“You will rest now?” he said in a low gentle voice and lifted her in his arms. Olivia curled into him, battling the call of sleep, and clung to his long black coat. He laid her down on the rich purple covers of his soft bed and she didn’t let him go. Her fingers clutched his coat lapels. Loren smiled but there was no warmth in it and covered her hands with his. “I am sorry, Olivia.”
She nodded. He didn’t need to tell her that he was sorry about what had happened. It was there in his eyes and in the connection that linked them. She could feel his sorrow and his suffering as if it were her own.
“What sort of freaky ass shit did you just do to me, you weirdo?” Sable’s voice echoing in from outside drove some of the sleepiness from her and she frowned at Loren.
A distinctly Bleu growl came next.
He must have teleported Sable with him.
“Back off... back the hell off, vampires!”
He also must have forgotten to remove Sable’s weapons first. Olivia thought she heard a few disgusted mutters about vampires and mortals.
“Excuse me.” Loren eased her hands away from his coat, released her and disappeared.
He reappeared a moment later with Sable, who promptly threw a right hook at him. Loren dodged it, held his hands up, and stepped aside. Sable’s golden-brown eyes instantly shot to her and she raced to the bed.
“They took you too?” Sable said and Olivia tried to sit up. Pain shot up her left arm from her fingers and she grimaced.
Loren was by her side in an instant, helping her up and arranging his pillows behind her. A little more of her anger towards him melted but she clung fiercely to the rest.
“I’ve been here before,” Olivia said to her friend and Sable’s eyes widened. “No... no... not like that. It’s not what it looks like. I told you... we’re just bonded and we’re breaking that bond. Loren doesn’t want me, and I definitely don’t want him.”
Much.
She kept her eyes on Sable, resisting the pressing desire to look at him and see if his expression matched the feelings flowing through their bond. Loren did want her, and his increased heartbeat and elevated hormone levels said the sight of her on his bed had him thinking about wanting her right that moment.
Bleu burst into the room.
“You want another round?” Sable raised her fists.
Bleu wiped the back of his hand across his bloodied lip and narrowed his purple eyes on her friend. He definitely wanted a second shot at Sable’s title.
“Bleu,” Loren said, and Bleu’s gaze drifted to him. “I require a moment alone with Olivia. Please show Sable around the castle and answer any questions she might have.”
Sable smiled viciously at Bleu. “There’s only one room I want to see and only two questions I have.”
Bleu straightened, his eyes flashing dangerously as Sable sauntered up to him.
She prodded his chest. “Where’s your sparring room and do you want me to whip your butt in it?”
She tossed Olivia a good-luck wink and dragged Bleu from the room. Loren stared at the closed arched doors.
“Your friend is trouble. It is not wise to challenge Bleu.” Loren slowly looked across at her and Olivia forgot her pain and her anger for a moment as she smiled at the thought of Sable taking on Bleu. That was the huntress she knew. She was sporting an injured arm but she just couldn’t resist the opportunity to fight a new species.
“I think Bleu will find it’s not wise to challenge Sable,” Olivia said and then her smile faded and she looked down at her ruined dirty white coat and her ripped jeans. Blood had soaked through the bandages around her lower right leg. Here in Loren’s castle, she felt as if she were thousands of miles away from what had happened tonight and it would be so easy for her to just shove it aside and forget what she had lived through, and why.
She looked up at Loren and his expression turned sombre, the light that had been in his purple eyes fading to reveal the sorrow she had witnessed often in them.
“Who was he and how did he plant the bombs in Archangel?” she whispered. “No more dancing around this... Loren... I need to know what I’m dealing with. He’s not just your enemy anymore. He’s our enemy now.”
Loren sighed, sat on the edge of the bed and scrubbed a hand through his black hair, tousling the longer lengths on top and revealing the pointed tips of his ears.
“Vail is... my younger brother.”
Olivia stared at him, waiting for that to sink in. Loren had been at war for all these centuries with his younger brother.
That was why he had talked of containing him and capturing him. That was why he hadn’t killed him before.
Ice formed in her veins, engulfing her heart, dragging up memories she had fought hard to suppress. She drew her left leg up and held on to it, resting her chin on it as she realised that she and Loren weren’t so different after all. They came from different worlds but both of them wanted to save their brother. She had lost hers. Loren still had a chance with his.