He kicked out his foot and the door swung open the outside rushing by in a black blur as the pace of the horse’s footfalls filled the silence. “Go ahead.”
She glared at him through the shadowed interior. “You’re trying to upset me.”
“Life is upsetting.”
She believed in his goodness and his vow to keep her safe, but as the world rushed by and he stared at her with such indifference, she hardly recognized him. She reached for the leather strap on the ceiling, holding on to the handle and eyeing the open door.
“You don’t scare me,” she warned, calling his bluff. Adam would never let her fall from a moving carriage. This was some twisted game and he was going to lose.
He knocked on the ceiling. “Faster.”
The carriage lurched forward, and she lost her grip, falling into him. He shoved her to the floor and slammed the door.
“You’re bloodier than a spring lamb.” He glared at her. “And just as helpless. Get up.”
Her chest heaved as she caught her breath. “You’re not Adam.”
His eyes narrowed, his face twisting with a sneer. “Then who am I?”
Staring up at him, the resemblance was uncanny. From the line of their hair to the edge of their jaw, they were absolutely identical. She inhaled deeply, recognizing his smell from the day in the field. “You’re Cain.”
A slow, wicked smile caught in the passing moonlight. “That a girl.” He slowly shouldered off a jacket and rolled up his sleeve. “We have a long night ahead of us. I’ll require your full cooperation.” He smiled again, his distended fangs catching the light just before he bit into his exposed wrist.
She bolted for the door, and he shoved her back into the seat. The latch slammed down, locking them in.
“Stop the carriage!” She twisted, banging on the wall behind her head. “Stop the carriage!”
“There’s no stopping this, Annalise. It was always meant to be this way.”
Panting, she pushed her back as far into the corner as the cramped space would allow. “Why are you doing this? Adam will—”
“Adam has nothing to do with this.” He caught her arm and tugged her to his side.
She screamed and pushed away from him, but his strength was incredible. “Please! Don’t!”
“You need only take a sip.”
“No!” She twisted as he pulled her back to his chest and held her to him. Her lips formed an airtight seal as she shook her head with wild abandon.
Warm blood smeared on her mouth and cheeks. “Open your mouth!”
She kicked and bucked, slamming her head into his nose and springing to the other side of the carriage when his grip loosened.
“Don’t touch me!” she shouted, chest heaving as her hair fell wildly around her face. She scrubbed away his blood and spit on the floor. “You’re an animal!”
His eyes flashed and a growl ripped through the cab. “That’s right. A predator. You can’t escape me.”
Her lips trembled as her teeth chattered. The temperature plunged and her lungs chilled. The leather upholstery cracked as ice and frost crawled up the walls. The damp blood on her clothing hardened as her body convulsed with shivers.
“This … is a dream.” Colder and colder the air turned until symptoms of hypothermia set in. “You’re … not real.”
He shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the cold. “Dream or not, you brought me here. Only called mates share dreams.”
“N—no.” Her throat worked to swallow as the frigid air cut into her bones. “I belong to … Adam.”
He lifted a brow. “Careful, pet. You wouldn’t want to anger me.”
She tried to yell at him, but her words slurred into nothing. He laughed at her weakness. Slow, shallow breaths pulled from her lungs. Her pulse seemed to forget how to beat and her eyes grew too heavy to keep focused.
“There you are. Rest. Your mate will take care of you.”
Warm hands turned her face. A phantom touch skated up her leg. She was too weak to open her eyes. “No…”
“I’m not Adam and I’m not asking.”
She shivered as her legs were exposed to the cold. His lips pressed to hers and her brow tightened. She tried to turn her face away, but his hand held her jaw.
“This can happen with or without your cooperation. Either way, it ends tonight.”
Her body weakened, as feeble as a rag doll, and he lifted her to his lap, pushing her knees to the side so she straddled him. Her head lulled back, her teeth clattering as her blood froze.
He turned her head, exposing the side of her throat that wasn’t bleeding. “You’re quite the little donor. Just a prick.”
The pierce of his fangs through her skin ripped a scream from her battered throat.
“Anna! Wake up!”
Her body jerked with the sense of falling and her scream rung through the air. Arms caught her, shaking her violently.
“Open your eyes!”
Daylight filtered through the curtains of Adam’s bedroom and she scrambled to sit up, her hands frantically checking her throat for injury.
“Adam?”
He caught her hands, chafing them in his. “I’m here. You’re freezing.”
“Oh, God.” She crawled onto his lap, hugging her body to his. He caught her in his arms as her legs wrapped around his waist and she pressed her face into his neck. Her eyes closed and she breathed in the familiar scent of his skin.
“You’re safe, ainsicht. Whatever it was, it’s over. I have you.”
She couldn’t catch her breath as it hitched in her lungs, and she gasped for air. That wasn’t just a dream.
He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “Shh… Breathe with me, Anna. Feel my heart beat with yours.”
Disoriented, she listened for the familiar thud and focused on the familiar rhythm. Last she recalled they parked her car inside an empty barn. She couldn’t remember coming to his room or falling asleep.
