Chapter fourteen
Maybe I’m the problem.
That thought circled Amaya’s brain as she stood on the balcony of one of the most exclusive clubs in Black Hollow.
Although she’d never been inside, she’d heard about it, and from the stories her cousin told her, being here with Levi was a terrible idea.
If she were smart, she would demand the king take her back to his compound where she could pretend that he was holding her hostage and continue being mad at him.
She was still mad at him…right?
Her mind drifted back to the meeting they’d just left. She’d instinctively moved to lower the temperature in that room, and for what reason? It wasn’t her business how Levi conducted his affairs, and yet…she’d stepped in without thought to quell the violence.
Now if she could only remember how she did it.
Maybe it would help her later when she inadvertently popped off on the king.
It certainly would’ve been beneficial when she’d been trying to leave the compound.
Sucking her teeth in disgust at herself, she shook the thoughts of escape loose from her head.
“A drink, baby doll.” Levi slid behind her, handing her a glass of wine over her shoulder.
The press of his body against her back and his firm, possessive touch on her waist sent a shiver down her spine. His cologne wrapped around her and seeped into her senses. Even taking a shower would not rid her of the smokey tempting scent. He was too close, and too…too…everything!
Fuck, this was a really bad idea.
“Levi…” She tried to move, but his hand tightened on her waist.
He leaned into her neck and her nipples tightened in the most torturous way.
“Stay still, beloved.”
The rough command stiffened her body. Clutching the stem of the glass in her hand, she worked to regulate her breathing.
She could do nothing about the pulse drumming beneath his lips.
He didn’t even kiss her, simply laid his soft lips against her neck, the warm air from his breath bathing her skin.
As much as she wanted to fight him, her body was betraying her.
“I need to feed, Amaya,” he said softly.
She scoffed. “I knew you brought me here for a reason.”
He released her and stepped back. She hated the loss of his weight on her back, but she was glad for the space. It allowed her to come back to her senses.
“I would never force you to do something you didn’t want.” There was a smirk on his face that told her the king thought he could talk her into it.
Amaya shook her head and turned from him. “Get someone else to do.”
Irritation spiked through her at even the thought of him feeding from someone else, but she would stand her ground about that.
If she allowed Levi to feed from her, then every wall between them would crumble and the shifting sands of her fight against him would give way.
He would win, and while a part of her was starting to become resigned to that, she would not give him the satisfaction.
If she thought her words would offend the vampire, she was sorely mistaken. He chuckled and pulled her back into his chest.
“What do you need from me, baby doll? I thought we had a truce?”
She shrugged. “You need to apologize for kidnapping me. But even then, I’m still not feeding you. I don’t belong to you.”
That.
Those words seemed to piss him off. He stepped back from her and Amaya couldn’t resist peeking over her shoulder.
What she saw in his gaze had her pulse racing.
With a little fear, yes, but the fierceness of his gaze and the chaos magic lighting his eyes drew her closer.
Her magic responded, reaching out for a taste of that madness.
This wasn’t like what she’d felt during his meeting.
There, she’d wanted to calm the turbulence, but now…
her power wanted to ride it. To egg it on and bask in the ensuing turmoil.
Amaya took a shuddering breath, scared for the way the king called to her body and magic.
It felt wild and unruly. She placed her free hand over her beating heart, as though she could stop its hard thumping with her palm.
They stared at each other, a battle of wills that both were determined to win.
The king’s pupils were red, pulsing with power he couldn’t get a grip on.
For most, they would struggle with that chaos magic, and while the king did fight to keep it at bay, through their blood bond she saw the way he embraced it in this moment.
Motion in the corner of her eye caught her attention and Amaya swallowed a growl as the hostess from earlier sauntered her thirsty ass into their section.
“You called for me, your Highness,” the woman cooed.
Amaya wanted to scratch her eyes out.
Levi smirked and walked backwards to the sofa in their section, his eyes never leaving Amaya’s. The madness was still there in his gaze, the peek of the beast inside of him warning her that she’d pushed him, perhaps too far. Instead of cowering, she notched her chin higher.
Levi sat and waved his hand for the hostess to come closer. “On your knees, pet.”
His tone was cajoling, yet the unrelenting power beneath the words almost made Amaya obey his order.
The hostess rushed to do his bidding, dropping into position beside him on the sofa.
She didn’t want to watch, didn’t want to see him feed from another woman, and yet winning this battle between them seemed more important to her.
Levi lengthened his fangs and lifted the woman’s arms. The sounds around her quieted, her vision tunneling to focus on the king and his prey. He finally dropped his eyes to the hostess, his very willing victim, and Amaya took what felt like her first breath in hours.
“How do you want it, shawty?” Levi’s voice had deepened, its hypnotic tone lulling the woman at his feet.
“I want pleasure,” was her breathless reply.
Amaya’s magic roiled around her body, her anger feeding it.
‘Should I allow her pleasure, baby doll?’ Levi slipped into her mind, his tone taunting, menacing.
Instead of answering, she slammed up a wall between them.
