Born in Chains (Men in Chains)

  He flopped back down on the bed and clasped his hands behind his head. He hated to hear a woman cry, but he also knew that tears were a release. He wished he could help, make it better, make this whole damn infuriating, impossible situation just go away.

  But he couldn’t. He was as stuck as Lily and no closer to getting back to his brothers, to releasing them from prison, than he was to finding the extinction weapon.

  He reviewed all that had happened in the crystal cave with Silas and his enthralled killers. Those unfortunate men had probably thought they’d been hired to do some general cave maintenance, check for damp, remove stalagmites in living areas, relocate young colonies of bats to human-based caves.

  Instead, Silas had used them as a weapon.

  Here was one more prime example of the abuse that Ancestrals imposed on regular vampires, using basic enthrallment skills that had cost how many men their lives. Vampire law was basic and ineffective: If you held the knife, you were guilty. Never mind that an Ancestral could exert mind-control over lesser vampires and use them to commit murder.

  One more reason he despised that he’d added the more powerful bonding chain and taken the first step toward joining the ranks of the Ancestrals. But at least his brush with Daniel had told him he’d made the right choice: Both he and Lily would be dead right now if he hadn’t added the double-chain.

  He lifted his arm and flexed. The bruises, welts, and burns were gone, not even a twinge of pain, one more sign of his increased power, since even his self-healing abilities had improved.

  His thoughts turned to the extinction weapon. One thing he knew for sure right now was that Daniel intended to get hold of that weapon any way he could. If he had to create other tracking pairs by making use of Lucian and Marius, then he would do that. If Adrien didn’t deliver or didn’t join him like Quill and Lev had, then Daniel would probably kill Adrien, as simple as that, which of course meant that Lily would perish as well.

  He didn’t want her to. He wanted her to live.

  He also wanted her to trust him, but she still kept her secret. Not that he blamed her. If he’d been in her shoes, having lost her family to a vampire attack, would he have trusted a vampire?

  He snorted. Not even a little. In fact, if humans had killed his family, those he loved, he was pretty sure he would have gone on a killing rampage of his own and never looked back.

  But here Lily was, bound to him, sleeping with him, donating her blood, saving his life repeatedly, and not just for the secret she kept. He’d come to know her in these past two, now three nights. He valued who she was, who the blood-chains told him she was, how much she’d loved the family she’d lost, how she’d slept close to him last night, stayed with him, comforted him. No one could fake that kind of character and if he didn’t know better, he’d almost say he loved her, which of course seemed impossible.

  He wasn’t a vampire who could ever really love, not with Daniel as his sire. Always at the edge of his consciousness was the knowledge that he could become like Daniel, as vile, as self-focused, as cruel. He struggled against that darkness every day of his life.

  But there was the other part of him, born of his mother who’d died. He had memories of her when he was young, of her singing and holding him, teaching him, and, yes, of weeping as Lily wept now.

  His mother had been a good woman, a fine human woman, and Daniel had killed her.

  Sometimes Adrien could barely breathe for the rage he felt against Daniel, for the deaths notched into his belt.

  He closed his eyes and forced himself to take deep breaths, to press down all that rage, that hatred.

  He left the bed, slid into his battle leathers, and moved into the expansive living room. He’d never been in this suite before, but Rumy did everything right; fine wood and leather furniture and blue crystals that formed a wave-like pattern above a stone fireplace. A smaller waterfall to the left, similar to Eve’s, filled the space with welcome humidity.

  His thoughts turned once more to Lily and he wondered yet again what secret she kept from him.

  * * *

  Leaving the shower, Lily dried off and blew her nose. Mourning her husband and daughter from time to time was as necessary as breathing and had been for the past two years. Her separation from Josh and living with her fears about what might have happened to him over the last two years brought on a similar round of grieving.

  Was he truly alive?

  Had he been hurt?

  Would he even know her or be able to forgive her for not protecting him?

  And should all things work out, should she actually find the extinction weapon and get him back, would he blame her for not having found him sooner?

  Two more tears rolled down her cheeks.

  She swiped at them and forced herself to breathe deep, to take healing air into her lungs, to try to move on.

  Kiernan had told her that he’d had a caregiver in charge of Josh all this time, a human woman. Lily had asked who she was and had even questioned Kiernan about her qualifications, but Kiernan just laughed at her and said, “Suffice it to say she’s in my employ permanently. I could even say she loves the kid.”

  These were her only consolations, that Josh might have been well looked after.

  She forced herself to rein in her emotions, at least for now. She focused instead on Adrien and the night ahead.

  She’d heard him leave the bed and get dressed, the results of finely tuned vampire hearing, so it was time to get moving and to let Adrien know about the two big events soon to come.

  But just as she would have risen from the floor, a very different kind of thought streaked to the surface of her mind. Can I communicate with Josh?

  Leaning against the side of the white porcelain bathtub, she suddenly sat up straighter. She’d been siphoning power from Adrien from the time she’d put on her chain, and now her power was even stronger because Adrien had reached the first level of Ancestral status. Though it was a long shot, she closed her eyes and took in a slow deep breath. She relaxed her shoulders and let her mind go loose. She focused on only one thing: her son.

