If she couldn’t remember the details, I wasn’t about to remind her. It was better for us both that she not recall exactly what went on. “It’s better that way.”
She nodded and tried to hide a yawn behind her hand. I smiled down at her and stroked her forehead. “You’re tired,” I said, pointing out the obvious.
“Yes.”
I started to move, to stand up, but she clung to me and the fear I’d seen in her eyes moments earlier returned. “You need to sleep, Jolie,” I said, just as I noticed the blood still staining her bedsheets and body.
“Would you prefer to sleep in another room?” I asked, thinking this one might now bear bad memories.
“Yes,” she started and then dropped her gaze to her fidgeting hands. “I’m afraid, Rand. Will you stay with me?” There was urgency in her tone.
Really, I was needed outside with my men. I was more than certain that word of the wolf attack was now spreading through our battalions and it was my duty to announce exactly what had happened, that there had been one among us who betrayed our trust. And, furthermore, what I intended to do to ensure the rest of us were safe. But, at the moment, my men could wait. Jolie needed me and she was my priority.
I tilted her head up and smiled. “Of course.” Then I reached down, secured her in my arms and lifted her. She rested her head on my chest and I started for the door.
“Which bedroom do you prefer?” I asked.
“Yours,” she said with no hesitation.
I wasn’t certain why but her answer caused a sense of warmth in me and I smiled to myself. “Very well.”
I walked the few paces to my bedroom and opened the door with a thought. Once inside, I imagined the lights turning themselves on and they flickered in acquiescence, dimming themselves until they sent a slight yellowish glow throughout the room.
“I love it in here,” Jolie whispered. “It smells like you.”
I chuckled and kissed the top of her head but said nothing as I approached my bed and pushed the duvet to the side. Jolie clung to me as I bent down, intending to settle her against the pillows.
“I need to shower,” she argued.
“Do you have the strength?”
She cleared her throat and dropped her gaze, as if she were embarrassed. “I need your help.”
At the realization of what that meant, that she and I would be naked together, I felt a bolt of energy, of excitement pulsing through me. I immediately dampened it down, though, realizing this would be anything but sexual. She was hardly in the right frame of mind …
“Okay,” I said and my voice was constricted, deep. It had to be more than obvious that I was battling with myself, forcing my desire to abate.
“Can you help me?” she asked and brought my attention to the fact that she was attempting to free herself from her “jammies” as she termed them. Her top was mostly ripped and already falling off her shoulders, thanks to the wolf’s attack. I merely looped my finger underneath one strap and slowly pulled it up and over her wound, ensuring I didn’t accidentally brush up against it, even though Sinjin’s saliva was already in the process of healing her. Then, forcing my eyes to hers, I pulled the strap further down her arm until the fabric dropped away from her entirely, revealing her breasts.
Keep your eyes on her face, man! I reminded myself. It was a difficult task because Jolie’s breasts are simply—awe-inspiring. I’ve only had the pleasure of witnessing them on a few occasions but if I had to, I could delineate them on paper flawlessly. Although I’ve never made love to her, we have come close. And as to why we’ve never become lovers … it’s quite complicated. I began our acquaintance as her employer and fiercely promised myself to act the part of her guardian and protect her rather than seduce her. And now? Although I still consider myself her protector, she no longer works for me, so I suppose I could free myself of that promise. Perhaps.
“You can look at me, Rand,” she whispered.
I swallowed but didn’t respond, merely took advantage of the opportunity she was offering and allowed my gaze to move slowly down her face, to her neck and further south still. Her breasts were just as beautiful as I remembered them—full enough to fill my hand, with nipples that were alert and flushed pink.
“Do you want to touch me?”
I cleared my throat and forced my attention back to her face. “Yes.”
She smiled and that was when I realized that perhaps she was still under Sinjin’s power, there was a chance that this wasn’t what she really wanted. And even though I could have been making a mistake, if there was even an inkling of doubt as far as where her feelings were coming from, it was a risk I was not willing to take.
