by Sarah Bailey
“No. That part was unexpected.”
Ella watched him for a moment before she sighed.
“You do care about her.”
“More than you know.”
“I should go, Lukas will be wondering what’s keeping me.”
“I will tell her you said goodbye.”
“Just… keep her safe.”
He gave her a nod. She gathered up her coat and let herself out. He waited a moment before he strolled over to the sofa. He looked down at the prone figure who was trying not to open her eyes.
“So, you know the truth now,” he said.
Daisy opened one eye to peer up at him.
“I guess so.”
“You’re not angry?”
“No.”
“Can I touch you?”
Her other eye shot open. She sat up in surprise.
“Why are you asking permission?”
“Because you’ve been through enough this evening.”
“You know I can’t say no to you, right?”
He smiled, sitting down beside her and taking her into his arms.
“I can’t believe she told you about George.”
“Were you going to tell me?”
“One day, maybe.” She let out a small sigh. “It’s not something you just come out and say. Oh yeah, my parents suck because my brother went missing, and they wished it had been me.”
“Do they?”
“Yes, at least mum does. ‘Daisy, I have never been more disappointed in anyone. If only it had been you instead of George.’ I remember it like it was yesterday. She’s doped up on prescription meds half the time, but she told me in one of her more lucid moments.”
“Your parents don’t sound like very good people.”
“They were fine until George disappeared.” She smiled up at him. “Ella had a crush on him.”
“She did?”
“Ha, yeah. No idea why. He was mean to her. My parents sent him to Eton. When he was home for the holidays, Ella would always follow him around like a little lost puppy. It was sad to watch.”
He leant down and placed a chaste kiss on her mouth.
“You told Lukas to kill your predecessor?” she asked.
“Raquel had become a liability.”
“So, you didn’t want all her power?”
“If I wished to have the vampire council on my case all the time, I’d have killed her sooner.”
She grinned.
“Is it that bad?”
“Worse.”
“Mmm, I think being the big, bad boss suits you.”
He quirked an eyebrow up.
“Does it now?”
“Maybe… I think it’s kind of hot. But, you know I like it when you take control.”
“So, you admit it?”
She twisted around in his arms, moving so she straddled his lap.
“I admit nothing.”
He ran a hand over her inner thigh. She let out a little gasp. The noise made him hard. She had a way of making him want her so much it ached.
“Is that who you were dealing with when I called you?”
“The council? No. Just some idiotic squabbling between two vampires. They don’t have anything better to do. They were not impressed when I disappeared in the middle of it.”
“You didn’t need to do that for me.”
“I couldn’t concentrate with you feeling all those things.”
She stroked his face. He fought not to turn into her hand, to kiss her palm and up her wrist. He wanted her, but they were having a conversation. She didn’t need him interrupting it with sex. He almost didn’t recognise himself. He’d never been considerate of any human before, but Daisy was different. She’d always been different to him.
“Do you feel what I feel all the time?”
“No, only strong emotions when I’m not around you. When we’re together, that’s a different matter.”
“Have you ever done this before?”
“Shared blood with a human? No.”
She cocked an eyebrow.
“Why me?”
“You heard what I said to Ella.”
“That you care.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I care too… you know, about you.”
“Will you show me just how much you care?”
Her eyes narrowed a little.
“How exactly… Wait… Are you giving me control?”
“Only if you wish it.”
She chewed her bottom lip. The sight made him harder. He wanted to press her down into the sofa and bury himself in her. Her beautiful hazel eyes met his.
“No, Gavin. I want you to have it. All of it. Every part of me is yours, completely. I want only you. Need only you. I don’t want to leave, not now. Not ever.”
He could only stare at her. It was the last thing he expected her to say. She was giving him everything willingly. He never thought she’d submit to him completely.
He felt a surge of an emotion long dormant.
Daisy. I love her.
For the life of him, he couldn’t understand how or why this had happened. Vampires didn’t often feel such things.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?” she asked.
He turned his face into her palm, breathing her in.
“Yes,” he murmured.
He picked her up. They were in the bedroom within moments. He sat her down on the bed, kneeling before her. She looked a little startled, but he took her face in his hands and kissed her gently. Her hands buried themselves in his hair. He liked it more than he cared to admit. Having her run her fingers through his hair.
He pushed the cardigan off her shoulders, discarding it. He pulled away to remove her t-shirt. His own shirt followed along with the rest of their clothes. He lay her down on the bed, looking at her porcelain skin as she squirmed underneath him. She was beautiful. Inside and out.
“Daisy, you are everything I never knew I wanted,” he whispered, kissing her neck.
He wasn’t going to bite her. He didn’t want to be rough. He wanted to make love to her. To show her the side of himself, he kept hidden from the world. He could feel her affection and desire for him through their bond. He worshipped her body until she was a trembling pool of need. Kissing and trailing his fingers over every inch of her bare skin.
