by Lyons, Rene
Isobel walked back toward him. Constantine didn’t pull away when she ran her finger along his scar. “What happened to you was not your fault. You have to know that by now.”
With a vicious snarl he turned his head and stepped back. “I should have killed the bastard sooner.”
“You were but a boy. You did what you could until you were strong enough to do more. It’s time to let it go before the past completely destroys you.”
“It’s already destroyed me.”
Isobel’s words followed him as he climbed the stairs. They caused an ache deep within his blackened heart. “Don’t throw away the chance at happiness. Embrace it before it’s too late. Find peace, Constantine, and put the dragon to sleep.”
Happiness.
When he reached their chamber, Constantine was unsure of his next action for the first time in his existence. The sensation didn’t sit well with him. He was a warrior, and a warrior never hesitated, not when charging into battle and certainly not when having to face down a woman’s displeasure—and hurt. With a grunt of frustration, he pushed open the door and strode in with a confidence he didn’t feel.
The scent of honeysuckle assailed him as soon as he stepped into the darkened room. Next, the scent of burning wood came at him. He looked at the hearth and saw a small fire burning there. He assumed Lex had lit it. He stoked it before he took to the bed, hoping it would help chase away the cold ripping through him.
Unbidden, Constantine’s gaze shot to the bed. Lex was curled into a tiny ball under the blankets. She was awake, he knew, and yet she did nothing to acknowledge him. He ached to go to her, lay himself next to her, and take away the misery he sensed in her.
But he didn’t dare. Not with the donor’s touch on him and the taste of her blood lingering in his mouth. With a muttered curse, Constantine stomped to the bathroom adjoining the room. He needed a shower.
When he caught sight of himself in the mirror above the freestanding sink, he snarled at his reflection—at the blood smeared on his face. The sight of it had him wanting to slam his fist into the wall all over again.
Fighting the need to hurt himself, he pulled off his clothes and tossed them to the floor. He then turned on the hot water and stepped in the shower. As he attempted to cleanse himself, he knew there wasn’t enough soap in the world to wash away the dirt of his sins.
And still he scrubbed himself furiously, taking in mouthfuls of water and spitting it out. He ran his tongue over his fangs. Fuck. The taste of the donor was still there.
Constantine tensed when the door opened. The sweet scent of honeysuckle blended with the aroma of the soap. A moment later he heard the steady beat of Lex’s heart over the stream of water. And then Lex’s husky voice came at him and he had to close his eyes and slap a hand to the wall to steady himself from the impact of it.
“Constantine?”
“What?”
His harsh tone was filled with self-loathing. He gave up trying to find that sense of clean and threw down the soap. Only Lex’s touch could do that—make him feel clean.
“Never mind.”
Constantine shoved aside the curtain, heedless of his nudity, to see Lex walking out of the steamy bathroom. “Wait.” At his shout, Lex turned back to him. Her sad eyes didn’t dip lower than the level of his face. “What do you want?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.” She turned to leave again. “I’m sorry I bothered you.”
He stepped from the shower and grabbed her arm. He spun her back around to face him. “You’re never a bother me, Lex. Never”
Keeping her gaze locked on his face, she blinked as if her eyes stung. He saw they were watery and knew he’d put those tears there. “I’m just wanted to say I’m sorry about before. I had no right to make you feel guilty... ”
In a flash of movement, Constantine was out of the shower and standing before her. Her sentence ended with a startled gasp when he gripped her upper arms. Dripping wet and shivering, since Templars felt cold more keenly for their lack of soul, Constantine brought his face close to hers and gave her a good shake. “Don’t you dare apologize to me.”
“Okay. Fine. No more apologizing. Just don’t shake me again.”
His hands fell away and he took a step back. He thought the shade of red her cheeks turned when she looked down at him was adorable. Lex snapped her gaze back to his face. Usually making a person uncomfortable fed a sadistic need within him to piss off those closest to him. Not so with Lex, which was why he pulled a towel from the shelf near the shower and tucked it around his waist.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he replied gruffly as he turned off the water.
Lex followed behind him as he walked back to the bedroom. He went to the hearth and she went to the bed. Her gaze bore into his back as he stoked the dying embers back to life. Her stare moved over every scar left behind after Ulric’s punishments. He didn’t like her looking at them, and yet he wanted her to see them—to see him. A product of his times, Constantine had to let her know that though he was here in this modern age, he’d left his heart and his soul behind in 1310, on the day he’d burned to death in France.
“This isn’t an apology, so please refrain from rattling my teeth again.” He faced her and saw her fleeting grin. “I didn’t mean to blow things out of proportion before. I understand you have to feed and all that. Believe me, I do. Besides, it’s not like we have a commitment between us.”
