Born in Chains

“Right.”

After a moment, he removed the tissues. “How’s that feel?”

“Good.” She adjusted her thong then her skirt.

He then pulled up his pants and slid the used-up tissues into his pocket.

“I’m liking your battle leathers more and more,” she said. “You’re a man who’s ready for anything.”

“Hell, yeah.” But for a moment, he was caught by the light in her eyes, the warmth, the humanness that he’d come to value, her grace, her willingness to take care of him, and that she wasn’t embarrassed by the mess that sex could make.

But then she’d been married and she’d given birth. A woman with children was used to a lot of things.

On impulse, he leaned in and kissed her, wrapping his arms around her fully, willing her to understand that he valued her, all that she was in this moment, all that she’d done for him, the sharing of her body and her blood, the sacrifice of binding herself to him.

She held him tightly in response and he felt her intensity, almost her desperation. “Oh, Adrien,” she whispered against his neck. “What’s happening here, between us?”

“I don’t know.” His heart was swelling with emotions that didn’t make sense, not with a human, not with someone he’d met a little over a day ago.

After a long moment, he drew back. “Eve’s performance is probably over. You ready?”

She nodded. “Yes. Let’s get on with this.”

CHAPTER 11

Eve was a great beauty with large breasts that overflowed a tight black leather bustier. Her height put her at Amazon status. In her stilettos, she had at least two inches on Adrien.

Lily’s gaze ended up at collarbone level, which meant she had a good view of the sweat beaded in the valley of the woman’s cleavage.

She wore leather wrist guards studded with ruby-red crystals, about a dozen silver rings, a barely there thong, and what she could only describe as western leather chaps so that a lot of her inner thigh and outer buttocks showed.

She wiped a hand over her forehead. “Adrien, my love, when are you going to relent and let me put you on my table? I’m very good at this. I can take you to the edge about a dozen times and then let you fly in such a way that you’ll shout for a century.”

A strange knife-like sensation pierced Lily’s sternum and started cutting her up. Instead of pain, however, all she felt were streamers of blood-red rage flowing through her chest and into her muscles, even down her arms until her hands were balled into fists.

Adrien glanced at Lily and slid his arm, as he often did, around her waist. Only this time, he pulled her in a powerful jerk against his body so that she stilled. “We’re chain-bound, Eve. You can see that, so stop with this shit right now. It’s been a rough night.”

Eve turned ice-blue cat eyes on Lily. She didn’t smile, just gave a long, slow look up and down.

“Does the kitty play?” she asked, her voice soft, low, seductive.

Lily’s nostrils flared.

A small smile curved Eve’s lips. Then she sidestepped toward Adrien, sidling close.

That did it. With lightning speed, Lily slipped in front of Adrien, planted her hands on the Amazon’s arms, and shoved her.

But the woman was a vampire, worked out, and it was like pushing against a granite wall. “Leave Adrien alone.” Her voice echoed up and down the corridor.

Eve’s eyelids dropped. She dragged a hiss of air between pursed lips that was more sensual than hostile. “The kitty has claws. Me like. I could do you both, have you both chained to my table.”

When Eve reached for Adrien’s arm, Lily blocked her hand, slapping it away. Eve tried again and again, halfheartedly, chuckling each time.

This wasn’t working and the female vampire was too damn strong so Lily began pushing backward at Adrien. That her buttocks connected with his arousal sent fury washing through her veins. She whirled in his arms. “What the hell?”

But his eyes fell to half-mast. It’s you, Lily, taking on a vampire, keeping her away from me. I’m hot for you. Eve has always left me cold, and damn, if you and I hadn’t just fucked I’d take you right now.

She dialed down her rage and planted a hand on his soft tee. “You’d better be telling me the truth, because I’ve got a lava flow of rage in my veins right now.”

“I know.” He held her arms and to Eve said, “Stop the nonsense. You’ve got my woman ready to go volcano. Can you give the act a rest? You know I’m never going to sleep with you and I’ll definitely never lay myself out on your table.”

Eve glanced from one to the other. “But you might let her do it.”

“I might,” he said. “Now, where can we talk that doesn’t have a table or a bed or a closet full of your gadgets? I’m serious and if you don’t oblige me, I’ll tell Rumy you’ve been hitting on me again.” Rumy had made it clear that Adrien and his brothers were off-limits to Eve.

