Chapter 21

The clatter of hooves and cool hands on my brow pulled me from sleep. Wait…I’d been fighting sewer rats and?—

I sat bolt upright. “Godor!”

“It’s okay.” Agatha pressed her hands to my shoulders. “You’re okay. But we need to get you dressed. We’re almost at Sangera Mansion.”

“What? Where are the others? Edwin is hurt. I need to get back!” I hammered on the carriage ceiling. “Turn around. Take me back!”

The carriage came to a halt, and the next moment, the door was flung open to reveal a beautiful man with silver-blond hair neatly pulled back, his powerful frame trapped in a waistcoat and suit, cravat at his throat.

It took a moment, but… “Ordell?”

He scooped me into his arms and out of the carriage, hugging me to his large frame. “Thank fuck you’re okay.”

“The others?—”

“They’re safe. Hemlock took them to a clinic.” He inhaled me. “Everyone is safe.”

This made no sense. “How am I here? How did Hemlock get to the others?”

He stroked my hair. “We were in New Town getting fitted for the event. There’s a tailor there who can work with my size. We got a Raven telling us to get to the carriage stables. One of Ezekiel’s carriages was there with you and Agatha inside and Godor perched on top. He told me to get you to the Exciatio. Your friends showed up a moment later, and Hemlock drove them to the clinic.”

They were safe. The knots of panic in my chest eased, allowing me to finally focus on the man holding me, on the heat from his body that cradled mine and the gentle sweep of his palm as he stroked my hair. The stiff new material of his suit pressed against my cheek. My blood-stained cheek. Shit.

I pulled away from him. “Put me down or I’ll get blood all over your suit.”

“I don’t give a shit.” He crushed me to him again, hugging me tighter so all I could do was succumb and enjoy his rapid breath and the equally rapid beat of his heart. “You could have been killed,” he growled. “What were you thinking going up against a nest of sewer rats?”

“I’ve taken down sucker rat nests solo before. I just…I didn’t know a nest could be so large.”

His sigh vibrated against me. “It shouldn’t be. This was an anomaly; you weren’t to know.” His grip on me flexed. “I should have been with you.”

But this wasn’t how it worked. Not for me. Never for me. I wasn’t a damsel. I didn’t need protecting. I didn’t need hugs and hair strokes, but damn did it feel good to matter like this. To be coddled by a growly man that wanted to protect me.

I allowed myself a moment to revel in it. To pretend that this was all right. To melt against him and imagine that I was his to protect and that he was mine.

Just one moment.

This intense connection made no sense even though it felt right.

The tension left his body, and his breath kissed my temple. “Sleep with me tonight.”

My stomach flipped hard, and I squeezed my eyes closed, biting down on the insides of my cheeks to quell a moan of assent. “I can’t.”

He exhaled through his nose. “Don’t you want to?”

This wasn’t about want or need. But how could I explain it to him without sounding like the freak every guy I’d taken to bed had believed me to be, once I explained I didn’t want to have penetrative sex. I’d been called a prude, a cocktease, a bitch, and so much more. I didn’t want to believe that Ordell would be the same, but I didn’t want to be proven wrong either.

I liked the man I was coming to know and the image of him I’d built. I didn’t want that shattered, so I pulled away and offered him a small smile.

“I think it’s best if we stay friends. I don’t want to complicate things. I…I like this. I like hugs.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth, and he gently ran his thumb across my bottom lip, sending a delicious tingle through me. My mouth parted, his eyes darkened, and my pulse thudded painfully hard in my throat. I dropped my gaze quickly.

“Hey, it’s okay. Hugs are fine.” He nudged my chin up with the crook of his finger. “And if you ever decide you want naked hugs, I’m up for that too.”

The mood instantly lightened. “Thanks, I’ll bear that in mind.”

Or not, because thoughts of Ordell naked might just be too much for my lonely libido to handle.

This time when I pulled away, he didn’t tug me back. “How much time do we have before the Exciatio starts?”

