Chapter 26

Lucianus

I couldn’t believe what she was saying. I was shocked, but I caught sight of that bothersome, lustful idiot who had been chasing her out of the corner of my eye. I could smell his stench lingering on her. The pleading in her eyes was sincere and the fear wasn’t at all directed at me.

That man had assaulted her in some way. My blood boiled. I wanted to kill him. Hadn’t he realized that he had gotten off lightly when I had not broken his face and caved in his chest in the bar? Did he really think he had the right to touch what I had already claimed as mine? My mate.

Yet his eyes were focused on us, drifting over her body with a familiar and disgusting leer. He seemed to be just waiting for me to step away before pouncing. Did he know her personally or was he just another crude human searching for prey?

I’d kill him as soon as I could. I’d make sure he understood that in this world, he was prey: weak and defenseless before I sent him to his death. It gave me a deep sense of satisfaction thinking about it. The hunters hadn’t shown themselves yet, and it was nearing the time that I needed to release some anger, after all. I wouldn’t blink from draining this pig of a man, but as my original source of entertainment had not appeared, this man would have to do.

“Of course,” I said, smiling at her and gesturing ahead of me. “Would you care for a walk first?”

Her eyes widened, then she nodded, and I offered her my arm. She hesitated. I saw something like recognition or confusion flicker in her eyes before she took my arm and walked with me out the door. The warmth of her body so near to mine sent a wave of awareness through me. I felt all of my senses turning towards her. I could hear her blood rushing through her veins. I could smell her perfume. I could feel her attraction reaching out to me through the mate mark, tugging on my instincts as I pulled on the connection to make sure she would obey me.

Her heart rate eased as we walked. She drew closer, almost leaning into me as I manipulated the mate mark. Her mind eased, for the most part, becoming more open to suggestion, more pliant. It felt like putty in my hands and it made me grin.

There were few pleasures that I enjoyed more than using this power. I could do this to most humans with ease, but the mark made it so much more delicious. If I wanted, I could turn her into the most willing of slaves, but there was no enjoyment in that.

My wife had enjoyed it on occasion, but our love had been fraught with a power dynamic that she could never escape from and I could never change. This human with her face was so much less than she was.

She always would be and there was something delightfully comforting in that. I could have her as little more than a possession, a thing to be enjoyed and thrown away when I wanted. I could indulge in the fantasy of being with my wife without ever besmirching her memory.

This human was a toy to be used, like a living portrait that I could bend to my every whim.

The man who had been chasing her followed us out of the building. He wasn’t a hunter or any sort of trained man. His footsteps were loud and obvious in the night, even without my werewolf hearing.

He followed us as we rounded the building and headed toward the shore, where the trees were thick, and the lights were dim. It reminded me a bit of a dark lagoon on the other side of the Forest of Darkness. I had taken my wife there many days to enjoy the cool water and isolation.

I had never thought the human world could hold any beauty or hold any more worth than providing entertainment and food for our realm.

Perhaps I was wrong.

She grew stiffer beside me as I led her through the dark. She drew closer and her heart started to speed up. I smelled her fear and smirked. Perhaps she was remembering her time in my forest. I almost laughed.

“I can’t say how grateful I am,” she said, her voice trembling at the end.

“It’s been so hard to just go out and enjoy myself anywhere. Then this happened. I would never have guessed that my school would have someone like that as the dean…I can’t say how many other young women he’s tried to…”

She was rambling. It was almost charming. I couldn’t follow all of what she was saying, just that she was receiving some sort of education in Utah, and the man was some sort of administrator over that. I supposed Utah was where we were in the human world, or it was nearby. It didn’t matter. I could find her wherever she was due to the mark just beneath her skin.

“How did you arrive here?” I asked.

“The school paid for the trip,” she chuckled a little. “I guess it was more like he organized it so that he could target me, probably.”

“He is in a position of power over you?”

“Yes,” she looked up at me. “Where… are you from?”

I considered that question. Many humans had asked me that and I usually didn’t answer.

“Far away from here… What is it that you’re studying?”

“Psychology,” she said. “The study of the mind. I’m hoping to become a psychiatrist.”

I nodded slowly as we broke through the short bank of trees and turned back towards the back side of the hotel. I led her inside and into an elevator just as the man appeared in the glass behind us. The door shut, and I pressed every button, partially unsure of which floor she stayed on.

She looked up at me. “Why…?”

“Will it not be harder to find out where you are staying?” I tilted my head. “It is unlikely that he will race up the stairs after us.”

She blinked. “Oh… that’s fair. Thank you… I guess I’m so rattled I didn’t even think about it…”

Her expression struck me. But more than that, I realized that she trusted me. Whatever memories that might have been lurking at the back of her mind were inaccessible to her at the moment. Was it from the physical injuries and trauma or the mark that was suppressing the memories?

I knew that elixir had a hand in how she survived, but perhaps it had helped hide the memories from her as well.

She did not know me any more than she had when I’d first stolen her. I realized then that more than using the mark, which had its limitations, I could use her heart against her.

I could make her fall in love with me. The thought was jarring, but the idea started to grow more concrete the longer I thought about it.

I could make her love me. I could charm her into being mine. I could truly own her more than I ever could with just that mark on her body. I could make her want to come back to me.

I could make her want to serve me.

The blood that had been saved from all the bloodletting she’d been subjected to had been locked up since I had her thrown into the human world. There were many things a man of power could use it for. Control, love, bonding, and even changing a human into a werewolf.

I could have her here in this human world for as long as I needed, and then, I could take her back with me.

Beyond that… her face, for all the differences in their personalities and circumstances, was the face of my wife. The longing in my heart had not subsided. I could see her face contorted with pleasure beneath me. I could hear her voice calling my name in pleasure.

My blood burned in my veins.

I felt my cock hardening at the thought and stopped on a random floor, getting out of the corridor. I wasn’t going to wait to have her now that I was so close. Just a taste would be enough, for now, then I’d have more.

“This isn’t my—”

I pulled her along after me, backing her into a random closet. Inside was a host of blankets piled on the floor. It reminded me a bit of the large cushion back at the castle. I turned to her as I heard the elevator door open. My instincts told me that I should look out the window.

Quickly, that idiot leaned out of the elevator. He looked both ways but didn’t see us.

I didn’t need to get her to her room. I couldn’t wait that long. I was going to have her right now.