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Bewitched, Bothered, and Bitten Page 15
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After several more long hours, Lachlan came into the study as the sun was setting. “We need to leave,” he stated abruptly.
Belinda began to argue. “I’ll only be a minute-”
“No. You’re tired and Kerry’s tired. This discussion can be continued another day.”
“Lach, I said just a minute.”
Glowering at her, he growled, “One minute. I’ll wait outside.”
After he left the room, I smiled tiredly at Belinda. “He’s right. We’re both exhausted and stressed.”
She sighed. “I know, I know. It’s just that there’s not much time and I want you to be prepared.”
I cocked my head to the side. “That’s the second time you’ve said that today. Why do you think we’re running out of time?”
Her expression shut down, blocking me out and making it impossible to tell what she was thinking. Woodenly, she answered, “When the fighting starts, you need to be able to do everything that I do, Kerry. You will need to be able to take over without a hitch should anything happen.”
“Nothing will happen,” I insisted.
She touched my hand lightly. “In war, you never know what tomorrow will bring.”
Belinda seemed to shake off her pensive mood and started gathering her things. She left several ritual and spell books that outlined the ceremonies that were performed on the Sabbats, equinoxes, and solstices. Then Lachlan came back into the room, a stern expression on his face, and she was gone.
Feeling vaguely unsettled, I wandered out of the solarium and went in search of Finn. I found him in his study, stretched out on the sofa in front of his fireplace with a glass of red wine in his hand.
I paused in the doorway and just stared at him for a few moments. In the last weeks, Finn and I had fallen into a pattern. We usually got up around the same time every morning and took turns making breakfast. Then we each spent a few hours in our respective offices before meeting in the kitchen for lunch. Sometimes I would go back to the solarium to practice spells or read the texts that Belinda had given me or I would carry the spell books and rituals into his study and read on the couch while he worked at his desk. Then we would eat dinner together, watch television or make love, and then fall asleep together. It was idyllic and exactly what I used to imagine my future marriage would be. Though I’d never thought I would end up falling for a vampire.
One afternoon a few days after the coven meeting, I paused in my reading and looked over at Finn, who was studying something on his computer screen.
“I just realized that I have no idea what you do for a living.”
He glanced at me and laughed. “Well, after so many years of working and trading stock, I don’t really have a job except managing my money and investments, which keeps me busy enough.”
“But Conner and Lex own businesses and work every day. Shit, forget I said that. That’s not how I meant it.”
He was still grinning at me, completely unfazed by my awkward statement. “Well, I doubt Conner or Lex work as much as they used to now that they have found their mates. Also, the Council has kept me busy enough for the last few decades.”
He did have a point there.
The amusement faded from his expression. “It can be daunting, to see the centuries stretching out before you and never knowing if you’ll always be so lonely.”
Feeling slightly saddened, I rose from the sofa and went over to his desk, sitting in his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my cheek on top of his head. “I didn’t know that you felt that way.” I threaded my fingers in his rich brown hair. “I’m sorry.” And I was. I was sorry for everything; his solitude, what he’d had to endure as a newly turned vampire, and the horrible way I’d treated him for so long.
Finn hugged me closer. “Don’t be. I won’t be lonely any longer.”
Since that afternoon, our relationship lost a great deal of its turbulence, mostly because of me. I stopped fighting my feelings and began to relax my guard. Each day was easier than the last. He still irritated me with his bossy behavior and I frustrated him when I wouldn’t fall in line, but we managed.
Now, I stood in the doorway to his study, watching him stare into the fire, a peaceful look on his face. He looked happy.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all night or come sit?” he asked without turning his head.
I wandered over to the sofa and stretched out on the cushions with my head resting on his thigh. I sighed in contentment as he began to run his fingers through my hair in slow, steady strokes.
“You do that quite often, you know,” he murmured.
“Do what?”
“Stand in doorways and stare at me. It’s a little creepy.”
