Chapter Eight
Meg
I try not to feel anything. Cara’s small hands smooth
the fabric over my shoulders. The gnome has to stand on a chair to reach me. I
should be helping, but I feel so empty that I allow the gnome to dress me as
she would a doll. I merely answer the female’s softly spoken commands. Lift
your right leg. Lift your left leg. Bow your head so I can get the shirt on.
Cara sings quietly while she works. Everything the gnome does is soothing, but
I still feel dead inside.
I’m supposed to go with him. How can I do that?
In the mirror, I see I’m wearing suede pants, though god
only knows what kind of animal has actually given up its skin for them. The
shirt is a bit tight in the chest, so I immediately button the collar up to my
throat. It isn’t flattering. It looks much better unbuttoned. Unbuttoned, it
shows off a creamy expanse of skin and a faint hint of round breast. It looks
rather sexy. But Beck hasn’t found the sight of my naked body sexy at all. Cara
wraps a leather belt around my waist then helps me into a pair of knee-length
boots. My hair has been braided and marigolds are woven into it.
All I can think about is how I’m going to get away.
“Well, look at you,” a low voice says. “Fae Barbie.”
I shake my head. As upset as I am, the vampire can still
make me smile. He might be the only thing I halfway understand in this strange
world. “You have Barbies, too?”
“Oh, yes,” Dante confirms. “My sister filled the house with
them. I used to have my soldiers take them hostage. She had to pay me to get
them back. It was my first business. The consort Barbies come with bite marks
on their necks. I bet yours don’t have that.”
“No,” I reply and sort of wish Dante was the one I’m tied
to. I’m bouncing all over the place emotionally, but I can’t help it. At least
he has a sense of humor, and apparently, his plane has things I’m used to like
running water and indoor toilets.
“Hey.” Dante brushes a tear off my cheek. “None of that.
It’s going to be all right. You’ll see.”
“I’m sure it will be fine.” It will be perfectly fine once I
get the hell out of here. Someone will be willing to help me. I don’t buy that
no-going-back crap. If I got here, I can get back.
Dante’s perceptive eyes narrow. “Don’t run. It won’t go well
for you. There are things in that forest you can’t imagine. Promise me you
won’t run until you meet Cian. Please, give him a chance to be less of an
asshole than Beck has been this afternoon.”
“If he’s anything like his brother, there’s no point.” I
can’t help the bitterness that pours out of me.
“But he isn’t, sweetheart. That is the point. Cian is the
intellectual half. He’s also the more romantic half,” Dante muses. “It’s odd
how they split. Beck is all the hard and pragmatic bits. He’s all about
responsibility and honor, while Cian is playful and instinctive. Sometimes I
think Beck got the short end of the stick. Of course, Beck is not the one who
lies down from time to time and decides to fade because the world is too much
for him. It’s all very dramatic, trust me.”
I huff and begin to pace. “You are seriously telling me that
this Cian person isn’t really Beck’s brother, but the other half of him.”
Dante looks thrilled. “Her human brain works! Yes, that is
what I’m telling you. Two bodies, one soul.” Dante gently touches a finger to
my forehead. “You bridge the two right here. They balance through you. You
complete them.”
“And if I don’t want to complete them?”
The vampire smiles sympathetically. “Just meet Cian. You
can’t begin to understand Beckett until you meet all of him. And he wasn’t
disappointed in you, sweetheart. He was upset with himself.”
“Sure he was.” I’ve heard that one before. It’s not you,
Meg. It’s me.
“He was,” Dante says seriously. “He has odd ideas about how
a bondmate should be treated. On his plane, a bondmate, especially one of royal
blood, expects to be treated like a princess. It took my mom years to relax and
learn to take my father in stride. Right now, Beck sees you as a perfect little
possession, and he wants to take good care of you. Watch him. You’ll see. He
won’t let you do anything. He’ll wait on you hand and foot.”
I’ve worked since the day I turned fifteen. No one has ever
accused me of slacking off. Of course, I didn’t have much of a choice. “I’m not
asking him to do that. I’m not a princess.”
