Chapter 17
Cain
When I let myself into the cell that night, Nyx’s cell phone in my hand, she was curled up in the blankets, asleep, her mane of wine-colored hair spilling over the pillowcase.
It was long past sunset. I’d expected her to be awake—she had been earlier when I’d checked with the guard on duty—but she must’ve lain down again. At least she’d eaten—steak tartare, blood-wine.
She stirred, blinking up at me, dazed and unguarded, a crease marking one downy cheek.
Damn her, anyway. I hated how she could get to me even now, hated the guilt I felt at using the spiked handcuffs on her. I kept picturing them clamped around her wrists, biting into the tender skin...
I was a vampire, for Lilith’s sake. I wasn’t supposed to feel like this. I wasn’t supposed to regret.
I thrust the phone at her. “Nazaire’s been texting you,” I said gruffly.
She shot upright. “My father?”
I just held the phone out until she took it. Her fingers brushed mine, warm from her body. I ignored the spark it sent up my arm.
She opened her messages. I already knew what she’d find. He’d written in French, naturally, but I understood enough to read them, enough to know he was furious that she’d slipped the leash.
FATHER: Where are you.
FATHER: Why isn’t J answering his phone.
FATHER: Why are you headed to the coast.
As I’d suspected, Nazaire had tracked her phone.
FATHER: You are on Lilith Island. Answer me at once. Where’s J?
And finally:
FATHER: You’re with that lieutenant. Respond immediately.
Nyx’s brow pinched beneath her cropped bangs. Her thumbs moved, typing a reply.
I plucked the phone from her fingers. “Uh-uh.”
“I don’t understand.” She lifted her eyes to mine, pushing her curls back with a shaking hand. “He thinks I’m helping you?”
She looked so confused and unhappy that I felt a fresh twinge of guilt. But this was war, and her sire was the one in the wrong here, not us. Play this right, and we could finally take the motherfucker out.
“Maybe,” I said. “My guess is that he’s not sure, but he has to be wondering how a human could’ve taken out both you and Jerome. And Jerome’s phone burned along with his body, so Nazaire can’t track it. Your phone, though…”
“You—!” She swore in French and lunged for her phone. “Give me that.”
I lifted it above my head. “No.”
She launched herself off the cot, hands clawed, going for my eyes. I tossed the phone on the cot and grabbed her by the arms.
She reared back and slammed her head forward, aiming for my nose. Again.
I dodged right and she hit my shoulder instead. She reared back a second time, but I’d had enough. I spun her around, twisting her arm behind her back, and shoved her face-first against the nearest wall, cheek pressed to the hard stone.
I put my lips to her ear. “I wouldn’t piss me off if I were you.”
She bucked against me, trying to throw me off, grinding her ass into my lap. We both went motionless. My dick pulsed against her crack. Those thin, stretchy pants didn’t hide much.
My lower body moved before I realized it, rubbing myself against her round globes. Her glutes clenched. I groaned, low and ragged, and did it again, a slow rotation of my hips that dragged the aching head of my cock over her firm bottom.
It was dirty and all kinds of wrong, but I was angry and aroused and my body was thinking this was Nyx, who liked it a little rough. It wouldn’t be the first time we’d wrestled for control.
She emitted a harsh exhale. “Get off me.”
“No.” I kicked her feet apart and thrust my thigh in between hers, testing. She was warm, the soft fabric damp.
I cupped her mound with my free hand, and her body arched, pressing back into me. I chuckled darkly, and she tensed.
“Knock it off,” she gritted.
I touched my lips to the delicate knobs of her spine above the blue cashmere sweater. “Doesn’t feel to me like you want me to stop,” I said against her soft skin. “It feels like you want more.”
Her throat worked, her body sagging against the wall. “Are you trying to break me? Is that what this is?”
I stilled because her tone didn’t match mine at all. She sounded…bleak.
Like I was the asshole who’d imprisoned her and figured he could get his rocks off without her consent. With a sick, injured woman.
Something hot and tight balled in my chest.
Bringing her bent arm down, I released her and stabbed my finger at the cot. “Sit.”
She didn’t obey, of course. Instead, she slid behind it, keeping the thin mattress between us. But I noticed she leaned on the wall for support.
I dug my fingertips into the bridge of my nose. “For the love of Lilith, sit down. I won’t touch you, alright?”
Her lip curled. “And when I’m better? What then?”
“Not then, either. That’s not why I brought you here.” I blew out a breath. “Look, I was out of line. It won’t happen again—you have my word.”
Her gaze moved over my face, assessing my truthfulness. Then she gave a jerky nod.
