Chapter 41 One or Both
❀ Maeve ❀
Beyond my racing heart, my core betrayed me by clenching, hard.
I pressed my thighs together in a desperate attempt to hold back arousal. Nikolai would scent it and fall on me like a dog on a bone.
Currently, he stared at me with that infuriating half smirk and a tilted head, a look I knew too well. He was questioning my sanity. So was I.
What had possessed me to utter those words? They were true, but the delivery had been less than ideal.
“Look, beyond your possessiveness and all, we have heavier issues to worry about, don’t you think?”
He closed his eyes, spearing his dark curls with his claws as he turned in place to face the wall. Another action I knew well; he was desperately trying to control his rage.
I swallowed, my own claws at the ready. Guilt lashed me for sending him into that wall, but I couldn’t let him distract me with passion.
I was no longer defenseless, I could hold my own against him. My cheeks heated at the thought—of course I’d thought of sex.
“Ah, my sweet bride.” He rumbled darkly, “I don’t know which is worse. Entertaining your delusions, or courting your hatred.”
“What do you mean?”
He turned to face me, crimson gaze blazing with his wicked smile. “I got you something.”
My hackles immediately rose from the abrupt change of topic.
“Okaayyy.”
He strode to his simple wardrobe with purposeful strides, yanking out a box.
Instead of coming to me, he sat on the bed and set the box on his thighs. When he looked up, my breath hitched. He looked excited, like a boy about to brag about a favorite toy.
“Come here.”
I rolled my eyes. “You have a gift for me, but I should come get it?”
“I want you comfortable when you receive it.”
My eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“You’ll see.” He quipped, eyes shining.
Strange vampire.
I joined him on the bed. Electricity sparked when our thighs touched. I ignored it.
“What’s in the box?” I asked softly.
With a flourish, he opened the polished black box, its top opening with a shiny metal hinge.
I sucked in a breath at the sight of its contents.
A stunning dagger lay in a black suede cushion, the blade black as night and glinting in the candlelight. The handle was just as arresting, matte black with red veins inlaid with red stones.
Stunning.
He moved it closer to me, and I gingerly took the blade out.
“It’s… beautiful.”
I turned the dagger side to side, marveling at the way light kissed the inky black surface. I felt his eyes on me.
“I got it for you, to use as self-defense. But now you’ve got claws…” he trailed off, brows drawn.
“I love it.” And I really did, it was pretty and deadly. A combination close to my heart.
Then I noticed the end of the hilt; it looked like it had a joint.
He took the blade from me, carefully opening the round end. “Poison.”
I peered at the granules within, black and glittering with menace. “What is it?”
He snapped it shut, saying meaningfully, “Crimson Venom. A little will incapacitate, but the entire dose will kill even an immortal.”
“Whoa…”
“The blade itself is poisonous as well, so be sure to twist if you ever use it. You may not.”
I rolled my eyes at his patronizing tone. “How do you know?”
He boxed the dagger beside its pretty minisheath.
I let him capture my shoulders, hugging me close to his body as he whispered in my ear.
“I’ll be here to protect you. I’ll never let you out of my sight.”
I stiffened immediately. “You would keep me against my will?”
“To preserve you, yes.” He purred into my hair, sniffing.
I squirmed at the feel of his breaths close to my neck, fighting to concentrate. “And your grand plan? Wasn’t I supposed to be your inside agent?”
He came up for air, pinning me with a hard stare. “No longer. I’ll figure something else.”
“No, you won’t. Because I’ll return to the pack. Speaking of, I should tell you, Alpha Mordane isn’t working with Maverick Graves.”
His thumbs were straying up my ribs to my breast, distracting me. I seized his hand with a pointed glance.
He stopped but didn’t remove his hand. Lustful male.
“They know you’re compromised, bride, they wouldn’t discuss the real plans around you.”
“Ah, but I’m not.” I gloated, “You see, I’ve been masking your scent with perfume. Only Bastian is aware of your mauling of my neck.”
Nikolai gave me a measuring glance. “And he let you get away with it?”
“No. He promised to mark me if I delivered you to him.”
With my heightened senses, I thought I heard his heart stutter. His face went blank, then his eyes darkened.
“You toy with me? Discuss me with your lycan in bed?”
“Yes,” when his lips pulled back in a snarl, I added hastily, “but you can’t blame me! I had to go with it, or else he would reject me, or worse. Then you wouldn’t have an inside agent.”
“You toy with both of us then?”
I boldly met his gaze. “Yes. Besides, if you two did meet, I know what would happen. One or both of you will die, which saves me the heartache of choosing.”
My chest tightened at my words. I’d prefer not to lose either of them.
His lips twitched with a smile.
Then he raised my hand to kiss the back of it. “Intelligent bride.”
He murmured foreign words into my skin. They sounded like vows.
I fought the distracting effect of him, aching to clear my doubts.
“Nikolai, d-did you lie to me about anything?”
He paused, raising somber eyes to mine. “He’s planting doubts in your head, isn’t he, trying to get ahead of the game?”
“Are you using me? Did you lie about Drusilla, about Graves? Are the vampires allied with him?”
“No.” He said firmly. “I ache to prove myself to you, but there really is a real threat from Drusilla. She’s desperate for the throne enough to eliminate any hint of a distraction to or from me. She trusts no one but me.”
“Why?” I pressed.
“Because I’m loyal to her. She… saved me. Gave me another chance at life.”
Sensing a heavy history, I gently cupped his face. “What happened to you?”
“During the war, Ironwolf soldiers used humans as a shield against the vampires. My family was used as a distraction by Ironwolf soldiers instead of rescuing us. I was five.”
My heart clenched for him.
“I was taken by the vampire horde. Raised to become a feeder. At fifteen, I was deemed grown enough to be a bloodbag. Most humans were drained to death, but Drusilla outlawed it, not out of kindness, but to preserve the ‘food.’ But then she accidentally drained me to death. She turned me to save my life, even though she was crimson and they don’t share their powers. She was kind to me before and after my death; the loyalty came naturally. Vampires are cutthroat even with each other, so she trusts me without hesitation.”
His story broke me. No wonder he hated wolves. Especially Ironwolf pack. My earlier delusion of thinking I could make both my males come to an agreement withered before my eyes.
I really was going to lose one, or both of them. My fingers trembled.
Nikolai cupped my hands in his.
“Are you on my side, Milaya?”
“You know I am.”
His gaze pinned me, searching. “Then don’t hate me, because I will kill the wolf.”
I had nothing to say to that. Anything I had to say wouldn’t be fair.
He dusted his hands, his face pained. “It pains me to say this, but I’ll have to let you go. I need you to plant runes in the fortress, to weaken the wolves for a short time.”
I jerked my hands back, my skin prickling.
“Why? I can give you information, Nikolai, but I won’t directly endanger the pack.”
His eyes grew cold.
“I have nothing against your precious pack, but I do need to retrieve something.”
Heart thudding, I asked, “What?”
The air dropped several degrees when he smiled.
“The Crimson Amulet.”