He jumped and chuckled when I pinched his leg. “Whatever. You love it.”
“The way you look at me? Yes, I do love it.”
We sat in silence, enjoying each other’s company, until my stomach growled loudly. I felt my cheeks heat as Finn laughed and patted my hip.
“I think that’s my cue to feed you dinner,” he joked.
I sat up. “That’s promising. What are we having?”
“Steak, baked potatoes, and broccoli.”
“Sounds perfect.”
We made dinner and ate together, mostly in comfortable silence. Finn wasn’t the sort of person who spoke unless he had something to say and I found myself mirroring his behavior, which was probably a good thing. I had a tendency to say things without thinking about the consequences. Perhaps he was a good influence on me after all.
After dinner, we washed the dishes together.
When we were done, I couldn’t resist teasing Finn. “So, what’s for dessert?” I asked.
“You.” He charged me and I may have squealed before trying to run.
Laughing, he caught me before I’d gone more than two steps and carried me up the stairs so quickly I was dizzy.
I shrieked when he stopped at the end of his huge bed and tossed me toward the center of the mattress. I couldn’t stop giggling as he pounced on me. Straddling my hips with his legs, Finn stripped his shirt over his head and did the same with mine. I tried to wiggle away when he moved off of me in order to unbutton and unzip my jeans.
Chuckling, he rolled me onto my stomach and gave my ass a playful smack. “Stay still.”
Before I could crawl away or even turn over, Finn whipped my jeans and underwear down my legs, leaving me in only my bra. When I tried to get up on my hands and knees, he pushed me back down with a hand between my shoulder blades. In a blink of an eye, he’d unsnapped my bra.
As soon as he released me, I scrambled up the bed and sat with my back against the headboard.
Eyes bright, Finn shoved his pants and boxer briefs down his legs. “Get back here,” he ordered, smiling.
I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest to hold my bra in place. My eyes moved over his body, starting at his shoulders and moving down over his chest and tight abdomen, finally resting on his hard, thick cock.
With a low growl, he lunged forward and wrapped his fingers around my ankle, dragging me across the bed so that I was sprawled on my back. Still laughing, I tried to shove his hands away as he pulled my bra from my body.
As Finn began to take teasing nips at my neck and breasts, I gasped, “That tickles!”
He grinned and continued to torment me, completely ignoring my squeals and the wild thrashing of my body. This was the first time I’d ever laughed with a lover during sex and I was surprised at how much fun it was.
When he lowered his head to my nipple and sucked, I twisted both of my hands into his hair and yanked. My skin felt overly sensitized and the sensation of his mouth was almost too much. Finn lifted his head, grinning at me, and grabbed both of my wrists, pinning them to the bed by my head. Then he continued to lick and suck at my nipples while I writhed beneath him, begging him to stop yet unsure if I truly wanted him to.
Without releasing my wrists, Finn used his knees to nudge my thighs a
part and slid his cock inside me. Every nerve ending in my body felt as though it had been touched by a live wire, overwhelming my ability to process what I was experiencing. My back arched when he slid his tongue over my breast and I could swear I felt it in my clit.
“Finn!”
His response was to slide almost completely out of my body and thrust forward. My vision clouded over as Finn stretched my arms above my head, transferring my wrists to one hand. With the other, he tilted my chin up and to the side, baring my neck to him.
Placing his lips to my ear, he whispered, “I’m going to take you hard and fast, and there’s nothing you can do but lie here and take it.”
His words had the same effect on me as a physical touch. All amusement was gone now and only the desperate desire for climax remained. As Finn plunged inside me, my knees hooked over his widespread thighs, I felt my body tighten unbearably. I jerked beneath him as his mouth moved from my ear to my throat, burning like a brand against my skin.
