by Eve Newton
“You said you weren’t in trouble,” Simon says, standing up and roughly pulling his pants back on. “If I had known, I would have sorted it for you.”
“No need for your services,” Draven drags out the word. “I am here now.” He is eyeing me up, trying to gauge my reaction and I am frozen on the spot. I know I should thank him or some shit, but those words get stuck in my throat. I don’t like being indebted to anyone.
He shakes his head at me. “I’m not looking for thanks, Ember. I am just here to take you home. It’s not safe out here on your own now. They know something is coming.”
That jars me back to life. “How do you know?”
“I have spies everywhere, trust me they know not all of it, but enough, and another thing…” he trails off and looks at Simon.
“You can trust him,” I say, suddenly getting a pang of nerves. Whatever he has to tell me is huge, I can feel it.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “We must leave immediately.”
“Ems,” Simon says, grabbing my wrist. “What is this about?”
“You need to leave, Si. War is coming and you need to get as far away from me as you can. I won’t lose you in this fight, because of your association to me.” I get up the nerve to say this to him, forgetting about being tough for a moment.
“No,” he says sharply. “I can help.”
“You can’t,” Draven says, taking full control of the situation. “Ember has everything she needs already.”
“Go, Si. I will contact you soon, I promise. But get far away, please.”
Simon nods his head at me stiffly. “I trust you,” he says quietly. “But, Ems, if you need me, I don’t care about the danger; you know that I will come. You know that I-I care for you.”
“I know,” I say quickly. He was going to say that he loves me. I can see it on his face. I don’t want that from him.
Draven knows it too as he drags me closer to him possessively, but I pull away and give Simon a quick hug and a kiss before stepping back and resuming my frosty exterior.
“Goodbye, Simon,” I say and turn away from him, letting Draven lead me away.
“Ember,” he starts.
“You deserved it,” I interrupt him. “I don’t react well to people trying to control me.”
“That’s not what I am trying to do,” he says stubbornly.
“No?” I ask. “I saw the look of disgust in your eye when you told me you had taken care of the men I killed. That is what I do, Draven. If I let you in, you will try to change me, try to control me, how I feed, how I live. Not going to happen.” I yank open the door to the top of the range Escalade he just opened up and slide in.
“Ember,” he says.
“Nothing you say is going to change that fact. Don’t lie to me and tell me what I want to hear, okay? Just don’t.” Once again I feel the tears prick my eyes and I blink them rapidly away.
“I would never try to change you,” he says quietly, but I am still struggling with this overwhelming, unfamiliar emotion surge, so I don’t say anything.
“Do you feel better?” he asks after we have bashed through the forest for several minutes.
“Yes,” I say shortly.
“Good,” he replies.
We don’t say anything else the entire rest of the way. I am dying to ask him what this ‘other’ thing is he has to tell me, but I won’t ask. Not now.
As we drive up to the house, I am out of the car before it has stopped and I run straight into Aria. She is standing with her arms crossed, like a sentry at the doorway.
“Well?” she asks.
“It’s handled,” Draven says darkly. “Just leave it.”
I look between the two of them glaring at each other conveying something I am not privy to, and then push them both inside the house.
“Enough!” I bark at them. “I will not tolerate this little exchange you have going on behind my back, skulking around during daylight hours thick as thieves.”
“Uh,” Aria says, puzzled. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh please,” I scoff. “I saw you two getting all cozy in my vision after I left. I heard what you said to him, trying to shove me out of the way so you can have him all to yourself.”
“You need to back the fuck up,” Aria says, getting in my face. “You are fucking paranoid.”
“Ember, there is nothing going on between us, I can assure you,” Draven says, giving her a look of distaste that is so genuine I actually believe him.
“Then why all the secrets and shit?” I ask.
Aria looks again at Draven and I snap, “See that, right there, is what I am talking about.”
“Cahl is locked up downstairs,” Aria says. “It’s complicated,” she adds at my furious look.