“Forty-five minutes, and we’re a half hour away from the venue.”

“In that case, I best sort myself out.” I climbed back into the carriage, pausing to take another look at him. “That suit looks good on you.”

But it would look better off you.

No. Not going there.

He slipped a finger between his throat and the cravat and tugged. “Fucking hate it,” he growled.

But he looked sexy as hell, and my face must have communicated that because his lips curled in a knowing smile. He dropped me a wink. “I can’t wait to see you in your dress.”

I made a face as he closed the door, shutting me inside the carriage with Agatha.

“Well…” Agatha said. “If that isn’t chemistry, then I’m not sure what is. Why’d you turn him down?”

“Eavesdropper.”

She shrugged. “Look, after the fright I’ve had, I’m owed a little normality.” The carriage clattered to life, and she handed me a pack of wet wipes. “I was just finishing supper when that bat thing busted into my house and kidnapped me. I woke up in this carriage with the dress I’d already dropped off at your place an hour or so before.”

I cleaned the blood off my face and neck, then set to work on my hands. “I don’t understand how Godor could have known I was in danger. And to pull it all together—the dress, you, and the hunters…”

“I’ve heard nobles talking,” Agatha said. “I have a few elite clients, and they say Ezekiel has eyes and ears everywhere.” She handed me a hairbrush. “He must value you.”

“Yeah. I’m his shiny new toy.” I yanked the brush through my hair, detangling it the best I could.

“Interesting color,” she said.

“The silver is my natural color; the gold was out of a box. It’s growing out now, though.” I turned my head this way and that. “Did I get all the gunk?”

“I think so,” she said, examining me. “Now let’s get the dress on, and if we have time, I’ll pin your hair up.”

Getting dressedin a moving carriage was no easy feat, and all the hooks and lace didn’t help a damn bit. By the time we were done, I felt like sausage meat squeezed into a tube.

“My tits look huge in this.”

“I know!” Agatha clapped her hands, delighted. “But you see how the gauze I added to the top stops it from being obscene.”

“Yeah, sure it does.”

There was no denying the dress was beautiful. It was a deep shade of blue with silver thread embroidered along the hem and the corset part. It fell nicely to my ankles, the material not too heavy. She’d even added pockets like I’d asked. I slipped my daggers into them now.

“What about this?” She held up the holster housing my sword.

“Crap. Leave it in here.”

One thing I’d learned about our swords was they always found their way back to us.

She set the sword down and reached for my hair, fiddling with a tendril that had escaped the pins she’d dug into my head. She’d managed to put half of it up, leaving the rest to tumble about my shoulders.

“You look perfect.” She clasped her hands together beneath her chin, looking like a proud mama.

There was no mirror here, so I’d have to take her word for it. “It’d help if I could breathe.”

“Small shallow breaths,” she instructed. “No exerting yourself.” Her attention flicked to the window. “Looks like we’re here.” Fear flashed in her eyes as she settled into the shadows of the carriage.

“How will you get home?”

“That thing that picked me up. Godor…He said he would get me home.”

“Well, I’m not leaving you until he shows up.”

We passed through iron gates onto a smooth driveway. I stuck my head out of the window as we approached a four-story mansion lit up like a Christmas tree. There were carriages ahead of us, moving at a trot to round the opulent fountain that sat in the center of the drive. People exited, and carriages drove off one by one, drawing us closer to the front.

Something landed on our carriage with a thud, and a moment later, Godor’s upside-down face appeared at the window.

Agatha let out a squeak and covered her mouth. His gaze settled on her, bright and probing. “Godor not hurt you. Godor take you home now.”

She nodded. “Um…Thank you.”

We came to a halt, and Ordell opened my door, eyes flaring wide at the sight of me in my finery.

He held out his hand to help me exit. “Bloody hell,” he whispered, tucking my arm through his. “You’re making me extremely hard right now.”

What the…had he just said?—

“This way please,” a liveried man instructed, ushering us away from the carriage and up the steps to the house.

