| |
The cold cut through Annalise’s skirts as she wandered down the vacant street. Fog rolled over the pavement, the vapor catching the murky twilight as gas lit streetlamps flickered along the way.
Her meandering steps ticked a tempo over the cobblestone road. Darkened windows and dated entryways gaped in the shadows.
A glowing light wobbled in the distance, moving closer but still too far to make out how it traveled. She pulled her shawl tight around her shoulders, as the wind cut down the road.
The clip-clop of horse hooves disrupted the silence. Beyond the glowing light, a black carriage took shape. Twirls of steam funneled from the horse’s black snout as it marched closer.
Stumbling out of its path, she squinted at the dark glass, unable to see the driver or any passengers inside. The reins stretched from the animal’s glistening, black fur back into the shadowed cab.
Heavy hooves beat into the pavement as the driver pulled the animal to a stop. The carriage creaked as a door pushed open, but she still couldn’t see who hid inside.
“Who’s there? Who are you?”
A familiar hand extended from the shadow and relief chased away her ominous fear.
“Ainsicht.”
Anna stepped closer. Adam’s eyes flashed in the shadows. She couldn’t recall leaving him, but here he was. “Where have you been?”
“Waiting for you. Come. We’re late.”
She reached out her hand, her fingers crossing into the cast glow of the lantern, and she paused. Thick blood coated her hand. She turned her palm, looking back at him. “What is this?”
He tsked and removed a kerchief from his pocket. “What have you done to yourself?”
“I... I don’t know.” She searched her body for pain but felt nothing. Her legs were numb and her hands clumsy.
He clucked his tongue. “You’re shivering. We must get you home.”
He lifted her, pulling her off the street and into the carriage. The door closed, blocking out the cold and the light. As the carriage lurched forward, their knees brushed.
“Where are we going?”
Resting an elbow on the door, a finger pressed over his mouth, he studied her. The swaying lantern outside the glass cast his features in waving shadows. “You’re bleeding.”
She looked at her hands, frowning once more. “I don’t know how?”
He lifted his chin. “Your throat.”
Raising her fingers, she touched her neck and gasped. “You were supposed to close it.” Warm, sticky blood pumped down her chest. “You have to stop it.”
He held up a hand. “Hush. Do you love him?”
“Who?”
As the horse picked up pace, the carriage jostled. “Me.”
Her gaze lowered to the floor. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“It hasn’t been long enough to—”
“By all means, take your time.”
She frowned at the snide turn of his voice. “Why are you being cruel?”
He chuckled. “My apologies. I thought—for a woman so eager to bed a perfect stranger—she must feel something for him.”
His judgment cut through her like a hot blade. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Let’s stop pretending we’re anything other than what we are. You reek of another man. You’re dripping with blood. You’re lost, wandering around searching for signs when the answers are right in front of you. It degrades your beauty when you play the obtuse innocent. We both know you’re neither innocent nor ignorant.”
Her jaw locked as her breathing labored, forming a cloud of vapor in the cold air of the carriage. “I want to get out. Tell the driver to stop, so I can open the door.”
“When will you stop running and learn to face the truth, Annalise?”
“I want to get away from you.”
He kicked out his foot and the door swung open the outside rushing by in a black blur as the pace of the horse’s footfalls filled the silence. “Go ahead.”
She glared at him through the shadowed interior. “You’re trying to upset me.”
“Life is upsetting.”
She believed in his goodness and his vow to keep her safe, but as the world rushed by and he stared at her with such indifference, she hardly recognized him. She reached for the leather strap on the ceiling, holding on to the handle and eyeing the open door.
“You don’t scare me,” she warned, calling his bluff. Adam would never let her fall from a moving carriage. This was some twisted game and he was going to lose.
He knocked on the ceiling. “Faster.”
The carriage lurched forward, and she lost her grip, falling into him. He shoved her to the floor and slammed the door.
“You’re bloodier than a spring lamb.” He glared at her. “And just as helpless. Get up.”