“Jolie,” I paused as I searched for the proper words. The last thing I wanted to do was upset or insult her. “I’m afraid the feelings Sinjin spawned in you have not yet abated.”
She seemed taken aback, the smile dropping right off her lips. “Oh,” she said and flushed with what appeared to be embarrassment.
And that was when I realized I had to make her understand that I wanted her, absolutely, but not like this. “I would never do anything to hurt you, Jolie, or take advantage of you when I don’t believe you to be in the right frame of mind.”
She nodded and dropped her gaze, crossing her arms against her chest. “I understand.”
I ran my hands through her hair, imagining the sweat and blood fading into nothing and watched as the sheen of her hair returned. As I traced the incredibly soft skin of her temples and cheeks, the smudges of blood disappeared, leaving only the radiant beauty of her face. I could attempt to heal her wound but I already knew I’d be unsuccessful as not even Sinjin’s saliva could heal it completely. Due to the virility of the canine virus, the healing process would need to run its own course. My warlock magic would not be able to hurry it along.
“You are beautiful,” I whispered and brought my lips to hers. I only intended to kiss her chastely but she opened her mouth and before I knew it, my tongue had entered her mouth and now mated with hers. I groaned against her, felt my hands traveling up the line of her waist until they found her breasts. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I pulled her into me, needing to feel her against me. She moaned and something inside me yelled that I was taking advantage of the situation. She was still not in her right mind and I was seducing her? I was as bad as the bloody vampire!
I pulled away from her and took a few steps back. “I … I apologize. I should not have …”
“Rand, I want this.”
I shook my head. “You need to sleep and heal, Jolie.” I paused. “It’s not right for me to do this with you … now.”
Her eyes narrowed and she frowned, pulling away from me. “One of these days I wish you would just give in to your feelings for me and not find some excuse as to why you can’t,” she said and her voice was angry.
“There is a chance that you might rethink anything we do here and now,” I rebutted. “I don’t want that to happen.”
She sighed and suddenly appeared exhausted. “It’s hard to be angry with you or get disappointed when you’re just so … honest and … and good.”
I chuckled even though I wasn’t sure how to take her comment. I wanted her; she had to know that. But I respected her and cared for her enough that the moment had to be right.
She faced my bed and sighed. I pulled the duvet back and, lifting her, delicately placed her against the pillows and pulled the cover up as if she were a child and I were tucking her in. Imagining gauze and tape, I closed my eyes and focused until I could feel them materialize in my hands. Then I set to bandaging Jolie’s wound.
“Will you stay with me?” she asked. “Just until I fall asleep?”
I smiled. “Of course.”
I sat down beside her and watched her roll onto her side until she was facing me. “Thank you,” she said with a small smile.
“For what?”
“For always looking out for me and driving me insane with your infallible sense of hon
or.”
I chuckled. “It doesn’t sound very good when you put it that way.”
She smiled as her eyes closed, revealing her incredibly long eyelashes as they dusted her cheeks. “It’s good, Rand, it’s good.”
I stroked her hair and smiled, even as I realized she was drifting off, boarding the ship to the Isle of Sleep. “I promise to keep you safe, Jolie. I promise that this will never happen again.”
“Mmm hmm,” she muttered.
I shifted a long and silken strand of hair behind her ear, not able to tear my gaze from the tranquil beauty of her face. “You mean the world to me.”
But she was already asleep.
Sinjin was in my rose garden. The milky rays of moonlight reflected against his hair and bathed him in an eerie glow.
As I glanced out my window and watched him pick one of my red roses, I felt anger slowly winding up my body. Sinjin should have been out sparring with his men, training them for the battle, not playing the role of gardener.
I strode out of my bedroom doors, onto my balcony that overlooked the manicured garden and was about to yell at him to get back to his men when I caught sight of someone darting out from the shadows of Pelham Manor. She was wearing a cloak that obscured her face but somehow I knew who it was.
Jolie.
