“He never did that for you, has he?” I noted the longing in her tone and the betrayal in her eyes. “He never pleasured you with his mouth? Don’t come in here telling me fucking lies. Get out!” I trembled with anger as her lies slammed against my head, feeding me false images.
Brander filled the doorway, staring between us before he hiked his finger over his shoulder. “Get the fuck out, Regina. You were told to keep your distance.”
“Why? Because Knox is planning to fuck her?”
“I won’t ask you again,” he stated coldly.
She stared between us, smashing the rose in her hand before she exited the room with it. I swallowed past the anger. Looking to Brander, I watched as he followed her down the hallway with his eyes before turning back to look at me.
“Does Knox have the power to erase memories?” I whispered through trembling lips.
“Go to bed, sugar. Don’t listen to displaced hags, they live to hurt pretty little things with their lies.” He reached in, grabbing the door to pull it shut.
I heard the lock sliding into place, and my eyes closed, replaying the morning Knox had tasted me. Opening them, I frowned, knowing that he said hours had passed, and yet it hadn’t felt like any time had passed at all. Moving to the bed, I took a seat and hugged my legs against my chest. I could do a memory spell, but that would alert the house I’d wielded magic, and lord knew what it would do to me.
I reached over, grabbed the pictures, and set them on the nightstand before pushing the dress away from me, lying back on the bed to sleep as the day weighed on my mind. I said a silent prayer for my sisters, and prayed that Amara was safe; even if she wasn’t who she used to be, she was still my sister and my womb mate.
My eyes grew heavy as I picked up one small shard of the crystal, holding it as a smile slipped over my lips. Regina was bitter, and she was a hag. I’d caught a glimpse of her, and it had been something I wouldn’t forget soon.
Tomorrow I would lose my virginity to a stranger, one I hadn’t felt fire for when I kissed. Maybe it was my mood, or perhaps I was cursed like Regina to always crave more than I knew I should reach for. I slept, oblivious to what was happening around me, uncaring that tomorrow was coming faster than I wanted it to—with the wrong man.
I woke up to something in the bedroom and turned on the light beside the bed. Knox stood in the corner, his eyes dark with something primal banked in them. His shirt was covered in blood; his hands were covered in black ooze that dripped onto the floor.
“Knox, what the fuck happened?” I whispered, moving from the bed to where he stood.
“Worried about me, lamb?” he asked huskily.
“No, I’m worried for whoever pissed you off,” I muttered, holding Knox’s stare as his lips curled into a devilish smirk.
“Smart girl. I heard your rose got stolen, so I brought a couple in vials to replace it. Would you like to see them?” he asked carefully as I moved back to the bed, sitting down to stare at him.
I studied at him silently, frowning as I chewed my lip. “Now?”
“You’ll lose the essence if you wait.”
“Okay,” I stated quickly, standing up and righting the nightgown I wore as he watched me.
“The fuck is that?”
“It’s a nightgown?” I replied, watching him.
“It’s ugly.”
“Good, wasn’t trying to impress you, anyway.”
He snorted, pushing off the walls as he moved toward me. I frowned, watching as he lifted his hand, ripping the nightgown from my body before smirking coldly. Knox lifted his hands, holding me against him as his mouth crushed against mine. I tasted blood on his tongue and pulled back, but he didn’t allow it.
His hands wrapped around my throat, sealing off my airway as I struggled to bring air into my lungs. The moment he released my neck, I inhaled and felt something slithering down my throat with the air I sucked in greedily.
“What a waste of pretty lips, Aria.” He chuckled against my mouth before something pushed into my throat, diving deeper and deeper until I felt it searching within me, tasting me from the inside as if devouring me.
I screamed and screamed until something shook me. I attacked, punching and moving to claw out his eyes.
“What the fuck, woman,” Brander screamed, backing up to stare down at me where my nightgown was ripped, and blood dripped from my face. “Fuck!” He scooped down, lifting me up and ran with me in his arms. “Lore, clear the fucking table, and grab a witch.”
