Sebastian was officially my fucking hero. If it wasn’t for him, my brother might have been a pile of ashes right now. Instead, Cristiano was here in my apartment with me – alive and well…and pacing in front of my sofa, purple-faced and agitated.
Sitting cross-legged, I stared at him curiously. “You were kidnapped, knocked unconscious, and would probably have died along with the nest if it hadn’t been for Sebastian…but this pisses you off?”
“You’re my baby sister,” he growled.
“And?”
“And he’s a few mental steps away from a fucking psychopath.”
“Don’t judge.”
It was a good thing that I’d asked Salem to give me some time alone with my brother. I’d wanted to tell Cristiano about the upcoming Binding ceremony in private – particularly since I’d worried that he might not be too pleased. I hadn’t wanted him and Salem arguing. In actual fact, I hadn’t even gotten to the subject of the Binding yet. The moment Cristiano realised that I’d moved in with Salem, he’d exploded.
“You seemed to have accepted the relationship when we last spoke on the phone.” After his little chat with Salem.
“Of course I hadn’t accepted it,” he scoffed. “I just knew that fighting you on it would have made you stay with him just to be fucking contrary.” Yeah, it probably would have. “I figured it would be better to let you see your mistake yourself. I should have known better. No, you should have known better. He’s wrong for you.”
I sighed tiredly. Any other time, I might have engaged in a shouting match with him over this, irritated by his interference. But my relief at Cristiano being alive kept my anger in check. Besides, I knew that his real problem wasn’t Salem, it was that Cristiano was too overprotective to ever be comfortable with any male so much as touching his sister. “You never liked any of the guys I dated.”
Cristiano stopped in front of me. “But at least they didn’t have psychosis.”
“I won’t deny Salem has issues –”
“That’s putting it lightly.”
“– but that’s not why you disapprove. No, you’re just latching onto that as an excuse to rant and rave, and justify being an interfering shit.” I leaned forward, my face imploring. “Don’t you want me to be happy?”
“You can’t say with total honesty that that miserable bastard makes you happy.”
“He does. He’s sweet and funny.”
Cristiano regarded me with astonishment and disbelief. “Sweet? Funny?”
“My point is he’s not the one-dimensional psycho you seem to think he is.”
“This really is serious for you, isn’t it?” Cristiano cursed, looking helpless. “You’re honestly thinking of staying with him.”
It wasn’t a question, but I confirmed, “Yes. I love him.”
Closing his eyes, Cristiano inhaled deeply, and I got the feeling he was counting to ten in his head. It was something he often did when I was around – how fun. “Ava…you’re sweet, and caring, and good.” At my raised brow, he admitted, “All right, you can also be a bit of a bitch. But you’re still too good for someone like him.”
Truly fed up now, I waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever.”
“I mean it, Ava.”
“Oh, I know you do…which is why your opinions will now be redirected to ‘1-800-I-fail-to-give-a-flying-fuck’.”
“Ava.” With a sigh of resignation, he flopped on the sofa, looking sulky and worried. And that was when something occurred to me, and I was amazed that I hadn’t seen it before. This wasn’t simply him being overprotective. He was feeling like his nose was being pushed out. Like his role of protector and the most significant person in my life was now threatened. He worried he was losing me.
I twisted to face him. “Cris, I love you. You’re important to me, and you always will be. Salem isn’t replacing you. He’s just sharing the burden that is me.”
“You’re not a burden.”
“Two people can be important to me at one time, right?”
His face softened, and a smile tugged at his mouth. Then it quickly vanished, replaced by a petulant frown. “No.”
I laughed, hugging him. “Let’s look at it another way. You’ll now have peace of mind that while we’re countries apart, there’s someone looking out for me.”
He grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but I could hear the defeat in his tone.
Pulling back, I smiled. “Does this mean you’ll come to the Binding ceremony?” I almost laughed again when his eyes fairly bulged out of his head.
“You’re Binding with him?”