My body felt taut, suspended just beneath the peak. Muscles trembling, I tried to move my hands, to lift my hips, anything to help relieve the ache between my thighs. Then, at last, Finn sank his fangs into my throat, releasing me from the terrible tension. I cried out as the orgasm slammed into me, helpless beneath the force of my climax and Finn’s restraining hands.
As the orgasm slowly receded, I lay beneath him, panting, with my hair draped across my face. I realized that Finn had released my hands and I wrapped my arms around his torso, cradling him closer while he ran the tip of his tongue over the bite on my neck. Though he was heavy, I tightened my grip on his body when he tried to roll away.
“Stay with me for a little while,” I whispered.
Tucking his face against my neck, Finn pressed a kiss to my throat and slid his arms beneath my body to hold me closer. Together, we basked in the afterglow, exchanging kisses, touches, and softly spoken thoughts.
Much later, after I pulled on panties and a t-shirt, Finn pulled me into his side, running his fingers through my hair. Not for the first time in the last two weeks, I realized how much I would have lost if Finn hadn’t kept up his relentless pursuit over the past few months. Something about him, about his very essence, brought me a sense of peace, as though I finally had another person in my life who would remain there unconditionally. I hadn’t felt that since my mother died four years ago.
I let the deep contentment wash over me as I drifted to sleep, letting go of the last vestiges of my defensive walls. I was safe with Finn.
Or so I thought.
Chapter Twenty-One
The room was dark when I awoke and I was alone in the bed. I shifted, reaching an arm out for the lamp, but encountered only empty air. I suddenly realized that the sheets beneath me felt different, silk rather than high quality cotton. And Finn’s distinctive vanilla and spice scent was absent.
I froze, frantically searching my memory. How did I get here, wherever here was? My blood turned to ice as the sound of someone breathing reached my ears. I desperately wanted to ask who was in the darkness, but some instinct told me I really didn’t want to know.
A low, masculine voice uttered a single word, so softly that I couldn’t catch what he was saying. A single candle flared to life on a table across the room, then, in a slow wave, more candles were lit around the perimeter of the room. Lastly, in a small fireplace to my right, a log began to crackle merrily as it burst into flame.
My eyes searched the shadows, looking for the man who’d spoken. Gradually, his shape was revealed as he moved forward from the corner and sat on a chair next to the table that held the first candle. I stopped breathing when I realized I was face-to-face with the black-eyed vampire who had killed Saundra.
My first impulse was to spit out the strongest, nastiest spell I could muster, but I managed to control it. The soft, unfocused quality of the candle light and the lack of any other sounds or scents in the room told me I was asleep and likely still snuggled up to Finn in his bed.
So we stared at each other, his onyx eyes glittering blankly in the light, until he smiled. I felt chills crawl up my spine when I recognized that the gesture didn’t touch his cold eyes. He was dead inside, so filled with evil that its presence was the only thing keeping his body moving and his heart beating.
“Good evening, Kerry.”
I didn’t respond to his greeting, not even a blink of my eyelids.
The practiced smile fell from his lips as he continued to study me. “It’s rude not to return a greeting,” he chastened.
“It’s also rude to invade another witch’s dreams without permission or invitation,” I responded, keeping my voice evenly modulated. He wanted me to feel as though I were at a disadvantage and off balance. Though it was working, I’d had years of pretending that ugly whispers and attempts to make me uncomfortable didn’t exist. I had plenty of practice at hiding my true feelings.
“Touché.” He leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs. He put out his hand, as though he were reaching for something on the table and I watched in surprise as a high ball glass appeared in his grasp. He sipped the amber contents, watching me carefully over the rim.
Striving to appear as relaxed as he did, I bent my legs, resting my elbows on my knees, and folding my arms on top of them. “I assume you brought me here for a purpose. Would you mind telling me what that reason is?”
He tilted his head. The gesture, combined with his emotionless eyes, reminded me of a bird of prey just before it swooped in on its next meal. “I have an offer for you, from my master.” When I didn’t respond, he continued, “He would like you to consider joining us and he’s prepared to pay you handsomely for your help.”
