by K Loraine
“My body might react to you, but the rest of me wants nothing to do with you.”
So, this was the reality of everything between us. I’d been played for a fool. I’d given her my heart, weakened myself for her, abandoned my family, and she’d never felt more than desire for me. “You’re quite the actress. I have to admit. You made me think you loved me. You’re very good. And he didn’t mind that you whored yourself out to me to get what you wanted?”
Her eyes flashed with hurt and indignant fire. “I can’t believe you,” she whispered, the words filled with disgust catching in her throat.
“I told you, I’m a monster, not a hero. Even if you made me think differently for a time.”
“I’m not the one who lied. You got in my head. You manipulated me. I couldn’t see it until Logan showed me the truth.”
“I never—”
“It should hurt. Every. Single. Time.” That tremor in her voice betrayed the despair she tried so hard to fight.
She was right. It should have hurt each time I’d fed from her. My hands pressed against the wall on either side of her, caging my little bird with my arms. I was so angry—at her, at Logan, at everything. She should have been mine after we’d left the manor. She was mine from day one. But no. She wasn’t really. She was his. Always had been. I leaned close, my lips brushing the shell of her ear. “I can make it hurt.”
Her heart hammered, but anxiety didn’t take hold. I couldn’t smell the adrenaline that sometimes crippled her. Instead, I caught the scent of arousal. Everything shifted with that one development. “You already did. Everything we had makes me hurt now.”
I moved my hand from the wall to brush a lock of her hair away from her face. The silky strands made me wish I could have more, that I could tangle my fingers in them and make her mine again. “I guess we’re even then,” I whispered, bringing my lips to kiss her jaw. “It hurts because that’s what love does. It destroys us.”
“Cash,” she said on a desperate sigh as my mouth hovered over hers.
“Yes, little bird.” My will was gone with her so close. The pull to be consumed by her made my entire being hum with desire. She could be mine again. She could love me. Just the hitch in her breath was proof there had to be something real between us.
She threaded her fingers in my hair and crushed our lips together in a violent, passionate kiss. The hard ridge of my cock pressed against my thigh, and I needed nothing more than to take her home where I could remind her that she’d wanted me in the first place. She tore her mouth from mine and stared at me. Pain blossomed as the sharp point of a silver dagger pressed into my chest, directly over my heart. It burned even through the fabric of my shirt, but I didn’t move. “Don’t make me kill you,” she whispered.
“You should have taken your shot when you had a chance.” I backed away, knowing beyond all doubt that I’d lost her completely. “I’m still not the only one who wants you.”
“My blood, you mean. You want my blood. That’s all you’ve ever wanted. You couldn’t get it from my mother, so you got it from me.” The blade in her hand shook. “It was all a lie. Every single bit of it.”
“It’s not all I wanted. I wanted forever.”
“Find it with someone else.”
I stepped forward, instinct telling me to make her see she was wrong. I hated knowing she was afraid of me, but it didn’t matter. She could fear me all she wanted. I needed her to save my sister. I didn’t need her to love me, but fuck, I wanted her to. “Olivia—”
“Get out of here, Cashel. Get out of my life before I end yours.”
In one quick motion, I grabbed her wrist and twisted until the knife fell from her grasp. She let out a sharp yelp of surprise.
“You really love him? You wanted to be with him?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, a single tear spilled down her cheek. I pulled her close and stared into her eyes, doing the thing I said I’d never do again. I locked gazes with her and whispered, “Sleep.”
Her eyes fell shut and her knees buckled. She was in my arms and we were moving so fast I’m sure to the naked eye, we appeared to be flying. She was mine. A captive again instead of my love. But the truth of the matter was, saving Callie and the Blackthorne name had to be my priority. Even if it meant losing Olivia forever.
10
Olivia
I woke smelling bergamot and I knew. I was back at Blackthorne Manor. Back in this gilded prison because of Cashel. Hatred mixed with terror, and I fought the need to scream. It wouldn’t do any good. I was his—again.
“Calm yourself, little bird. There’s no use getting so worked up.” His voice had been a balm during our last days together, but right now, Cashel was the Devil, and I had fallen into his trap. He sat in the soft leather chair in the corner looking every inch the bad boy prince he was. His eyes glowed in the dimmed light, a startling preternatural amber color.
“I hate you,” I spat.
“I know. What I don’t understand is why.”
“You manipulated me. You lied to me and kidnapped me. You used your power to get me to do what you wanted. You killed my mother.”
“Is that what they told you?”
I sat up, crossing my arms over my chest to hide the fact that this cold, drafty house had my nipples tight and hard even through the fabric of my shirt. I didn’t want him thinking he aroused me in any way. “I didn’t need them to tell me. I saw it.”
He cocked a brow. “Did you, now?”
“Don’t patronize me.”
“Don’t waste my time. I should never have gotten you out of here in the first place. All of this is your fault. Rest assured, I won’t make the mistake of trusting you again.”
On my feet now, I strode to the mantle and grabbed the iron poker. I wasn’t going to be a prisoner here again.
“What are you doing?” he asked, boredom in his tone.