“Yep.” Ignoring the disapproval once more radiating from my brother, I confessed, “I’m still pretty shocked that he asked. I didn’t think it was something he’d ever want.”
“It was his idea?” Cristiano calmed a little at my nod. “He said he cares for you?”
I nodded again, and it surprised me that Cristiano didn’t snort. “You believe he meant it?”
“I learned some things about Salem when I was last here. One was that he doesn’t say anything he doesn’t mean.” He paused. “Another was that he can kill without remorse. Which is a psychopathic tendency and further supports my ‘he’s not right for you’ case, but we’ll ignore that.”
I chuckled. “Thanks.”
“Maybe being around you will make the miserable bastard more sociable.”
“Let’s not expect miracles, okay.”
That made him smile. “And you’re happy here? Being part of the legion?”
“Very. Please be happy for me.”
His shoulders slumped, but his smile remained. “I still say you’re fucking clueless for getting involved with him. But if he’s what you want, I’ll back off.” He awkwardly patted my back when I again wrapped my arms around him. “Now let’s talk about something else, get my blood pressure down. What’s going to happen to Giles?”
Returning my gaze to his, I replied, “Sam and Jared will be executing him on V-Tube, along with the others who were involved. I’m guessing the survivors of the brothel will be glad to hear that.”
He frowned. “They haven’t returned home yet?”
“Their Sires sold them, so they don’t know who they can trust in their nests.”
His expression turned pensive. “I don’t mind taking some back to our nest. Thanks to Victor, our numbers dwindled. But even if it wasn’t now punishable by death, I wouldn’t want to be like him – going around Turning humans against their will so I can increase my numbers.”
See, Cristiano wasn’t a total pain in the ass. “I could ask them, but I’m not sure if they’ll be keen to go with you. They’re pretty distrustful of everyone right now.”
“Understandable. But it might make them feel better to know I’m tightly connected to you – one of the legion members – and that Sam was once a part of our nest. She’d vouch for me. Just don’t ask for a character reference from Jared.”
I smiled. “It’s your own fault that he seethes at the very sight of you.”
Cristiano shrugged, unrepentant. “I better get going. The nest will be eager to get home.”
“But you’ll come back for the Binding ceremony?”
“I’d never miss that,” he assured me. “Even if you are planning to spend your immortal life with a complete nutter.”
“It’s so cute that you two have pet names for each other.”
He snorted. “What is it exactly that he calls me?”
“My personal favourite is ‘fuck-faced bag of shit’. But mostly he just refers to you as ‘that asshole’.”
“I think Jared does, too.” It was said with smugness. He liked the affect he had on Jared.
“Tell me you’re going to stop winding him up now that he rules our kind.”
Cristiano grinned. “Where would be the fun in that?”
I rolled my eyes. “They’re right. You are an asshole.” He just laughed.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
(Ava)
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nbsp; Once Cristiano left, I decided to take a shower, knowing Salem – who had agreed to wait until my brother had left before coming home – would walk through the front door any minute and probably join me. But it was at least twenty minutes after I’d dried myself off and changed into fresh clothes that he appeared in the doorway of the bedroom.
I smiled. “Hey. Cristiano wasn’t too happy to hear our news at first, but after a little –” I frowned as a familiar and offensive scent reached me.
That was when Gina stepped up behind Salem. “Hello, child.” Her grin was arrogant and superior. “Look who I bumped into outside.”
Returning my gaze to Salem, I found him staring hard at me. There was no emotion there, no sense of recognition. My stomach sank. No, no, no, no, no – this just wasn’t happening. I leapt from the bed, intending to charge at the bitch.
“I wouldn’t do anything hasty, if I were you. My protector here wouldn’t like it.”
Protector?
“He’s my puppet now, just like I told you he would be.” She stroked his hair as she pressed up against his side. His gaze moved to her, stayed there. “The adrenalin crash made him susceptible to me.” She’d spoken as though she, as a woman, had seduced him as opposed to him being under her thrall.