  The strangest sensation intruded, like movement, like she wanted to float in what must be a northeasterly direction, maybe toward Russia, as once more her tracking ability surfaced. She stayed as relaxed as she could and sent her thoughts in that direction so that pretty soon she could feel a flow of thought moving at light-speed until it encountered … Josh.

  Stunned, she held herself, her mind, her thoughts completely still. Was she imagining this or was it real?

  She wanted to scream with excitement, but she needed other things first. She touched the object, which felt warm to her thoughts. Yes, she felt her son and he was very much alive.

  Alive. Josh really was alive!

  Taking another deep breath, she formed one word and reached into his mind. Josh.

  A kind of movement returned, but cloudy and ill formed, a child’s mind.

  I’m here, Josh. I can sense your presence. Mother is here.

  She felt the warmth of his mind relax in much the same way that Adrien had relaxed beside her while he slept. Mom?

  She trembled now. Yes, I’m here. Are you okay? Tell me you’re all right!

  I’m fine. Claire is here. She’s taken care of me. Mom, I miss you.

  I miss you, too. So much it hurts. She couldn’t believe the amount of energy she was expending to sustain the conversation. Listen, honey, I’m doing everything I can to get back to you, but there are some things that have to be done first.

  I know. Mr. Kiernan told us.

  Good. That’s good. Pain swelled inside her head. She couldn’t hold this much longer. That’s what I need to know. She felt the power fade. I’ll do everything I can to bring us back together. I have to go. The power began to fade. I’ll find you, Josh. I love you.

  Okay … Mom?…

  Then nothing. Her telepathy returned to her, however, in an almost rubber-band snap of pain. She put her hand to her head, wincing. But s
he didn’t care that she hurt. She’d talked with her son. Josh really was alive and a woman named Claire had taken care of him. At least Kiernan hadn’t lied about that.

  She didn’t know what she felt for a long, long moment. Not relief exactly, though that was there. Then she felt it: joy. Josh was alive. She’d kept that thought in the forefront of her mind from the time Kiernan had first contacted her, but she’d never quite believed it. Now she could. Her son was alive. She’d felt him, talked with him.

  Her son was alive.

  She realized she was smiling. She was sitting on the bathroom floor and smiling. Her son was alive. Alive.

  And there was one person she wanted badly to share that news with.

  The door opened and Adrien, dressed in only his black leather pants, stepped into the room. “I could feel you speaking to someone telepathically. What’s going on?”

  Her heart began to race. She wanted to tell Adrien so badly.

  “I feel your distress and your excitement. Tell me.”

  Slowly, she rose to her feet. “Please don’t ask. I want to tell you but it’s a condition of my part in the hunt for the extinction weapon. If I reveal this secret, I don’t know what will happen.”

  Adrien stared at her and nodded.

  She slipped back into telepathy. You’re disappointed that I won’t tell you, that I won’t trust you.

  His smile was crooked. It’s unreasonable, but yes, I am. I want your trust more than anything.

  I do trust you and I wish I could tell you. You’ve become so important to me. I …

  She’d almost said the most impossible words of all, that she loved him. She emitted a kind of gagging sound, then turned in a circle as though she could run from the thought. “What’s wrong with me? These damn chains. I feel what you’re feeling and now—”

  “I know.” His hands were on her once more, her back to him, but she relaxed and let him touch her.

  “The nightmare that wouldn’t end,” she said.

  He didn’t say anything but surrounded her in a warm embrace. He was so kind, so loving. He was a vampire—and yet he was so much more than that. She whirled in his arms and hugged him hard, her head resting against his shoulder.

  After a moment, he drew a deep breath. “I suppose I should call Rumy, ask if there was any activity after we returned.”

  She pulled away to look up at him then told him the plan, first that she had a surprise for him then the gala.

  “A surprise? What kind of surprise?”

  After she answered or chose not to answer all his questions, she suggested dinner first, after which she would take him someplace unexpected.

  * * *

  By the time Adrien had finished grilling a pair of steaks, he knew something was up. His chains now hummed against his neck and chest and he could feel Lily’s excitement.

  As he cut a bite of rib eye, he asked, “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

  She met his gaze. “Just decided to take the advice of a friend.”

  He might have argued or at least made an attempt to ply the information out of her, but a new scent rose above the aroma of his meal, which made him pause mid-bite and stare hard at Lily. She wasn’t just excited, she was excited. Her sweet feminine scent floated in streamers of sensation and her desire fueled his.

  He shifted in his seat. They’d have some time before the gala and Lily had even gotten their clothes here, which meant they’d have a couple of hours or more to be together.

  He brought his fork to his lips, paused, then shoved another bite of steak in. He chewed, maybe a bit harder than he should have, but the thought of taking Lily back to bed had become a quick fluttering of erotic images through his mind.

  He also felt a familiar tingling near his heart that told him he’d need blood soon. But Lily was willing and by the scent of her, she’d be more than happy to donate. Over the decades, he’d served the blood needs of many aroused female vampires so he knew what it was for the donor, how stimulating the slice of the fangs and the ensuing suckling could be.

