“I will scream if you touch me.” My voice was as cold as a tombstone.
He laughed. “I’ll just cover your mouth.”
He stood and pushed aside his chair. It clattered to the floor, sounding like a skeleton collapsing. I tugged against my cuffs as the emotionless steel just chafed my wrists. I had to face the fact that Ryder would do whatever he wanted with me.
So, I played my last card.
“I’ll tell Sinjin if you touch me.”
He leaned close, so close I could smell his breath—a bitter smell like walking into a damp closet that’s been sealed off from fresh air for years. It was the smell of death.
“Then I’ll come back when you’re asleep and I’ll kill you myself.”
He grabbed hold of my head and yanked it to the side, his eyes roving my exposed neck. I whimpered, trying to pull my head down, but his brute strength was too much for me. He leaned down and inhaled, as if smelling my blood through my neck. I was about to wail out when his hand cupped my mouth. His hand was so big, it covered my nose and mouth, and it was all I could do to get a breath.
He leaned down, and I closed my eyes tightly. I thought he’d bite me, instead, his cold tongue darted out and licked my neck. I shivered in disgust, and he pulled away, smirking down at me.
“I can’t leave no mark else Sinjin gonna know what I did.”
My eyes widened, and a glimmer of hope lit within me. Did that mean he was leaving? He wasn’t going to feed on me? He pulled his hand away from my mouth.
“Stay the hell away from me,” I whispered.
size="3">Ryder laughed and leaned over me again. He grabbed hold of the bottom of his shirt and ripped it, his shirt screaming against the brutal treatment. I’d fare much worse. He approached me with the long piece of fabric, and I made the mistake of opening my mouth to scream. All it did was made the job of gagging me that much easier.
Knowing it was futile, I strained against the handcuffs anyway. He jerked the blanket away from my lower half, and fear beat a wild path through me. My entire body trembled as I glanced down at myself, noting my sports bra and stretch pants. I wasn’t wearing much and my lack of clothing would make Ryder’s job that much easier, whatever it was that he intended to do.
He lunged for my legs, but since they weren’t restrained, I kicked at him with all the pent-up frustration and fear that had been living within me these last couple of weeks. I kicked out with such strength that the cot bucked up. Ryder took a step back as an evil smile captured his broad and ugly face. When he came after me again, he was prepared and grabbed one of my legs, forcing it down with intense pressure until I thought he might break my ankle. I managed to land the free leg right into his nose, and he reared back, his hands covering his face.
That was when I knew I was in deep crap. He dropped his hands and his canines were longer than they’d been a minute ago. His eyes glowed with a fierce and unnatural quality as he faced me with pure hatred.
“You gonna bleed for that.”
He was lightning fast. Within a blink, he had hold of my stretch pants. It only made me realize that he’d been playing with me earlier—toying with his prey before landing the deathblow. He pulled and the material was quick to rip under his immense strength. Angry tears boiled in my eyes as I attempted to bring my legs together. He held them easily, his fangs exposed, lips snarling, and eyes alive with hunger and lust.
“Stop flinchin’ around. When we drink, we get mighty horny.”
I closed my eyes against the tears. There was nothing I could do. The bleakness of my situation beat upon me, and I couldn’t control the river of tears that streamed down my cheeks. Ryder didn’t seem to notice or if he did, he didn’t care.
He lay atop me and pushed my legs as far apart as they’d go, sinking his head between them. I felt the pierce of his teeth as they broke through the skin of my upper thigh and the resulting sting as my body protested his assault. He began to suck, making grunting and moaning sounds as if he were having sex with me.
I screamed out against the gag, my shoulders heaving with sobs. I tried to fill my mind with as many thoughts as I could muster, just so I could ward away the sound of him drinking me and more so, the sound of him enjoying drinking me.
I refused to look at him, but I could feel his eyes on my face. He enjoyed the pain he was causing me.
I whimpered at the sound of him tearing at his belt and the zipper of his pants.