Her mind spun like a merry-go-round of nonsense. She didn’t know the time or day. She had no idea how long they slept. Daylight was her only clue and that meant Adam wouldn’t be able to go out for at least a few more hours.
“I think something’s wrong.”
He drew back to see her face. “What’s the matter?”
She didn’t know anything about what was happening to her, but Adam said there could only be one mate, only one immortal sharing her dreams. “I don’t think these are normal people nightmares.”
“Is that what this was? A nightmare like the others?”
His relationship with his brother was already strained. And with Adam’s jealous nature and the whole incident in the field, she sensed he wouldn’t take her dreaming of Cain easily. She didn’t want to make matters worse.
“Tell me what happened in the dream, Anna.”
Her gaze cut away. “I was walking down an old street. It was cold and foggy and dark. A carriage arrived and at first I thought it was you.”
He stiffened. “I’ve no recollection of this.”
She swallowed. “I know. It wasn’t you. It was someone else.”
“Who?”
She hesitated, but there was no lying to him, not about this. “It was Cain. And I think he shared the dream. I couldn’t have dreamt that on my own.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it? I saw him, Adam. He said things I never would dream up on my own.”
“What did he say?”
She tried to recall his exact words. “It was more an assumption, the way he touched me.”
“You dreamt of my brother touching you?”
“I had no control over the dream, but I’m telling you he did.”
His nostrils flared as he tried to control his jealousy. “There is only one called mate. They do not… You’re mine. This must be a mistake.”
“Then how do I know I have to drink your blood to bond?”
“I explained the process.”
“No, you explained a transfusion. I know y
ou need to be inside of me, drinking from me, and feeding me.”
His eyes shifted, pupils elongated.
She gave him a knowing look. “You never explained it in that sort of detail, Adam. But Cain did. He was trying to bond with me in the dream.”
He sprung off the bed. “Impossible!”
“Do you think I’d make this up?”
“You’re upset with me about last night—”
“Adam, I don’t care about last night! I’m telling you something is happening, and it involves your brother!”
His hair fell around his face as he paced the room. She never saw him so agitated. His muscles bunched and his fingernails lengthened into claws. He roared and slammed the chair into the wall.
Annalise flinched, covering her head as the wood splintered. “Adam, you’re scaring me. What does this mean?”
He shoved his fingers through his hair, a demonic set to his eyes. “If he’s found a way into your dreams, you’ll need to avoid sleep.”
“For how long?”
“Until we complete the bond.”
She shook her head. “Then we have to do it tonight. No more delaying the inevitable.”
He nodded. “The Elders have no record of nightmares or any information on Cain’s whereabouts. He’s in hiding and will likely stay there so long as the Council’s looking for him.”
He approached the bed and took her hands. “Ainsicht, is it possible this might just be the workings of your imagination?”
“He tried to force his blood down my throat, Adam. Never in a million years would I imagine that.”
His body shook visibly, and he dropped her hands, turning his back toward her. When he spoke, his voice held the calm hiss of a lethal weapon about to detonate. “He tried to make you drink from him?”
“I fought him. I told him I was yours.”
His shoulders stretched with muscle as he panted slowly. Seething anger radiated from him as his body seemed to coil with tightening rage.
Adam’s fear seemed to feed her own. “Can he turn me in a dream?”
Glancing over his shoulder without fully looking at her, his brow creased. “Turn you? No. But I don’t know about bonding.” He angled his face away. “If another male bonded with you, my soul would be forever lost.”
A chill knifed through her. All his patience would have been for nothing. If Cain got to her first, Adam would die.
“Then we need to finish this, Adam.” She was done taking chances. She cared too much about him to play any part in his death. “I want you to change me tonight.”
“The preparations have already begun.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Larissa silently dried the dishes, staring out the window as the sun drooped low behind the trees. The closer evening crept the more her stomach knotted. Silus sat at the table, offering occasional criticism and adding to the continuum of misery that was her existence.
Obedience had been ingrained in her since birth, yet those firm lips that kept her tongue in check were not enough to silence the profane thoughts running through her head.
Movement along the darkening horizon caught her eye. A male. And they were purposely hiding their approach as they slinked along the property line.
“Someone is approaching.” Her voice, so seldom used, sounded foreign to her own ears.
The chair scraped over the planked, wood floors, and the tension in her shoulders tightened as Silus sidled beside her.
“It is your brother. Finish your work and bring us something cool to drink.”
Silus left the kitchen, and she placed the last of the dishes in the pantry, uncovering a cool pitcher of juice she’d made earlier that day. Pouring two glasses, she leaned over one and spit into the liquid, using a long spoon the dissolve the saliva.
She carried the glasses to the porch, the screen squawking as she backed through the door. The scent of Silus’s pipe soured her stomach. The tobacco was all she smelled at night when he climbed on top of her in bed.
Cain’s smile was the first she’d seen in days. “Hello, my beautiful sister. Are one of those for me.”
He reached for a glass, and she gave a subtle shake of her head, pushing the cleaner drink into his hand. His gaze held hers, and he hid a smirk. “Homemade?”
