Sam sighed, pulling her back down beside him. “We’re not supposed to exist.”
Her head spun. An insane desire to giggle rattled through her. She swallowed back the nervous laughter. “Are there many of you?”
“Maybe a thousand in the whole world.”
Chloe sniffed, the storm of her emotions finally abating. A thousand. That was barely any, compared to billions of humans. “Don’t you make more of your kind?”
“Not often. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and not very smart if you’re trying to stay invisible.”
“How did you get to be Princess Amelie’s bodyguard?”
Sam slipped his arm under her, curling her even closer. “Do you remember I told you about the two kings, and how they went to war when their brother brought the gems back from the Crusades?”
“Yes.”
“The eldest brother, Vidon, loved his army and soldiers and dreamed of great conquests. Marcari, the younger, followed the path of alchemy and spells. Each secretly recruited magical beings—vampires, werewolves and demons. When they went to war, they used their magical creatures in the fight.”
This sounds like a fairy tale. Yet Chloe paid attention. Fairy tales, it seemed, could come true.
“Many—human or not—were destroyed in the war. Staggered by guilt and remorse, Vidon blamed the supernatural creatures on both sides for the scale of the massacre. He demanded an oath from the Knights of Vidon, making them swear vengeance on nonhumans for all the generations of his royal house.”
“That’s where the Knights come in.”
Sam nodded. She felt the motion of his chin rather than saw it. “Marcari offered the magical creatures protection instead, blaming himself and his all-too-human greed for his part in the war. Aching to atone, he swore to keep such madness from the earth forevermore. Recognizing his sense of honor, the vampires who survived the war banded together and pledged allegiance to Marcari.”
“And you’re still the princess’s bodyguard.”
“Not exactly still,” Sam said with a smile in his voice. “The crusades were definitely before my time. I was born in 1830.”
She pondered that. “How come you’re tall?”
“Pardon?”
“I thought people were short in the old days.” Perhaps it was an odd thing to ask, but she needed something to make sense. A hard fact she could hang on to.
He was silent for a long moment. “Size and strength are some of the gifts that come with the change.”
“Oh.”
His arms tightened around her. “Other things change, too. We’re not men anymore. We’re beasts.”
Beasts? She pulled back just far enough that she could look into his face. His eyes had gone dark, the gray lost to the blackness of his pupils. Some of it had to be the dim light of the bedroom, but some of it was his obvious interest.
“Exactly what do you mean?” she breathed.
“For one thing, we don’t choose our women lightly. Bedmates, yes, but not anyone we’d spend the night with. When we choose, we choose forever.”
“You slept with me.”
“Yes. And not lightly.”
A shiver ran through her at the sound of his voice, half rasp, half growl. It was as if he’d let his human mask fall away, not needing it one second more. It left her with a cocktail of dread and thrilled anticipation.
You’re saying I’m more than a one-nighter. That was supposed to be a good thing, but it made her break into a light sweat. What does forever mean to a vampire?
“And what do you do with your chosen women?” The words shook, her tone a little too high.
He gazed down at her, his eyes both hungry and tender. “Everything we can.”
Instinctively, she reached up, caressing his cheek. He grasped her wrist gently, pressing a kiss to her palm. The gesture reminded her of the night he’d stopped her attacker and the first time he’d kissed her fingers. That was Sam, too. Courtly. A beast. Both, and more than both. He had claimed her. Somehow she’d claimed him, too.
He still had her hand, but now it was folded in his, pressed to his chest. His skin was cool, but not cold. Not at all unpleasant.
“What about this bite, then? Does it have any aftereffects?”
“No. Not unless I feed off you regularly.”
“So you didn’t hurt me.”
“I’d never hurt you. I’m here to protect you.”
She heard the fierce note in his words, the time-honored declaration of the male selecting his mate. He hadn’t done anything—bite aside—she hadn’t invited, but there was something savage a millimeter under the surface. The men who shot Lady Beatrice were torn to pieces in their cells. Was their killer the same man who held her now?
“What if you did feed off me a lot?” She had to know.
“There can be a psychic bond between a vampire and its human, um, friend.”
Does the, um, friend happen to be named Renfield? She’d read plenty of vampire books that involved human servants and mind control.
“No, it’s not like that,” he said.
“You read my mind?” she asked sharply.
“No, but you had the question written all over your face.” One corner of his mouth turned up. “I’m not like that, Chloe.”
But the hunger was in every line of his body. Not blood hunger, or at least not entirely that. Chloe could see so much more in the set of his head and shoulders as he leaned toward her, the tension around his eyes. It didn’t take a lot of imagination to fill in the details. He wanted her in ways without number—the touch and warmth of a woman, the answering voice when he called out in the dark. He’d been alone a long time, and for some reason he’d placed that loneliness at her feet. He’d picked her to banish it.
But what would have happened if she hadn’t remembered the bite? How long would he have let her go on thinking he was an ordinary man? Would he have walked away, taking his loneliness with him? His very nature was something he could not share. This was the secret behind everything about Sam Ralston. And yet, she had found him out.