“I didn’t want to mention it until your mood was better,” Draven says with a shrug.
“Well, my mood has just turned even worse! What are you thinking? You will lead them straight to us!” I cry in agitation, my languidness from the feed wearing off already.
They both step back from me and I pull myself together.
“The wards are strong, Ember. You have no need to worry,” Draven says. “Besides, as Aria said, it’s complicated. He has an…uh…an—” He pauses, looking for the right word.
“An? An, what?” I snap.
“Affection for her,” he says and my eyes zero straight to Aria.
“Seriously?” I ask.
“Hey, it’s the mystical tits,” she says with a smile and shrug.
“Mystical tits?” Draven comments, looking between us at a loss. “I don’t understand. I mean they’re…nice…but spelled? That doesn’t make sense.”
“No, Draven. It’s a joke that—” Aria starts.
But I cut her off, completely incensed. “What?” I basically shriek. “Nice? Are you saying you saw her—?” I glare at Aria. “He saw you naked?”
Aria rolls her eyes. “Jesus, chill out. When I shifted back out of my wolf state, you psycho. He was there along with Cahl.”
“It was a second’s glance, nothing more,” Draven adds quickly. “I have absolutely no need to eye up other women.” His eyes darken as he says, “Besides, you know what they say about glass houses, Ember. Although your jealousy is most pleasing to me.”
“Indeed,” I growl at him, cornered like a trapped rat. Jealousy! Pah! Who does he think he is? Arrogant fool. “Okay,” I say then, taking a deep breath and steering the conversation in a different direction. One that doesn’t make me look like a slutty, paranoid, gruesome jackass. “Okay, but don’t you see this is why I am being so paranoid? You are keeping important stuff from me. We all need to get on the same page here, because I am just getting excluded because of my different schedule. It’s not fair.” I know I am pouting like a child, but it’s not fair. Why should they get to have all the fun while I am sleeping?
“Agreed,” Draven says immediately. “After all, I will have to adjust anyway once you accept you belong with me.”
“Don’t push it,” I say to him with a frown.
“Kind of agreed,” Aria says. “I still have other shit going on. I can’t just drop everything like you.”
“Fine,” I say, happy that I have gotten my own way. “I need a shower.”
“Wait,” Draven says. “There’s that other matter we need to discuss.”
“You mean Simon?” I ask, not enjoying the stab of pain I see in his eyes.
“No,” he croaks out. “That is a matter for another time and one I fully intend on discussing. But this is important.”
“What is it?” I ask curiously, ignoring the ominous undertone of his use of ‘discussing’. He looks so serious and he’s already mentioned that the Ambassadors know we are planning something. What else could be so bad?
“Your father has left England, Ember. He landed in the States a few hours ago.”
I feel all the blood drain from my face as I take in that news. “Oh,” I say faintly. “Where? Here?”
“No, across
the country.”
“It must have been the eyeball guy,” Aria says. “He got away when Cahl first attacked.”
“Dammit,” I mutter. “Dammit!” For my father to leave his little empire in England, it can only mean one thing. He knows where I am and he is coming for me himself. Shit. “I need to run,” I say as I make for the stairs and my assigned bedroom. I have to pack up and get out now.
“No,” Draven says. “You need to stay. We need to finish this.”
“You don’t understand,” I say desperately. “If he finds me, he will take me back with him. He will imprison me, punish me, I can’t go through that again…I can’t…” I feel all the air escape my lungs and I go lightheaded. “You don’t know him,” I wheeze.
Draven is at my side in an instant. “He cannot harm you here. You are safe, I promise you.”
“Ember, that ward out there killed you,” Aria points out. “I don’t know how special your dad is, but can he defy death like that?”
“I don’t know. He is old, ancient, I don’t really know his abilities. He doesn’t share these things.”
“As long as you stay here, you are safe,” Draven says firmly. “And anyone who tries to harm you will have to go through me first.”
