Darkness Everlasting (Guardians of Eternity #3)(73)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

Darcy didn’t try to hide her shock. Holy crap. She had been prepared for the strange, the bizarre, and even the mystical. A scientific experimentation was at the very bottom of the list.

"Genetics?"

"Yes, that’s it."

"I’ve been genetically altered?"

"Yes, my love." A taunting smile touched her lips. "You are the werewolf equivalent of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster."

A low growl echoed through the room as the door was thrust open and Salvatore stepped over the threshold.

"Shut your mouth, Sophia, or I will shut it for you."

Chapter Twenty-Two

Darcy sucked in a sharp breath as the dark, fiercely handsome Salvatore stepped into the room. As always he was wearing a silk suit that was worth a small fortune, this one in a pale blue with a dark charcoal tie. His black hair had been smoothed and tied at the nape of his neck to better reveal the elegant perfection of his male features.

His elegance, however, didn’t diminish the dark aggression that smoldered in the golden eyes or the air of violence that suddenly filled the room.

He wasn’t pleased with Sophia and looked ready to do something about it.

Darcy instinctively stiffened. If the two Weres were about to go to battle then she didn’t want to be tied in the middle.

Seemingly indifferent to the danger, Sophia strolled to stand behind Salvatore, her slender hands stroking over his shoulders with an obvious intimacy.

"All, Salvatore. You see, I have managed to accomplish what you could not," she said in a throaty tone. "Not surprising. A woman is usually more capable than a man, no matter how he likes to think himself superior."

He shrugged off her touch, his gaze remaining on Darcy’s pale face.

"The only thing you’ve managed to accomplish is to terrify your own daughter. I hope you’re pleased?"

"At least she is here and not in the clutches of the vampires," Sophia countered, moving to lean against the wall in a well-practiced pose. It was no doubt a pose that made most men foam at the mouth, but unfortunately for her, Salvatore never even bothered to glance in her direction. Her expression hardened. "If you possessed any spine at all you would have taken her the moment you arrived in Chicago. She would already be in your bed and carrying her first litter."

"Hey." Darcy gave a frustrated tug on the chains. "Wait a minute—"

"Leave us," Salvatore interrupted in a low tone.

Sophia laughed. "Tell me, Salvatore, are you man enough to take her while she’s chained and helpless?"

A low growl trickled from Salvatore’s throat as he slowly turned his head.

"I will not tell you again, Sophia. Leave us."

There was a tense moment before Sophia at last offered a mocking bow. "Of course, Your Majesty." Moving to the door she paused to cast a glance over at the bed. "Try not to injure her. She is my daughter, after all."

With her warning delivered, Sophia stepped into the hall and closed the door.

Alone with Salvatore, Darcy shifted uneasily on the bed. She didn’t really believe that this man would actually rape her while she was chained to the bed. Not after he had taken such care over the past days to try to win her trust.

But she felt annoyingly vulnerable as he moved toward the bed and gazed down at her.

Her mother had made it painfully clear that she had been genetically engineered for one purpose: to have children for the Weres.

They were obviously desperate.

How long could Salvatore’s patience possibly last?

She flinched as he reached a slender hand toward her face. "Don’t…"

The dark eyes flashed with regret. "Darcy, I did not want it to be this way. Are you hurt?"

"Don’t touch me."

His hand dropped and his expression became one of wounded arrogance.

"Despite my heritage, I’m not an animal, Darcy. I won’t harm you."

"No. You seem to have an unending supply of women to do that for you," she muttered, still smarting from the blow she had taken from her mother. Not to mention her run-in with the lovely Jade.

His nose flared with an anger that filled the room with a prickling heat.

"I have an unending supply of women who possess the poor habit of interfering in my business."

She could hardly argue with that.

"And what’s your business with me?"

"I have told you, cara." His gaze slowly moved down the length of her body. "I wish you to be my consort. I assure you that it is a position of great honor among our people."

She pressed herself into the hard mattress. It wasn’t that she was entirely oblivious to this man’s attractions. He was breathtakingly handsome and blessed with the sort of charisma most women would find irresistible.

Perhaps under different circumstances she might have found herself pleased with his attentions.

But the current circumstances included being stalked, chained to a bed, and informed she possessed a genetically altered womb so she could carry litter after litter for the pack.

Not the sort of thing to dazzle any woman.

Besides, he wasn’t Styx.

And that was that.

"I don’t doubt that it is a position of great honor," she said slowly. "But what if I don’t want it?"

He smiled to reveal his perfect white teeth. "You will."

"You’re very certain of yourself."

"Our union was destined from the day you were born. There is no escaping it."

She glanced pointedly at her wrists. "Obviously not if you intend to keep me chained to the bed."

"I would release you if you would give your word that you will not try to escape." His smile faded as he met her gaze steadily. "May I have your promise?"

Darcy gritted her teeth. It would be so simple to lie. Just open her lips and promise him whatever he wanted.

It’s what she wanted to do.

Salvatore’s trust might very well offer her the opportunity to escape. Reason enough for any lie.

But more importantly, if she could free herself soon then she could return to Styx before the dangerous vampire made the horrible situation even worse.

Darcy shivered. She didn’t know what time it was, but she suspected that it was late afternoon. Which meant that sundown was only an hour or two away.

Only an hour or two before Styx would be able to follow her trail and charge to the rescue.

She would do anything to avoid the inevitable confrontation.

Unfortunately, the word simply wouldn’t cross her lips.

She couldn’t utter a blatant lie beneath that steady gaze.

"No."

"Then I fear the chains must remain," he said. "At least for a time. Eventually you will become reconciled to your fate."