At that, Eve straightened her shoulders. “Fine.” She whirled around and shifted to altered flight, disappearing through the opposite wall.

Lily was flying with Adrien before she knew he’d started them after Eve. But it only took a couple of mind-and-eye-jarring seconds to catch up, even to get used to passing through walls of stone, through furniture and groups of people, mostly without flinching.

She kept her eye on the red glitter effect that flowed behind Eve as she flew, her ponytail swaying from side to side. The color suited her and seemed to sparkle. How is she doing that? Or do all vampires have a kind of signature when they fly?

It’s all for show, something Eve concocted.

I don’t like her very much.

She’s not so bad. You’ll see. Again, it’s all for show.

Adrien began to slow and the shimmering red glitter bunched up suddenly then disappeared.

Passing through one last wall, Lily landed with Adrien in what looked like a nicely furnished home.

“I always wondered how you lived,” Adrien said. “And thank you for bringing us here.”

“Aw, hell, if I’m not going to get any action, I’d rather be comfortable. Give me two secs to clean up and change. Then I’ll tell you what I know.” The woman seemed almost normal as she disappeared down a side hall.

Lily’s heart lurched. Maybe she’d finally get the information she needed.

The sound of water running, or rather flowing in sheets, drew her attention. As she turned around, her brows rose: She was looking at a waterfall not thirty feet away. She wended a path through some elegant modern black leather furniture, past a long rectangular dining table, to an elegant creation of rock, water, and lighting.

She wondered where the pump was, then looking up realized she was seeing the real deal, a waterfall inside the cave system.

Vampires and caves. Why not waterfalls? It all made sense, and everywhere she went in this strange new world, she saw that the caves, the sculpted walls and floors, the tunnels through hard rock, had all been around for a long time. Behind the flow of water, she could see that granite had been carved and polished so that it appeared as though light glittered through the flow of water.

When she heard Eve call out offering her guests wine, which Adrien accepted, she returned to him. A servant appeared, a much shorter woman in a crisp white, tunic-like apron over a maroon gown, and took Adrien’s request for two Cabernet Sauvignons.

After taking the first sip, Adrien suggested they sit down in the chairs opposite the couch. Lily sank into the soft leather and gave herself to savoring the wine and trying to let go of some of her tension about where she was, that she kept having some really outrageous sex with a vampire, and that a sex-club dom was now changing in the other room.

She eased back and closed her eyes, a mental list popping into her head: Category, The Erotic Passage, item one, get information from Eve about the weapon; item two, get Josh back.

As always happened when she thought about her son, her stomach tightened, but she forced back the tension and sipped her wine. She had to relax through this process, through these soul-shattering experiences that kept turning her world upside down. The more relaxed she was, the better her decisions would be—but much easier said than done.

“You okay?”

She opened her eyes and shifted to meet Adrien’s beautiful flecked teal gaze. She nodded. “I’m surviving.”

His lips quirked. “Sometimes that’s all that matters.” He lifted his glass to her. “For what you’ve been through, you’re doing great.”

His voice soothed her; that was what she understood, the deep resonance, the kindness. Maybe it was that quality that surprised her most of all, just how kind Adrien was.

Guilt pierced her suddenly, about why she was here, that she was using Adrien, and that she would go to any lengths to get her son back. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she whispered. “But how can this end well, any of it?”

“Lily, what’s going on? Tell me.” He tilted his head and frowned.

She wanted to tell him about Josh, she really did, but how wise would that be? She’d agreed to the terms of the mission. Was her need to tell Adrien the truth worth putting her son’s life on danger?

She touched the chain at her neck. On the other hand, this wasn’t a normal situation and the bond she shared with Adrien had already told her so much, had made her care for him. She almost opened her mouth to speak—but at that moment a very different Eve returned to the living room.

She was barefoot, she’d lost the makeup, and her long blond hair, only partially dry, hung about her shoulders. “I hope you enjoyed the wine.” She met Lily’s gaze and all the flirtation was gone. “I have an import business, and of course Italy is exactly the right place for it. So how are you liking our world?” She sat down on the couch, spreading her arms along the back of the cushions.

Lily glanced briefly at Adrien then back to Eve. “It’s not what I expected, not on any level.” Thoughts of Adrien catching the vampire child up in his arms in the Trevayne system raced through her mind, stealing her breath away all over again.