I swung with all my might, aiming for his temple. The bastard dodged with little effort and then he was on me, pushing me against the wall. His body was hard, and damn if I didn’t react. I still wanted him even though I knew the depths of his deception.
“I let you get the drop on me earlier. That won’t happen again.” His words were harsh and hateful. “Take a shower, his stench is all over you. I don’t need a reminder of your betrayal. I feel it with every beat of my heart.”
“You didn’t come for me.”
“So you jumped into his bed? The only man you should ever smell of is me. I’m the one who left his mark on you, who staked a claim. Just as you are the only woman who can own my heart.”
My chest gave a squeeze, and confusion rolled through me. “What are you going to do with me?”
“It’s not me you need to worry about. There’s a new ruler in the Blackthorne lands. I’ll do what I can to keep you, but there’s a very real possibility she’ll sell you to the highest bidder if you prove…uncooperative.”
“What happened to Lucas, Sorcha, and Callie?”
Pain flashed in his eyes. “Sorcha is facing the Queen’s wrath in the well. You know it, don’t you? Though she’s done far less than you to deserve it.”
My stomach twisted. That was one of the worst moments of my life. “Oh, God.” There was no love lost between Sorcha and me, but I didn’t wish that kind of punishment on her, or anyone.
“Yes. Once she’s broken, the Queen will release her. But if I know my sister, it’ll be like pulling teeth to get her to bend the knee.”
“And you? You broke, just like that?”
He frowned, and a growl built in his chest. Then, he ripped open the deep blue button-down shirt covering his perfect torso. I jumped in surprise as the buttons went flying and the shirt fell to the floor. “Does this look like something that happened ‘just like that’?”
Swirls of dark ink under raised scars decorated his right shoulder and down his arm. They were terrible and beautiful all at once. “What…you didn’t have a tattoo before.”
“Yes, well, this is
n’t a tattoo. This is the brand of a traitor. Silver embedded under the skin over the course of a week. This is what I endured after you abandoned me.”
“I didn’t abandon you.”
“You did. You left me for him. And the moment I stepped out the door, the council found me and took me to face my crimes.”
“Cashel,” I said, reaching out to touch his scars.
He flinched, but let me touch him. The dark lines were angry and marred with red around the edges. “I can’t get rid of them. I tried.”
“Do they hurt?”
“Yes.”
I pulled my hand away and clenched my fist. I couldn’t let him get into my head again. He’d already done so much damage. Casting my gaze down, I slid out from the loose cage of his presence.
“Where are you going?”
I tossed my hair over one shoulder and said, “To wash.”
He followed, practically on top of me as I opened the door to his bathroom and started stripping.
“Turn around, little bird. Let me see what they did to you.”
His fingers brushed the bruises on my ribs from training. The scrapes that were nearly healed across my knees and elbows from every time I’d fallen. “Training. They taught me how to defend myself.”
The red mark over his heart was still there, evidence of my newly acquired skills. “Would you really have killed me?”
I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. “I hesitated. That means I couldn’t.”
“His hands touched you,” he whispered, reaching out and cupping my jaw. “Lips kissed you.” One step closer, and he was a breath away. “Do you know how that hurts? You were mine.”
“I wasn’t.”
Anger radiated off him. “Yes, you were. I told you I loved you. I meant it. I killed for you. I endured weeks of torture for you.”
“And you lied.”
“So did you. You made me believe you loved me.”
“No!” I shouted; the sound of my confession ricocheted off the bathroom walls. We stood there, both of us staring at the other. “I was ready to throw away all hope of a normal life because of you. I never imagined you’d stoop so low as to compel me into wanting you. But then they showed me what your feeding should feel like. They made me relive it, but this time with truth behind the memory. And now I can’t look at you without feeling the searing agony of your fangs. It’ll never be the same, Cashel. Never.”
“Don’t make yourself out to be a victim. You planned this whole thing with Logan. You told me, my father warned me, everyone said not to trust you. It’s my fault for ignoring it all. Did you set us all up? Was the whole thing a big plot to bring down the Blackthorne vampires?”
“What are you talking about?”
“We’d been looking for your bloodline for so long, and then you just happen to fall into my arms on the anniversary of your mother’s death. Were you working with the hunters from the beginning?”
“You have to be joking. There’s nothing in this world that would get me to relive that experience. I lost the only person who really loved me, lost myself and my freedom. I just want to be normal. I’d never would have sought you out. I wish I’d never met you.”
He stepped back, his eyes widening. I might as well have slapped him across his perfect face. “Bad luck for us both, then.”
“Get out.”
He grit his teeth and closed his eyes, very clearly trying to contain his anger. “With pleasure.” Broad shoulders tense, he walked away from me but didn’t close the door. He looked back and said, “I must warn you, little bird. You had me on your side before, even as my pet. But you proved I was wrong when you let him fuck you. Now, you’re my captive, my prize, and my toy. You’ll find I play rough.”