I glanced back in time to see Godor take the driver’s seat of the carriage. I caught sight of Agatha’s pale face in the window before the carriage moved off.

We swept through the front doors and into a vast hallway lit brightly by crystal chandeliers and dominated by a grand staircase, but there was no time to take in any other details before Matthew materialized beside me.

“Please come with me, Miss Lighthart,” he said. “Master awaits.”

I glanced up at Ordell’s tense jaw. He nodded slightly. “Go on. I’ll find you inside.”

I slipped away from him and followed Matthew through a side exit and down a dimly lit corridor lined with crimson patterned wallpaper.

He stopped outside a door and rapped on the wood lightly.

“Enter,” a female voice called.

I arched a brow at Matthew. Wasn’t he meant to be taking me to Ezekiel? Wait…what was wrong with his face? Was it longer? His eyes darker?

He pushed the door open and shoved me inside before I could process that this man was not Matthew. It slammed shut, leaving me trapped with six vampires—five males and a female—all dressed in various shades of red and gold.

We were in a parlor with old-fashioned décor, all rosewood and marble. A fire crackled in the hearth, cheery and welcoming, a contrast to the predatory menace echoing off the occupants.

Dressed to the nines, hair slicked back and coiffed, these vampires effortlessly wore the mask of high society.

But I’d been around enough monsters to recognize the primal hunger in their eyes.

“So you’re the watcher,” one of the men said. “Ezekiel’s guard dog.”

His top lip was slightly raised, nostrils flared as if he’d smelled something bad, but when his expression didn’t change, it was obvious that was just his face.

“Yes, Dominic,” the woman said. “She’s his companion for the evening, and I can see why.” Her heavily made-up eyes dropped to my boobs. “All that peachy cream skin. Imagine sinking your fangs into that.”

Her lascivious tone made me ache to punch her in the mouth.

“I’ll bet he’ll do more than imagine,” Dominic said.

“So can we.” Another vamp stepped forward. He looked younger than the rest, sandy hair flopping across his forehead, thick rubbery lips glistening from where he’d run his tongue over them. “She’s his companion, and he has to share. It’s the rules.”

This was bullshit. “I’m not a vein. I’m ordained. Off-limits by law.” I grabbed the door handle and pulled. Nothing. “Seriously?” I turned to find them moving closer, like hyenas sneaking up on prey. My bravado slipped. “What is this? What are you planning on doing, huh? Breaking the law? You think that’s wise?”

“I think I can smell the river of blood beneath your skin,” Dominic said.

“I want to take from between her thighs.” The woman’s tone was thick with hunger and desire. “Taste the honey mingled with blood.”

Their faces shifted, elongating to something wicked, feral, and inhuman.

“Mother won’t mind,” the sandy-haired one said. “She’ll make it right.”

I was pinned in—locked door at my back—but there was a window on the other side of the room. I whipped a dagger out of the hidden pocket of my dress and sliced at the air. They leapt back in surprise, giving me the break I needed to dash past them to the other side of the room.

I tore aside the drapes, and my heart sank at the sight of iron bars on the windows.

They laughed, rough and raspy. “Oh, come now. We’ll make it quick. Just a taste.”

“It won’t hurt,” the woman said. “You’ll like it.”

I’d have to fight my way out, but in this dress, the corset squeezing so hard I could barely breathe, escape was going to prove a challenge.

Damn Ezekiel and damn this fucking Exciatio. “Come any closer and you’ll be the ones bleeding.”

They laughed louder, as if this was a joke, as if I was a joke, and right then, trussed up in a fucking dress, with pins in my hair and lace covering my boobs, I was exactly that. This wasn’t who I was. It wasn’t why I’d been sent here, and that was exactly why I was in this fucking situation.

Rage burned through me, aimed entirely at Ezekiel. I dropped into a crouch and drew the second dagger from my pocket.