His eyes hardened even more, the fire within them glowing brighter as his anger fed the monster inside of him.
His gaze pierced Amaya as he raised the woman’s arm to his face.
The hostess sighed in pleasure as the king bit down.
He closed his mouth over her wrist, his jaw moving as he fed from her.
Seething jealousy burned through her.
As he fed, Levi’s gaze captured Amaya’s eyes, and the walls she’d built around her mind were destroyed with his power.
‘You are mine, Amaya. No matter how you fight me, shawty, I will win this war between us.’
‘I’m nothing to you.’
‘You are everything to me.’
She tried to turn her body, to look away from the spectacle of him feeding, but Levi’s magic had full control of her mind.
This was what Sebastian had warned her about.
The king’s power was immense, and she realized that up until this point, Levi had been allowing her defiance.
Because clearly, he could take what he wanted and there would’ve been nothing she could do about it.
It was a humbling feeling.
The pleasured sounds of the woman at his feet tore through Amaya and she wanted to shut out the image, to look away. But Levi held her in thrall, showing her that all along, he had been playing nice with her.
“You’ve proven your point,” she whispered aloud.
Levi released her and Amaya quickly turned her body away from the scene in front of her.
Her hands trembled as she lifted the wine glass to her mouth.
She guzzled the whole thing to relieve her dry throat.
The king’s show of power shook her, she could admit that.
She’d clearly been operating under false delusions.
The vampire was everything they said he was, and Amaya had allowed his concessions to her to lull her into a distorted sense of security.
She needed to get away from him. To get her and her mother out of this current situation, but more than ever, his little display had reinforced to her how hopeless it was. She would never be free of Levi unless he allowed it, and from his words to her, that would not happen.
“I’m not a bad guy, Amaya.” Levi’s voice at her ear startled her.
She looked back as he crowded her body against the railing. So lost in her thoughts, she’d missed when he finished with the hostess.
“I would be a fool to believe that.”
Levi nuzzled into her neck and Amaya couldn’t help the shudder that shook her body. “I’m trying to play nice, baby doll.”
She heard the warning in his voice. He wrapped his arms around her waist, his hand splaying against her stomach. He kissed her neck softly and she reached back and mushed his forehead.
“Don’t put your lips on me,” she snapped.
He chuckled and pushed his hips into her where she could feel his erection on her ass. His cheek caressed her skin. “You so mean to me, little witch, and it makes my dick hard.”
“You obviously have women more willing to help you with that.” She couldn’t help the jealous bite to her voice.
“But I don’t want other women. I want you.” His other hand cuffed the bottom of her throat and her knees went weak.
The king’s power wrapped around her, none of the anger and madness from before infused within it. The feeding had calmed him and that sharpened the envy filling her chest.
“Say the word, love, and won’t another bitch touch me or provide for me.” The taunting was back in his voice, laced with the darkest, richest lust. ‘It could be you who feeds me. You who gets the pleasure and pain of my bite.’
His voice filled her mind, his magic laced within it.
It poured over her like thick syrup and once again, it was brought home just how much Levi had been sparing her from his power.
She’d known that vampires could use their voices to mesmerize, but up until now, she hadn’t been on the receiving end of it.
Her body loosened and moisture slipped down her thighs in response.
He swayed behind her, dragging her into the motion.
They moved in sync with the music blaring from the speakers below and Amaya closed her eyes.
Levi used that opportunity to push his thoughts into her mind, showing her all the things he wanted to do to her.
It was so vivid she could almost feel the way the cool sheets would cling to their sweaty bodies.
It was easy to be swept into the fantasy he spun.
“It could be so simple, baby doll.” His hand tightened at the base of her throat while the other lightly skimmed up her thighs.
The king growled, and the carnal thoughts spinning through her mind turned darker. Flashes of her blood on his chin, her back arched in ecstasy as he fucked her, raised her body’s temperature. A whimper escaped her and Levi nipped her skin lightly.
“You need me to beg, beloved?”
Amaya shuddered, seconds from giving in to him.
He stiffened at her back, his head raising.
It took her a moment to shake away the sensual fog from her brain.
Levi released her abruptly, his hands going to the banister to cage her in.
She blinked and turned to look at him. His eyes weren’t on her, though; they were on the dance floor below.
She followed his gaze and gasped. Her uncle was there, with one of the elders of her family. Both were in a conversation much too serious for the current setting.
Would they be able to see her up here?
Her stomach dropped and anxiety made her hands shake. What would her family do if they caught her in Levi’s arms? She needed to get out of here.
“We need to go,” she told Levi.
He nodded, but his gaze was still on the scene below.
“Now. Please, Levi. I can’t let an elder see me here.”
His gaze hardened and the look he gave her held none of the warmth from before. She thought he would argue with her, but he simply nodded and pulled her away from the railing towards the exit. Sebastian and Lucas met them at the bottom of the stairs.
“You spotted him?” Bas asked.
Levi nodded sharply. “I will deal with him later.”
Amaya wanted to ask him what he meant, but more importantly than that, she wanted to get out of this club before she was spotted.