Seduce(57)

Sera turned to make her excuses and leave, but Snow’s hand on her arm stopped her. She looked up into his eyes and saw more red in them. His hand shook against her.

“Are you unwell?” She grabbed both of his arms to steady him when he swayed.

Snow gritted his teeth. “Can you lend me a hand?”

Sera nodded without thinking, her mind wholly on helping him because she could see that he was fighting hard against whatever darkness was trying to seize control and there was so much pain and fear in his eyes. She cared about him, had grown to like him in the short space of time they had spent together, and she wouldn’t leave him in his hour of need.

She manoeuvred his arm around her shoulders, unafraid of how it placed her close to him, her belief that he wouldn’t hurt her as strong as the one she had about Antoine. She helped him from the room. The scent of blood lingered in the staircase that led up to the floor where his apartment and the others were, and didn’t lessen until she had passed Antoine’s door. Antoine must have taken his woman to his apartment to help her. Sera ignored her anger and jealousy and kept walking, focusing all of her attention on Snow. He needed her and she wouldn’t fail him.

He clumsily banged into the panelled door of his apartment and fumbled with the handle.

“Let me.” Sera gently took his hand away, twisted the knob and pushed the door open for him. He thanked her with a tight smile and she helped him inside, leading him over to the bed.

When they reached it, he collapsed onto the black covers and sprawled out, breathing hard. Sera raced back to the door, closed and locked it. As much as she feared being alone and trapped with Snow, she feared him escaping even more. Not for the sake of those on the other side of the door, but for his sake. She didn’t want him to suffer more than he already had. He feared being around people and was afraid that he would lose control and hurt them. It must have taken a lot of courage for him to come to the party tonight.

His breathing was too laboured for him to speak. He grunted and stretched one arm out.

Towards the restraints fixed to one of the thick metal bedposts.

Sera nodded.

She grunted herself when she tried to haul Snow up the bed. Dear God, he weighed a tonne. Sera kicked off her heels, mounted the bed and stood near his shoulders. She hooked her hands under his armpits and dragged him, growling with effort. Her bottom banged into the wall behind his headboard and she looked down at Snow. He was already fumbling with one restraint, trying to close it around his right wrist.

Sera gingerly moved over him, trying not to draw too much attention to herself in case it prompted him to lose control and tear her throat open. She knelt on the bed, covered his left hand with hers and smiled when he looked at her, the red filling almost all of his irises now. She closed the cuff around his wrist and locked it, and Snow collapsed onto his back, breathing hard and radiating his struggle in waves so strong that she felt it right down in her core. He was fighting it but he was losing. She hitched her long black dress up and scrambled over him, risking his wrath. He surprised her by placing his other wrist in the open cuff on his bed. He was more coherent than she had thought. She locked the cuff around his wrist and moved to his feet.

She had to tug his boots off to get at his ankles and Snow growled when she was none too gentle about it. She smiled her apology at him and dragged each foot to the corners of his bed so the restraints reached them. When she had both ankles secured, Snow began to settle and his breathing became more controlled.

Sera backed towards the door. She had helped him and now she had to go, before anything else happened.

“Wait.” Snow opened his eyes. His pupils were changing. He sucked in a hard breath and gritted his teeth, lips peeling back to reveal his huge fangs. “Do not leave. My brother... he is worth fighting for.”

Sera stopped and took a step towards Snow. He wrestled the restraints, growling at them, and then settled again.

“He makes mistakes... does not say or do the right thing at times... but he is worthy of being loved.” Snow struggled to sit up and failed, the restraints stretching his arms too tightly for him to get any leverage from his elbows. Sera moved closer to him so he could see her. His eyes were completely red now, his pupils stretched into narrowed slits. “He deserves to be loved... after all I have put him through.”

He looked so sad that Sera couldn’t stop herself from sitting on the bed beside him.

“I have put him through so much.” Tears lined his eyes and Sera resisted the urge to lay her hand on his cheek to comfort him. “It haunts me.”

“I know,” she whispered and laid her hand on his chest. His heart pounded like a drum against her palm through his dark shirt, strong and powerful.