“Susceptible to your gift. Not to you.” I licked my lips nervously. “Salem?” No response – not even the flicker of an eyelid. “Salem, come here.” Still no response; he just continued to gaze down at Gina, as though she was all there was.
“There’s no point in calling to him.”
Ignoring her, I repeated, “Salem, come here. Come to me.” But he didn’t. It hurt that I couldn’t get through to him, even though I knew it wasn’t his fault. I’d always suspected Gina would seek him out at a moment when he was weak. It hadn’t occurred to me that the after-effects of a battle could make him vulnerable to her gift unless they were injuries.
“Why do this?” I demanded. “You don’t want him. Not really.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder, rubbing one hand up and down his arm. “You’re right. I don’t. But he betrayed me. And I can’t allow that.”
“Betrayed you?” Maybe if I kept her talking, it would give the thrall time to wear off.
“He left me. And then he chose you over me.”
“But if you don’t want him, what does it matter? Is it an ego-thing? You want to fuck him to shine your ego?”
She laughed. “Oh child, I don’t want him to fuck me. Originally, it was my plan. But then I came to realise a few things as I watched you two together. You’d forgive him, wouldn’t you? If he fucked me right now, it would hurt you, but you’d forgive him.”
Yes, I would. It would devastate me if he touched her that way, but I’d forgive him.
“You’d blame me. And he’d blame me. It would achieve nothing. But…if I made him hurt you, if I made him kill you – someone whose life he actually seems to care about – that would give me exactly what I want. You would be dead, and he would be punished for betraying me.”
And that really would hurt him. He’d already lost the people closest to him, and he blamed himself for their deaths. If I was to literally die at his hands, it would be a torment like no other for him. “It’s a good idea. In theory.”
Picking up on my scepticism, she prodded, “In theory?”
“You forgot one very important thing. The moment Salem realised he’d hurt me, he’d turn on you. Then you’d be dead too.”
“Oh, I’m quite aware that he’ll be hungry for vengeance. Salem always is. But in the moment that a vampire surfaces from a thrall, they’re disorientated and weak. It will be all the opening I need to leave.”
“He’d hunt you down. He wouldn’t rest until he found and destroyed you.”
Gina didn’t seem concerned about it. But then, spoilt kids never thought much on their punishments. “Then maybe I’ll kill him while he’s staring down at your ashes, trapped in misery on realising what he’s done to you.”
“Salem would never hurt me.”
“As much as it annoys me, you’re right. But child, that isn’t Salem you’re looking at. No. My pheromones call to the predator within, bring our primal selves to the surface.” She smiled up at him, grazing his chin with one nail. “Predators are elemental at their core – they want to feed and fuck. That is what you see in front of you. His human characteristics, his personality…it’s all buried deep. He’s been stripped of everything other than his predatory instincts. And he will do exactly as I tell him to.”
Well, shit.
Gina skimmed the tips of her fingers down his chest, earning a sensual growl from him. “You can have me…as soon as you kill her.” She pointed at me, and his eyes latched onto me like a snake latches on prey. Then he took a single step forward, snarling.
This really wasn’t good. “Salem…” It wasn’t the best idea to back away from a predator, but I didn’t want to look challenging. I didn’t want to hurt him, and I didn’t want him to hurt me. Not just because he was a tough bastard who could easily end me, but because Salem would never forgive himself if he came out of the thrall to find that he’d killed me. He carried enough damn guilt.
His eyes narrowed the slightest bit – something I’d learned during training was one of Salem’s ‘tells’. So I expected the subsequent swing of his fist, and I instantly ducked, avoiding the psychic hit. A growl of irritation rumbled out of him.
“Salem, listen to me, you have to stop,” I implored. I considered screaming for help, but it would do no good. The walls were all vampire-soundproof.
His fingers twitched – another ‘tell’. Then his hand again clenched into a fist and swung. I jerked to the side, evading the psychic impact. Again, he growled. He began prowling toward me, seemingly pissed. With each step he took forward, I took a step back, keeping a fair distance between us. I didn’t want it to come to hand-to-hand combat, as things would then get truly messy. So I stayed away, forcing him to fall back on his gift. Again and again he aimed psychic blows at me; again and again I eluded him.