“Oh, we have a commitment between us, elf.” He advanced on her. Lex’s lips parted and a soft gasp escaped her when Constantine tossed aside the towel and pushed her back on the bed. He settled over her, loving the feel of how soft and warm she was beneath him. He ground his erection against her, needing her body to erase the stain of the donor’s touch from him. “I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll never doubt you’re mine.”
With her heat and her energy thundering through him, Constantine leaned off her only far enough to allow him to trail his hand down her body. She squeezed her legs together as if to hold his hand in place, and let out a soft whimper. He dragged his tongue up the side of her neck, her taste taking him over the edge of reason.
“Oh my God, Constantine, you make my body burn.”
Every part of him strained against his need for her. All of that passion settled in his cock, making it too damn painful to hold back much longer.
Unable to linger on her neck—he resisted the urge to sink his fangs into her and take her blood. He kissed her deep and hard, growling into her mouth as she clawed at his back. When he pulled his mouth away and stared down at her, he saw she needed him as much as he did her. Oh yes, Lex was his. He’d never allow another man to know her as he did right in this moment. No other man would put that look on her face—a mix of passion and surrender.
He’d hold that look in his mind for the rest of eternity.
“Do I, elf? Do you want to know what else I can do to your body?” Her mouth worked but no sound came out. A vibrating laugh, not one of humor, but of pure male sexual satisfaction, came from him. It was a hell of a thing to know he’d put her in such a passionate state. “I’m going to taste every inch of you before I use every part of me to make you feel good.”
Oh God, I hope so.
That thought rang in Lex’s mind as she ran her hands along Constantine’s back. She loved the way his muscles moved under her palms, even as her heart shattered at the feel of his scars. They crisscrossed his back, evidence of the brutal life he’d been forced to live. If she could, Lex would gladly go back in time and live those years for him and free him of the burden of his memories. But since that was impossible, all she could do was love him as best she could and hope it helped to ease his suffering.
“I love you.”
Why the words came from her now, Lex didn’t know. She hadn’t meant to say them to him. Though she had thought them—which he’d heard—she’d never actually said them to him. Once spoken, she was glad she’d said them—even if Constantine did stiffen above her. His
expression wasn’t comical like Allie joked Sebastian’s had been when she’d confessed her feelings to him. No. Not Constantine. He looked as if he’d charged headlong into battle. Her name came from him, more a growl than an actual word, a heartbeat before he took her mouth in a bruising kiss that left little doubt in her mind how much her declaration impacted him. As his mouth worked hers, igniting a flame of desire deep within her, his calloused hands pulled at her clothes. He broke the contact of their mouths to rid her of the offensive items that separated his skin from hers. Once they were both devoid of clothing, Constantine flipped her over so she was lying facedown. His weight settled over her, his body warm from her energy as his arousal pushed against her opening.
“Now we play, elf.”
Constantine nipped the nape of her neck and Lex moaned, loving the thrill that shot through her. Of course, he was careful not to break the skin, and she knew he’d never dare, but still, it lent intensity to an already passionate moment.
When he slid into her, Lex whimpered, loving the fullness of him inside of her. Her body stretched to accommodate him, the pressure mixing with the pleasure. As Constantine worked her body, pumping into her with long, steady strokes, Lex began to shatter. The feel of him inside her in this way was more pleasure than she’d ever thought a body could feel. It made her want more.
Lex lifted her hips, allowing Constantine to push deeper into her. He groaned long and low close to her ear. The sound vibrated through her as his body went stiff. He climaxed a moment later, and let out a string of some of the foulest words Lex had ever heard as he spilled himself into her.
She smiled, thinking that was something only Constantine would do.
When she went to get up, Constantine allowed her just enough movement to flip onto her back. He pinned her to the mattress, a devilish gleam lighting his eyes. “You’re not going anywhere, elf. I’m nowhere near done with you.”
Constantine made good on his promise.
By the time dawn came, Lex was raw and he had fallen into a sated, death-like sleep. It was a good ending to a perfectly hellish day.
* * *
“So, the Dragon survives to face another night.”
Madeline smiled coldly at her twin sister, Lenora. “So it would seem.”
Lenora slipped her dagger back into her right boot. She shook her head in bafflement. “He makes her happy.”
They’d seen Draegon’s mood, sensed his hostility, and had come here to end him should he have done anything to endanger the Hallowed. Which was why the assassins were bemused by what they heard going on inside the chamber.
Madeline shrugged. Given his reputation, she didn’t trust the Dragon and knew it would only be a matter of time before they had to take him down. “For now.”
Lenora’s grin was pure evil. “He brings harm to the Hallowed and I will end him. Of that there is no doubt.”
Lenora’s eagerness to take Draegon out was obvious. He was a risk to the Hallowed and for that alone they’d both relish the chance to end him.
Madeline turned from the bedchamber door and walked away lest the Dragon detect their presence. Because of who they were, he’d know how close he came to death.
