by Lisa Olsen
“Come, cariad. Our bedchamber awaits,” Carys purred, her triumphant smile setting off splotches of light behind my eyes, and I clung to the wall for a moment as my head swam, I was that angry.
Bishop found me there, I’m not sure how much later, still hanging onto the wall to keep from screaming in frustration. I must’ve looked pretty shaken, as he started rubbing my wrists like they used to do in the olden days when ladies grew faint.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, his face pinched with worry.
“I want to stab Carys in the eye with a dirty stick.” Maybe an infection would set in and if the torpor ever wore off, she’d fester and rot from the inside out.
“That seems a little harsh. What did she do?”
I opened my mouth to tell him and then chickened out. He was such a good guy. How could I tell him that the love of his life was off shagging my boyfriend? “I can’t talk to you about this.”
“Sure you can, you can tell me about anything.”
“Okay, you asked for it,” I breathed, plunging in head first. “Carys compelled Rob to love her and now they’re off in bed together.” His mouth dropped open, lips forming a couple of different shapes, but he didn’t manage to say a word. “See, I told you there are some things we can’t talk about.”
“Maybe you misunderstood,” he managed to get out.
“No, she made it crystal clear what she has in mind.”
“Carys has a healthy sexual appetite, but I’m sure she wouldn’t deliberately try to come between you. Maybe she wanted to make you a little jealous, but…”
“I’m sorry, I can’t do this.” I couldn’t stand there and listen to him try to defend her. “Excuse me.” I left him gaping there, unable to accept what I knew to be true, and went to the one person who might be able to make things right.
“Jakob, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked, drawing his attention away from watching Nelleke dance with Gunnar.
“Of course, älskling, you can always talk to me.”
“I mean in private.”
Jakob stared at me for a good thirty seconds before he pushed himself off the huge chair and led the way to Aubrey’s study. Technically it belonged to Carys now, but I’d never seen her go in there. Once we were inside, he immediately sank into an armchair, slumping over with a groan.
“Are you alright?” I asked, lightly touching his arm. He looked terrible without his usual swagger, and I understood he was still paying a steep price for the ritual.
“Just tired, petal,” he smiled weakly, patting the back of my hand. “I’ll be well enough with some rest. Tell me what is troubling you.”
I hated to bug him with it when he was already feeling so crummy, but he was the only one who could help. Briefly, I laid out what Carys had been up to in compelling Rob (and I suspected Bishop as well) to love her just to spite me. I finished talking, expecting some kind of reaction – not the outrage I felt, but something. Instead, he stared back at me blankly.
“And you wish me to…”
“Can’t you do something about it? Compel her not to play with people’s lives like that?”
Jakob looked uncomfortable with the suggestion. “I think it best if I stay out of it and let the two of you sort it out amongst yourselves. It’s no business of mine who Carys takes to her bed, nor how she manages it.”
“But there’s nothing I can do about it, she’s way stronger than I am. Don’t you feel the least bit responsible for the havoc she’s able to wreak?”
“It has ever been our way,” he shrugged. “The strong have power over the weak.”
“Rob isn’t weak, but how can he stand up for himself when she can compel him with a bat of her eyelashes?”
Jakob let out a long sigh. “I can’t get involved, petal, even if I wanted to. In my current state, Carys could easily best me in a feat of strength.”
“But you could compel her to…”
“Anja…” He stopped me with that single word. “In the past I might’ve done as you asked, but it is you who’ve made me see the error in bending another’s will to mine if I hope to win their love. I have much to make amends for in my treatment of Carys over the years, I would not jeopardize the progress I’ve made thus far.”
“So that means you’re willing to sacrifice Rob in the process?”
“I’ve done enough to secure Rob’s future,” he frowned, rubbing at his chest.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I just can’t believe she’s pulling this. If she’s mad at me, fine, come at me. Doesn’t she realize how messed up it is to drag Rob into it?”
