m capable of doing.”
Orin lowered the bread and leaned toward her. “Neither do you.”
Lexi recoiled. “What’s that mean?”
“Only that I don’t think you know what you’re capable of doing. I bet you never considered harboring a war criminal or lying to the side your father fought on. War changes us and makes us do things we never thought we would. It brings out the worst and best in us.”
“The war is over.”
“Now you’re lying to yourself.”
She frowned at him while he ate more of the bread. After a minute, he licked his fingers and looked up at her again.
“The rebels lost the war, but the battle still wages,” he said. “And eventually, you’re going to have to decide what you will and won’t stand for.”
“I can tell you that I won’t stand for an arrogant fae trying to tell me who or what I am.”
His arrogant grin set her teeth on edge. “Obviously, you will, because I’m still here.”
“I didn’t have much choice,” she reminded him through gritted teeth.
“You might be lying to yourself again.”
Having had enough of his crap, Lexi opened the bag hanging from her arm and removed a jug of water. She placed it beside him. Then she took out a couple of flashlights and set them down too.
“I won’t be back for a few days,” she said.
“And why is that?”
“Because I can’t keep taking the risk of being discovered emerging from one of the tunnels. You have enough food and water to last you for a bit, if you don’t waste it.”
“The dark fae must feed in other ways,” he reminded her as his gaze perused her.
“Then you’ll have to leave here soon because I’m not helping you with that.”
She didn’t wait to hear any more of what he had to say before she turned and walked away. She was glad to be away from him and glad she didn’t have to return for a few days, but as she made her way into the darkness, with only a small flashlight to guide her, she couldn’t help pondering his words.
He was right; the rebels had lost the war, but the battle still raged, and she had no idea which side she stood on.
No, that wasn’t true. Her father was loyal to the Lord because he believed that was right, but there was no way he could have foreseen the devastation the Lord would unleash on the mortal realm.
He never would have fought on the Lord’s side if he’d suspected the amount of misery and death the mortals would endure. And she couldn’t be loyal to a man who killed without remorse and slaughtered billions to get his way.
However, she couldn’t see herself as a rebel either. She wasn’t a fighter, but she couldn’t stand by and do nothing while others suffered. She had no idea what to do or think anymore, other than wanting him off her land.
Lexi tried to figure it all out as she made her way through the tunnels, but by the time she reached the end, she felt as confused as when she started.
She cautiously poked her head out of the opening. Sure she was alone, she slipped out of the tunnel and into the barn. The sounds of the horses munching on their hay and shifting in their stalls greeted her. Inhaling deeply, she allowed the much-loved scent to calm her, but she doubted her calm would last.
• • •
Sitting at the table, Cole studied the club as two women danced around his brother. Brokk ran his hand over a dancer’s ass before pulling her onto his lap. The woman squealed as she draped her arms around Brokk’s shoulders.
When another woman approached him, Cole shook his head at her and tensed. Normally, he enjoyed coming here, but tonight, he wanted out of this place.
Unfortunately, Brokk wasn’t interested in leaving.
The woman took a couple more steps toward him, but when Cole’s eyes narrowed on her, she turned to someone else. It had been a few days since he fed, and the dark fae stirred inside him as the scent of sex filled the air, but the idea of touching one of these women repulsed him.
From the corners of the room and the hallways deeper within the building came sounds of ecstasy. This club specialized in making sure men and women got exactly what they desired when they came here.
The workers were trained in the art of sex, and many of them were shadow kissed. Corrupted by the touch of the dark fae, those shadow kissed worked here to satisfy their hunger for more sex. But they would never appease that need.
Over the centuries, he’d left plenty of shadow kissed souls behind him. Some of them probably worked here, but he had no interest in seeing any of them. He stopped having any use for them years ago.
Sitting in the other booths, deep within the shadows of the club, was an assortment of other immortals. The single candle inside the red glass jars on the tables did little to dispel the shadows and helped keep most of the patrons hidden.
And all of those patrons were enjoying the entertainment the men and women working Becca’s club provided. Those immortals had come here for entertainment and sex, while most of the dark fae were here to feed.
They were all happy to be here, but his skin crawled when a dark fae woman walked past him and trailed her fingers across his neck. He ducked away from her touch and growled at her. The woman scampered away.
“Now, now, play nice,” a woman purred from behind him.
The chair beside him pulled back, and Cole met Becca’s gaze as she settled onto it. As she crossed her legs, the slit in her black dress caused it to fall open to her waist. It was obvious she wore no underwear, and just as obvious she wanted him to know it.
The striking beauty of her face was on par with the perfection of her body. The crisscrossing straps making up the top half of her dress only covered the nipples of the lush breasts they pushed up.
“What’s the matter, lover?” she inquired.
“We’re not lovers,” he reminded her. He shifted his attention to Brokk as the woman on his lap laughed. “It’s time to go.”
The woman whimpered her protest and pressed closer to Brokk. Becca leaned toward Cole as Brokk lifted his drink.
“Back off,” Cole warned her, but she didn’t move away.
“What’s the rush?” Brokk asked.
“We came in search of Orin, and he isn’t here,” Cole said.
His words didn’t matter as his brother was distracted by another woman who came up behind him. She’d tipped his head back and had her breasts in his face as she leaned over to kiss him.
Becca tapped her fingers on the table and smiled smugly. “But he was.”
Cole stiffened at her words, and Becca leaned closer to run her fingers over the back of his hand. An involuntary snarl issued from him as he pulled his hand away. He didn’t have time to think about where that snarl came from, bu
t it didn’t faze Becca.
She sat back and ran her fingers across the top of her breasts before tweaking her nipple until it hardened beneath her dress. Her ciphers encircled the backs of her hands and wrists; he knew from experience they were the only ones she possessed or at least the only ones she revealed.
“When was Orin here?” Cole demanded.
Becca lifted a finger and waved it at him as her almond-shaped, black eyes twinkled in amusement. Her black hair, cut into a sleek bob at her chin, shone in the candlelight.
“Not so fast,” she admonished. “You do me, and I’ll do you.”
CHAPTER 26
She repulsed him, but Cole leaned closer and crooked his index finger. When he beckoned to her with it, she leaned so close he could feel her breath against his lips.
“I had enough of doing you months ago,” he told her.
She didn’t react for a second, and then she released a bark of laughter and sat back. “Oh my, someone is feisty tonight.”
Cole didn’t reply as he glanced over at Brokk, who had his tongue shoved down the throat of the fae who stood behind him. The other straddled his lap and ran her fingers down his chest as she undid the buttons on his shirt.
“Brokk!” Cole snapped.
When his younger brother didn’t respond, Cole stretched his leg across the way and kicked his chair back. They broke apart when the chair skidded back a couple of feet.
“What the fuck?” Brokk protested.
Cole glowered at him, and Brokk glared back as the women pouted, and Becca laughed.
“In case you missed it, Becca said Orin was here,” Cole said.
Brokk blinked at him before shifting his attention to Becca. He slapped the ass of the woman straddling him before pushing her away. “Later.”
Both the women moaned a complaint, but they moved away as Brokk focused his attention on Becca. “When was he here?” he demanded.
“Not so fast there, little brother,” Becca said as she waved a finger at him before giving Cole a pointed look. “I don’t give favors without receiving them.”
Shadows of Fire (The Shadow Realms, Book 1) Page 11