Was Snow saying that he thought his brother was attached to her? She had figured Antoine’s outburst was just a momentary glitch brought about by his sleepy state.
She didn’t dare hope that he was right. She had tried to keep her relationship with Antoine as physical as possible and not emotional, but the more time she spent with him, both intimately and afterwards when they would talk about his life and hers, the more she fell for him.
Her desire to make him see that they could be together was the reason she was here now, about to ask Snow for something that would likely embarrass him and Antoine as much as it did her.
“Those.” She pointed, already blushing deeply and unable to say the words aloud.
Snow followed her finger, looking over his wide bare wet shoulders. His head snapped back around, white hair whipping with the force of the action, spraying droplets over her.
“The restraints?”
She cringed at the volume of those two words. Here she was trying to keep things subtle and he was shouting it at the top of his lungs.
“You want to tie my brother up?” He chuckled. “You are a dark little thing.”
Her blush deepened. It wasn’t what he thought it was but she didn’t correct him. He lumbered across his room, leaving another trail of wet footprints on the wooden floor. He had the same taste in decor as Antoine. Black, black and more black with the odd red accent. His bed was something straight out of a torture chamber though. The mattress looked comfortable enough, covered in black silk sheets and fluffed up pillows. The bed itself though. She had never seen anything like it.
Metal posts as thick as Snow’s arms supported the four corners. The top and bottom of each post ended in wide square steel plates bolted to the ceiling and floor. On each bedpost, there was a length of inch-thick steel chain with an equally as thick cuff attached to the end. The leather lining the inside of the cuffs was cracked and stained dark with blood. The bed looked as though it should have been strong enough to contain the most feral of creatures, but the posts were bent in places, dented and showing signs of wear.
“Seen enough?” Snow said and she jumped.
“I didn’t mean to stare.”
He shrugged casually but there was shame in his pale blue eyes. “I have my good nights and my bad nights.”
So she had heard. She glanced at the bed again, feeling sorry for him. He had to chain himself to a bed, cage himself, whenever he had a bad night. Something told her that he used the restraints more often than that. Did he sleep in them? Chained and defenceless, open to attack? One of the first things she had learned on becoming a vampire was how to protect herself by finding a secure place to sleep. While the general human population didn’t know about vampires and the other creatures that shared their world with them, there were hunters out there who were constantly on the lookout for her kind.
“Snow,” she said and he handed the restraints to her.
“Do not pity me,” he snarled and closed the door in her face.
“He is right, Sera. It is his choice. I have always maintained that. Do not make him feel wretched for the choices he makes. He desires to protect others, those he cares about, and that is a noble thing.”
Sera nodded and turned away from Snow’s door, coming to face Antoine where he leaned against his doorframe a short distance along the corridor, wearing only his black boxer shorts.
He raised a dark eyebrow at the four sets of restraints in her hands. They were heavy, weighted with more than just steel and leather. What she was going to propose was dangerous, but she needed to show Antoine that she trusted him.
“Are those for me?” He nodded towards the cuffs.
Sera shook her head.
“They’re for me.”
His eyes widened.
She walked over and held the restraints out to him.
“I want you to use them on me. I will prove that I trust you and that you won’t hurt me.”
CHAPTER 10
“Sera.” Antoine pushed away from the doorframe and Sera shook her head to silence him.
She knew what he would say. “I trust you, Antoine. You won’t hurt me. I want to do this.”
His pupils dilated, darkening his eyes with the heat of passion that said he wanted to do this too, but not because he wanted proof that she trusted him or that he wouldn’t flip and hurt her. It was the thought of chaining her up that had him reaching out for the restraints, taking them from her, and leading her into his room.
He closed the door behind them and Sera exhaled slowly, trying to expel her rising nerves. She had never allowed anyone to restrain her before, not in her human life and certainly not in her vampire one. Just the thought of being chained, especially by industrial-strength restraints like the ones in Antoine’s hands, handcuffs made for an ancient vampire, had her heart pounding and instincts kicking in. They told her to flee, to end this before it began. It was too dangerous.