“I’m certain no lasting harm will come to him. I’m sorry if it causes you pain, but I simply can’t get involved in this dispute between you.” He pushed himself up to his feet. “Now, let us return to the party. I can use a drink.”
I closed my eyes, trying to block out the disappointment. “You and me both.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Frankly, Bishop was relieved when he couldn’t find Carys anywhere. There was no doubt in his mind she was in an intimate clinch with someone, and that was the last thing he wanted to walk in on. But after how upset Anja was, he’d conducted a discreet search of the house, and she hadn’t turned up in any of the usual spots, including the suite she shared with Jakob. He couldn’t find Rob either, and that seemed to cinch it. Carys was up to her old tricks again.
Even though he knew he should be feeling some kind of jealousy knowing Rob was with her right now, all Bishop could dredge up was relief. While he didn’t like the idea of Anja suffering for it, he couldn’t help but take a tiny speck of pleasure in the fact that it drove a wedge between her and Rob – that troubled him more than anything else. Shouldn’t he want Anja to find happiness, even if it was in the arms of another man? He’d moved on, hadn’t he?
He went to go tell Anja that he hadn’t found them anywhere, then decided not to. She was surrounded by a crowd of admirers, smiling and chatting animatedly. What right did he have to take her away from all that when she’d found a distraction? What right did he have to keep any feelings for Anja at all after he’d chosen Carys?
Her earlier question came back to him – why did he love Carys? It bothered him more than he liked to admit that he hadn’t had a ready answer. If asked the same thing about why he’d loved Anja, Bishop could rattle off a dozen ways she’d touched his life and made him want to be a part of hers. The fact that Anja still took his breath away was something he’d been pondering on his lone search through the mansion. Should he be feeling that way if Carys was truly the one he was supposed to be with?
He loved Carys, she was everything he’d ever wanted.
But why?
Amunet tried to draw him into conversation, but he wasn’t interested in fencing with her, or any of the others at the party. Instead he decided to call it an early night, maybe hole up in his room with his laptop and sneak in some work while Carys was distracted. He slipped out of the party without making any goodbyes. If Carys wasn’t worried about being polite to her guests, why should he care?
Bishop was already mentally cataloging a list of tasks he could see to when he opened his door to find Carys and Rob, naked in his bed. He stopped short, utterly surprised that she’d chosen there for her tryst. Was she doing it to make him jealous? Not in the mood for her games, he was about to leave them be and go find somewhere else to work, when Carys beckoned to him.
“Join us,” she smiled, as Rob continued to kiss her shoulder, unconcerned with his arrival.
“No thanks,” Bishop replied with remarkable calm considering the fact that he wanted to drag her out of his bed by the hair for being such a bitch.
Carys didn’t lose her sultry smile at his refusal. “We’ve shared these pleasures before.”
Sure, when he’d been blood crazy or at her insistence, never his. “That’s not my thing anymore.” And he definitely wouldn’t have picked Rob to share their bed.
Carys sat up, exposing m
ore of her creamy skin. “Surely you haven’t changed so much. You’re not jealous, are you?” The thought seemed to please her, but all Bishop felt was distaste when he looked at them.
“Nope. You two can bang ’til the sun comes up for all I care, just leave me out of it.” His hands came up in a wave of dismissal but before he could turn around and leave, she called him back.
“Ulrik… Join us.” Her voice changed, became harder, more insistent, and Bishop couldn’t look away from her terrible gaze. He knew what she’d done, she hadn’t bothered to hide it, but that didn’t stop him from having to comply. His feet took him to the side of the bed, even as his jaw clenched in anger.
That only seemed to excite her and she went up on her knees to meet him at the side of the bed. “Ooh, you’re very angry with me, aren’t you? Wouldn’t you like to punish me?”
“I’d like to wring your neck,” he answered honestly enough, his hands closing around her slender throat.
“Perhaps later,” she laughed. “For now, I have a better use for those hands.” It wasn’t a request.
His hands slid over her curves, hitting all the spots he knew she liked best, trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. He’d service her because he had no choice, but he for damned sure wasn’t happy about it.