At her appearance, Sinjin smiled and once she was directly before him, he pushed the hood from her face, the moon’s rays highlighting her blond hair. I felt my stomach turn. Why was she meeting Sinjin in the cover of darkness? And why the cloak? What was the secrecy about?
Feeling as if I couldn’t move, I merely watched them, watched as Sinjin offered her the rose he’d pilfered from my garden and she accepted it with a demure smile. As soon as she touched it, though, she pulled away. She held her hand out before her and I could see the velvet crimson of her blood contrast against the paleness of her hand.
My pulse began pounding, causing a headache in my temples. I wanted to scream at her to get away from him, that she was bleeding and he was a vampire but I found I had no voice. I opened my mouth and nothing came out. Thinking I could jump over the balcony and use magic to soften my landing, I attempted to do so but found my feet rooted in place. I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t move. And I didn’t even have the wherewithal to wonder why. Instead, I was transfixed by the sight of the two of them. All I could do was look on helplessly as Sinjin took Jolie’s finger and sucked it, throwing his head back in ecstasy as the flavor of her blood hit his tongue.
Jolie, get away from him! I thought the words, our mental connection the final opportunity I had of reaching her. But she never turned to face me, never broke away from the vampire. Instead, she allowed him to drink from her, allowed him her finger, allowed him to enjoy her.
Jolie! I screamed inwardly again but as with the first time, nothing.
Was she under his spell? Had he somehow managed to bewitch her again? Had my charm not worn off? I pushed against the invisible shackles that kept me in place but realized I wasn’t going anywhere. I was stuck.
I painstakingly brought my eyes back to the visual of Jolie and Sinjin and felt the breath catch in my throat. Sinjin had untied her cloak and it dropped to her ankles. Beneath the cloak, she was naked. The rays from the moon delineated every line of her body, the way her small waist flared into her hips, which tapered into her long and beautiful legs. Her back was toward me and I could barely pull my gaze from her plump and shapely rear. She was just so beautiful, so feminine, so … helpless when under Sinjin’s power.
I opened my mouth to yell again but as with the first attempts, nothing. And that was when I remembered I was a warlock and had the advantage of magic. I held my hands out before me and focused all my energy between them, waiting for the telltale sign of light to bubble up between my palms. I watched as the faintest beginnings of a bluish glow began to grow from between my hands and doubled in intensity until it was humming with electricity. Facing Sinjin, I hefted my left arm backward and hurled the ball at him. It merely blinked and fizzled before it even touched the ground. Sinjin must have seen it, though, because he glanced up and when he recognized me, the bastard smiled.
And it was a smile that said he knew I was immobile, that there was nothing I could do to stop him from having his way with Jolie. As if to prove the point, he grasped her, none too gently, by the nape of her neck and rotated her around until she was facing me. It was as if she was a puppet to his puppeteer. There was a mask of vacancy on her face; she was playing the part of captive; she was under his spell. She was his to do with as he would and there was nothing I could do to stop him.
He grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head to the side as if to prove that he could be as rough with her as he chose to be. That I was powerless to come to her defense. That I could do nothing more than watch.
He brought his hands up and stroked her naked breasts, his smile one of conquest, of triumph. Then, before I could so much as blink, he sank his teeth into her neck. She bucked against him either in shock or pain or possibly both but said nothing, merely closed her eyes as a smile took control of her mouth. He was going to seduce her, force her to his will, and I would have to watch every second of it.
Blood spilled from the wound he’d inflicted on her neck and when he pulled away from her, throwing his head back as he savored her taste, the blood came pouring from her neck faster, spiraling down her breasts, spreading at her nipples where it dropped to the ground beneath her.
Jolie, break away from him! Use your own magic to escape from his trance!
I don’t even know why I tried; the situation was hopeless.
Sinjin’s hands left her breasts and began caressing her stomach. He gripped her waist and pulled her into him, only to bury his face in her neck again. She didn’t respond to his attack but glanced up and even though she was under his spell, she recognized me. I could see it in her eyes. She smiled as if we’d just met one another in the street under normal pretenses, as if she wasn’t standing there stark naked with Sinjin feeding from her.