Then I heard the sound that saved me from Ryder.
The sound of Sinjin yelling for him.
Ryder jerked away from me, stumbling to his feet while he threw the coverlet back over me, as if covering the evidence and tore the gag from my mouth. A thin trickle of blood coursed down his chin.
My blood.
Ryder faced me, and his eyes promised he’d pick up where he’d left off. Before I could say a word, he left, zipping up his fly as he went. My will to remain strong crumbled away, and I sank back into the cot, thinking only of my desperate situation as tears bled from my eyes.
#
“Good morning, Sunshine.”
The voice interrupted my dreamless slumber and forced me to face the ugly world beyond the safety of my closed eyelids.
“You certainly are sleeping late.” It was Sinjin’s voice.
Relief washed over me. I opened my eyes and never would’ve known it was morning—the room had no windows and was lit by a single lamp, leaving the whole place in relative darkness.
“Aren’t you supposed to be hibernating?” I mumbled, barely able to get the words out.
Sinjin laughed. “Vampires can be up any time of the day or night, as long as we are not in the sunlight.”
“Oh.”
His brows drew together, his gaze flashing over my body.
“You are certainly tired this morning?”
I nodded, staring at the ceiling and hoping he’d read nothing in my eyes. The door opened, and I craned my neck to see Ryder casually stroll through it. My stomach dropped and my pulse increased.
I hated him.
“I’m to take over watch. Bella wants you,” he said, facing Sinjin.
Sinjin looked at him with a sneer of disgust.
“Don’t leave me with him,” I blurted out before I could stop myself. Sinjin turned to face me, his eyes riveted on mine.
“Why? I will only be…”
“Please,” I begged, a sob choking my throat. I couldn’t fathom being left alone with Ryder.
“If Bella wants me to help her then you can’t leave me alone with him.”
Sinjin’s jaw clenched and for the first time I saw true anger flash in his eyes. It wasn’t a pretty sight—it was a damned scary sight.
“Why are you so afraid of him?”
I made the mistake of glancing at Ryder who promised to kill me in no uncertain terms. The threat of retribution was in his eyes.
“I…I just don’t trust him.” I couldn’t bring myself to go into the how and the why of it, having promised myself I would never revisit yesterday’s events. I would wipe them from my memory and pretend they’d never happened.
Sinjin frowned. “It will just be a minute, Jolie…”
And he started for the door. All I could see was Ryder’s smug smile and although I’d tried to blind myself against them, images of his head between my legs flashed before me.
“Please, Sinjin, he bit me!”
Sinjin stopped. For one long moment, he didn’t say a word.
“I did not see any marks on your neck and Ryder always leaves marks.”
His jaw clenched tight, his eyes issuing a warning of their own. The anger in his gaze scared the life out of me. He thought I was lying. Crap, now I had two vampires to worry about? Well, either way, I wasn’t lying.
“He didn’t bite me there,” I said in a small voice.
Ryder shifted, his beady eyes darting to the door. Sinjin was at my side so fast, I didn’t see him move.
“Where?”
I motione
d down my body.
“You’ll have to remove the blanket. At the junction of my legs…and my body,” I said as the heat of embarrassment claimed my cheeks.
Sinjin tore the blanket off me. His face took on a reddish glow when he noted the tear in my stretch pants. Thank God, I’d worn underwear otherwise I’d be entirely exposed. Much to my chagrin, Sinjin shifted the rip around until he could adequately see the bite marks on my thighs.
He met my gaze, and I was stunned by the remorse I saw there. Then his expression turned deadly. At the emotion in his eyes, my heart dropped, and I wondered if he would attack me. But he wheeled around and leapt on Ryder with a growl.
I pulled against the cuffs until they bit into my wrists, but I was immune to the pain, my eyes transfixed by the sight of Sinjin and Ryder. Sinjin had him by the throat and slammed him into the wall. The entire room vibrated until it felt like an earthquake.