I arched my eyebrows. “What sort of payment? Money? Gold? Jewels?”
He sipped his drink again before answering. “Yes, as well as immortality and power beyond your wildest imaginings.”
“I’m sure,” I muttered, knowing I would likely be killed as soon as I no longer served a purpose or forced to commit atrocities for centuries until I went mad from the blackness that would eat at my soul. I took a deep breath, making every effort to project the calm self-assurance that Belinda seemed to possess. “You may tell your….master that I thank him for his offer but I will have to respectfully decline.”
For the first time, his small smile reached his eyes. “That sounded very much like a fuck you wrapped up in pretty language.”
I shrugged. “Take it as you will.”
He laughed, the sound rich and resonate. “You are a great deal like your father, Kerry Gayle. He too had fire and spirit.”
I couldn’t hide my shock at his words. “You knew my father?” I tried to wipe all emotion from my face but knew I failed miserably.
He inclined his head. “Yes. It was my intention to turn him, but he died before my plans came to fruition.”
I frowned at him. “What is your name?”
“Ah, finally, you ask for my name. I was beginning to feel hurt at your oversight.” He set his glass on the table before folding both of his hands in his lap. “You may call me Dante.”
Something about that name jogged my memory, but I couldn’t quite place where I’d heard it before. Maybe from my mother or father or perhaps somewhere else.
“So, is this the fifth circle of Hell?” I quipped, trying to hide the fact that I was searching my brain for any hint as to where I’d heard someone mention a warlock named Dante.
His eyes narrowed. “Anger? No. Perhaps the seventh.”
“Violence?” I queried.
He smiled again, once more seeming genuinely amused. “You know Dante.”
I didn’t respond. My knowledge of the Divine Comedy extended to the excerpts we read in school and the Cliff Notes I’d bought to help me comprehend what I was reading because I was lazy as a teenager and tried to get by putting forth as little effort as possible.
“Please consider my master’s offer, Kerry Gayle. You are the first person in twenty-five years to make m
e feel sincere amusement. I would find it distasteful to harm you.”
Ah, here was the threat I’d expected upon awakening in this place. “Harm me? I thought your master merely wanted to ask me if I was interested in joining his ranks. I’ve politely refused, so why would anything more be necessary?”
Dante’s face once again fell into the cold mask he usually wore. “You know why.”
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t,” I lied.
His eyes flashed, glowing like obsidian in the candlelight, a sure sign I was digging down into a place of his soul that I’d believed to be dead. It seemed it had merely been dormant and there was more to Dante than his obvious impassivity. “Don’t pretend ignorance, dearest, it doesn’t become you.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
It seemed all the years of practice I’d had at pushing Belinda’s buttons and irritating the coven elders was coming in handy now. Dante’s eyes veritably sparked with ire. “Do not toy with me, witch, you will not win.”
I leaned forward, savoring my final dig. “I’m sure I would, bloodsucker, because I did before. Or have you forgotten the vampires you brought to my cottage who are no longer in your ranks?”
Before he could respond, I reached down and pinched my inner thigh hard enough to bring tears to my eyes. Sticking around after such an inflammatory remark would be a colossally bad idea.
Gasping, I jerked awake, the tender skin of my upper thigh stinging viciously. I was in Finn’s bed, his large body spooning me from behind. I panted as my eyes scanned the dim room nervously, half afraid that Dante had somehow followed me back here.
Finn shifted behind me and the warm glow of the lamp filled the room. He rolled me over to my back.
“Did you have another nightmare?” he asked, concern and tenderness in his gaze.
I swallowed hard and shook my head, not trusting my voice just yet. Despite my bravado when faced with Dante, my heart was racing with fear and it would take me a few moments to gain my composure. I cleared my throat, but I still sounded hoarse when I spoke. “He came to me in my dream.”