She sat up, putting distance between them. “And if I say I can’t handle this, what then?”
By now he understood her fears. What you don’t know could kill you. In this case, vampires.
“When a human finds out what we are, erasing those memories is standard protocol,” he said softly. “Standing orders. It’s considered easier in the long run.”
His expression said it wasn’t going to be easier for him.
“You wouldn’t,” she breathed.
“I don’t want to.”
That wasn’t the same thing as a no. Then she remembered he’d already tried. A cold, sick feeling surged through her. She slipped out of the bed and found her robe where Sam had let it fall to the floor.
She stared at him where he lay, dark hair and dark eyes stark against the white sheets. She knotted her robe shut with quick, sharp movements.
Guilt pinched the lines of his face. It wasn’t hard to read.
“You’re going to do it, aren’t you? You’re going to try again to wipe my mind.”
“You’re resistant. An expert would have to do the job.” His voice held a world of unhappiness. He didn’t want to face this any more than she did. But she knew enough about Sam to know he didn’t flinch from duty.
“But you’ll follow orders. Or try to. You—or your supersecret spy network—think you can make choices for me.” Chloe drew herself up, gathering the shreds of her dignity. “Get out of my bedroom.”
Chapter 24
Sam had to get out of this dilemma. He was supposed to be a straight arrow. Somehow, he’d wound up in knots.
It was hours later. Chloe stood across the room from Sam. Jack’s study was quiet, the rain turning the day to a
false twilight. For once she’d been the one to find him there, rather than vice versa. He’d been lingering amongst the old books and paintings, hoping she’d come. He’d made himself swear to leave her alone, but if they met by accident?
Be honest. He was stalking her like a lion in the long grass. He knew where the gazelle would wander. She’s mine.
But that was the fastest way to get her forcibly brainwashed or killed. Humans who knew too much were considered enemies of the Company.
She was dressed now, her hair rolled up in that neat, elegant twist she had been wearing the day the wedding dress had come out of Jack’s safe. The memory of it wrenched him. They’d come full circle, from shared mystery to mutual discovery to passion to...whatever this standoff was.
When we choose, we choose forever. He meant it. It had been dangerous to say it, but every word was true, regardless of the Company’s rules.
“We have to find a compromise.” Her voice cracked, all the vibrancy sucked out of it. “There is no way on earth I’m letting some stranger mess with my brain.”
Sam kept his face a neutral mask. When it came to erasing memories, “let” wasn’t usually a consideration, but he wasn’t going to point that out. He remembered the feel of her in his arms, and his groin began to ache. She was his. The instinct to keep and claim warred with logic. Above all else, he had to keep her safe. “The Company isn’t easy to fool.”
“Who or what is the Company?”
“The group of us who serve the King of Marcari.”
“Your boss.” Red was creeping up her cheeks, her eyes turning from a soft summer-blue to a frozen winter sky. “Your friends. That fairy tale story about the king and his loyal vampires. They’re the Company, aren’t they?”
“Yes.”
“This is madness.” She paced to the window and back, her face pale as paper.
Sam’s face was numb, grief and guilt crushing whatever spark kept him walking the earth. You’d think a hundred-and-fifty-year-old could keep his fangs zipped up.
But he owed her truth. She had railed against those who sought to protect her by keeping silent. He wasn’t going to make that mistake. “The Company’s reach goes further than you know. If they find there has been a security breach, they’ll come after you. It doesn’t matter where you are.”
That caught her up short. “What?”
“You heard me.” He said it gently. “They’ll want to take your memories or your life.”
Her eyes went round. “Kill me for just knowing you exist?”
“Yes.”
She spread her hands into the air, a gesture of resignation. “Tell them to take a number. There are already people trying to kill me! And tell me this—How am I supposed to watch my back if I don’t know about the Knights and the vampires and whoever else is out to get me? You’re setting me up to die!”
“No!” Sam reached for her, but she shrank back. He dropped his arm to his side, his cold, still heart breaking in his chest.
Her mouth tightened, her eyes growing too bright in the half light of the room. The Company would kill him, too, for permitting the breach to occur. The rules about mating with human women were clear. But Sam didn’t mention that. It was almost irrelevant. He wasn’t sure he was going to exist if the memories of their union were erased from her lovely eyes.
Self-loathing scorched him. He had betrayed her the moment they kissed. He hadn’t been able to control his yearning for her. He still couldn’t. His body burned to feel her against him. From her scent, he knew she felt the same fire.
His world pivoted on its axis, changing utterly. Duty was everything, but his first obligation was to this woman who had held him in her slim, soft arms.
Words scraped through his aching throat. “I said I wouldn’t let you come to harm. I mean it.”
“How can I believe that?” Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “You’re asking an awful lot of trust for someone who’s lied to me since the instant we met.”
For a moment, Sam could find nothing to say. For the first time in his long existence, he was floundering. If he was going to solve this, he was going to have to break from everything he knew.
He grabbed her arms, pressing her back against the wall, capturing her body with his. He felt her breath on his face, the softness of her breasts against his chest. It was an act of pure possession. “Is this a lie?”