I glanced down at myself, at my immobile feet and focused all my attentions on moving them, on using my magic to break whatever spell had been inflicted on me. I closed my eyes and imagined light penetrating me, brightening in energy as it encountered whatever incantation I’d been plagued with.
When I opened my eyes, the breath caught in my throat. Sinjin’s hand was between her thighs and what was more, her head was thrown back and her eyes were tightly closed. She was enjoying it!
I felt a scream tear at my throat and I sat bolt upright, glancing around myself in bewilderment. I recognized the mahogany furnishings and dark hunter green of the walls, which meant I was in my bedroom.
It had been a dream, just a horrible vision concocted by my subconscious mind. It wasn’t real. Thank God.
I stood up, the adrenaline still rushing within me. I couldn’t wipe away the image of Sinjin pleasuring Jolie, of her eyes rolling back in her head as he touched her, as he learned how to manipulate her body.
I shook my head and tried to quell the images even as they rampaged through me. Reaching for my pants, which I’d draped over the chair just beside my bed, I pulled them on, following with a white T-shirt. The pounding energy within me needed to be expended. The best way to work off the steam was to spar with my men, throw myself into practicing for the battle. Allow the testosterone that had been building within me a release.
I took the stairs two at a time and ran down the hallway leading to the kitchen that would, in turn, lead me outside to the training grounds behind the manor. All the while, images of Jolie and Sinjin continued to plague me, continued to play within my mind’s eye like a film that couldn’t be turned off. I stopped running and clenched my eyes shut, willing myself to stop the instant replay, pleading with my brain to quit bombarding me with images I couldn’t take. When I opened my eyes, the memory of the dream was gone. My magic had done its job for now, at least.
Once outside, I hurried through the
throngs of battling soldiers, finding a sense of peace in the war cries, flashes of steel, and snarling of vampires and werewolves. I could honestly say I would much rather witness the pain and anguish of battle than witness another vision of Sinjin touching Jolie, pleasuring her.
I spotted Odran, the King of the fairies, as he acted the part of leader and instructed two fae soldiers in the art of magic, and more specifically, how best to attack an opponent with a lightning bolt.
Physically, Odran is the essence of power. Jolie once remarked that he resembled a lion and I think it’s a very apropos statement. Odran is both broad and incredibly tall. I would guess he’s over six-foot-five. His mane of hair is the color of gold and long enough to reach his lower back. His eyes are amber and match the golden tone of his skin. And the King of the fae wears only kilts, either in blue or purple—the colors of majesty, the colors of the King. Although I feel very fortunate to call the fairies allies in our war against Bella, I cannot say that I care for Odran. He is too much a womanizer.
“Odran, spar with me,” I called out. Even though it was an invitation, it came out as more of a command.
Odran faced me and dropped his chin quickly in a silent greeting. Then he smiled. “Aye,” he responded in his deep, Scottish brogue.
The two fae soldiers stopped fighting one another and turned to watch us, probably pleased by the break.
Odran and I stood perhaps six feet apart. I nodded in silent recognition of the fact that our sparring was about to begin. Odran didn’t respond but closed his eyes as his body began to emit a subtle yellow glow. He held his hands out at his sides, his fingers spread as the light began to build. He was buffering his magical stores, using energy to produce more energy. I could have done the same but the nightmare images of Sinjin and Jolie I’d just had the misfortune of concocting for myself were enough to see me through this fight.
I glanced down at my hands and holding them out before me, palms facing one another, I watched as a bluish light glimmered from between them until it appeared I was holding a blue fireball. I glanced up at Odran, found he was no longer focused on building his magical reserves and, therefore, was ready to begin. I turned to the side and unloaded the fireball, hurling it into Odran’s stomach. It sizzled a few times and then disappeared. Odran chuckled as if my first attempt were mere child’s play.