By the time Alexander strolled through the doorway, I was ready for the fight. Unfortunately, in the way of vampires, it was a battle of wits and mine were still sluggish.
“I begin to understand what my son sees in you. Your beauty is only second to your boldness. I should have realized that a fainting rose would never hold him. It took a courageous woman to capture his attention long enough to engage his emotions beyond the superficial. I knew if I waited long enough, a woman would be the death of him.”
“What am I, the bait? You’re in for a rude awakening if you think he’s going to stroll in here after me. You had me hauled off like a prize by the man he felt was his chief rival. In light of the fact Marcus and I aren’t anything to one another anymore, that’s enough of a nail in any relationship’s coffin. It looks like I chose the lion over him. He wanted exclusive rights to me while he slept around. It’s why we stopped seeing one another. You need better intelligence.”
I pulled my legs up to cover my nakedness. Pride kept me from using the comforter for cover. The temptation to do that was entirely too much like hiding. The way Alexander’s gaze kept sliding down me during my little speech told me he enjoyed the view entirely too much. Of course, he could be enjoying the fact I was defenseless and the key to the revenge he’d spent centuries planning. He might kill me, but I’d go down fighting even if it was only with useless gestures.
“My intelligence tells me that he’s given up his other feeding sources because you didn’t approve of the coin he used to pay for it. A woman offers her life’s blood so we may feed. It deserves a little pleasure to ease the pain, doesn’t it?”
His tone was mocking and his gaze went to my neck. I flinched from remembered pain. Of course, that had been his point. He smiled smugly.
“It’s not so pleasant being the cow on the table, is it? Would you doom Marcus to feeding like a demon? How long would it be before the authorities hunted him down for exactly that?”
It sounded so reasonable. But then, he operated on a different page. He played on a guilt I didn’t feel. It gave me room to think. With as much bravado as I could muster, I smiled toothily.
“Alexander, you’re acting as if I really care. Marcus and I had a good thing once. When he started getting possessive and making demands, I kicked him to the curb. If he’s working under the mistaken impression that giving up his other women is the way back to my heart, he’s mistaken.
Lions don’t exactly embrace monogamy. The only reason I even walked into the club the other night was to find Betsy Vincent.”
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There were so many questions he could answer there that it made my head hurt. I tried not to make it apparent how carefully I was listening for his answering volley. He didn’t disappoint.
“We both know you’re not the typical lioness. If you had been, you would have welcomed Luke’s advances. For that matter, I wouldn’t have resorted to something as unreliable as blackmail. I would have brought Scott to do the job as I had planned. Unfortunately, I knew at the first meeting that he wouldn’t suit. Your tastes are too discriminating to fall for the typical playboy type.”
He had come to town with a plan and we’d all walked right into it. How terribly predictable. All I could do was pray that Marcus stayed away. It was too much to hope for. Our assault plan had been for “our” vampires to begin filtering into the bar and restaurant area shortly before lunchtime with me coming in and having Betsy brought down for our little conversation after the place was secure. If someone made a grab at me, Marcus and reinforcements would charge in. It was so naïve to think the bad guys would play into our game of honorable intentions.
Alexander’s chuckle broke through my thoughts and I raised my gaze to his without thinking.
“We shall see who knows my son better, you or I? Either way, I get the pleasure of taking something he prizes away from him. Small measure of revenge, but a measure I’ve waited a lifetime to have. One must take what one can when the opportunity presents itself.”
And he was suddenly gone, leaving me with a splitting headache. Apparently, now that he had me right where he wanted me, he wasn’t planning to be gentle with his mind tricks. I wrapped the comforter around me, rolled onto my side, and tried to work my hand from the cuff under the cover while pretending to sleep.
An hour passed and then two. The only thing I managed to accomplish was a bleeding wrist.
Finally, I closed my eyes in earnest and let sleep come. If I was going to get free, I’d need my wits about me. A good soldier sleeps when they can so they can fight when needed. My last conscious thought was Marcus would come for me and I would be ready. Alexander had no idea how vicious the idea of revenge could be compared to mine.
