It was odd how panic could either make things incredibly fuzzy or, conversely, as sharp as a razor’s edge.
Without really even thinking, she began chanting the spell she’d used to free both herself and Bray of their restraints back on the mountain. The soft rope around her wrists began to disintegrate, stripping away strand by strand. A breath later, she was free, bounding up and snatching the phone from Knox’s grip.
“Hello? Bray?” She knew she sounded a little too anxious. A little too shrill. Guilt will do that to a gal.
“Hi, angel. Is everything alright?”
She was silent for a moment, unsure what to tell him. What had she just done!?
Ruined everything!
She glanced back at Knox, who was now the picture of relaxation, lounging against the bed’s headboard with his arm slung over one bent knee, still gloriously nude. He was rolling a bit of rope fiber between his fingers and giving her that cocky look of his. She could read his thoughts. They mirrored her own: she could have gotten out of those knots any time she wanted.
Yet she hadn’t.
“No,” she told Bray morosely. She would confess her transgression before Knox had a chance to rat her out. She had no doubt that he would at the earliest opportunity. And she would never want to lie to Bray anyway. He deserved better—even though she feared he’d run headlong into the arms of a certain vampiress who’d be all too happy to console him.
“What’s wrong? Has Knox done something?” There was a dark warning in his tone. Soon it would turn on her.
She crossed the room and curled up on one of the armchairs, drawing her knees to her chest, and proceeded to confess, which came out more as babbling, self-reproaching nonsense. “He…I mean, we...we just…I didn’t plan it,” she rushed out. “It just happened…I’m so sorry, Bray…”
By the sound of him clearing his throat, she could tell he’d inferred her meaning. She braced for his anger.
“You sound upset,” he grated. “Did he force you to do something you didn’t want to?”
She swallowed. Of course Bray would come to that conclusion. Because only an idiot would willingly fool around with Knox when she had someone as wonderful as Bray waiting for her?
Knox frowned, his chin jutting defensively. With his vampire hearing, he could probably make out every syllable of their conversation. Curiously, he seemed as though he were impatient for her answer.
“No. He didn’t force me.”
There was silence on the other end of the line, ratcheting her anxiety. The yelling was about to commence. And she would accept every hateful word. She deserved it.
“As long as he didn’t do anything untoward, and you’re okay, then it’s not something I really need, or want, to know about.” Where was the anger in his tone?
She gaped for a moment. “Wait, what? You…you don’t care?”
“Of course I care, Coraline,” he said patiently. “Tell me he hurt you, and I’ll have no problem killing him the very first chance I get. Obviously I’m not a fan of the whole idea of sharing you, but…well, I thought I made this clear to you back at the cottage.”
“Made what clear?”
“That I understood the situation, and that I’ve accepted it.”
She tried to call up the entirety of said conversation, coming up fuzzy. “What situation do you mean, exactly?”
“The fact that being bonded to you is different than being bonded to say, a regular witch. Or anyone else, really.”
A new kind of tension prodded through her as she tried to decipher his words. She glanced at Knox, who now seemed to be scrutinizing her closely, cocky humor gone.
“You know,” Bray continued as if it should be obvious. “Because we can only be intimate with you.”
“Huh?” she squeaked. The phone shook in her hand. “What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you read that book I gave you?”
Her eyes darted to where her satchel sat in the corner, nearly forgotten. Hurrying over to pick it up, she shoved her hand inside and yanked out the book.
“I think I earmarked the section that explains it.”
Frantically she thumbed through the pages, stopping at a chapter called Succubi and Mate Bonding. As she skimmed paragraph after paragraph, her heart dropped further and further, thumping with a kind of pain she’d never experienced before.
She sank to the floor. “So you can’t…none of you can sleep with anyone else but me?”
“Apparently,” Bray confirmed, not sounding as distraught he should.
Wait. Apparently? What did that mean? Had he tried?
Knox stood, pulled his slacks on, and walked to stand behind her. He clasped his arms behind his back as he glanced over her shoulder at her book. Something in his suddenly cavalier demeanor told her he’d already known about this little stipulation.
Bray said, “I told you monogamy doesn’t hold as much weight with vampires as it does with humans. As long as you come back to me, angel, we’re all good. And when you’re in my bed, I guarantee you won’t be thinking about any other—”
Knox ripped the phone from her grip. “FYI, Casanova, she has a tracker imbedded in her skin. Any guess how it got there?”
All she could hear was a muffled reply on Bray’s end. And while their conversation seeped into the background, she struggled not to lose her ever-loving shit, even as tears burned in her eyes.
They could only be with her? Could only sleep with her. Had Mace known this from the start? Yet another thing he’d omitted?
He’d bonded her, then found out what she was. Had he decided to use their treacherous situation to cage her? Isolate her? He hadn’t counted on Knox being at the cottage. Hadn’t expected her to ever need his blood to heal.
Mace’s words slammed through her mind: I thought I found a soulmate.
Devastation tore into her soul. How she wished things were so simple.
Part of him had known he couldn’t have her all to himself, yet he had tried anyway.
And now Knox was playing games with her heart, when all he wanted was her body.
“Yeah, well, you might want to check yourself too,” Knox continued his conversation to Bray.
…
“A bounty hunter came after her. Told us everything.”
…
“Dead, of course. The amateur.”
…
“Probably all they could find on short notice.”
…
“Dropped him from what, two thousand feet? Don’t think he could have survived that.”
…
“What did Trent say?”
