A soft gasp sounded behind him and he glanced over his shoulder at Elissa where she sat in the middle of the four-poster bed, the green sheets wrapped around her. She had her hands against her chest and the heat in her eyes struck him hard, causing his heart to skip a beat and thump heavily against his ribs. Had she doubted that he saw her as his mate now, his forever? He would have to make his intentions clearer to her later, so she would understand that he was never letting her go and that he belonged to her as much as she now belonged to him.
“Do you know the location of what you’re looking for now?” he said to her and she shook her head. He turned back to his grandfather, crossed the room to him, and grabbed the front of his red shirt. He twisted the material in his fist and dragged Arnaud towards him. “Where is your room?”
Arnaud stared at him in stony silence.
“I said, where is your room? You would do well to answer me this time. I am a man of very little patience and I’m itching for an excuse to draw blood.” Payne flashed his fangs.
“The next floor up, at the far end of the east wing.”
The other end of the house to where they were now. Could they make it there, retrieve what Elissa had come here for, and get out before Arnaud alerted the entire mansion and sent every incubus after them?
He couldn’t teleport there. It was difficult to teleport anywhere unfamiliar, not without risking ending up in a bad way.
Elissa slipped off the bed behind him. Arnaud’s swirling blue and gold gaze slid to her. Payne roared at the sight of desire in his grandfather’s eyes, dark twisted hungers that snapped what little hold he had managed to retain over his urge to spill blood.
“I warned you not to look at her.” Payne growled, pushed Arnaud backwards and swiped his claws across his throat. Crimson flowed from the deep slashes, spilling down his neck and soaking into his shirt, darkening the already red material.
It drenched Payne’s hand and he released the male. Arnaud collapsed to his knees, gasping as he tried to cover his throat to stem the bleeding. Too late. Payne glared down at him, towering over him, feeling no remorse over his actions. He watched the blood flow from between Arnaud’s fingers, saw his eyes return to grey and the flicker of life in them die, and turned away as he fell.
Elissa stared at him, eyes wide and horrified, her skin as pale as moonlight.
“Come,” Payne said as he crossed the room to her, wiping his hand on his jeans to clean the blood away. He held his other hand out to her. “We must leave.”
“You killed him.” Her beautiful silvery eyes flickered between Arnaud and Payne, the shock in them not subsiding.
“I warned him,” Payne said on a dark snarl, unable to contain his anger. “I told him not to look at you and he did just that.”
“You wanted him dead though... for your mother... for you.”
“Yes.” He wouldn’t lie to her about that. He had wanted Arnaud dead. “But I did not intend to kill him... I would have let him live in order to protect you, so others wouldn’t come after us.”
“Us?” She almost smiled.
His heart missed another beat. “Us... I swear I will not allow anything to happen to you, Elissa. I condemned you with my actions and I will take responsibility and protect you.”
Her face fell and she looked away and busied herself with dressing, tugging on her black halter-top and jeans.
He had said something wrong. Was she angry because he had said he was taking responsibility for what he had done to her, rather than saying that he desired to protect her because he felt something for her and she was his mate? He hadn’t said such a thing because he wasn’t sure she was ready to hear it, not yet.
“Come,” he said again and held his hand out to her. She took it and stepped into his arms. He focused on the floor above, able to teleport to the corridor there and give them a head start. When they had materialised, Elissa pushed out of his arms and raced along the hallway, heading towards the far end.
Whatever Arnaud had taken from her, it was important to her and she wanted it back.
Payne ran behind her, his senses sweeping the rooms, searching for trouble. Some of the bedrooms were occupied but most of the people in them seemed busy judging by the rapid heartbeats and moans he could hear.
Elissa stopped at the far end of the corridor and looked back at him. “Which one?”
Payne slowed to a walk and sniffed, focusing on his grandfather’s scent so he could follow it to the right room. He stopped outside a door one room from the end of the hall. “This one.”
Elissa went to open it and he grabbed her arm. “What?”
Payne focused on the other side of the door. “Someone is in there.”