Dodging another punch, I shouted, “Salem, stop!”
“I told you, child: calling out to him is pointless. He’s under my control now. He’ll do absolutely anything for me.”
Really? Well then she might just come in handy. As another psychic punch came my way, I ducked, rolled to the side, and came up behind Gina – all in the space of a single second. Arm wrapped tight around her throat in a constricting hold, I hissed, “You’d better tell him to stop, bitch. As you’ve seen, I’m fast enough to move before his punches make contact. You’re not.”
She didn’t hesitate. “Salem, halt.”
Instantly, he did; his eyes once again focused on Gina.
“Now, release him from the thrall.”
“I can’t.” She futilely tried to free herself from my grip.
I just tightened my hold on her. “Do it!”
“That’s not how it works. The thrall won’t wear off until he’s fucked me.”
“I don’t believe you.” I didn’t want to believe it.
“Look, he’s hard – probably to the point of pain.” A single glance at his crotch told me she was right. “Until he fucks me, he’ll stay that way, which means the only way I can free him is if you step aside so he and I can have some fun.”
Well there wasn’t even the slightest chance that I was going to do that. “Salem, snap out of it!”
“He won’t. His will is tuned in to my voice.”
Her voice…That gave me an idea. “Tell him he can’t have me.”
“What?” Total confusion coated the word.
“Tell him he can’t have Ava. Say it.”
“You do understand that at this moment the only person he wants is me, don’t you?”
“Then you’ll have no problem repeating it. So do it.” If there was one thing I knew about Salem, it was that he was a stubborn bastard who didn’t like anyone telling him what he could or couldn’t have; it was almost li
ke he had an elemental reflex to challenge authority. He’d sure as hell never liked anyone attempting to come between us. He was darkly possessive, Fletcher had said. Maybe prickling that possessive instinct would appeal to something inside him and get through to the predator, maybe it wouldn’t. But it was worth a damn shot. “Tell him.”
“You can’t have Ava.”
He growled, clenching his fists. That was promising, right?
“Say it again.”
“What’s the point? He doesn’t want you.”
“Say it again.”
A bored sigh. “You can’t have Ava.”
He growled again, louder this time.
“Tell him Ava doesn’t belong to him. Now, Gina!”
“Ava doesn’t belong to you.”
His growl sounded more like a boat motor this time. His irises began to glow as his hands again balled into fists. Still, though, he only had eyes for Gina. It occurred to me then that he could be simply impatient to fuck her as opposed to affected by her words.
“Tell him he has to let someone else have Ava.”
She snorted. “Gladly. You have to let someone else have Ava. Now help me, Salem! Pull her away from me!”
He stalked forward, eyes locked on Gina. The closer he came, the more I panicked. Sure, I could hold him off. Sure, I could fight him. But then I’d hurt him, and he’d hurt me. I didn’t doubt for one minute that he could take me in a duel, if it came down to that. A big reason I’d lose was that I’d never be able to bring myself to kill him – not even in self-defence. So when he finally reached us, I shoved Gina at him. Yes, he’d fuck her, and yes, it would wreck me. But it was better than either of us being dead.
His hand gently slipped around Gina’s throat, collaring her, as his eyes fixed on her like lasers. “Mine.”
Fucking ouch.
She gave him a sultry smile. “Yes, I’m yours.”
His head lowered, and I closed my eyes, unable to watch him kiss her. I seriously needed to get out of this fucking room. There was simply no way I could –
Crack.
My eyes flipped open…just in time to watch Gina, whose head was hanging at an unnatural angle, burst into ashes. “Oh, thank God.” I rushed toward Salem, whose gaze then flew to mine. I instantly froze. Because it wasn’t Salem. It was still the predator. And he was totally pissed; probably because I’d repeatedly thwarted his attempts to harm me. As if to confirm that, he snarled. Uh-oh.