…
“Should look into it.”
…
“Yeah, if I can extract the thing without damaging it.”
…
“We land on the island tomorrow…”
Her tattered mind blocked out the rest. The book trembled in her hands as a fat, salty tear dropped down her cheek and dotted the page. Then another.
She slammed the cover shut and let it slip from her grasp. It tumbled carelessly to the floor. She stumbled into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. As if she were on autopilot, her fingers fumbled for the shower knob. Steaming hot water rushed forth. Not bothering to turn the temperature down, she stepped under the spray, buried her face in her hands…and lost it.
* * *
Knox reached to turn the water temperature down, eyeing the angry red splotches where Cora’s skin was overheated. Though she was covering her face, she knew he was there, had tempered her sobs and turned away from him.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, Bray’s cool with this,” he reassured awkwardly, doing his best to console her, but he was complete shit when it came to women’s emotions. “He’s not angry or anything.”
“I’m not crying because of him,” she snapped, her voice muffled behind her hands.
“Then why…?”
She rounded a watery glared at him.
“Because of me? What the hell did I do?” Only made her scream his name a handful of times. He didn’t see anything wrong with that! In fact, he was still rearing to go, hard as stone and wanting more.
“Just leave me alone.”
“Screw that!” Grabbing her shoulders, he turned her to face him. “Not until you tell me—”
She tore away from him. “Don’t touch me!”
He stumbled back as though he’d been shoved. She used magic like that when she was truly angry. Damn. It didn’t look like he had a date with the blue-ball fairy.
“You knew, didn’t you?” she accused. “The whole time, you knew.”
He frowned, not answering. Up until this moment, he’d partly suspected she had known they could only sleep with her, and was just pretending not to. Now there was no denying her naiveté.
“Is that why you hated me?”
He looked away, feeling weirdly guilty. But why? It wasn’t his fault.
“So instead of trying to talk to me, you just decided to seduce me.” Her tone was pure venom. Then she laughed, hollow and angry. “Why am I surprised? You’re despicable. Have been from the start. Take what you want, when you want. Isn’t that right?”
He ground his teeth together, pissed that she saw him that way. Not that she was wrong. “Never pretended to be anything different, pet. Let’s not forget, I didn’t force anything on you that you didn’t want.”
“No you didn’t. Because I’m the idiot who—you made me think…” Lip quivering, her shoulders slumped. “It doesn’t matter what you made me think. Just go.”
Made her think what? Something in the phrase had him digging his heels in. “If you believe for a second I’m leaving now, then—”
“Get out!” she screeched.
He stumbled back once more, nearly falling to his ass. “Don’t you use that goddamned magic on me again!”
“Or what? You’ll kill me? Find a new threat. That one’s getting stale.”
“You don’t want to push me right now.” Unspent lust was shortening his fuse. He started for her again, intending to drag her back to bed and make her forget the last ten minutes. She’d been so much more docile in bed.
“I said leave me alone!”
Once more her magic hit him. He growled, baring his fangs.
“Oh, stow it, Knox.” She hit him with more magic. “You can just stop with the treats. Stop with the games. I’m done with it. I’m done with you! For all I care, you can just go jump off the damned balcony!” She froze....
Blinked once, twice....
Then her eyes shot wide as she clamped a hand over her mouth.
Her actions confused him at first, until he felt the mystical energy encircle him.
Against his will, his legs pivoted him around and took him out into the hall, down the stairs, heading towards…oh shit.
“Cora!?” he shouted as he pulled open the sliding glass door that led to the balcony. Wind gushed around him.
All of a sudden, Cora was standing in front of him, still naked and dripping wet, trying with all her might to push him back. “Stop! Stop! I didn’t mean it!”
Oh, she had meant it, all right. Otherwise he wouldn’t be shoving her aside and gripping the railing, ready to bound over the edge. The glossy blue ocean beckoned him. He wasn’t surviving this one. He always knew he would regret not getting rid of her when he had the chance. Hindsight’s a bitch.
She threw herself back at him, tugging his arms away from the ledge. If she kept at it, she’d be going over with him.
With the flick of his wrist, he dislodged her as if she were a fly in his way.
She fell back, landing hard on the balcony floor, but quickly jumped up, once more tearing his hands away from the edge one finger at a time. “Don’t jump!” she cried.
Unfortunately, this order did not overrule the first. With more force, his arm swiped her down again. His strength was more than she’d anticipated, and her feet faltered underneath her. She slipped and fell awkwardly into the banister.
Crack.
Her head ricocheted violently off the metal railing before gravity took her to the balcony floor.
As her body went limp, his stilled completely, the spell broken.
After a moment, he tested his limbs. He seemed to have regained full authority.
Marveling at his close call, he let out a rugged sighed of relief, then stared down at the unconscious little witch. She’d been the first person in decades to nearly kill him. Nearly ended his life with a few scant words, and he’d been completely helpless to stop her. If she woke up now, she could just as easily order him to stab his own heart out with a fork, and by the way, do it with a smile!
The sharp, phantom pain in his chest made him wonder if he was currently doing just that.
As he rubbed the place over his heart, he stared out at the ocean for a moment, trying to find the joy in his survival, but it was conspicuously missing. Whatever happiness he’d wrongly believed had been within his grasp seemed to have leached from the very surroundings. Everything now held a dull, muted kind of tone.
It made him realize how far he’d fallen under her spell.
But now I see clearly again, he thought as he heaved her over his shoulder.