“Of course,” she agreed with a knowing smirk of her own as she passed the special blend to Silus. “Were we expecting you, brother?”
“An unexpected visit.” Cain bowed his head as if apologizing for any intrusion.
Larissa grinned. Her family could never be an intrusion. She missed them painfully since moving to the far end of the farm.
“Where have you been, Cain? The Council’s been seeking a word.” The air held still as Silus guzzled the drink in only five gulps. He pushed the empty glass in her direction. “Bring me more.”
“Off the farm.”
“Licking your wounds, I suppose.” The cherry red embers of Silus’s pipe glowed as his lips curled around the tip making grotesque sucking sounds.
“Something like that.”
Larissa could easily hear their conversation through the house with the windows open. She returned with another special drink for Silus.
“Put it on the railing.” He inspected his pipe. “Fetch my tobacco.” Dumping the pipe’s contents over the freshly swept porch, he stomped the ash, leaving a streak on the wooden steps.
If only smoking held the dangers to immortals that it held for the English. She’d gladly watch him smoke his lungs to ash.
“I assume the Council is salivating to mete out some degrading punishment for my crimes before hearing my side,” Cain said.
“Do you have a side?” Silus asked doubtfully. “Touching another male’s property is an inexcusable crime.”
Larissa handed her husband the small pouch of tobacco leaves. She loved her brother, but what he had done… She had to side with her husband on this. One did not tamper with another’s called mate, especially when it could put their other brother’s life in jeopardy. If it had been a joke, it failed to amuse anyone.
“There is always more than one side, but I’ll not bore you with that now.” He glanced in her direction, a wide smile masking his intentions. “Tell me what you’ve been doing with your days, sister. Have you finished the quilt for the Esch’s new grandchild?”
She smirked. This was the game they played. Whenever Cain wanted to speak to her privately, he asked about the most mundane things, knowing her husband had little tolerance for talk of woman’s work.
“It’s almost finished. I’m adding new details every day. The colors are simple, but the width of stitching makes it unique. Would you like to see it?”
“Indeed.”
She almost laughed at his feigned interest. Her brother didn’t give a fig about her mending.
“You’ll excuse me for a moment, Silus—unless you’d like to see her work as well. No doubt you admire her skills with a needle and thread.”
“I’ll pass. The animals need checking.”
Cain followed her inside and they watched from the window as Silus crossed the yard to the stables. As soon as she was certain he was out of hearing range, she turned on Cain.
“Tell me what’s happened. And what are you thinking coming here? You know Silus will tell the Council.” But she couldn’t hide her relief. “I’ve been so worried.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to continue the thrilling discussion of quilt making? Perhaps expand your insights on the various girths of thread. I was hanging on every fascinating word.”
She swatted his arm. “It made Silus disappear, didn’t it?”
“Your yarns do have a habit of emptying rooms.”
She tsked. “Be nice.”
Slinging an arm over her shoulder, he pulled her to his side. “I’m only teasing.”
For once, she didn’t flinch at a man’s touch. Her eyes briefly closed as the memory of being touched by a kind hand resurfaced. Of all her siblings, Cain remained the closest
since her marriage to Silus.
She patted his fingers. “I feared you would run away, and I’d never see you again.”
“I don’t scare that easily, Larissa. And I’d never leave without saying goodbye.”
She looked up at him, weighing the tension around his eyes. Was that what this was, goodbye? “You came for a reason.”
Cain released her shoulders. “Has he said anything to you about the meetings?”
“No, but I visited mother and father’s house and things are not good, Cain. I fear you’ve gone too far, and Adam will never forgive your actions.”
His lips firmed. “What else?”
“I met Annalise. She’s a nice girl and she cares for Adam. Why would you behave so badly? Do you wish to hurt our brother?”
“Perhaps Adam is the one behaving badly.”
“You toyed with her like a barn cat torments a mouse, Cain. Adam is courting her. They’re to be mated. This is not a game.”
“Sounds like you’ve already taken a side.”
“Why must there be sides? Admit you were wrong and repent before the Council. Apologize to Adam and he will forgive you in time.”
“He attacked me.”
“You posed a threat. You’re lucky he didn’t leave you for dead. The Council would have viewed his actions as justified, considering the circumstances. You could at least pretend to be sorry.”
“I will not prostrate myself without first being heard. I’m not afraid of Adam.”
Her breath hitched. “Then you should at least have the common sense to fear the Council. Bishop King condemned your actions. You’ll be outcast if you don’t appeal for forgiveness.”
His shoulders rolled with tension as he gazed out the window. “Would that be so terrible? You could come with me. We could run away and start new lives, free of rules.” His stare met hers. “Free of pain.”
Her fingers closed around the base of her throat. “I’m married to Silus, Cain. I can’t abandon my vows.”
He frowned and shook his head. “Don’t be a martyr, Larissa. And don’t pretend with me. I see you. I see him. This is no happy marriage.”
“But it is a marriage.” She could see him searching for a way out, but she couldn’t participate in his plan to run. “He’d find me. And then you’d be in more trouble.”
Original Sin (The Order of Vampires Book 1) Page 33