“What the hell happened to her?” Lore asked, pushing platinum hair away from his face as his amber eyes stared down at me.
“Dream demon,” Brander hissed, nodding at Regina, who stepped from the shadows with crystals in her hands. “My guess, someone planted ears in the house.”
One man entered the room with sweat dripping down his face. “That explains the shadows that just tried to lock me in the gym.” He was shirtless, with thick black tribal tattoos covering the sides of his waist up to just beneath his arms. Obsidian-colored hair dripped water down his chest, while midnight-blue eyes sparkled with the light of a thousand stars in their depths.
“Send word to Knox, now, Fade. They probably slipped into the house the moment he left tonight, and just waited for us to let our guard down. You,” he said to me. “Lay the fuck back because this will hurt.”
“What was it?”
“Pretty sure he placed something inside of you, and I’m about to get it out.”
I stared at him and then tilted my head. “It was a demon named Knox.”
“Nah, he just showed up in the skin you wanted him to appear in, probably slipped into your mind through the water in the shower. That’s what the slimy pricks do.”
“What exactly is it they plant, Brander?” I asked carefully.
“You don’t want to know.”
“What the fuck is inside of me?”
“Larva, it takes control of the body and the mind of the creature who houses it.”
I gagged violently.
“She’s going to throw up,” Lore stated, stepping back.
I did, violently. My body twitched, and I leaned over, gagging even more than before as I tried to expel whatever had been planted inside of me. Something inside of me wasn’t having it, and I cried as I forced it up. I threw up water until something substantial exploded from my mouth and got stuck.
“Fucking hell, that’s nasty.”
I reached up, ripping it out of my throat and throwing up even more the moment it hit the floor, screeching and wailing while they tried to stomp on whatever the hell the alien-looking squid was. It was the shit of nightmares, flailing squid-like arms as it tried to find a place to hide.
The room ignited with power, and Knox materialized from thin air, stomping the creature beneath his thick boots. He turned, staring at me as I held my hand over my mouth while tears slid from my eyes.
A squid had violated me!
I gagged again, holding my hand against my stomach.
Knox wore a crown that looked like bones. His eyes were turbulent, as if a hurricane played in his ocean depths. He had on armor, like honest-to-God armor that was covered in ravens. He turned away from me, staring at the few men inside the room. He took a step forward, and the armor clinked. I peered down, looking at the metal that covered his boots and the knight spurs that were attached to his heels as if he’d just returned from riding a warhorse. His mantle was black, and yet it shimmered with his movement. Everything about the man screamed God of War.
“How the fuck did it get to her?” he snarled, but his voice echoed through the room, like it wasn’t big enough to contain him like this.
“I’m guessing it showed up the moment you left tonight.”
“I had Regina add wards and war runes. Pretty hag, did you get jealous because I refused to fuck you?” he snapped, but there was none of his usual tone; it was cold, lifeless. “If I find out you did, you’re done here. You will never see your home again, Regina. You kn
ow I will find out who altered the wards, I always do.”
“You were replacing me! You wouldn’t fuck me because that little whore has your mind under her control! You ate her cunt, and ever since, you have not looked at or used any of us again. You gave that stupid bitch gifts!”
“Take Regina away now.” He turned, staring at me. “Sleep, Aria.”
Chapter 30
The next morning was rough. Nightmares of the thing that had been inside of me had made sleep elusive. However, through the night, I’d felt Knox close to me, and it had comforted me, disturbingly enough. I would have assumed it would have made sleeping more difficult, but it hadn’t. I woke up redressed in a soft blue nightgown, my hair damp from sweat and nightmares. Knox sat beside the bed in a chair, watching me as I sat up slowly, touching my mouth as nausea pushed at the back of my throat. He’d promised that nothing would reach me, but he’d failed in that department. I’d been attacked in my sleep by a fucking demon!
