I closed my eyes as the next lash whistled through the air to strike. The lack of contact snapped them open. A jungle towered in front of me and I kneeled on a beach. I blinked, unable to comprehend what just happened. The night sky spread full of stars and gentle waves crashed behind me. I twisted around to gaze at the dark ocean.
My wrists and ankles freed, the pain gone and no vampires. Where the hell was I?
Maybe I died—
Tane stepped out of the foliage and approached me.
—and gone straight to hell.
He sat in the sand and faced me. “I’m shielding you.”
“What?”
“Are you deaf? Did he damage your ears?” He raised a brow.
“What the hell is going on?” I jumped him and pinned his shoulders to the sand.
“You let them torture me.” I pounded my fists on his chest. All my hatred poured out.
He’d used me in Budapest and now he did the same here. In his eyes, I was worth nothing.
He lay in the sand and watched. Never once did he try to stop me.
I straddled him and panted. Tears poured from my eyes in hot streams. With my hands, I swiped them from my cheeks and glared at him. The straps from my dress had slid from my shoulders during my tantrum to bare more cleavage than I cared for. I tugged them up.
His gaze followed my actions. “Are you done?”
I nodded.
“Get off then.” He twisted his hips and dumped me on the sand before sitting cross-legged. “I sensed you give up. Rurik would never forgive me if I let you die.”
“I’m not dead?” The sand felt so soft and silky. Emptiness claimed the spot where I’d housed my rage. I didn’t want to move. He was right, with nothing left inside to use in a fight, I gave up.
“Don’t be so dramatic. Of course not, I brought you into my head. The pain can’t reach you. You can hide here until it’s finished.”
“Then he’s still lashing me.”
“Yes, until he realizes you’re unconscious. They’ll wait for you to heal and start again.”
“I’m not healing. I need to feed from Rurik.”
He pursed his lips then gave me a small smile. “You really still believe you’re bound to him? After everything Luckard proved with sensing each other’s pain, and the fact I could draw you into my head?”
I blinked. Where Rurik was sexy, kind hearted, and thoughtful, Tane was virile, ruthless, and brilliant. My mind understood what I’d witnessed and felt with my body, but my heart wouldn’t listen. Not yet.
I broke contact with his stare. “They did this with Eric too?”
He sighed. “Yes.”
“He’s dead.”
“Yes.” He stared out at the ocean.
“I’m sorry.” Eric seemed like the only person Tane cared about when I met him in Budapest.
“I’m not. He betrayed me.”
I sighed. “I’m still sorry.”
Silence hung over us as he watched the waves and I watched him. The moonlight glinted off his bald head. A set of full lips softened the strong jaw line that made him look hard. His ears tapered to delicate points and curled along his scalp and he wore a golden loop in one.
“Thank you.” He broke the silence with his whisper.
“I don’t want to die.”
“You won’t, Rabbit.”
“Don’t call me that.” It came out automatically. “Even if you tell them what they want, they’ll kill both of us.”
He rolled his eyes and grinned. “I wouldn’t place such a dangerous weapon as my drug in the hands of incompetence. I’ve sent a mental message to my warriors. They’re coming for us.”
I sat bolt upright. “You can do that? Why let them hurt me and place those bars through your body?”
“It’s a rouse. Luckard is too bloodthirsty and stupid to have conceived this plan on his own. Someone else is helping. I need to find out who.” He brushed my hair from my forehead with his hand. “You’re too full of questions I can’t answer. Go to sleep now, Rabbit.”
Chapter Five
The throb of raw flesh awoke me with a start. I lay on my stomach, no longer shackled to a wall and left free on the ground. A glimpse of the dimly lit room gave me the impression I was alone.
My eyes fluttered closed again as I rested my forehead on the cool tiled floor and groaned with the burning ache. Did they put me through a meat grinder? Deep breathing made it worse. The dried scabs on by back split and blood trickled with each breath. I needed to keep each precious drop in my body. Who knew how much I’d lost?
Tane assured we’d get rescued, but how long had I slept on this hard floor? Maybe they were empty promises. Tane and ‘hero’ were like oil and water.
Panting through the pain, I removed my arms from under me and dragged them next to my head. Alone, the tears I’d fought to hold back returned. The sobs came one after another in great uncontrolled racks that shook my shoulders. They caused more bleeding, yet I couldn’t stop them.
I’d been beaten, hunted and heartbroken, but never tortured. They didn’t even want anything from me, only to use my agony against Tane since whatever they inflicted on me he felt. Or at least that was what they thought. Could it be true? Were we bound? God forbid. The knife they stabbed in his side may as well have gone through mine. He didn’t even cry out when they did it. What kind of monster didn’t react to pain?
When Dragos almost drank me dry in Budapest, Tane sought to save me by giving me his blood. He could have let Rurik do it, however he chose to force a drop of his own blood in my mouth. In frenzy, Rurik slew Dragos and yanked Tane from me. He fed me to bind our souls together. Could that one little drop Tane pressed between my lips overcome all the blood I drank from Rurik? When Luckard struck Rurik on the beach I never felt his pain.
My sobs grew more intense. I wanted to live an eternity with Rurik, my love. Now I’d be enslaved to my personal demon. A chill seeped into my soul. I couldn’t even have the satisfaction of jamming a stake into his heart. Our lives were one, if he died so did I.
The lashes on my back grew into one big throbbing ache. I gritted my teeth and pushed on the floor with my uninjured hand until I sat cross-legged. With the corner of what was left of my little silk dress, I wiped my face. One of the spaghetti straps hung loose, probably snapped when the whip hit it. My stomach rolled at the image. The dress held together by one strap now.
Rurik brought me to Rio. He insisted we come here for New Year’s Eve. I agreed since he’d never asked for a specific destination in the time we’d been together. Prior to this trip, he happily followed where I wanted to go. For the past few nights, he brought me to dance clubs, one after another, as if trying to catch someone’s attention. Well, he sure as hell succeeded.
Vampire politics consumed all around them, I experienced this firsthand. We left Budapest because of it and now I was drowning once more. These creatures lived for centuries, some millenniums. They made lying an art form. I never knew the truth.
Plain, dirt smudged walls surrounded me with no windows, a dull naked bulb swung from a wire overhead and a pile of smelly laundry sat in the far corner. I couldn’t tell the time of day.
Dirty laundry? I peered closer at the pile. A foot stuck out. It lay very—inert. The chill in my bones turned into ice. My body tensed as a shiver ran down my spine.
“Hello?” I didn’t know what would frighten me more—if it answered or stayed silent.
Vampires slept in the day. Rurik became almost lifeless in our bed when the sun rose, yet I could still sense an existence from his body, an occasional stirring or a breath.
I got nothing from the corner. “Do you need help?” Chances were he needed medical attention. “Wiggle your toes if you hear me.” I sniffed and wiped my nose on the dress.