Chapter Twelve
Starla wanted to hide her face. Hell, she almost reached for Lula or Jenna and begged them to whisk her back to Fey. Her face felt hot.
Did she throw herself at the sexy vampire? How had she landed in his lap? He smelled yummy. Felt amazing. And, honestly, he didn’t seem to mind if the hardness under her ass was anything to go by.
She tried to climb off his lap, but his massive arms refused to release her. Not that she would complain. Being so close to the male she’d been sure would rather run a thousand miles than tether himself to her felt amazing.
“I feel weird,” she said. Her mind felt bruised, and she didn’t like it.
“Explain weird, Biddy Bee.” Aurora leaned forward from her place across from where she sat with Scepter.
“Almost as if I drank a lot of liquor and am hungover. Except I am completely sober. I haven’t had a drop of anything that would impair me.” She ran a hand down her face. “Yeah, it’s official. I don’t like this loopy feeling at all.”
Scepter’s hold tightened as if he could control the bad shit by keeping her tethered to him. She’d willingly hand the reins over to him.
“It’s going to be fine, Anima Mia. I’ve got you,” he murmured.
She knew her sister and Savage heard him as well as the others who’d been with him, but she didn’t care.
Hell, the feeling of floating and knowing she hadn’t been in control of herself reminded her of being kidnapped.
It was a time she never wanted to return to.
She worked to fortify the walls within her mind; she’d thought it was good.
“Lula helped me build barriers in my mind. How did he get through them?” she asked, staring at Aurora and back at Scepter.
“If you allow me, I can look a little deeper and see how he entered your mind. By doing so, I will be better schooled in his mastery and can also help you rebuild what you’d created, only with a foolproof system this time.
I’m sure your friend Lula did a great job showing you how to block most attacks, but nobody could’ve predicted the fucker using dark magic.
” Scepter’s eyes turned red with his apparent anger.
“Can we do it back at Savage’s house?” she asked, unwilling to be in a vulnerable position so publicly.
He brushed his hand down her back. The move was so gentle she wouldn’t have noticed had she not been so hyperaware of his every move.
“Anima Mia, we can do whatever you want to do, wherever you want to do it. I can take us there by car, or if you want, I can have us there in moments, if you trust me.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m not sure if I am ready to break apart the way I’ve seen you do.” While she’s traveled with Lula and Jenna, their way of traveling is seamless. “If you want me to flash the two of us back, I can accomplish that.”
Her sister’s indrawn breath drew her gaze toward her and Savage. “You forget, sis. I have had extensive training with the Fey Queen and two dragons who are queens themselves. You would benefit greatly if you spent a day or so there yourself.”
“Not gonna fucking happen,” Savage nearly roared.
Scepter chuckled. “That’s a battle I fear neither of you will win, Stellina. Trust me, that’s one alphahole neither of you wants to try and rattle. Come, show me how you can flash us back to Castle Sanguinus.”
“You good with this, Aurora?” She looked at her sister for a second. Aurora nodded, smiling slightly.
Scepter stood at the same time as Savage. The air felt thick with their dominance. Starla tried to center herself with memories of times she’d practiced on Fey.
“You got this, Stellina.”
His easy acquiescence seemed out of character, but she wasn’t going to show him she didn’t value his trust. She hoped she didn’t fuck this up. Placing her arms around his neck, she pictured the two of them back inside the room her sister designated as hers.
From one moment to the next, they left the opulent, almost suffocating atmosphere of Saks.
They returned to the large space her sister had designed for her.
Like on Fey, the room had been what she’d have chosen as a teen.
Now, she looked around with fresh eyes. The bed was big, but the linen was more in line with a younger woman's tastes. Even the desk with the computer sat ready as if she might need to do homework. Not that she blamed Aurora. They hadn’t told her about the aging for a reason.
“You can put me down now.” Her voice came out a lot huskier than she’d intended.
“I could, but I don’t want to. While you were gone, I felt as though a part of me died,” he admitted.
Starla looked away. “You rejected me.”
He strode over to the seating area under the bay window, settling onto the overstuffed sofa with her in his arms.
“You realize you can’t just carry me around forever, Scepter. By the way, is that your name, like first and last?” She asked, crossing her arms over her chest to keep from wrapping them around him like a lovesick fool.
Scepter took a deep breath. “I had a familial name many centuries ago. My brother and I were both designated as Savage’s seconds.
He was always chosen to lead us. Our father thought we should take that title from Savage.
I wasn’t so inclined. When we came here, I shed my last name and the ties that bound me to House Dragan.
Our name is spelled differently from the fire-breathing kind, but the power within our clan was great. ”
She blinked, wondering if his family claimed some sort of connection to actual dragons. “Where is your family now?”
“I don’t know. We severed the bond. They are unable to come to America as long as I’m here. I can, of course, return to my homeland if I choose.” Scepter closed his eyes.
She ran her hand between his brows. “It pains you to talk of them?”
“Not as much as losing you did,” he admitted.
She cleared her throat. “You wanted to look inside my mind for the breach and to help me protect myself from that happening again.”