“Demons like the one who planted the larva inside of you; they’re slippery fuckers, Aria.” His tone was cold, but the heat in his gaze said otherwise, letting it drift down the sheer material of the gown. “It came through the plumbing, and it was searching for you. Something powerful is hunting you. It’s reaching for you inside my house, so if you have any idea what or who it is, I need to know now.”
“I told you, I don’t know what is happening. I have no enemies that I know of. I don’t see why a demon would want me, or who would even have enough power to send one after me.”
“Let me make this as clear as I can for you, little witch. Had it planted within you and taken root, you’d have been in the backseat while it drove your body. You would have done whatever it wanted, with whoever it wanted. If it had wanted you to stand in front of a bus going down the interstate, you would have. You’d have watched it happen and then dealt with whatever backlash it had left you with. I can’t protect you if you don’t talk to me.”
“I don’t have enemies, and you’ve even used your strange tone of voice to ask this question before, Knox. I told you everything. I’m nobody. I’m definitely not worth the effort this person or creature is going through to reach me—and were you wearing a crown last night?” I asked offhandedly as my mind replayed the image of him, which was hot as fuck.
His lips curved into a dark smile before he sat back, brushing his hand over his mouth. He watched me, his eyes slowly roaming over my face as he considered his reply. The hair on my nape rose from the look in his intense, smoldering gaze.
“You’re still a virgin. You were told to remedy that. You didn’t. Should I take it as an invitation, Aria?”
“Absolutely not,” I scoffed as the smile dropped, and I frowned, the answer I’d wanted to say heavy on my tongue. I snorted before rolling my eyes so he could see my response.
The timbre of his voice filled with rough gravel when he spoke after a moment. “You’ve decided on Brander?”
“You said to choose him, so I did. You said he was safe, and safe is what I need.” My body heated with the way he continued staring, letting his head tilt to the side before he stood.
“It’s your choice, Aria. He is safe, and he’ll be gentle with you.”
I wanted to ask him to do it, to be the one that took my virginity, and yet my tongue wouldn’t move. There was nothing gentle about Knox, and yet, surprisingly, I didn’t crave gentle. I may have needed it for the first time, but I wanted the electricity that erupted when Knox touched me. Brander sent butterflies fluttering; Knox sent ravens into flight violently inside my belly. It was night and day between the twos’ touches, and I craved the sexual predator that lurked right beneath the surface of Knox. Brander had a beast too, but where his was silent and content to pace, Knox’s monster wanted to destroy and conquer—and I wanted that from him.
Knox watched silently, waiting for one wrong move to claim and destroy me. His lips curved into a conceited grin, as if he felt my choice on a cellular level. As if every cell in my body knew it should be him, and yet my mouth didn’t open to tell him. Nodding, he moved to the door where he stopped and stared out into the hallway.
“Your outfit for tonight is in the bathroom. Brander picked it himself for the occasion. Dinner won’t be served tonight; they will bring a small meal to your room instead. I’ll be heading out again tonight.” He turned, smirking wolfishly. “At six, someone will retrieve you; they’ll deliver you to Brander’s room on the third floor.” He waited, and when I failed to say what refused to come out, he left, silently closing the door behind him.
I stared at the door for too long. My sigh exploded while I groaned, dropping back onto the bed. It had been less than a week since we’d returned to this town, and already everything that could go wrong had or was doing so now.
Tonight I’d be sleeping with a male I didn’t even know well. I knew he had unlimited women trailing through his revolving bedroom door. Now I’d learned it wasn’t even his bedroom; if what Knox said was true, Brander’s bedroom was on the third floor.
Dinner showed up at five, and it wasn’t a small meal by any means. There was roasted lamb marinated in a light rosemary sauce that melted in my mouth. The red baby potatoes soaked in butter with a light rosemary base was to die for. The wine was red and delicious, and by 5:30 PM, I’d drunk half the bottle to numb the nerves that grew more intense with every minute the clock ticked down to six o’clock.