Her chest heaved as she caught her breath. “You’re not Adam.”
His eyes narrowed, his face twisting with a sneer. “Then who am I?”
Staring up at him, the resemblance was uncanny. From the line of their hair to the edge of their jaw, they were absolutely identical. She inhaled deeply, recognizing his smell from the day in the field. “You’re Cain.”
A slow, wicked smile caught in the passing moonlight. “That a girl.” He slowly shouldered off a jacket and rolled up his sleeve. “We have a long night ahead of us. I’ll require your full cooperation.” He smiled again, his distended fangs catching the light just before he bit into his exposed wrist.
She bolted for the door, and he shoved her back into the seat. The latch slammed down, locking them in.
“Stop the carriage!” She twisted, banging on the wall behind her head. “Stop the carriage!”
“There’s no stopping this, Annalise. It was always meant to be this way.”
Panting, she pushed her back as far into the corner as the cramped space would allow. “Why are you doing this? Adam will—”
“Adam has nothing to do with this.” He caught her arm and tugged her to his side.
She screamed and pushed away from him, but his strength was incredible. “Please! Don’t!”
“You need only take a sip.”
“No!” She twisted as he pulled her back to his chest and held her to him. Her lips formed an airtight seal as she shook her head with wild abandon.
Warm blood smeared on her mouth and cheeks. “Open your mouth!”
She kicked and bucked, slamming her head into his nose and springing to the other side of the carriage when his grip loosened.
“Don’t touch me!” she shouted, chest heaving as her hair fell wildly around her face. She scrubbed away his blood and spit on the floor. “You’re an animal!”
His eyes flashed and a growl ripped through the cab. “That’s right. A predator. You can’t escape me.”
Her lips trembled as her teeth chattered. The temperature plunged and her lungs chilled. The leather upholstery cracked as ice and frost crawled up the walls. The damp blood on her clothing hardened as her body convulsed with shivers.
“This ... is a dream.” Colder and colder the air turned until symptoms of hypothermia set in. “You’re ... not real.”
He shrugged, seemingly unaffected by the cold. “Dream or not, you brought me here. Only called mates share dreams.”
“N—no.” Her throat worked to swallow as the frigid air cut into her bones. “I belong to ... Adam.”
He lifted a brow. “Careful, pet. You wouldn’t want to anger me.”
She tried to yell at him, but her words slurred into nothing. He laughed at her weakness. Slow, shallow breaths pulled from her lungs. Her pulse seemed to forget how to beat and her eyes grew too heavy to keep focused.
“There you are. Rest. Your mate will take care of you.”
Warm hands turned her face. A phantom touch skated up her leg. She was too weak to open her eyes. “No...”
“I’m not Adam and I’m not asking.”
She shivered as her legs were exposed to the cold. His lips pressed to hers and her brow tightened. She tried to turn her face away, but his hand held her jaw.
“This can happen with or without your cooperation. Either way, it ends tonight.”
Her body weakened, as feeble as a rag doll, and he lifted her to his lap, pushing her knees to the side so she straddled him. Her head lulled back, her teeth clattering as her blood froze.
He turned her head, exposing the side of her throat that wasn’t bleeding. “You’re quite the little donor. Just a prick.”
The pierce of his fangs through her skin ripped a scream from her battered throat.
“Anna! Wake up!”
Her body jerked with the sense of falling and her scream rung through the air. Arms caught her, shaking her violently.
“Open your eyes!”
Daylight filtered through the curtains of Adam’s bedroom and she scrambled to sit up, her hands frantically checking her throat for injury.
“Adam?”
He caught her hands, chafing them in his. “I’m here. You’re freezing.”
“Oh, God.” She crawled onto his lap, hugging her body to his. He caught her in his arms as her legs wrapped around his waist and she pressed her face into his neck. Her eyes closed and she breathed in the familiar scent of his skin.
“You’re safe, ainsicht. Whatever it was, it’s over. I have you.”
She couldn’t catch her breath as it hitched in her lungs, and she gasped for air. That wasn’t just a dream.