“I know that. You know that. Teach him. You’ll all be
happier if you’re a fully functioning member of the team rather than a
porcelain doll they take down and very gently make love to, but only after
asking politely.” Dante shudders as though the thought makes him ill. “You’re
the best thing that could have happened to him. Work on Cian first. He’s the
openly passionate one. He’s the one who never wanted that polite bargain where
he loved you from afar because he was worried his passion would be too much for
you.”
“Beck doesn’t love me.” I’m utterly certain of that truth.
“He just met me.”
“He won’t be able to help himself, and neither will you.”
The vampire picks up a small satchel Cara filled. He settles it over my
shoulder, giving me a sharp slap on the back. It moves me forward a little. “Be
careful out there and remember what I told you.”
“And just what did you tell my mate, vampire?” Beck’s eyes
are a glacial gray as he stands in the doorway.
I freeze, but Dante merely rolls his eyes. “It’s always Dante
or my cos, when he wants something. And when he’s pissed off he calls
me vampire. He says it like it’s a bad thing. I’ll have you know that vampires
are the most advanced of all the races. Come to my plane sometime, sweetheart,
and I’ll show you. We’re launching a mission to test a deep space shuttle.
Vamps in space. It’s going to be awesome.” Dante jauntily slaps his cousin on
the back. “See you at the village. I’ll give Cian your greeting, but I’ll keep
my mouth shut about her. It’s better if she’s a surprise.”
The vampire leaves, and I’m alone with Beck. He’s had a
shower, or whatever they take here, and now he’s clean and so gorgeous it hurts
to look at him. His linen shirt is open at the throat. It shows off his
rock-hard chest to spectacular advantage. How had I even thought for a second
he could want me? I’m not even in his league.
“Are you ready?” The question is asked quietly, but as with
everything the man says, there’s an order to it. He stands looking at me, and
my body heats up, even after everything he did.
If he showed me an ounce of kindness in the arena, I would
have been an eager puppy following him without question. I would have written
off my previous existence and done everything he asked of me.
I am truly pathetic. He’s done me a favor. “Does it matter
if I am or not?”
“No. We need to leave now if we’re going to make it to the
lake before midnight. I want to spend the night there.” He holds the flap to
the tent open and gestures for me to exit.
I step out and quickly stop because we’re not alone. “What
the hell is that?”
It’s monstrous. It looks like a horse, but someone put it on
steroids and dyed it a dark blue. It’s so dark that one can mistake it for
black, but when the late-afternoon sun hits the thing’s coat, there’s an
unmistakable midnight blue shining there.
Beck runs a strong hand along the beast’s back. It’s obvious
he has a fondness for the enormous animal. Even Beck, as big as he is, will
have to haul himself into the saddle. “This is Sweeney. He’s a good boy, aren’t
you? He won’t hurt you, love.”
I hate that his words make me want to soften toward him. He
sounds like he did before the events of the arena. He was gentle with me when
he rubbed me to orgasm. I liked that almost as much as what happened later.
But I know the truth now and I’m having none of it. Nor am I
getting on that horse. “I’ll walk, thank you.”
I turn on my heels and start down the road. There’s no way
I’m getting on the back of that thing. I might have been born in Texas, but I
never really left the city. I’ve never been on a horse, much less an elephant,
and that’s what Sweeney reminds me of. I ignore the odd looks I receive as I
walk down the lane. Apparently they don’t get a lot of pedestrian foot traffic
around here.
In the distance, I can see the forest ahead. The trees are
unbearably thick. Only the road seems to be clear, as though the forest around
it is a living thing, waiting to pounce on anyone who walks into it.
Trepidation creeps in and I slow my stride. That forest will swallow me. I’m
just about to turn back into town to protest when I feel a strong hand lift me
into the air by the back of my shirt.
“Hey!” I scream in shock as I find myself across Beck’s lap.
Without thinking about it, I throw my arms around his chest and cling to him,
afraid to fall off the beast. It’s an awfully long way down, and there isn’t a
handy ER around to set whatever breaks.
Sweeney huffs and prances, getting used to the new weight on
his back. After a few seconds, Beck makes a clicking sound. The horse takes
off.
“Hold on tight, love,” is all he says as he prods the horse
into high gear.
I do as he asks, holding on with all my might. The forest
looms large, getting closer every second.
Like it or not, I’m going into the woods.