Chapter 25
The dream came for her before she could fight it.
Kate was in the library at Devon’s estate in Budapest. Devon sat in his favorite chair with a book on his lap. He looked just like he had during those early days when she was still learning to trust him.
“Come here,” he said, his voice filled with warmth.
Kate moved toward him without hesitation, her heart full of the love that had grown between them. In dreams, she could forget about Aleksander, about the maker bond, about the constant threat hanging over their heads. Here, there was only Devon and the safety of his arms.
He set the book aside as she approached, reaching for her hands. His touch was familiar, comforting, exactly as it should be. Kate settled onto his lap, her head finding its natural place against his shoulder.
“I’ve missed this,” she murmured against his neck. “Just us. No threats, no fear.”
“Soon,” Devon promised, his hands stroking her hair. “Soon we’ll have this again. Forever.”
His touch grew more sensual as his hands moved along her body, to which Kate eagerly responded, her hands exploring the shape of his chest and rediscovering every line and curve. This was what she needed. Connection, love, and a reminder of what they were fighting for.
When his mouth found hers, she kissed him back with desperate passion, pouring all her love and longing into the contact. His hands tangled in her hair, and she arched against him, wanting to be closer, to lose herself in him completely.
“I love you,” she whispered against his lips, her hands framing his face. “I love you so much, Devon.”
But when she looked into his eyes, expecting to see the dark blue depths she adored, she found pale ice staring back at her.
“Hello, little Pet,” Aleksander said in Devon’s voice, with Devon’s face, Devon’s gentle smile twisting into one of cruelty.
Kate recoiled as if she’d been burned, scrambling backward off his lap. The betrayal hit her like a physical blow, not just that Aleksander was here, but that she had willingly given herself to what she thought was Devon, only to discover it was her maker wearing his face.
“No,” she gasped, her hands shaking as she backed away. “You’re not him. This isn’t real.”
“Isn’t it?” Aleksander’s features began to shift, Devon’s beloved face morphing into the sharp, aristocratic beauty of her maker. “You came to me so willingly, responded so beautifully to my touch. Did it feel real when you were kissing me? When you were telling me you loved me?”
The library around them darkened, the warm sunlight fading to the cold illumination of a green reading lamp. Kate found herself back in the damp, stone-walled room where her transformation had taken place.
“You kissed me back,” Aleksander continued, rising from the chair like a predator stalking its prey.
“You touched me, wanted me, loved me, even if you thought I was him. But your body knew the truth, didn’t it? The maker bond recognized its master.”
Kate felt sick, violated in a way that went beyond the physical. The intimacy she had shared, thinking it was with Devon, had been stolen, corrupted.
“You deceived me,” she whispered.
“I showed you the truth,” Aleksander corrected, circling her like a predator.
“That the line between Devon and me is thinner than you want to admit. We are both creatures of darkness. The passion you feel for him, the desire, it all stems from the same source. The same darkness that flows through your veins now.”
Kate strengthened her mental shields, the techniques Devon had taught her blazing to life.
“You’re nothing like him,” she said fiercely. “Devon would never deceive me like this. Never violate my trust.”
“Wouldn’t he?” Aleksander’s smile was cruel. “He kept you captive for months. He lied to you about what you were becoming. He’s been deceiving you from the beginning, little Pet. At least I’m honest about what I want.”
Then, like a lifeline thrown into dark water, she heard Devon’s voice. The real Devon, calling her name from somewhere far away.
“Kate! Kate, wake up!”
The sound of his voice, desperate and afraid, cut through Aleksander’s compulsion like a blade.
Kate seized onto it, using it to anchor herself, to remember who she really was.
“No,” she said, her voice growing confident. “I am not your Pet, I am not yours to command.”
Aleksander’s beautiful face contorted with bitter anger. “You cannot fight what you are.”
“I am Kate Morgan,” she declared, her mental shields flaring to life. “I am Devon’s, his choice, and you have no power over me.”
The dream shattered like glass.
Kate woke with a gasp, her body drenched in sweat. Devon was beside her right away, his hands gentle on her shoulders.
“Kate, you’re safe. You’re awake. It was just a dream.”
But it wasn’t just a dream, and they both knew it. Kate could still feel the phantom touch of Aleksander’s hands on her skin, could still taste his kiss on her lips. Worse, she could still feel the echo of her body’s response, the way the maker bond had made her want him despite her horror.
“He was here,” she whispered, unable to meet Devon’s eyes. “In my dreams. He—” She couldn’t finish, couldn’t voice what had happened.
Devon’s jaw clenched with fury, but his touch remained gentle. Kate finally looked at him, seeing her own anguish reflected in his eyes.
“Devon, I—my body responded to him. He tricked me into thinking it was you. I couldn’t stop it, the bond made me—”
“No,” Devon said firmly, cupping her face in his hands. “Whatever happened, whatever you felt, it wasn’t you. The maker bond is a form of supernatural coercion, Kate. You are not responsible for how your body reacted to it.”
“But I felt—”
“You felt what he forced you to feel,” Devon interrupted. “Just as he forced you to become vampire against your will. This is another violation, another way he’s trying to control you.”
Kate cuddled against Devon’s chest for comfort, and she felt the last of Aleksander’s influence fading from her system. But the memory stayed, bringing a new awareness of how insidious the maker bond could be.
Aleksander hadn’t just taken her humanity. He was trying to dismantle her sense of self, making her question her own feelings and choices.
But he underestimated her. She had endured his first violation, and she would endure this one.
The maker bond might connect them, but it would not define her. She was Kate Morgan, and she belonged to no one but herself.
And to Devon, by choice, always by choice.