They were assassins, sworn to protect the Hallowed from all harm. They had stood before the First and bled their oath and it was one they would uphold even if they had to risk their own destruction.
Their sole function from the moment Lexine Parker was born, until the end of all their days, was to watch over and protect her.
And that’s what they’d done. They watched over her from the night she’d come into this world. They’d hid in the shadows, taking out any who’d discovered the power she carried. Never once had any vampire gotten close to her, save for the Templars. And even them, the assassins had thought to take out. If the First hadn’t stopped them, Madeline and Lenora would have systematically taken them down one by one.
“Come.” Madeline, who was younger than Lenora by a handful of minutes, tugged on her sister’s arm. “I need to feed.”
Lenora walked beside her down the long corridor. The sound of the lovemaking going on within Constantine and Lexine’s chamber followed them as they went. “I hate to admit this, but, I’m glad I didn’t have to end him tonight. I relish the chance to fight him fist to fist.”
“We’ll have our time.” Madeline motioned toward the chamber. “Right now, it’s her time with him.”
From the soft whimpers he pulled from Lexine, the sisters realized Constantine Draegon wasn’t only good at fighting. It seemed he was good at loving as well.
It was something Madeline had never thought possible. It gave her hope that they might be allowed to let him live once all was said and done. But she doubted it.
The First, with her maternal nature, might want to believe there was good in the legendary Dragon, but Madeline wasn’t so quick to let down her guard when it came to him. She knew it would only be a matter of time before they had to end him.
She just hoped the Hallowed wouldn’t hate them for it when that night came.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lying on the floor, her head resting on Constantine’s thigh, Lex stared into the flames dancing in the hearth and marveled at how far she’s come from the life she’d led in Florida. She also couldn’t believe how comfortable she’d gotten around the women of the Order of the Rose, something she’d never dreamed would have been possible.
As it turned out, Isobel wasn’t the only member of the Order of the Rose to call Lowel Castle home. Over the past week, Lex learned four other female vampires lived here as well. They were an intimidating bunch to be sure.
With her short blonde hair, pale flesh and enigmatic eyes, Daria was stunning. When she walked into a room, she took charge of it without saying a word. The air around her seemed to change, becoming charged with her sexual energy.
Angelica, a beautiful woman with long chestnut hair, a slender body, had an easy smile. She was so nice Lex had to keep reminding herself the woman was a vampire.
Then there were the sisters, Madeline and Lenora. Tiny creatures, not even five feet tall. Lethal, they reminded her of twin shadows moving through the castle. Something about them was downright unnerving. They were dark and mysterious, and they scared the breath right out of Lex.
Surrounded by vampires in an unfamiliar environment, Lex drew even closer to Constantine. Since his telepathy was off, during his waking hours he made sure he was practically glued to her side.
After he’d fed from the donor, he hadn’t taken in blood again. Lex knew eventually his hunger would grow too great for him to fight. When that happened, she fully intended on standing aside and letting him take care of his needs—no matter how much it bothered her to watch him go off and share with another woman something they could never have between them.
Since Lex woke in the early afternoon, she always spent the remaining hours of sunlight out in courtyard. Constantine and the Order ceased fighting her on it once they’d realized the sun was something Lex needed in order to make it through the long nights.
To their credit, the Order did their best to make her feel welcome. Lex didn’t miss the way they watched Constantine like a hawk. She knew he didn’t miss it either. It was as if they waited for him to do something—anything—so they could take him down.
Only Isobel seemed relaxed around Constantine. Though Lex had refused to press Constantine on his past, it was killing her not ask how they knew each other. She was dying to know if they had once been lovers, but she swallowed her curiosity and tried to pretend it didn’t eat away at her.
Lex would be glad when this was all over, even as she dreaded the passing days bringing her closer to Samhain. Twenty days separated this night from that night. Twenty days of being locked away in this keep with the threat of impending death weighing Lex down, and thinking about Constantine and Isobel only made it worse.
Not wanting such thoughts to invade the perfect peace of the moment, Lex pushed those ponderings aside. Th
e fire bathed the room in a soft glow of flickering light, lending a certain intimacy that harsh modern lighting never could. Constantine idly ran his fingers through her hair, the slow and steady motion soothing to her. Lex looked up at Constantine’s face, amazed by his relaxed expression. This was the first time she’d seen him look completely unguarded.
With the time ticking ever closer to the night that could very well bring her life to a crashing end, Lex decided to voice to some of the questions she had of Constantine’s life. She doubted he’d answer them but at least she could say she’d tried.
“Did you always want to be a knight?”
“Always.” He didn’t take his gaze from the flames when he answered—but at least he’d answered.
Emboldened, Lex tried to keep things going. “I used to want to be a singer.”
He tore his gaze from the fire and cocked a brow at her. “Why didn’t you pursue that career?”