Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(24)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

“Samuel?” She turned her head to regard the pale-haired vampire with more surprise than alarm. “What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you.” A disarming grin spread across the handsome face, the blue eyes twinkling.

Jaelyn wasn’t fooled by the boyish charm. She knew the cunning predator who lurked just beneath the golden good looks. Still, she wasn’t prepared for the man to dart forward, snapping a thick, silver collar around her throat.

She hissed in pain, her hands lifting to tug at the collar that was searing into her skin.

“What the hell?”

Samuel’s smile widened. “Surprised?”

She warily backed into the center of the room, futilely attempting to remove the collar even as her senses spread through the sparsely furnished office to make certain there weren’t any other attackers looming in the shadows.

Better late than never, right?

“I was summoned by Kostas,” she said. “He’s not going to be pleased when he finds out you’ve been screwing around in his office.”

Samuel clicked his tongue, his expression mocking. “I’ve warned you that you should never take anything at face value, sweetie. Your weakness has always been your habit of trusting others.”

Damn.

She dropped her hands, a cold dread forming in the pit of her stomach.

She’d been brought to the compound only a few years after Samuel. For thirty years they’d trained side by side, sometimes as partners and sometimes as opponents. And for thirty years he’d tried to lure her into his bed.

But in this moment she wasn’t feeling the whole BFF vibe.

In fact, there was an ugly glint in the blue eyes that made her inner alarms clang.

“You sent the message?” she demanded, inching back until her butt hit the edge of the walnut desk.

She wasn’t trying to escape. At least not yet. Instead she was judging the precise measurements of the room. Six feet from the door to the two wing chairs beside the bookcase. Three feet to the file cabinets in the corner. Two feet from the desk to the wall.

During a fight it was vital to be familiar with her surroundings.

Tripping over a piece of furniture could mean the difference between life and death.

Samuel smiled with cocky confidence as he strolled toward her, his muscular body shown to advantage in the black running shorts that were all that covered him.

“You should have made sure the note was genuine before you left your rooms.”

Yeah. Master of the Obvious.

“I’m assuming that Kostas isn’t going to be making an appearance?”

“No, we’re all alone.”

She licked her dry lips. “What do you want?”

His gaze traveled down her body. “You know, my dear, there was a time when I might have been satisfied having you in my bed.”

She didn’t bother to disguise her grimace. “Never.”

“There’s no need to rub it in,” he chided. “You’ve made your lack of interest painfully clear.”

“So now you think you can force me?”

“Jaelyn.” Genuine indignation darkened the blue eyes. “I would never rape a woman. Surely you know me better than that?”

She refused to react as he allowed his powers to fill the air. A Hunter never revealed weakness. Not even when her skin beneath the silver collar was being scorched to a crisp and a frigid pressure threatened to crack a rib.

“Actually, I don’t think I know you at all, Samuel,” she said, her voice carefully devoid of emotion. No use provoking the crazy vampire. “If you don’t want sex, then what do you want?”

He shrugged. “I’m not an animal, but I am ambitious.”

“Big shocker,” she muttered.

Since her arrival at the compound she’d been aware of Samuel’s insatiable obsession with gaining the approval of the Ruah. She truly thought he would get on his knees and kiss Kostas’s ass if it would earn him brownie points.

“So long as you’re around I’m always going to come in second place.”

“Second place?” She frowned at the bitterness in his voice. “Are we in a competition I didn’t know about?”

“We’ve been competing since we were brought here, sweetie.” He reached to grasp her chin in a crushing grip. “Of all the recruits the two of us have emerged the strongest. Why else do you think the Ruah have pitted us against one another over and over?”

She made no effort to escape his hold, still hoping to bring an end to the madness without violence.

“I thought we were supposed to be a team?”

“There’s only room for one at the top.” His smile faded to reveal the cold, empty hunger that burned deep in his eyes. “And since I’m honest enough to admit that I can’t win in a fair fight, I’ve decided to get rid of you with less than honorable means.”

Okay.

Any hope of ending this with a smile and a handshake died a painful death.

“This is crazy, Samuel,” she breathed. “I’m not your enemy.”

“But you are.” He tightened his grip, her jaw cracking beneath the strain. “So long as you exist you will always be the golden child of the Addonexus.”

She hissed at the pain flooding through her body. “What the hell does that mean?”

“You’ll always be given the best assignments, along with the glory.”

“What glory? We work in secret.”

He shook his head, refusing to acknowledge the truth of her accusation.

“No. I won’t live in your shadow.”

“Samuel …”

She slumped forward, as if overcome by the silver poisoning her body and sapping her strength. Instinctively he reached to catch her, which was all the opening Jaelyn needed. Using his forward momentum to her advantage, she grasped his arms and flipped him over her hip.

He cursed, landing on his feet at an awkward angle. He swiftly recovered. He was, after all, blessed with the same gifts that she was. But it gave her just enough room to leap over the desk, covertly snatching the letter opener out of its stand on the way.

Samuel straightened, his eyes glittering with a hate he’d kept hidden for years.

“You’ll pay for that, bitch.”

Jaelyn didn’t bother to respond, her concentration narrowed to the smooth pearl handle of the letter knife that was clutched in her fingers and the distance to her opponent’s heart. Samuel’s problem had always been his love for the dramatic.