“Good deflection. I’ll allow it for the moment. We’ll circle back, though. Close your eyes. Think about your wall and when you created it.”
Starla followed his instructions, imagining the day she’d sat out in the field with Lula surrounded by pink and purple flowers.
Darkness crept in, decimating the carefully constructed wall she’d built brick by brick.
She watched in dawning horror as a large spider scaled the top of her wall, scraping away the grout between several parts.
The beady eyes looked around as the hairy thing replaced the brick with another, sealing the wall it had destroyed.
If she hadn’t watched the thing dismantle it, she’d never have known her wall wasn’t of her own creation.
She opened her eyes, horror filling every part of her. “Can he come in here?” She tried to scramble away from Scepter.
His arms contracted around her. “He cannot get to you when I’m with you. Calm down, Anima Mia. I will help you destroy that parasite from your mind, and then we will fix your ability to keep others out. Even me if you so wish it.”
Starla nodded, willing to do what was necessary. Hell, she’d return to Fey if that’s what it took to protect her sister from the malevolent fucker. “Let’s do it.”
“Fuck, I would love to hear those words come from your lips for an entirely different reason, Anima Mia.” His eyes heated with a need she couldn’t deny either.
“One thing at a time, Scepter. Right now, I don’t feel like myself.
That whole achy head thing is still a persistent ringing between my ears.
” She really hated admitting weakness, especially to the male she wanted to see her as strong—but fuck it.
If he could work his magic or whatever, she’d take it.
“Shit, you should’ve told me you were hurting.” He kissed her forehead.
The moment his lips touched her, the pain faded.
“How did you do that?” Her eyes had to look like saucers as she gaped at him.
“I have abilities, Anima Mia. Now, let’s work on taking that shit out and replacing it with a stronghold only you can penetrate.” He grinned as he spoke.
“I see what you did there. Do you need me to focus like before?” she asked, settling against the back of the couch. The fact she was completely comfortable wrapped in Scepter’s arms, on his lap, didn’t escape her.
Scepter started talking her through the steps of destroying the rot infiltrating her carefully constructed wall.
Brick by brick, they destroyed each piece.
With the destruction, she felt lighter, as if the poison she unknowingly held seeped from her.
When the last decrepit piece was gone, she and Scepter designed a new wall, thicker and stronger.
There was no grout this time. The solid wall grew higher and higher until she couldn’t see the top.
His words of encouragement gave her the strength to continue.
When she no longer needed to go higher, she slid from her mind, exhausted.
“It is done,” he said.
“Thank you.” Her body felt weak.
“Come, I think you should rest. I will watch over you.”
Starla knew she should protest, but the thought of being left alone or separated from Scepter frightened her. “Stay with me? I mean, here?” she asked patting the spot next to her.
“Of course,” he agreed, settling her onto the bed.
She watched him strip his shirt off and place it on the chair next to the side table. Her mouth went dry as she saw the muscles ripple as he moved. Good, Goddess. He made the boys she’d thought were sexy when she’d been younger look like boys.
“Stellina, you keep staring at me like that, and we’re going to have a bit of a problem,” Scepter growled.
“It’s not my fault you look like every fantasy I didn’t know I had,” she said, motioning toward his chest.
He chuckled. “Are you going to sleep in your clothes?”
“I’m certainly not getting naked.” She stared as he unfastened his belt. “Are you doing this on purpose?”
“Doing what?” he asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “That?” she asked, pointing toward him as he continued to get undressed way too slowly, and if she were to guess, too provocatively.
His lips tipped up in what she thought was a sly grin. “What are you suggesting, Anima Mia?”
“Are you trying to seduce me with your striptease?”
Scepter tossed his head back, laughing. “Is it working?”
She laughed with him, propping herself up on one elbow. “If you began dancing like one of those guys from a male review, I’d be on you like a recently divorced mom of four with a fresh Brazilian wax.” Starla burst into laughter as Scepter’s hands froze on his zipper.
“Why the hell are you a divorced mom of four?” he asked.
The bed bounced as he hopped on top of her, caging her in with his arms holding hers above her head.
“I don’t know. Divorced mamas need good loving, too,” she gasped.
“Hmm, what would be my stage name?” Scepter bent and kissed her, silencing whatever answer she’d have given.
Starla let out a moan of pleasure. She’d dreamed of what his lips would feel like, thinking she’d never know the reality.
“Fuck, you taste sweeter than anything I’ve ever known. I could get addicted to you.” He brushed his mouth across hers, licking the seam. “You’re mine, Starla. Say it.”
“Are you mine, too?” she asked.
“Forever and always, until the end of time,” he agreed.
“Oh, Goddess, I prayed she’d give me a second chance mate. I never thought it would be you. Are you sure?” she asked.
He brushed a tear from her eye with his thumb, then licked it with his tongue.
“I never rejected you, Stellina. It was your age. I am over five hundred years old. You were still a teenager, not even old enough to be considered legal. I knew the beast inside me would make it hard to stay away from you. That is what I was rejecting—the need to protect you from me. I didn’t want you to have to face the beast, Stellina, knowing that’s what I’d become by keeping away from claiming my bonded mate until you were older.