He crushed his mouth with hers, plundering the warmth of her with his lips and tongue. He left kisses along the corners of her mouth, her eyelids, the delicate line of her jaw. She tasted sweet, but there was also a trace of salt on her skin. She had been crying.
He broke away. No one made his woman cry. “I will protect you. I swear it. I am War. I am the strongest.”
She studied him, her gaze flicking back and forth over his features. Her lips trembled for a moment. “How can you fight the whole Company by yourself?”
“I refuse to let you suffer for just knowing me.”
“I’ll suffer if you’re hurt. Did you think of that?”
It was an effort to hide the stab of grief her words delivered. No one else worried if War was hurt. And yet standard orders said to wipe away her feelings like fog obscuring the clear window of duty. How could anyone ask that of him?
He set his hands on her shoulders, his touch as gentle as he knew how to make it. “My beautiful Chloe.” Forget obedience. “I will take the two kingdoms apart stone by stone before I will allow anyone to touch you.”
“I don’t think that’s a solution.”
“Then what do you propose we do?”
Her jaw clenched, as if she were the one who was going to do the biting. “We don’t do anything. We don’t say anything. I have a wedding to put on here. I have to sell this house. You have to take the dress back to Marcari. We say goodbye. No one needs to know.”
Sam narrowed his eyes. This plan required patience. Not his favorite thing. “You can keep me, the Company, everything a secret?”
“Of course I can.” She swallowed hard. “I have to. Otherwise we’ll have to find another end to this situation where I don’t end up a victim, and you don’t have to fight the entire world.” Her eyes pleaded with him, willing him to accept her plan.
This means I will disobey orders. He was the straight arrow, never deviating from his path. But breaking the rules made perfect sense. It would save them both—if she could keep his secret.
He growled a conditional acquiescence. “We walk away, then what?”
She hung her head, all the strength seeming to seep from her frame. “Are the rules going to change?”
“No.” The word stuck in his throat.
She lifted her eyes to his, pain and anger mixed in her face. “Then nothing.”
Nothing. If he loved her, if he wanted to be sure she was safe, he had to keep his distance. Never call her. Never touch her soft, warm body again. Never taste her again. Unthinkable!
He took her mouth again like a drowning man seeking a last gasp of air. He knew she was right. Carter was already suspicious that there was something between them. Until he had a better plan, silence was the safest course. But still...
“Forgetting isn’t the worst thing that could happen,” he said hoarsely. “Remembering will be a thousand times worse.”
Her brows pulled together. “What’s the alternative?”
He had no answer. No other plan. At least, not yet. He wanted to rage, beat something. Put his fist through a wall. Roar. “I will solve this.”
“How?” She gave him a look that skewered him where he stood. It held despair, sadness, every raw and bloody feeling that was tearing him apart, too.
“I don’t know yet, but I will take care of it. Trust me.”
“I trust you to be wise and careful.” Her eyes were gentle as she pulled his hands f
rom her shoulders, kissed him chastely on the cheek and walked out.
Sam’s first instinct was to haul her back, force her against the wall and mark her as his own all over again. She had to be his.
Except that way was disaster. That impulse to possess, to dominate was what got him in this mess in the first place. He was too much the vampire. Now she was at risk.
He watched her slim form walking away. Wise and careful. Careful wasn’t his prime skill set. Battle was more his style. But for her, he could be anything.
Then, across the widening distance between them, he heard a sharp intake of breath. Chloe had been unspeakably brave, but she hadn’t managed to stifle her tears.
No one cried for him. No one until now. Nine hells.
War had never shied away from battle. This was no exception. He would find a way to win.
* * *
Chloe drove to the Eldon Hotel, the SIG Sauer on the passenger seat. If she’d been pulled over it would have been a huge problem, but not as big a problem as angry vampires. Everything was relative.
She wondered if the rain-darkened sky meant all the undead could come out and play in broad daylight. Sam seemed to be able to get around in the day, but clearly didn’t enjoy it.
Sam. Her eyes prickled again. She’d cried and cried until there were no more tears, but the pain of that last conversation hadn’t dimmed one bit. She knew what they had was incredible and wonderful and, in effect, she’d said goodbye. And, at the same time, begged that she’d be allowed to remember she’d done it. How messed up was that?
There was no way she could say this outcome was for the best. It was just that the alternatives were worse. Die. Forget Sam. Or, be miserable but at least remember their brief time together. Door number three sucked the least.
Chloe blinked tear-filled eyes and turned into the Eldon’s parking lot. Rain left the hotel grounds looking dark and drab. She wondered what Hope’s Reach looked like on a day like this. The memory of her lunch there with Sam sent a fresh wave of pain through her stomach.
There was too much she didn’t know about the vampire world. Why did they mix with humans at all? Just for food? Or was there something else they gained from the contact? How big an impact did their kind have on the mortal realm? Chloe burned to know. Yet, if they had their way, she wouldn’t have the time to ask questions before her memories were ripped out. Over my dead body.
Possessed by a Warrior Page 20