He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “Shh... Breathe with me, Anna. Feel my heart beat with yours.”
Disoriented, she listened for the familiar thud and focused on the familiar rhythm. Last she recalled they parked her car inside an empty barn. She couldn’t remember coming to his room or falling asleep.
Her mind spun like a merry-go-round of nonsense. She didn’t know the time or day. She had no idea how long they slept. Daylight was her only clue and that meant Adam wouldn’t be able to go out for at least a few more hours.
“I think something’s wrong.”
He drew back to see her face. “What’s the matter?”
She didn’t know anything about what was happening to her, but Adam said there could only be one mate, only one immortal sharing her dreams. “I don’t think these are normal people nightmares.”
“Is that what this was? A nightmare like the others?”
His relationship with his brother was already strained. And with Adam’s jealous nature and the whole incident in the field, she sensed he wouldn’t take her dreaming of Cain easily. She didn’t want to make matters worse.
“Tell me what happened in the dream, Anna.”
Her gaze cut away. “I was walking down an old street. It was cold and foggy and dark. A carriage arrived and at first I thought it was you.”
He stiffened. “I’ve no recollection of this.”
She swallowed. “I know. It wasn’t you. It was someone else.”
“Who?”
She hesitated, but there was no lying to him, not about this. “It was Cain. And I think he shared the dream. I couldn’t have dreamt that on my own.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it? I saw him, Adam. He said things I never would dream up on my own.”
“What did he say?”
She tried to recall his exact words. “It was more an assumption, the way he touched me.”
“You dreamt of my brother touching you?”
“I had no control over the dream, but I’m telling you he did.”
His nostrils flared as he tried to control his jealousy. “There is only one called mate. They do not... You’re mine. This must be a mistake.”
“Then how do I know I have to drink your blood to bond?”
“I explained the process.”
“No, you explained a transfusion. I know you need to be inside of me, drinking from me, and feeding me.”
His eyes shifted, pupils elongated.
She gave him a knowing look. “You never explained it in that sort of detail, Adam. But Cain did. He was trying to bond with me in the dream.”
He sprung off the bed. “Impossible!”
“Do you think I’d make this up?”
“You’re upset with me about last night—”
“Adam, I don’t care about last night! I’m telling you something is happening, and it involves your brother!”
His hair fell around his face as he paced the room. She never saw him so agitated. His muscles bunched and his fingernails lengthened into claws. He roared and slammed the chair into the wall.
Annalise flinched, covering her head as the wood splintered. “Adam, you’re scaring me. What does this mean?”
He shoved his fingers through his hair, a demonic set to his eyes. “If he’s found a way into your dreams, you’ll need to avoid sleep.”
“For how long?”
“Until we complete the bond.”
She shook her head. “Then we have to do it tonight. No more delaying the inevitable.”
He nodded. “The Elders have no record of nightmares or any information on Cain’s whereabouts. He’s in hiding and will likely stay there so long as the Council’s looking for him.”
He approached the bed and took her hands. “Ainsicht, is it possible this might just be the workings of your imagination?”
“He tried to force his blood down my throat, Adam. Never in a million years would I imagine that.”
His body shook visibly, and he dropped her hands, turning his back toward her. When he spoke, his voice held the calm hiss of a lethal weapon about to detonate. “He tried to make you drink from him?”
“I fought him. I told him I was yours.”
His shoulders stretched with muscle as he panted slowly. Seething anger radiated from him as his body seemed to coil with tightening rage.
Adam’s fear seemed to feed her own. “Can he turn me in a dream?”
Glancing over his shoulder without fully looking at her, his brow creased. “Turn you? No. But I don’t know about bonding.” He angled his face away. “If another male bonded with you, my soul would be forever lost.”
A chill knifed through her. All his patience would have been for nothing. If Cain got to her first, Adam would die.
“Then we need to finish this, Adam.” She was done taking chances. She cared too much about him to play any part in his death. “I want you to change me tonight.”
“The preparations have already begun.”