I packed a bag of food, pulled on a coat that Tracey gave me, and cast a sleeping spell. They were already asleep, but this ensured that they wouldn’t wake when I left. Even though my powers were coming back to me, I was learning I needed not to assert them. I would tire, and I wouldn’t have them when I needed them. Because of this, as the others snored, I walked out and left them behind.
Kates doubled over, coughing up blood. She gazed down at it. A good solid pool of it had formed beneath her hands. She wanted to disappear in it. She wanted the torture done and over with, so her body could fall in the blood and become one with it.
“Come now,” Lucan taunted her, coming to stand over her and gazing down. He lifted an eyebrow and shook his head, an ugly smirk appearing. “You wish to leave me? That’s not the Kates I know.” His eyes darkened, turning lustful, as he ran a hand down her arm. She recoiled, feeling even more disgust rising up as his laugh grew louder. He said, “We used to have such fun, Kates. Where’d that girl go? I miss that girl.”
Her teeth were clattering together, but she tried to seethe out, “That girl left when you compelled me to betray all my friends.”
“Oh yeah.” He withdrew his hand from her and shook his head, still laughing. “I figured that would be a wrench in our relationship.”
“You’re an asshole.”
Her insult came out with less heat than she wanted, but she couldn’t muster up the extra oomph. He had taken her life in his hands, ending it, having the witches give it back, then torturing it out of her again so many times that she was almost a shell. Any fire she still had in her had been reduced to one small coal. Even that, she didn’t know if she could light it up. She didn’t have the strength anymore.
“Okay. Come on.” He flipped her back up and slammed her onto a table so she was face first, lying on her stomach.
Her eyes almost bulged out. Renewed panic had her fighting against his hold, but it didn’t matter. Lucan was stronger than her. Always had been, and always would be. He swatted her hands away and restrained her again, pulling each one tight into leather binding that was almost cutting off her blood flow. It never mattered to Lucan. He didn’t need her alive or the blood flowing in her body. He pulled the restraints to the side of the table so her arms and legs had her spread eagle on it. Then he squatted down so he was at eye level with her.
He grinned at her, almost leering. “How’s that feel?” Without waiting for a response, he stood up and ran a hand up the back of her arm, across her shoulder, and down her back. It was left exposed to him. He had ripped the shirt from her so it hung over her in rags. He took a moment to enjoy the whipped marks on her back. He enjoyed having her in this position. She tried to fight him before. She hadn’t wanted to lead Davy and the rest into his trap, making them powerless to him. She even tried to break free from him, running to jump off the cliff near his brother’s house. That had shaken him. Knowing that Kates tried to take her own life, rather than help deliver her best friend and new friends to his hands, but he would’ve rather known it then and not later. Because of it, that sealed her fate.
Since arriving back to the Mori, Kates had become his favorite toy to play with. When he wanted a drink, she was here for him. When he wanted something else, far more sinister, she was still there, and thinking about that now, his hand drew down to her naked waist. She wore her jeans. He had allowed that, but his hand caressed over her ass. He grew hard, remembering the times they had in the bedroom and when he would take her from behind.
He hadn’t done that again, not since she made her loyalties known, but he was tempted. Taking her against her will had been a game they had liked to play before. His nostrils flared, feeling his body’s blood pumping through him, remembering the feel of his dick inside of her. His hand curved around one of her ass cheeks, and she whimpered.
He chuckled. He smelled her fear in the air, but he chided softly, “Even now, even after all I’ve done to you, you still want me.” His hand squeezed the other cheek.
“No.” She tried to shake her head, but couldn’t because of the restraints.
“Yes.” His hand moved lower, falling to the curve of her ass, and he kept going. He was about to touch the core of her when the door opened. His head whipped up, then he jumped back as if burned. “Jiyama,” he rasped out.
The Mori vampiress stood there, showing no emotion, but her eyes darkened. He felt her instant anger, and she moved into the room. “You would touch her against her will?”
He didn’t respond.