Unleash (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series Book 6) Page 23

  He would have had to teleport from there to the furthest point he could see and then repeat the process, risking ending up in a lake or any number of dangerous situations. Judging by his soaked blue jeans, soggy leather boots and damp coat, he had ended up neck deep in snow a few times.

  He folded his arms across his chest, causing the sleeves of his thick black wool jacket to stretch tight across his muscular arms, and glared at her.

  “Snow needs to come home now,” he said and his tone gained an edge she didn’t like, one that verged on threatening. He thought she was out to hurt Snow. What had Antoine told him about her? Why did everyone think she wanted to hurt him when all she was trying to do was save him?

  Payne’s gaze flicked to Snow and then back to her. “Antoine needs him home.”

  She knew that. She had wanted to go to him but Snow had stopped her.

  “When he wakes and darkness has fallen, I will bring him back,” she whispered. “I couldn’t bring him back any sooner… even though I had wanted to. His bloodlust took over.”

  Payne took a step back, as though that tiny distance could save him if Snow woke and viewed him as a threat to her.

  “Please tell Antoine I am sorry and wanted to go to him and tell him about all of this… Snow would not let me go.” She glanced pointedly at Snow’s arms around her and the fact they had her pinned against him, trying to make Payne see that she wasn’t exactly comfortable sleeping on top of him like this and she certainly wasn’t doing it by choice.

  Snow growled in his sleep and held her closer.

  Payne tensed and crimson shot through his eyes, obliterating the blue and gold.

  The growl must have been a threat.

  Snow’s red eyes flicked open and she pressed her full weight onto his shoulders, cupped both of his cheeks in her palms and kept his gaze on her.

  “I am safe,” she said and he inhaled, and then his lips peeled back off his fangs and he growled again. He tried to look towards Payne. She stopped him. “Snow, look at me. You know him. He means us no harm. Your brother sent him. Antoine sent him.”

  Snow frowned at that and huffed as he set about covering more of her body with the furs. He tossed a growl at Payne and rolled her off him in the end, tucking her behind him and shielding her from the male by completely concealing her with his broad body and the furs.

  Aurora stroked his bare back, trying to soothe him. She poked her head over Snow’s shoulder and caught the flicker of shock in Payne’s crimson eyes.

  “Why isn’t he trying to kill me?”

  She kept caressing Snow’s back, keeping the motion even and smooth. “He will be if you stick around. I think we had a little breakthrough.”

  “Snow has claimed you as his female.” Payne hit the nail on the head with a resounding bang and looked as though he wanted a prize for it. She was tempted to point out all the evidence that should have made that clear from the moment he had popped into the cabin.

  For a start, she had been in bed with Snow, sleeping on top of him.

  Payne moved, just enough to undo all of her hard work, causing Snow to tense and toss a dark snarl at him. Snow clutched her closer to his back, his blunt claws digging into her bottom through the furs.

  “I’m not interested in her. I’m taken, remember?” Payne said but it didn’t stop Snow from growling at him again.

  “Perhaps you should leave and return to Antoine. Tell him that as soon as Snow is feeling better, I will bring him home,” Aurora said and stroked Snow’s hair, desperate to soothe him so he didn’t do something he would regret later.

  “I’m damned well going to tell him that you fucked Snow some way towards sane.” He grinned and disappeared.

  Aurora cursed him and was tempted to go after him, catch him before he could say something so vulgar to Antoine, and beat him into a bloody pulp. She should have let Snow have his way with the arrogant perverse male.

  She squealed when Snow dragged her over him, caught her before she hit the floor, and kissed her.

  Someone was learning fast.

  Aurora melted into the furs, letting him have his way for a full minute before she decided that him kissing her senseless while lost to his bloodlust probably wasn’t a good thing.

  She pushed him back and his eyes flicked open to reveal blue irises.

  CHAPTER 18

  Snow stroked the tangled waves of Aurora’s long black hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. She stared at him, her beautiful green-to-blue eyes wide and full of the shock he could sense in her. She hadn’t expected him to be back. She had expected the red eyes of his bloodlust.

  “Payne was here,” he murmured, not wanting to break the comfortable quiet that was happening between them. She nodded. Snow frowned. “He was rude to you.”

  Aurora didn’t nod this time. “We should take you back to the theatre.”

  His frown hardened and he rested his fingers on her warm pale cheek. He remembered her being cold last night, her skin chilled by the wintry weather. He remembered her coming to find him in the darkness, risking her life.

  It had angered him, although he wasn’t sure why. At the time, he had felt she was in danger and he had been desperate to protect her. The only threat to her in this part of the world was a polar bear and Snow could easily take down such a beast. It wouldn’t have laid a paw on Aurora.

  “What if I do not want to go back?” Snow said, partly because he didn’t want to return to Vampirerotique and partly because he wanted to see how she would react to that question.

  “You have to—”

  “Yes, I have to,” he interjected, disappointed that she was going to take the sensible route of what he must and must not do, rather than allowing her emotions to colour her answer. “But that doesn’t mean that I want to go back. If I didn’t go back… if I chose to spend the rest of my days in this cabin… would you stay with me?”