“Gavin, please, I want you so much.”
He couldn’t deny her. He lay over her, pressing her legs apart before he entered her. She was so hot, burning for him. He took it slow, savouring every moment until she enclosed him fully.
He took her hands in his as he stared down into her hazel eyes, kissing her fingertips. He began a slow rhythm, watching her carefully. She hooked a leg around his back, drawing him in. He released one of her hands, so he could cup her face and kiss her.
He could feel the tension inside her building as he pressed into her. He wanted to give her the release she desperately craved. He moved, flipping them over so that she was in his lap and his back was to the headboard.
She rose and fell on him with his encouragement, her hands on his shoulders. One hand was on her waist and the other in between them, coaxing her along. She was moaning, clutching him closer. Her hands were on his face, kissing him with abandon. She was so close. He could feel it.
“Gavin,” she cried out.
He couldn’t hold back any longer as she twitched and pulsated around him. The heat between their legs was just too much. He shuddered, fingers digging into her hips, pressing deeper inside her. She held him tightly, her face pressed into the side of his neck.
He loved her. Loved this beautiful human with a fiery temper.
“Daisy.”
“Mmm?”
“I’m all yours too.”
Chapter Seventeen
Daisy felt as though she was in the clouds when she awoke. She reached out, but the bed was empty. Opening her eyes, she could see the covers dappled in sunlight. She was alone again. Letting out a small sigh, she sat up and hauled hers
elf out of bed.
She resented the fact he was never there when she woke up, but it was a necessity. She just wished she knew where he spent the daylight hours. She wanted to be with him even when he was dead to the world. But it was just wishful thinking. Gavin might be all hers, but there were things he wouldn’t reveal. Where he slept was one of them. Vampires were too secretive by half.
She couldn’t get over his little revelation last night. He’d given himself to her. It wasn’t quite a declaration of love, but she didn’t care. He’d been so gentle with her when they’d had sex, it’d felt like they were making love. But that was ridiculous. He didn’t love her. She didn’t know if vampires were capable of feeling love.
She’d almost told him she loved him in the heat of the moment. It was something she couldn’t afford to say. She’d given herself over to him but saying ‘I love you’ was an entirely different matter. It made her feel far too vulnerable. What if he left her when he got bored? Where would she be then? She couldn’t go through losing someone else she loved.
Not again.
Her heart ached a little when she thought about her brother. George might have been a complete arse to most people, but he’d always looked out for her. He wouldn’t let anyone give her any trouble. Deep down, she missed him more than she cared to admit.
She didn’t often think about her older brother. It had been fifteen years since he’d gone missing. He’d be thirty-four now. If he was even still alive. Would her life have been different if he was still here?
Shaking herself, she took a shower and got dressed. She scrounged up a late lunch in Gavin’s surprisingly well-stocked kitchen. She’d never thought to ask him why he kept all this stuff around. She knew he had human aids who took care of his place, but it was still strange. Maybe he had human guests here a lot. She didn’t like to think about it. He said he only needed her, but she couldn’t be sure that he didn’t entertain other women.
A raging bout of jealousy flooded through her. She didn’t want another woman touching him. He was hers and hers alone. She slammed her fist down on the breakfast counter. If he thought that was going to fly with her, he was going to have a serious wake up call.
She paused. She was being idiotic. She didn’t have any right to tell him what he could and couldn’t do, did she? She wasn’t quite sure where this was coming from. He’d never given her a reason to suspect he was with anyone else. She needed to get a grip. She was the only human he’d ever bonded himself with. That meant something. Hell, it meant he’d never cared about a human enough to want that before. Did she really mean that much to him?
This line of thought was dangerous. He’d already given so much of himself to her. It was selfish to expect more.
She dragged herself from his flat and out into the cool spring air. The sun was out. It was a nice afternoon. She smiled a little to herself. It was almost summer.
She was so lost in the enjoyment of the sun on her face, she hadn’t realised someone had stepped out into her path. She stumbled, stopping just in time so she didn’t walk into them. Her eyes rose upwards, following the broad chest until she met a pair of blue eyes.
“Hello, Daisy.”
Her mouth went a little slack. She gazed at him in wonder.
“Hello. You must be Valehal.”
“I see your friends have told you about me. You may call me Val. We are going to get acquainted with each other, intimately, after all.”
She nodded. There was a voice screaming inside her head she needed to turn around and run back to Gavin’s building. Something kept her frozen on the spot. She couldn’t look away from him. She felt the need to touch him.
“You have pretty eyes.”
Wait, what the hell was she saying? He chuckled as if sensing her internal discomfort.
“Come.”
He put a hand out to her. She took it, looking up at him in awe. She didn’t want to go with him, but she had to. What is happening to me? Why can’t I look away?
She tried to struggle against her own body’s compulsion to follow him, but it was like wading through wet cement.
He led her away down the street. Further away from her vampire.