“I just fought a hoard of sewer rats on an abandoned industrial estate. I think I can take five trussed-up vamps in a parlor. Bring it.”

A loud crack split the air, and the door flew off its hinges. The sandy-haired vamp ducked in time to avoid decapitation, much to my dismay, and the door slammed into the wall by the hearth, knocking china figurines and a landscape painting to the floor.

Ezekiel stood in the doorway, eyes burning like the fires of hell, nostrils flared as he took in the scene and every person in it. His chest heaved, once, twice, and then he exhaled, eyes dimming to their regular golden hue.

He adjusted the cuffs of his midnight-blue jacket, his posture relaxed and unaffected. “There you are, Miss Lighthart. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” He held out his hand. “Shall we?”

The male vampires reared away from him, leaving a clear path between us, but the woman stubbornly stood her ground.

“You have to share,” she said. “It’s etiquette.”

She sounded petulant and childish. Didn’t she see the feathering of his jaw or the way his mouth tightened? Didn’t she realize what she was dealing with?

“Eloise…don’t,” Dominic said. He must see it. Feel it. The danger simmering beneath Ezekiel’s cool fa?ade. But Eloise, the fool, was none the wiser.

“She’s his companion,” Eloise continued, looking to the others for support, “and we get to taste. No matter who she is. It’s how it’s always been.”

Ezekiel tipped his head to the side as if considering her words. “Hmmm…and is it etiquette to lure someone else’s companion into a room and attack them?”

“We were curious,” the sandy-haired guy said. “We wanted to see what a watcher looks like.”

“And now you’ve seen.” Ezekiel fixed his gaze on the woman. “Move.”

She had to be stupid because no one could be brave in the presence of the menace beating off him, but instead of moving aside, she blurred toward me. Before I could react, her hand was at my throat, her hot breath on my jugular.

The air moved, and a burn sliced across my skin. Something cracked, and I was scooped off the floor and enveloped in a cedarwood scent.

Ezekiel had me.

He had me in his arms, his golden gaze, now flecked with crimson, darting over my face. His dark hair was tucked behind his ears, accentuating the cruel beauty of his chiseled features.

Captivating.

One of the male vamps let out a howl of pain.

“You killed her!” another cried. “She’s a fledging. She won’t heal. You killed her.”

“Impeccable observational skills,” Ezekiel said, striding toward the door with me cradled in his arms.

I glanced back to see Eloise on the ground, her head at an impossible angle, but a moment later, my view was blocked by the male vamps, and in another beat, we were out in the corridor.

He took me in the opposite direction from where I’d come, deeper into the mansion.

“You, Miss Lighthart, are a troublemaker,” Ezekiel said, finally setting me down, only to push me up against the wall. “That’s two lives you’ve taken now.” He nudged my head to one side.

“What are you?—”

He slowly ran the flat of his tongue up the column of my neck. My gasp left me breathless, breasts pressing against the cage of my corset, nipples hardening to peaks as heat pooled between my thighs.

It lasted barely five seconds but left me limp as a noodle and clinging to his shoulders.

He raised his head, the crimson rim around his irises glowing softly in the gloom. “You were bleeding where her fangs nicked you.” He licked his lips, his gaze dropping to mine. “You have no business smelling and tasting this good.”

I wanted to speak, but all that came out was a whimper.

He pressed himself against me, and shadows gathered around us, hiding us from the world. I could feel him, thick and hard against my abdomen, and when he gently gripped my throat and squeezed, my eyes fluttered closed.

“Look at me,” he demanded, his voice an evocative abrasion to my senses. I forced my eyelids open only to drown in the fractured crimson rivers of his gaze. “You’ll stay by my side tonight. Do not speak against me. Do you understand?”

“Yes…” My voice was a dry whisper.

He brought his mouth close to mine, so close that I could feel the impression of his perfect lips and smell the iron of my blood on his breath.

“Oh, Miss Lighthart, you and I…we are going to have such fun this year.”

My pulse skipped, and terror mingled with desire.

I was so fucked.