Her head fell back, lips parted in delight as she reached behind her for Rob. “Kiss me,” she urged the other man and Bishop didn’t care, as long as he wasn’t the one who had to do it. If she got her jollies from having them both rub up on her, maybe it’d be over faster. “Very nice,” she approved, stroking both men intimately, and Bishop was ashamed to feel his body starting to respond.
“How do you want it?” Rob asked, his voice low and gravelly at her ear. “The both of us taking turns, or at the same time?” Whether by compulsion or his own sexual freedom, he didn’t appear to have a problem with the threesome.
“Mmm, I think I’d actually like to start with something else,” she decided, letting go of them to scoot to the edge of the bed. “Bathe me,” she declared imperiously. Rob didn’t miss a beat, scooping her into his arms and heading for the bathroom. Carys crooked her finger at Bishop, and he followed along with leaden steps.
Too bad you couldn’t drown vampires.
There was a big to do with selecting the right bubbly scent and filling the enormous corner tub with steamy water, and then Carys lowered herself into the tub. Rob immediately grabbed a cake of soap and started washing her back. Still under the compulsion, Bishop reluctantly grabbed a bottle of body wash and started in on her arm.
“Very nice, Rob,” Carys approved, as his hands dipped under the water. “Very nice indeed. Your technique could use a brush up though,” she complained at Bishop. “I think my arm is clean enough. Strip down and join us.”
Once more, Bishop obeyed, his movements short and angry as he pulled off the boots and suspenders, and finally the rest of the costume and cast them aside. Stepping into the other end of the tub, he glared down at her, technically complying, but not how she’d had in mind. “There, are you happy now?” he growled.
He shouldn’t have goaded her. What he should’ve done was go along with it and pretend like he was having a good time. Then, at least, he would’ve maintained his free will, but Bishop couldn’t keep a lid on his temper, and the idea of touching her in anger to punish her the way she wanted sickened him. All his complaining did was distract her from Rob’s touch to shine a light on the fact that Bishop wasn’t a willing participant.
“Relax,” she said in that voice he couldn’t ignore, her hands sliding up the front of his thighs. “Relax and enjoy it.”
Bishop hated that she had this power over him, hated the way his body betrayed him, but her skilled hands brought him to life in a way that both sickened and fascinated him as the anger drained away, replaced by desire. He sank to his knees before her with a splash of soapy water, a slave to her touch.
“Love me,” Carys whispered, her hands spreading moist heat between them, and Bishop’s fingers sank into her damp curls.
“I do. God help me, I do,” he breathed before his mouth covered hers in a passionate kiss. Their bodies crashed together, slick with soapy lather, and then he felt Rob’s strength surging up behind her, pushing her upright against him as they pinned Carys between them. They pulsed together, sliding against each other in a mass of exploring hands and mouths. Under her directive to relax and enjoy it, Bishop hardly cared whether a caress came from Carys’ delicate hands or Rob’s rougher touch.
Carys purred with delight between them, her soft, breathy pants spurring him on. Suddenly he wanted to be the one to make her whimper like that, he wanted to be the first one inside her. Probing her deep below, he tested to see if she was ready, his chest tightening when he saw her shake of the head.
“Ah, ah, ah… not yet,” she laughed, turning away from him to kiss Rob deeply. A surge of disappointment flared, but Bishop kept touching her, wooing her back with his hands. “Just like that…” she panted at his efforts, her thighs trembling.
“No, not just like that,” Bishop growled, grabbing her by the hips as he surged up behind her. “I want to be inside of you when you come.”
“There’s my Ulrik,” she gasped as he took her from behind in one deep stroke. “There’s my love.”
Bishop’s eyes squeezed shut at the exquisite feel of her clamped tight around him, giving himself a moment to adjust so he didn’t disgrace himself and erupt right there. But then she started to move. Slowly, almost lazily, pushing back against him and then drawing forward again, and he opened his eyes to see her mouth wrapped around Rob’s cock.