The first clue that our side had responded to my kidnapping was a sudden explosive noise beyond my room. Throwing the covers away, I jumped from the bed at the sounds of fighting. Cursing, I yanked at the shackle without regard for the swollen flesh. A sharp intake of breath behind me whirled me back to the door where Luke stood bleeding. His gaze was hungry as he stared at me, but my own locked on the tiny silver key in his hand.
“That had better be the key to this damned lock or I’m going to eat you myself. You won’t have to worry about the vampires.”
He flushed and hurried forward, grabbing my wrist to steady it as he fought the lock. My hiss from the pain made him soften his touch, but getting the shackle open wasn’t gentle.
“You shouldn’t have struggled.”
“Says the man who wasn’t chained naked to a bed for his lover’s father to ogle.”
The shackle opened and I snatched my wrist out leaving the shell in Luke’s hands. Using my
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weight and the momentum, I slammed my fist into the lion’s face with all the force I could muster.
Blood spouted from his nose and he stumbled back to tangle in the chain. He stared up at me from the undignified spot on the floor.
“What was that for?” he demanded indignantly.
“For being a traitorous bastard, for starters.” I shook my bloodied wrist at him angrily.
“I brought the cavalry. I wasn’t going to leave you to that monster’s whims.”
I almost believed him, but not quite. The betrayed part of me didn’t trust his motives. My instincts said Alexander had lied when making promises to a turncoat. A crash nearby gave my anger a new direction.
I bolted through the door and found myself running down a narrow hallway. From the mouth of it, I could see Marcus and Peter leading the charge. Mustering the adrenaline and the magic that made me what I was, I shifted in a blaze of power. With a scream, I launched myself at the closest vampire I knew for sure was not on my side of the battle.
Blood, salty and sweet, filled my mouth as I landed. The human spine was not meant to hold against such an attack and his neck snapped with a loud crack. My weight carried him to the floor, but I didn’t hesitate to ensure he was dead. A broken neck would keep him out of the fighting even if he was strong enough to heal from it. If he wasn’t strong enough to heal from it, it was his cost for going against Marcus.
My claws came out and the vampire in front of me fell with a scream as I sliced open his hamstring. Alexander came within sight once the man was down and fury gave me tunnel vision.
The vampire who turned to face me and got in the way fell as I slashed open his soft belly.
Someone tackled me from behind, and I screamed again as I rolled with him trying to shake him loose. My claws met flesh as I reached over my shoulder and I was happy to feel it give.
“Destiny. Destiny. Stop. Stop!”
Peter’s voice cut through my blooded rage. I went limp in his arms and hissed as he let me go except for a firm hand at the scruff of my neck. He gave me a shake for good measure. I let him do it from guilt at the sight of blood streaming down his shoulders.
“Stop. The only way this ends is man to man. King to king.”
I narrowed my eyes as I stared up at him, but the sounds of fighting were dying around us.
Breaking the staring match, I glanced around to see that everyone was indeed stepping back to give Marcus and Alexander room.
The resemblance between the two was notable, but seeing them standing in the cleared space so close together made it striking. Both vampires were preparing for battle by removing anything that would give the other an advantage. Marcus shared his father’s build. They would be evenly matched on a physical level.
“I knew you’d come for her. Women have always been your weakness.” Alexander’s tone was self-satisfied and full of confidence.
Marcus pulled his shirt over his head and threw it in my direction. Peter caught it deftly, which was a good thing since I didn’t have hands at the moment. He spared me a glance before turning his full attention to the battle he’d worked his entire lifetime to avoid. Guilt washed away the last of my anger.
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This was my fault. Granted, getting kidnapped, tied up and snacked on wasn’t, but the fight was.
Marcus had undoubtedly had opportunities to force a confrontation with his father over the long years, but had managed to avoid physical violence. The inevitability of the situation was brought home with Marcus’s reply.