Cashel
The fire in the hearth crackled and danced, casting its glow across the dark library. I took another long drink straight from the bottle of wine in my hand. Olivia was everywhere. In my thoughts, my home, my memories. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing the hatred in her expression or feeling her lips move against mine. My chest still stung from the bite of her blade on my skin. She’d been close enough to kill me. All she’d needed to do was sink that dagger into my heart and I’d have been a goner. So why had she stopped?
The clink of bottles rolling into one another pulled my attention from my inner turmoil. “God, brother, how much have you had to drink?” Lucas stood to my left, his focus on the five empty wine bottles turned on their sides.
“Not enough.” My words were slurred, but only slightly. It wasn’t enough to dull the pain. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d left us all for dead.”
“Afraid not. I had to…sweet talk my way out of trouble with a coven, but you know me. What I lack in breeding, I make up for with devastating charm.”
“Callie is going to die.”
“We’ll find a cure.”
“I know. Olivia is upstairs in my room right now.”
Lucas scoffed. “So you took her again.”
“She wouldn’t come otherwise.”
“That didn’t help last time.”
I shook my head. “Everything is different now. I don’t know what to do.”
“Why? Because you love her?”
“Yes.”
He snatched the wine bottle from my hand and took a long pull. “Well, that’s a solid answer.”
“She loves someone else.” I grabbed the bottle from him and tipped it up, only to find it empty. Fucking asshole.
“She can’t possibly.”
“It’s true. She’s in love with him. Father was right. Always was.”
“Do you honestly believe that?”
I thought back to the moment I’d asked her if she loved him. At the cabin after we’d escaped Blackthorne Manor, when I’d told her I loved her and she hadn’t responded. I should have seen the signs. She never lied and said she felt more than lust. But I’d been blinded by my connection to her. “I was a fool.”
He snorted. “You still are. You said she almost killed you?”
I pulled open my shirt to show him the angry burn over my heart. “She had a silver blade.”
Brows raised, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Seems to me like she loves you.”
“Death threats aren’t typical expressions of true love, brother.”
“Well, if I’m seeing things right, she didn’t kill you when she had the chance. She let you go because she desires you.”
I didn’t want to let him strike the spark of hope in my chest that was already smoldering despite all evidence of Olivia’s hatred. So, I ignored him. I returned my attention to the flames as they licked the wood and listened to the hisses and pops of the fire. But the seed was planted now, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to let this go. She’d spared me when she could have killed me.
“So, where’s the Queen bitch?” Lucas said, taking a seat in the wingback chair next to mine and stretching his long legs in front of him.
“Out doing God knows what. She’s gone more than she’s here.”
“And our sisters?”
My gut clenched at the thought of Sorcha and Callie. “Callie is safely tucked away somewhere no one can find her. I’m tending to her. Sorcha is…in the well.”
“Are you having me on? The fucking well? Get her out of there.”
I shook my head. “I can’t. Anne has to be the one to let her out. But I’ve been taking care of her. She’s all right. Angry as a hornet, but no worse for wear.”
“What happened to you? Why aren’t you fighting?”
Indignation curled in my gut. “I am. In my own way. This is something we have to handle with care. We can’t just raid the castle, swords drawn.”
“Sounds good to me. Cut off her head and take the throne.”
“No. She’s the reason I wasn’t executed by the council. If I kill her, I’ll be right back where she found me. A traitor. Facing my death rather than making plans for change.”
His head fell back onto the ch
air and he let out an exasperated sigh. “This is why I’m the naughty prince. Diplomacy is no fun.”
“You shouldn’t be here at all. Anne will have you tossed into the dungeon before you can blink when she finds you.”
A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Ah, you’d think so, wouldn’t you? But I have something she’ll want.”
“And what’s that?”
He reached into the pocket of his blazer and pulled out a red diamond necklace that matched my mother’s ring. “This.”
“Where did you find that?”
“The coven has had it since your mother died. Apparently it was part of the crown jewels. A sign of power amongst the clans. They had it hidden for safe keeping until…I stole it.”
I was honestly shocked that he would put any effort into something like that. It didn’t serve him. “Are you telling me you risked bringing a coven of angry witches down on us for a damn necklace?”
He blew out a breath and held the necklace up in the light. “They won’t even notice. Besides, they stole it from us first.” One brow cocked, and he tilted his head in curiosity. “Brother, your pet is loose in the house.”
A frantic pulse caught my ear from the stairs. Olivia. Of course she was roaming the house rather than cowering in my bed. My senses were dulled from the alcohol, everything tracking slower than usual. I should have sensed her moving around upstairs. Hands balled into fists, I forced myself to stand slowly and with a level of control I doubted I would have had only a few nights ago.
In the space of a few of her heartbeats, I found her. Beautiful in one of my shirts with her long, dark hair braided to one side. Her fingers trailed along the wood panels lining the walls as she took in her prison for the second time since we’d met. “It hasn’t changed,” she said. “I kind of expected it to be like when a new president takes office. Everything gets re-decorated in an attempt to wash away the ghosts of the former leader.”
“Not how the Blackthornes work. We are creatures of history.”
“You’ve lived through so much more than humans have.”
“Yes. But by living through so many years, we lose more too.”