“What the fuck did I tell you, you bloody clot?” Sinjin growled in a voice that was so laced with hatred, I barely recognized it as his.
“Am I not your elder?”
Ryder didn’t respond, but sunk his teeth into Sinjin’s shoulder, biting a mouth full of flesh with an obvious smile. He pulled away from Sinjin as blood dripped from his fangs. Sinjin dropped his hold around Ryder’s neck and glanced at his now bleeding shoulder with disinterest, as if a fly had landed on him. Then Sinjin’s eyes became entirely white and with a low growl, he launched himself at Ryder, thrusting his fingers into Ryder’s arm and shredding his flesh.
I had to turn away at the site of bone and found myself hyperventilating, tears drenching my face. If I hadn’t realized how immensely strong vampires were before, I realized it now. They were basically going to tear each other apart. And the crapper was that I was stuck here as an unwilling audience.
“You disregarded an order from your elder,” Sinjin continued, his eyes like those of a crazy person as his hands tightened around Ryder’s throat again. He lifted him ever so slightly and pitched him against the wall.
“I am a master vampire, or have you forgotten?” Sinjin demanded.
Ryder landed, making the same sound a felled tree would.
“I’m sorry,” Ryder said the words as if they were venomous to his tongue.
In a flash, Sinjin had him by the throat again.
“If you touch her again, I will tear your heart out and suck every last drop of blood.” He lifted Ryder and pinned him against the wall while Ryder’s feet dangled beneath him. He looked like a man in the process of being hanged.
“I apologize, your Grace.”
I was surprised by the appellation, but Sinjin seemed to accept it as he pulled his hand away and Ryder dropped to the floor. His blood marred the wall where his raw shoulder had rubbed against it. Without a word, the younger vampire fled the room.
Sinjin turned and I shook my head as he neared me, tears running from my eyes.
“I am not going to hurt you,” he said and his voice was calm.
I wasn’t.
“Y…You s…stay the hell away from m…me.”
Sinjin kept coming. I tried to pull against the handcuffs and could feel them cutting my skin. I didn’t care.
“It had to be done. Ryder disrespected me and I am his elder.”
“I don’t care who y…you are. You stay away from m…me.”
He slowed and lifted his hands in a show of submission, but my attention centered on the bite in his shoulder, which continued to squirt blood until it was flowing like a river down his arm. A few seconds later, the wound appeared to be healing itself.
“Jolie…” he started forward again.
“Please!”
He stopped and his usually plump lips worried into a straight line.
“I was protecting you.”
I didn’t know what to say and still couldn’t catch my damned breath, so I said nothing, but watched Sinjin take a seat on the chair next to me.
“Do you want me to heal the bites?” he asked and I realized what that would mean. His head between my thighs.
“Noy f
He smiled and looked hesitant, unsure of what to say.
“I will not allow him alone with you again. I apologize for what happened. He will be severely disciplined.”
Will be? I’d thought he’d just received the tail end of a severe punishment. I wondered how much more of this I could take. I hadn’t been up and about in what felt like weeks although, I imagined it was more like days. I needed to make my move sometime; I needed to get out of this situation one way or another.
“When can I see Bella?”
He seemed surprised to hear my voice. But the surprise on his face didn’t last long before his usual arrogant countenance returned.
“She will come to you. I do not know what else to tell you, my pet.”
I closed my eyes against the term of endearment. How it rubbed me the wrong way.
“If Ryder finds me alone, he will kill me. I know he will.”
Sinjin nodded. “I will not allow him near you. You have my word.”
“Your word means nothing to me,” I spat.
Sinjin gritted his teeth, and I wondered if I’d gone too far. He seemed to be the only protector I had here and maybe I needed to make the most of it.
“I suppose actions speak louder than words.”
#
Four days later and Sinjin had been true to his word; I hadn’t had any more visits from Ryder. I did, however, have a visit from Bella. The sight of her made me want to scream in rage. If I hadn’t been cuffed to the goddamned cot, I would’ve lunged at her to let her know exactly what I thought of her.