He knew what she wanted, what she’d had in mind all along. His hips pistoned out, shoving her forward so that Rob’s length disappeared between her sweet lips. Her sound of satisfaction was immediate, as was the way her inner walls clenched around him in approval. The sound more than anything else was his undoing, and Bishop’s hand slid around to stroke the center of her pleasure, desperate to make her do it again.
“There’s a good girl,” Rob grunted, his fingers fisting in her hair, guiding her as she bobbed between them.
Carys’ cries rose higher and higher as she writhed between them, music to Bishop’s ears as he recognized that fever pitch right before she came apart. Rob gave a sudden guttural cry, every muscle tensing as she milked him dry. Only then did she release Rob’s cock to breathe hard against his thigh as Bishop pounded into her harder and faster, bringing her to a shuddering peak. He spilled into her, hips bucking as his head tipped back in his own climax, the sounds of their harsh breathing mingling in the steamy room.
Bishop wanted nothing more than to pull Carys to his chest and collapse into the hot, soothing water, but she wriggled her way free of him almost as soon as the last tremors had passed. Kissing first Rob and then Bishop, she rose from the tub to step dripping onto the floor in all of her glory.
“That was a lovely appetizer,” she smiled, wet hands sliding over her own breasts. “Time for the main course.” With a playful tilt of the head, she beckoned them to the bedroom, where she stretched out on the bed, all slick and glistening.
Rob didn’t have to be asked twice, bounding out of the tub to join her without a care for the slippery mess they left behind on the bathroom floor. Bishop sat in the water for long seconds to clear his head before he followed, watching the two of them on the bed for a few moments before he picked up his clothes.
He got all the way to the door when Carys noticed he hadn’t joined them on the bed yet. “You’re leaving?” she called out in surprise.
“You asked me to join you, and I did. It’s over now. Lock the door on your way out.” With that, he stepped out into the hallway, still dripping wet, but he’d rather give a few random people an eyeful than stay and risk being compelled again. Unfortunately, it was Anja he ran into out in the hallway.
Her eyes widened in surprise, taking in his current state before she averted her eyes, cheeks staining a rosy
pink. “Oh, you’re um… kind of naked, aren’t you?” she managed to get out in a squeaky voice.
“Ah… yeah.” Embarrassed, he dropped everything but the pants, tugging them on quickly, but the fabric fought him, clinging to his wet skin. “Sorry about that,” he apologized, reaching for his shirt next.
“Hey, it’s fine by me. You want to run around naked, go for it. It’s a free country, right?” She still wasn’t looking at him though. “Is there a problem with your hot water, maybe? You can borrow my shower if you want to,” she joked.
Bishop had his shirt on now, the suspenders dangling awkwardly as he tried to decide if he wanted to put his boots on without socks or not. “No, it’s not, um…” God, what was he supposed to say? “Well, it’s Carys is…”
“Ah. Enough said,” she cut him off.
Deciding to give up on the boots, he ran his fingers through the mess of his hair. “No, it’s… You should probably know…”
“It’s okay, Bishop. I’m a big girl. I know what goes on behind closed doors.” A sharp cry of pleasure sounded from inside the room, punctuated by a deeper groan and her brows drew together into a single line. “Or at least I thought I did.”
Carys’ pants grew louder and Bishop saw it the instant Anja recognized Rob’s answering moan. She looked to him for confirmation, but what could he say? He knew exactly what it looked like, and he had no excuse for it.
“Anja…” he started to say, but she brushed past him to open the door. Carys’ slender back rose up from the bed in plain view as she straddled Rob, both of them too attuned to each other to notice the interruption until Carys turned to look over her shoulder. “Would you care to join us?”
Anja pulled the door shut as if the room were infested with giant spiders, her shock no less great.
“Anja, it’s…”
She just shook her head, a world of disappointment in her eyes as she disappeared into her room across the hall without a single word.
Chapter Thirty-Four