“And me,” Aria says and once again I feel the tears prick my eyes and this time I can’t stop them from falling.
“Thank you,” I choke, humiliated beyond belief.
“Wow,” Aria comments. “Never thought I’d hear those words from you.”
“Fuck off,” I throw at her and she grins at me.
“Now that is settled, I believe we need to discuss how we kick-start this circle,” Draven says. “I have some ideas, but I need to check them over and ensure that they are safe for vampires.”
“Okay.” I nod, pleased that he has made a start. He is the one that all the weight is going to fall on as Aria and I possess no magic. We just need to turn up, according to my visions.
“We need sacred ground as well, is that a problem for you?” Draven asks.
I roll my teary eyes at him. “No, Jesus, born a vampire,” I remind him.
“Hey, I have never come across one so special before,” he says, taking my hand with a loving look in his eyes. “Give me a break.”
“Ugh, get a fucking room,” Aria says, crossing her arms to show her discomfort.
“About Cahl,” I venture in the awkward silence that follows. “We need to find out exactly what he is doing. I mean, has he defected? Has he walked away for good? And if so, why? You’ve a nice rack, Aria, but it’s got to be more than that.”
“It is. He’s told me that much.” Her eyes narrow at Draven. “I would’ve found out more if someone hadn’t interrupted me and then spelled me out of the damn room.”
“Like I said, he has power over you. He was able to bring you out of your wolf state.”
“What?” I gasp. This is news to me. Again.
Aria holds up her hand. “Let me back in to talk to him. You can chaperone me if you really think you need to.”
“Yes, Draven. She’s right. Let her try,” I say. “We need to know if he is out, truly out, and then we can decide what to do with him.”
“Fine,” Draven says. “But I will chaperone you, Aria.”
“Yes, sir,” Aria says with a mock salute and a grimace.
“Good,” I say. “Now can I have that shower?”
“Yes, please do,” Draven says stiffly, acutely aware that I am still covered in eau de Simon.
“Come with me?” I ask in a small voice, still shocked by all of this news. “I don’t really want to be alone in case my father—”
“I told you, you are safe, but of course, I will join you,” Draven says with a delicious smile.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I tut at him. “I was talking to Aria. And I’m sorry I acted like such a bitch before, the visions take a lot out of me and when I’m hungry, I get… well, you saw.” I hate to have to admit this, but seeing as none of us are going anywhere anytime soon, I have to come clean.
“Yeah, it’s okay,” she says with a shrug, but I can tell she isn’t happy about my admission. “I’ll come up with you. You owe me a show anyway,” she adds with a wink to let me know we are okay.
“Not likely,” Draven says, drawing me closer, his lips almost touching mine. “I will go with you.”
“She said she didn’t want you to,” Aria says. “Listen to the woman, would you? Stop being such a goddamn bully.”
He gives her a vicious look, which she returns.
“Draven, I can’t give you what you want,” I say sadly. “I will only end up disappointing you.”
“Never,” he says fiercely.
“You are taking a lot on blind faith,” I say. “You don’t even know me.”
“Let me in,” he whispers in my ear. “Let me in so that I can consume you and you can consume me. Let the flames of our desire burn brightly as we join our bodies together in a passion so dark it will never leave you.”
Oh, I want to. He has turned me on in a big way, but not here, not like this, not after Simon. Not when I am worried about my father and everything else. It’s too much.
I pull away and look around for Aria. She has fucked off, not that I can blame her. What Draven was saying to me was private and intense and he shouldn’t have done so in company, but as I see his smug smile, I know that was his plan.
“Shall we?” he asks, now holding his arm out like a perfect gentleman.
“You do not come in the bathroom with me,” I say sternly.
“Oh, I will come in the bathroom with you, Ember,” he says twisting my words into a double entendre, “and the bedroom and the dining hall, and the kitchen and everywhere else that takes my pleasure.”