“What am I doing here?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it from her.
Sinjin followed her and sat in a chair in the far corner of the room, regarding me with what appeared to be concern. Bella settled in the chair next to my bed, taking time to smooth her long, blue skirts.
“I should have won the rights as your employer a long time ago,” she started.
“You lost fair and square even though you poisoned Rand. He was the better witch.” I wasn’t going to mince words. I might be stuck here, but that didn’t mean I had to be polite about it. Her aura vacillated with purple edges, and I smirked.
Surprisingly, she kept calm.
“Regardless of what you think, you are now working for me. You either do as I tell you or I will kill you.”
“Then kill me.” As soon as I’d said the words, I gave myself a second to reflect upon them and thouht maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. For all I knew, maybe Bella wasn’t bluffing. She had killed her father, after all. Killing me would be like taking out the trash.
Sinjin shifted, drawing my attention. He gave a slight shake of his head. Well screw him.
“Don’t forget I know where you live. I know how to get to Rand if need be…” she said, her eyes narrowed like a cat’s.
“Rand is way too strong for you to ever take him unaware.”
“That is debatable,” she said, trying to mask her fury. “But what of your friend…the one I met at your shop?”
My stomach dropped. Bella could and would kill Christa easily. There comes a point when you have to admit your defeat. If Christa was a pawn in this game, I’d lost. I could not and would not endanger my best friend.
“If I do as you say, you’ll leave her alone?” I asked, realizing I’d just given up all my freedom if ever I’d had any.
“You have my word.”
“Just say yes or no,” I demanded, angry that she’d even offer her word.
“Yes,” she snapped.
I nodded and inhaled deeply, preparing myself for the fact that I was now Bella’s slave.
“I want out of this bed.”
“Sinjin, attend to her,” Bella said, watching him hungrily as he moved across the room and bent over me. But Bella wasn’t a bloodsucker, so the hunger in her eyes was of another sort. I smiled inwardly. So, Bella was lusting after Sinjin. Int
eresting. Another note to file away for future reference.
Sinjin undid the cuffs around my wrists, but before I could pull them free, he massaged the inside of my wrists with his thumb. The touch was so personal and out of the blue that I didn’t even have the wherewithal to pull my hands away. I eyed Bella, but she was too focused on the comeliness of his ass as he bent over me to even notice the exchange between us.
Sinjin pulled away from me and returned to Bella’s side of the room as I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t want him close to me.
“I need a shower,” I said, rubbing my wrists. Now that I’d made the decision not to fight them, I had some demands of my own. “I haven’t had one since I’ve been here, and I need some new clothes. I’d create some for myself, but I’ve learned my magic won’t work here.” I couldn’t help the anger that laced my last sentence.
Bella smiled, but it wasn’t sweet.
“Whatever you require, we are happy to oblige.”
“The witch will room with me,” Sinjin announced.
“No,” I started.
“Why?” Bella asked, jealousy resonating in her tone. I wanted to avoid her jealousy like the wrath of Goled away was in a bad enough situation as it was, and I didn’t want to add to it by fueling the flame of contempt Bella was already displaying toward me.
“Ryder is still a threat to her safety. If we lose her, we lose everything we have strived for,” Sinjin argued and eyed me as if he were purchasing a new car.
“So, kill him,” I interrupted.
Fire burned in his ice blue eyes.
“We need him. If we kill him, Gwynn will pull her support.”
Bella nodded. “Yes, we can’t dispose of him.”
“I want a room to myself,” I continued though no one was paying any attention to me.
“You will room with Sinjin,” Bella said, obviously annoyed that she couldn’t find a decent argument against it. She faced me and issued a warning in her eyes—a warning not to mess around with her man. I scoffed at the idea.
I said nothing, but glared at Sinjin, and he gave me a cursory nod. I didn’t know what to think about being his roommate. He’d definitely protect me against Ryder, but who would protect me against him?