It wasn’t the bloodlust that she feared, but him leaving her for another woman—the woman he had almost forgotten. Sera had chased Anya from his mind and his heart, but now she had brought her back again, a ghost that haunted him and one he had thought he had freed himself from. He wanted to tell Sera that she had no reason to fear because he would never leave her but he had promised not to use the blood connection between them to pry. She would never forgive him if he revealed that he had listened in on her private thoughts.
Antoine needed to do something to reassure her though. The need was primal, controlling, a male desire to protect his female and ensure her happiness and comfort.
He growled and pulled at the cuffs that bound him, muscles rippling and body going rigid. Sera lifted her head, her green eyes wide, shock echoing in them. Not fear. She didn’t think he had lost his mind to bloodlust then. He silently thanked her for her faith in him and pulled his wrists towards him. The cuffs at the other end of the ones that held him began to bend. He tugged harder, straining and growling, and they crumpled under the pressure and slipped through the cuffs of the restraints attached to the bedposts.
The sudden release of pressure against his wrists was something he probably should have anticipated. His left fist smashed into the side of his face and the mangled cuff still attached to it flipped over his face and smacked him in the ear. His other fist cracked against it, driving the metal against his head.
Pain buzzed across his skull.
Antoine didn’t care.
He grabbed a startled Sera, wrapped his arms around her and dragged her down against him. He kissed her with every ounce of feeling that beat for her in his dark heart, hoping to show her without words that she had nothing to fear.
She melted into him, her palms against his chest, her kisses soft and light, full of need and affection.
Antoine held her closer, drawing her deeper into his embrace.
He would never leave her.
No one on this Earth could take him from her.
No one.
CHAPTER 13
Antoine was on edge. Sera was back in his room, showering and dressing for the evening. Dressing. He couldn’t remember the last time he had worn clothes. It felt like weeks ago rather than the days it must have been.
Javier had slipped a note under his door this morning, reminding him that he had an appointment before tonight’s party. The two male elite vampires he was meeting were the reason for the party, and one of them was the reason Javier was so insistent that he show his face.
His younger brother, Andreu, would be covering for Javier while he was on extended leave for six months to train Lilah in being a vampire and honeymooning with her after their impending nuptials. The other newcomer to the theatre was from a family that were a close acquaintance of Callum’s. Callum had assured him that Payne would be a suitable substitute while he was on paternity leave.
Antoine raked his fingers through his dark hair. Devil. If someone had told him one hundred years ago that the dedicated bachelors who had approached him about opening an erotic theatre would end up besotted and married off, he would have laughed and told them to pull the one with bells on. He hadn’t seen this one coming.
He hadn’t seen Sera coming either.
“And this is the main stage,” Javier said, Spanish accent thick now that he had been in the company of his brother for a day solid. His voice echoed around the empty theatre.
Andreu cast his deep blue gaze over the black stage and the red velvet couches that made up the set. If it hadn’t been for those eyes, so different to Javier’s rich brown ones, and the darker shade of his brown hair, the two of them might have been twins. Javier was barely half an inch taller than his brother was, and both had wide shoulders that filled the breadth of their black designer suits.
Payne was a contrast to both of them. He wore his dirty blond hair cropped close to the sides of his head and spiked on top, and wore black jeans with his pinstriped black shirt. The rolled-up sleeves hugged his toned forearms close to his elbows and revealed an elaborate array of tattoos on their undersides, intricate symbols that had caught Antoine’s attention the moment he had met the young vampire.
And he had eyes that Antoine had discovered were unpleasant to look into for any lengthy period of time. They looked dull slate grey in the low light coming from the stage but back in Antoine’s office, they had shone with the eeriest flecks of amber and blue. The background checks Antoine had run on their two newest employees hadn’t revealed anything unusual, especially where Payne was concerned. In fact, his file was so clean that Antoine suspected the man made a serious amount of effort to stay off the radar. Even Andreu’s had revealed a few fights and some dark business dealings. Javier had vouched for his brother though and Antoine believed him when he said that Andreu was completely devoted to this position and the work it entailed and wouldn’t be a problem.