Gavin.
He would be asleep and have no idea Valehal had taken her. Her heart sank. She was in the clutches of the man who wanted her dead and there was nothing she could do about it.
“I’ve been waiting to meet you. You are the one thing in this world Ella treasures other than Lukas.”
He’d said Lukas’ name like it was anathema to him.
“Alas, he is far too dangerous. You are only human. Perfectly breakable and break you I shall.”
It made her think about the first night she’d met Gavin and he’d told her he wanted to break her. What he had meant and what this werefox meant were two very different things.
Valehal wanted to kill her. He was going to make it as painful as possible.
He stopped, turning and cupping her face with his free hand, his blue eyes bloodthirsty. Her skin crawled at his touch, but she couldn’t move away.
“I did not expect you to be quite so beautiful. It will make this all the more enjoyable for me. Especially since I know whose hands have been all over you. I never understood why Raquel allowed him to rise through the ranks. He was always too quiet. Too discerning. He saw right through me.”
She wanted to claw his eyes out. That was her vampire he was talking about. Her anger broke through the hold he had on her momentarily.
“Don’t you fucking talk about him.”
His eyebrows rose in surprise before he smiled wickedly.
“You care for him.” He paused. “No. It is more than that.”
She immediately regretted saying anything. She’d given him something he could use against her.
“You love him.”
He brushed his thumb along her cheek. She almost whimpered.
“Oh, this is just wonderful. Tell me, does he care for you too?”
She wanted to clamp her mouth shut, but she couldn’t. The need to answer him was too strong.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’m his and he is mine.”
His smile turned deadly.
“This just gets better and better. I had only thought to break your best friend’s heart just as she has done to me. But no, to take you away from him also, that makes it so much sweeter.”
Tears welled in her eyes. Her heart was tearing in two thinking about how much this man wanted to hurt the people she loved. He dropped his hand from her face and tugged her along again. In the next street, he shoved her into the backseat of a car and sat next to her.
“Drive,” he commanded the person in the driver’s seat.
She didn’t recognise the man at all.
“Tell me, Daisy. How do you think he’ll feel when he discovers I’ve taken you?”
“He’ll kill you.”
He laughed. The sound made her ears hurt.
“I’m not scared of him. He can use all his resources, but he’ll never find you.”
She clamped her mouth shut, biting the side of her cheek. She couldn’t tell him about their bond. She was relying on it. Gavin could find her that way. He’d said he could. It’s why he’d given her his blood.
A single tear fell down her cheek.
“Give me your phone.”
She fumbled around her pockets, but she realised she didn’t have it. She racked her brain. It was still on Gavin’s sofa where she’d left it last night. She’d forgotten to pick it up.
“I left it at his.”
He clearly didn’t believe her as he searched her pockets and her bag. When he was satisfied she was telling the truth, he sat back, a smile on his face.
They drove for quite some time before the car pulled up outside a large warehouse. He ordered her out of the car and led her into the building. There were two men standing guard just inside the doors.
“Tell the others to make sure I’m not disturbed. Inform me immediately if there is any
trouble. I do not imagine the human’s friends will find us but be prepared in case they do.”
The two men nodded at him. Valehal hustled her through the building and up some stairs onto a mezzanine area. He shoved her into a room. Her blood ran cold. There was a metal chair with straps and besides it a large table full of tools. She dreaded to think what he was planning to do to her.
“Sit.”
Her body moved of its own volition. She tried to resist, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t even protest, her mouth jammed shut. She sat down in the chair, setting her arms on the sides, her hands flat. He secured her to the chair tightly by her wrists and ankles with straps.
“Now I have you where I want you.” He paused, pulling off a little tie-pin from his shirt collar. “We can dispense with this. I want you to feel everything. To fight back.”
He dropped the pin on the table. It clattered loudly. She immediately felt the control he’d wielded leave her. Her body was her own again.
“What did you do to me?”
“Did Ella never tell you why her demon was after me?”
“No. Ella and Lukas don’t talk about their work much.”
“That little pin holds magic. You could not resist me even if you tried. It compels you to obey the wearer. Humans are so simple.”
He looked over the tools on the bench before he picked up a pair of pliers.
“What will Gavin say when he finds his little human’s corpse, mutilated beyond recognition?”
Terror ran through her at his words. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Sweat beaded on the back of her neck.
“I imagine it will break his poor lifeless heart.”
He took two steps towards her before he placed his hand over hers, flattening it to the cold metal.
She couldn’t speak. She knew without a doubt when he decided to use those on her, it would be agony. Agony that would channel through her bond with Gavin. He was going to suffer her pain right along with her. He’d told her he could feel strong emotions when they weren’t together. This was going to hurt both of them, but Valehal couldn’t find out. He already knew enough without that extra piece of information.
“Nothing to say? I heard you were fiery. Tell me, Daisy, where is that fire now?”