“Not tonight,” I say, shaking my head at him.
“No, not tonight,” he says, his eyes suddenly going dark. “When I take you for the first time, you will be thinking only of me. You will not have had another man’s cock in you before I impale you on mine.”
“Oh,” I mutter under my breath, my cheeks flushing brightly as we head upstairs to do absolutely fucking nothing to ease the sexual tension that is blazing between us.
Damn you, Aria, for abandoning me! Damn you!
Chapter 18
~Aria~
As I make my way down the winding corridors of the mansion, I breathe a sigh of relief as I finally hear the shower running upstairs. Good. I can’t hear their conversation anymore. Urgh. Like I need to hear about Draven’s plans for his cock and Ember. I could hear every damn word and it was making me sick to my stomach. I really don’t want to know about her sexual exploits. Or his. Or anyone’s. Especially not right now with the way my wolf is. Right on the edge.
“Speaking of her exploits,” I mutter aloud, as I catch sight of Jacob walking into one of the many living rooms in the mammoth mansion.
“What?” he asks, spinning around at the door.
Great. I didn’t mean to actually say that out loud.
“Nothing,” I say, not wanting to talk to him at all. I don’t like his perverted gaze on me, especially when I can’t do anything about it, like kicking his fucking ass. If I did that in his brother’s home, I’d be in some deep shit and I hate fighting magic. It’s basically impossible to do when you don’t have your own.
I’d been planning on chilling in the room he’s currently blocking the way to. Urgh. Whatever. I’ll just go and find another one.
“Those two getting under your skin?” he asks, before I can turn to walk away.
His eyes stray to my boobs for a brief second, before quickly making their way back to my face. Huh. It seems like he’s at least trying not to look this time. Progress, I guess.
“No.” I study him for a second. He seems really uneasy and I can sense the jealousy radiating off him. “They’re bothering you, though.”
He stares at me for a moment and then he asks, “You want a drink?”
“I’m good.” I shake my head
and start to walk away.
“Better liquor’s in here.”
I stop. I do need a damn drink. Or several. I’m really worked up from wolfing out back at that hotel, for the first time in months. Alcohol will help to take the edge off.
I walk back to the door. “All right.”
He smiles and then steps aside to let me in ahead of him.
I slump down on the nearest couch. It’s fancy. Some antique-looking, high-backed crimson thing with gold edging. Wow, it’s comfortable.
“Here,” Jacob says.
His speed startles me and I look up to see him standing over me with a drink held out.
“How did you—?”
“Magic.”
Right. Of course. Why do anything the slower, non-magical way, right?
I take it from him and he sits down beside me with his own drink.
“So, what’s it like?” he asks.
“What?”
“Holding the wolf back. Does it hurt?”
I shrug. “It burns, yeah. Depends how long I go without wolfing out. How intense the situation is that I find myself in when I’m trying to hold it back.”
“Huh,” he says, seemingly surprised. “Well, does it hurt now? You wolfed out recently, right? Draven told me. As it’s been a while, does it want to…come out again…right away? You know, kinda like feeding an addiction?”
I turn to him, frowning. “Why are you asking about my wolf?”
His eyes do that perverted sweep over me again.
The next thing I know, his hand is skimming my leather pants, sliding up my right thigh.
Shit.
The contact fires me up instantly.
It’s not about him. Hell, it could be anyone right now. It’s just as he said. Like an addiction. Now, that I’ve let the wolf free after all this time, she wants to come out again. And it’s more than a little trying holding it back this time.
“I’ve heard that physical activity can help to sate it,” he says, in a low, seductive voice that’s almost hypnotizing.
I slap his hand away and chug some of my drink. “Alcohol also helps.”
He shifts closer so our legs are touching.
An unwanted gasp escapes me.
He leans in and whispers, “You need release, sweet wolf. Let me help with that. Just relax and let me pleasure you.”