by Kim Loraine
Cashel
Olivia wasn’t where she was supposed to be. I could smell her, sense her, feel my connection to her, but she wasn’t in her tent. Hearts beat all around me from inside the multitude of shelters, but I could see the preparations had been made for them to leave. They were moving on—likely in the morning. But would they get away before the council found them?
Closing my eyes, I breathed in the familiar scent of my little bird. Her heartbeat filled my ears, thrumming in time with mine, but there was more. There was a second pulse next to hers. She was sleeping nearby. With him.
I stalked through the camp, homing in on her until I stood directly outside of where her pulse was strongest. Their scents mingled, and I knew what I’d find. They were too close to be anything but wrapped in each other. I was tempted to break through the nylon tent, to rush in there and slaughter him while he was lost to his dreams. Instead, I waited as the two of them slept in each other‘s arms. Every breath she took sealed my heart away a little farther. I was a fool to love her. I should have known.
But in her tent, she had been dreaming of me, begging for me, not him. She let me touch her, taste her, bring her pleasure. Was that all I had been? Was I really just a tool to get her what she wanted?
Movement from inside caught my eye—just a shift in the darkness, shadows in the moonlight. But I knew it was her. I could feel her, her signature pulse, the pull of her as she sat up. Then the flaps opened, and she was there, hair loose and tousled, possibly from her salacious activities in bed with another man. The dark tresses fell across her shoulders, framing her achingly beautiful face. She bit her lower lip and let out a weary sigh as she toyed with the ends of her hair.
My chest tightened with fear as the atmosphere shifted and the power of multiple vampires bore down on us. The council was coming, if not already here. It might be too late. It was then I made my move. Stepping out of the shadows, I rushed her. Her focus snapped to me, irises locking on mine, and there wasn’t a shred of love in them. Fear, hatred, and defiance—those were the only things in the eyes that had once captivated me.
“Cashel.” She whispered my name, so softly the wind almost stole the sound. I heard her though. The one word reminded me of a time I mistakenly thought those two syllables meant something to her. I supposed they had. They’d meant that I was her ticket to freedom, nothing more.
Scooping her into my hold, I ran as fast as I could, ignoring her angry cries for me to stop. I climbed a cliff face until we were high above the camp, out of sight.
“Let me go!” she shouted, but I clamped a hand over her mouth and pulled her close.
“Quiet. Don’t draw any attention to yourself. They’re here, and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. You’re lucky I came for you.”
Her breaths came in harsh gasps, warm against my palm, but I didn’t let her go until I was sure she wasn’t going to blow our cover.
“Who?”
“The council.” I pointed down to a clearing where five vampires in blood-red robes strolled casually toward the camp. “They’re coming for you.”
“We have to help them. They’re asleep. They don’t—”
“No. Have you forgotten what they did to my family? Hunted them like dogs. They killed Brenna. You’re my only concern.”
“No.”
Screams filled the air, flashes of red fabric streaking through the trees, followed by gunshots—lots of them. But I knew the hunters weren’t a match for council vampires. They were chosen and trained specially to be the most skilled of us. Their only match had been the Blackthornes, and even the strongest of us had to fight like hell if we wanted to survive.
“You have to help, Cashel.” Olivia’s plea twisted my gut. I couldn’t risk her to save them.
Hunters ran but were caught by council members, fed on, necks broken and lives destroyed. And then I saw her. Eliana with her hood down, hair trailing in waves down her back. She had Logan in her grip, a wicked smile on her face as she licked a line up his throat.
“Logan,” Olivia whispered, bringing her hand to her lips.
Eliana sank her fangs into his neck and fed until he went limp. Then she let him crumple to the forest floor and skipped over the bloodied bodies littering the ground. “We have to go,” I said, needing to get us to the small bit of protection Blackthorne Manor would provide.
“She killed him.”
I took a long breath, the metallic tang of blood scenting the air still not strong enough to disguise the scent of Logan on Olivia. “I’m—”
“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry. If you were, you’d have warned them all. You let them be slaughtered.” Tears made her voice wobble, and I hated every one of them because they were for him.
“You’re the only one I care for. They are the monsters we tell our children about.”
“You don’t care. You didn’t come for me…you lied.”
“I found you now, little bird.” A mask of control was the only thing I could do to disguise the despair collapsing my chest.
“Stop calling me that. I’m not your pet.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Don’t,” she said, backing away. But there was nowhere to run. She was caught. Her hummingbird heart raced as she came up against a wall of rock.
“So, this is how it is going to be?”
“How it’s going to be? It is going to be nothing. You lying, cheating—”
“Enough.” Rage made my tone harsh and clipped. I stepped closer, muscles tense and ready for a fight. “You’re coming with me. Back where you belong.”
“No, I’m not going anywhere.”
A bitter laugh rose up in my chest. “Still, she argues,” I muttered. “Did he know?”
“Know what?”
My hand reached for her of its own accord, the fucking traitor, and brushed along the soft skin of her throat. Then, unable to keep my distance, I leaned in close. “About what you let me do to you in your tent. About how much you wanted me.”
Her face paled, and the little hitch in her breath told me she’d been caught. “I was dreaming. I don’t want you.”
“Don’t lie. It doesn’t become you.”
“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 gue
ss 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 isn’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 y
ou.”
“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.”