I gestured at the cot. “Now, would you please sit?”
“I’m fine.” Her mouth thinned. “I know what you’re up to, Mister I’ll-Give-You-Sanctuary. You want my father to know I’m on Lilith Island. You don’t care if he thinks I double-crossed him. You’re trying to goad him into coming for me.”
I gave a single, unrepentant nod. “All true.”
Her mouth slackened like she’d expected me to deny it. Then her eyes squeezed shut, her face a mask of fury.
I braced myself for the explosion. The Nyx I knew was fiery, emotional.
When her eyes opened again, vampire-blue rimmed her irises. She didn’t explode though. She accused.
“I wondered why you wanted me. You’re a lieutenant—you could have anyone you want. But you never wanted me at all, did you? Not me, Nyx. You wanted Nazaire’s spawn.” She practically spat the last two words at me.
I scowled, stung. “It wasn’t like that. I would’ve wanted you no matter whose spawn you were.”
Her lips pulled into a scornful smile. “Yeah, right.”
Now she was pissing me off. The woman was in my fucking head, night after night, and she thought I didn’t want her?
“Did I seem like I didn’t want you a few minutes ago? Because my cock was damn hard for a guy who was faking it.”
“You’re a vampire. You’re always ready.”
I growled. “Don’t twist this. I wanted you. Every fucking time. And you weren’t pretending either, love.” My voice dropped, cold with the hurt I refused to show. “You were more than happy to take it anyway I wanted to give it to you.”
Nyx’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. Then she visibly gathered herself, pushing off the wall and slipping around the cot.
She sauntered forward, hips swaying in the tight black pants, and stopped an inch from me.
So close, when she drew a slow inhale, the tips of her nipples brushed my chest like a dare.
“Do you want to give it to me now, Lieutenant?” She toyed with my collar, sending me a look from beneath thick lashes. “Maybe you want to punish me. Would you like that? I’ve been a bad girl, haven’t I?”
I knew she was messing with me, that she was angry, that she was out to wound me any way she could. My dick didn’t know it, though. It pressed against my zipper.
Yes, please.
The gods knew, I ached to take her up on her offer. To pin her to the stone wall and grind into the heat of her pussy until she begged me to let her come.
And then I’d peel her clothes off and show her what I did to bad girls.
“Nothing to say?” She undid the top two buttons of my white shirt.
When she pressed a kiss to my throat, I drew in some much-needed oxygen and reminded myself that she wasn’t the one in charge here.
“Enough.” I thrust my fingers into her thick curls and tugged back her head.
She met my eyes, not a trace of fear on her face. I felt an unwilling flicker of admiration. Not too many dhampirs could hold my gaze.
Her fingertip traced from the hollow of my throat to the top of my sternum. “You don’t want me to stop. You want to fuck me—don’t you?”
Hell, yeah.
I dipped my head, unable to resist nuzzling that tender spot beneath her ear that always made her moan. She did it now, a sexy whimper that made my balls tighten to the point of pain.
I moved lower, nipping her throat, dragging my tongue up the side of her neck. She must’ve washed up in the sink, because she smelled of the plain bar of soap, a clean note on top of her own, familiar earth-and-sage.
I inhaled deeply. Without my wishing it, my other hand closed around one firm ass cheek, urging her up against me. My knees bent so I could press my aching dick into the notch of her thighs.
But even as I licked and kissed my way to her mouth, I was looking at the cell out of the corner of my eye. I’d made it a little more comfortable, but it was still a prison cell.
In the castle’s dungeon.
And me? I was the man who’d put her there.
Even if she did want this as much as she seemed to—and I was ninety-nine-percent sure she did want it now, even if this had started as an attempt to either punish me or coax me into letting her out of the cell—I’d still be crossing a line if I took this any further.
A bright, flashing red line.
Godsdamn it anyway.
Especially since I could feel her damp heat seeping through the thin layers of fabric separating us. Not to mention that I was as hard as a slayer’s stake.
But there was that promise I’d just made her. Even if she released me from it now, I’d given my word, and if I broke it so soon, she’d never trust me again.
And that bothered me. She’d probably hate me before we were done, but the thought of losing her trust bothered me.
I wasn’t even sure why. After all, I didn’t trust her, did I?
I needed to put a stop to this game—now.
First, though, I allowed myself a taste, sliding my tongue into her mouth, eating at her lips the way I’d like to eat out her pretty pussy.
She moaned and rocked her mound against me, more proof she’d forgotten that damned promise.
But I hadn’t.
With a rough exhale, I unwound my fingers from her hair. Moved both hands to her hips. Pushed her away from me.