  He couldn’t believe how far they’d come down this road. He thought of her as belonging to him, a regular donor now, his lover, even a good friend. Yes, he thought of her as his friend, someone he could count on in the way he could count on his brothers. Was it just the bonding effects of the chains or was there more here, much more than he had ever thought or dreamed possible?

  He stole a glance at her as she speared a bite of steak. She had thick lashes, a beautiful complexion, a lovely human.

  When she met his gaze, she asked, “What?”

  He leaned into her and kissed her on the mouth then searched her face. “Would you believe me if I said I’ve fallen in love with you?”

  Her breath hitched. “I don’t know. We’re under the spell of the chains, right?”

  He shrugged. “Do you remember when you first came to me in the cave, before you bound me with the chain? I felt something even then, a drive toward you that I still can’t explain.” He felt a deep tenderness emanating from her, almost throbbing in soft waves.

  “Me, too. Almost from the first.”

  He kissed her again, only this time he let the kiss linger.

  When he drew back, she took a deep breath and swore she trembled. “Keep eating,” she commanded. “You’re going to need your strength.”

  Because of the chains, he sensed the deep sexual nature of her intention toward him, which caused him to list in his seat. But he obeyed her and focused all his attention on downing his food.

  When at last he settled his fork and knife on his plate and she’d eaten the last of her meal, she turned to him and slid her hand along his thigh. “I’ve had something prepared for you, Adrien, and I hope you’ll like it. Also, I can feel that you need my blood and I’m ready to give it up for you again.”

  Since she followed up this bold statement by kissing him, his need for her spiked. He slid off his stool and she came with him, a flow of movement that felt just right as she landed in his arms. He kissed her again, this time piercing her mouth with his tongue, which made her whimper and her hips press against his.

  He swiveled his hips just enough to let her feel that he was ready for her, which drew her hand gliding down his back and pressing his buttocks as she arched her hips into him. He needed to take her to bed and was about to suggest the bedroom when she pulled back, her hazel eyes glittering with passion.

  She lifted her chin just a little. A dare? “I asked Eve if we could use her Rome apartment for a couple of hours and she said yes. I want to take you there. Will you come with me?” Her scent enveloped him.

  Adrien’s heart rate climbed. He’d never been to Eve’s apartment though she’d invited him hundreds of times over the past two centuries, from the time she’d bought and refurbished it.

  She’d even described in detail some of the specialty equipment she’d installed in one of the rooms.

  He swallowed hard. “You don’t want to just stay here?”

  “I have something specific in mind, Adrien. Will you let me have my way right now? It will mean you’ll have to trust me.”

  “What’s going on?”

  He felt both reluctant and ready. Maybe it was the eagerness in her face or the glitter in her eyes, or that right now she had a hand on each of his butt cheeks and was caressing him, but like any man in his right mind, he said, “Let’s go.”

  Since they were already in Italy, the flight took about eight seconds.

  When they arrived, dozens of candles had been lit and not a single electric bulb burned.

  He released her and turned in a circle. Lily had already moved away from him, following what turned out to be a path of small votives on the floor. His heart began to pound.

  Eve was all about dominance.

  So what had Lily arranged?

  And why here?

  Lily walked down a long hall, where more candles showed the way. At the end of the hall was a set of double doors, slightly ajar. When she s
lipped inside, he would have followed, but she stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Give me a sec. There’s something I need to do first.”

  He nodded, mouth dry.

  When the door closed, he put his head on the smooth carved wood. His heart was now banging around in his chest. If it beat any faster, it would come loose from its moorings.

  He’d never been harder.

  He scratched softly on the door and whispered, “Lily. What are you doing to me?”

  He didn’t expect an answer, but one came, straight into his head. Do you trust me?

  Yes. Sweat beaded on his brow. And strangely, that was the truth. He trusted this woman, this human.

  You have a choice, Adrien. If you come in, you must do as I say, do you understand? If you choose not to come in, we’ll go back to Rumy’s guest apartment and you can fuck my brains out, but here, you are mine to command. Do you understand?

  Yes.

  Now choose.

  He wanted to ask what she was wearing, but he suspected Eve had left her something special to put on.

  He waited, trying to think, trying to order his thoughts. He already sensed what it was she wanted to do.

  May I see you first before I decide, because if you’ve gone down a certain path, I’m not sure I can take it.

  I’ll let you see my hand.

  The door opened slightly and her hand appeared. The wrist was wrapped in silver-studded leather. Hanging from each stud were several thin chains, each of which draped to encompass her fingers. If she used her hand on him, he would feel the chains.

  She would hurt him, yet not hurt him.

  He could feel his heart pulsing behind his eyes.

  Adrien, do you trust me?

  After two deep breaths, he sent, I’m yours.

  Good.

  He pushed the door open then stilled.

  She stood across the room, next to Eve’s table, an ancient wooden thing polished to a gleam through the years.

  She was a vision in leather and wore a feathered headdress that was also a half mask. He could see the glitter of her eyes. Her lips were dark red, bloodred.