At 6:00 PM, I was dressed in a ruby red dress with a deep V-neck that had a matching back. The belt was a bow, and it sat right beneath the bodice. It had a unique skirt that spiraled around and reached for the bust line. It was cute, while still maintaining a hint of class and sexiness. High heels adorned my feet, with wraparound ribbons that went past my ankles, stopping just below my calves. My hair was up, exposing the delicate lines of my throat, and the bra and panties that had been sent with the dress revealed no lines and matched in color.
I had to give it to Knox. He’d chosen an outfit that positively screamed sex while allowing the woman to feel not entirely exposed at the same time. The dress Brander had chosen remained hanging in the bathroom.
I felt sexy in the one Knox had purchased for me for my birthday, whereas the one Brander chose was more revealing. I checked the pins in my hair and used my finger to rub on some lipstick to lighten my natural lip color. Stepping back, I frowned, wondering what Knox would think if he saw me right now. Probably not a lot, since he had women who literally did whatever it took to sleep with him.
Giving myself a mental shake, I turned as a knuckled knock sounded against the door.
Opening the door, Greer stood outside of it.
“Hey, Greer,” I said, watching as his lip curled up with disdain even though his gaze slid over my dress, heating before lifting back to my eyes.
“I am here to escort you to the third floor. If you could refrain from speaking to me through the duration of that time, I’d be eternally grateful.”
He waited as if he expected me to rebuke his words, and yet my heart was fluttering with what I was preparing to do and where he was taking me, so I just stared at him. His smile was predatory when it finally came, and I tilted my head, noting the fangs that clicked into place when he smiled.
“Greer, the vampire, huh?” I tightened my lips to the side as my nose scrunched up. “Who would have thought it?” I chuckled, stepping into the hallway with him.
“Apparently, not you,” he sighed dramatically for effect. “Hopefully, Brander isn’t gentle tonight, mistress.”
“I mean with the name Greer, I’d be thinking demon or something that was created. It’s more like a human name in a case where your mother didn’t entirely like you.”
“Must you speak?” he grunted as we continued walking.
“I knew you were old. To get to your level of cankerous, that takes time and work to achieve with the perfection you have mastered, Greer the Vampire.”
“Mistress Aria,” he muttered beneath his breath, pushing a code int
o the wall before the elevator doors opened. “Get in, please. I’m not getting any younger, and neither are you.”
Chapter 31
I stepped inside the elevator, watching as he shielded the code box and added a badge to it to make us move. My stomach churned with the need to say this was a mistake, or that I had changed my mind, and yet I didn’t. It stopped on the third floor and opened into an apartment. Stepping off the elevator, I turned to wait for Greer but watched the doors close quickly with him still in the elevator.
I took in the candles that burned through the apartment, and the expensive white cashmere couch and chair that sat in the entrance. Exhaling, I struggled to get my nerves under control while my hands trembled at the mistake I was making.
My hands rubbed down my arms as I inhaled the familiar scent of a male. Not just any male, the room reeked of Knox, but then Brander had a similar smell. Power exuded from within the room, and it sent a ripple of apprehension shooting down my spine. I was moments away from bolting.
“Greer, dick move,” I mumbled under my breath, fighting for calm as I started into the apartment, only for my jaw drop.
Books lined the shelves on one wall, while the other held weapons behind glowing glass. Crystals sat on a large desk that faced into the room, and a large bed sat against a wall. The entire bedroom was huge, filled with interesting items that made it feel like a library, office, and bedroom all pushed into one overly large room. One I itched to explore leisurely.
“Fuck me,” a masculine timbre erupted behind me, forcing me to turn in the direction it had come. Brander scrubbed his hand down his face, letting his eyes move from mine to the red heels I wore, and back up. He opened his mouth before closing it.
“Excuse me?”
“We should drink,” he muttered beneath his breath, holding his hand out to indicate that I should follow him toward the large settee that sat next to the bed. On the table, there was an aged bottle of scotch, and my lips jerked in the corners as I noted it was the same type that had been shattered on the floor in this very house earlier in the week.
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