“No, Alexander. Women are your weakness. You use them, abuse them and toss them away. My weakness is love. But the one thing you’ve never understood is that there is strength in it as well. A wife is not a plaything, a temporary pleasure. She is someone who should be treated with respect and awe for the way she completes you. She is a trusted helpmate, companion and moral compass.” His tone was tired, but his gaze found mine in the crowd. Those sweet words were meant for me.
My heart was in my throat. Marcus stood against a man powerful enough to kill him and he spoke of love and wives? If he lived through this, I was going to kill him myself. If this was his way of proposing, it left a lot to be desired.
“I speak of women and you speak of wives. You still carry too much of your mother in you. I should have taken you away from her before she could leave such a mark. Your lioness says that you’re nothing to her. She’s noble enough to protect you, however. Would you sully our bloodline with a half-breed bastard? Perhaps I should have killed you long before now and gone about siring another son.”
Marcus’s face tightened at the mention of his mother. The final piece of the puzzle snapped into place. Alexander was everything Marcus did not want to be. And Alexander thought I was the key to turning Marcus into an unloving monster. Alexander had never intended to let me live because my death would have broken Marcus’s heart. If he didn’t know I was dead or alive, Marcus would still have mounted a rescue. Being too late would have crushed something inside him that I held precious. Marcus’s mocking tone brought my attention back to the two master vampires.
“Ah, but that’s beyond you now, isn’t it? You’ve lost the warmth of the sun. How many of the purebred houses have died out because they waited until it was too late to consider their bloodlines?
Like it or not, I’m the only one left to carry on. You saw to that.”
“We shall see, shan’t we? To the victor go the spoils. If our line dies here, the fault lies with you.”
Anger shimmered in the air between them, from both sides. They began circling one another in long crossover steps, keeping their bodies fully facing one another. I wanted to shift back into my human form, but fear that the magic would distract Marcus kept me as I was. Peter’s hand loosened on my neck and he began stroking it. Whether his intention was to comfort himself or me, I let the sure strokes settle me.
Across the room, Luke urged Betsy Vincent down the hallway toward my room. The blood on his clothes and the swelling bruises made me feel a little less angry about what he had done, but not by much. I’d settle that score when the danger had passed. For now, he was trying to remove a potential distraction. I could appreciate that.
A hiss from the watching vampires snapped my gaze back to the battling kings. One moment, they were snarling and stepping and the next, they were airborne. The sound of flesh meeting flesh made me cringe, but I couldn’t take my eyes away. I’d seen fighting in all styles, but never a hand-to-hand battle to the death. It would be to the death. No quarter given.
Alexander drew first blood with a raking slash across Marcus’s chest. I realized that the barehanded combat between vampires held a different definition than between mortals. They were hardly without natural weapons. Their fingers were hooked into claws with elongated nails and
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those nails sliced through the flesh on Marcus’s chest as easily as my own would have.
It put an entirely new spin on things. Fear raced through me as the scent of blood sent a wave of anticipation through the crowd. Creeping forward, I crouched at the feet of the watchers, ready to guard Marcus’s back if the need arose. Peter stayed at my side. A glance told me his intentions were the same. He turned his head to continually survey the room, canvassing the crowd, not watching the fight.
Marcus and Alexander returned to stalking in an ever-tightening circle. They surged at one another and this time, it wasn’t a tentative assault. Blood splashed in a wide arc as Marcus retaliated. They moved in a blur of movement too fast for me to follow. It was hypnotic.
Alexander’s maniacal laughter was the only sound besides the panting of the crowd and the solid sounds of fists landing on exposed flesh, punctuated by the occasional ripping sound of skin parted by knife-sharp claws. It seemed as if they were both trying to pummel the other into submission or attempting not to maximize the damage. In crystal clarity, I saw Alexander’s arm flying through the air straight for Marcus’s throat. I felt the scream rising, but before I could loose it, Marcus’s arm was there to block the blow.