  She nodded without hesitation.

  “Because it is your mission to monitor me and decide my fate?”

  She frowned now, the action pinching her black eyebrows together and turning her sensual mouth into a hard line. He had to put it out there. He needed to know that she was here with him because it was what her heart wanted, not because it was her duty.

  “No,” she whispered and a delicate blush rose onto her cheeks. She glanced down at his chest. Snow stroked two fingers along her jaw, settled them under her chin, and raised her face again, forcing her to look at him. He wanted to see her eyes because he wanted to judge her feelings as she spoke to him and they hid nothing from him.

  “But you would not stay for long though… how long do we have?”

  She tried to look away again and then met his gaze. “Do not look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” He wasn’t aware he was looking at her any differently from how he normally looked at his female.

  “So full of hope… a look I would give anything to keep on your handsome face.” Her blush deepened.

  She liked how he looked at her as though she was his salvation then, even though she could be his damnation just as easily. Could she read in it that his happiness hinged on remaining here with her?

  He desired it more than anything. He needed to stay here, with her in his arms, away from a world that tested them both and pushed them to their limits. He wanted to be with her forever, living peacefully, sharing centuries together.

  He ached for that even when his dark heart knew it was impossible and that hoping for such a thing would only lead him to suffer pain a thousand times worse than he had already experienced in his long weary life.

  Such good things didn’t happen to him. They were the fate of others more deserving. His fate was a dark one, his path fraught with danger and bloodshed.

  “How long do we have?” he said and then cleared his throat, attempting to ease the tightness that had built there all of a sudden.

  He stared into her eyes, foolishly wishing she had come to him sooner so they could have had longer t
ogether. If he could have met her again centuries ago, before or maybe even after he had been drafted into the Preux Chevaliers, he might have been a different man.

  He might not have killed his family.

  He had witnessed how Sera tempered Antoine’s bloodlust, helping him maintain control. He yearned for that with Aurora, that her loving touch and presence at his side would give him back a modicum of control over the darkness that raged within him, and that with her he could come to master it completely in time.

  A fool’s dream.

  “Perhaps a day.” Those softly spoken words cut at his dream, tearing it to pieces before his eyes.

  Only a day.

  Today might be the last day of his life.

  How many times had he wished for that?

  Now that it was here, he feared what would happen. He feared for himself and for Aurora. The affection she showed to him, the fact she believed herself falling in love with him, wasn’t reason enough for her to risk her life by telling her superiors he was no threat to the world. He could never allow it.

  He would have to think over everything that had happened to him in the past few decades and see whether there was hope for him, and speak with her about it all. He couldn’t do that at Vampirerotique. Antoine would want her away from him. His brother wouldn’t understand that they only had a short time in which to decide his fate, and Snow was damned if he was going to tell Antoine that he might die tomorrow. He couldn’t inflict that pain upon his beloved brother. Antoine had fought so hard to make him live.

  Snow hated himself for deceiving his brother, and himself.

  Aurora had made him realise that he had never truly fought his bloodlust. He had always allowed it to steal control over him, desiring the pain and suffering as punishment for his sins.

  He would give anything to have a chance to go back and change his past, even if it was only so he could fight his bloodlust in the aftermath of killing his family, and consequently erase the lies he told to Antoine and the black feathers he added to Aurora’s wings.

  “I think I really should take you back to your brother as soon as I can. Antoine seems a very determined and protective male, and if we do not return, he will make Payne teleport here again.”

  Snow didn’t pay attention to half of what she said. He was too lost in his thoughts, going in circles and feeling increasingly frustrated, unsure whether there was a way to prove himself able to function in the world and whether he believed it possible anyway.

  He felt different now that Aurora was in his life, but he had only known her a few days. He couldn’t tell her that he was sure he would no longer go on a rampage, slaughtering innocents, when he didn’t feel certain.

  If she told her superiors that she believed him no longer a threat to the world and then he went and lost his head to bloodlust and killed again, she would lose her wings. They would send her to Hell and he could never live with himself if that happened.

  There was no way he could allow that to happen to her. He knew first-hand the horrors of that world and the creatures that roamed within it. Many there would feel drawn to her purity and the remaining shred of good in her, able to sense she was once an angel.

  They would torture and abuse her until her body, mind and spirit finally broke and she died in agony. No one there would try to protect her.

  Snow swore that if it happened, if something went wrong and she ended up in that domain, he would go there and bring her back. He knew the ways in, the portals that could take him deep into the bowels of Hell. He would find her. He would never let his Aurora suffer.

  “Snow?” she whispered, concern lacing her voice. He shook away his dark thoughts and focused on her, catching the worry in her eyes too.

  “That could be awkward,” he said and she frowned, clearly not following him. “If Payne teleported Antoine here.”

  “Why?” Some of the concern in her eyes melted under the warmth of curiosity and affection that began to edge them.

  “We might be making love.” Snow settled his palm in the small of her back and dragged her against him.

  He kissed her, needing the connection between them to chase away his dark mood and not wanting to waste a moment he had with her. She surrendered to him, her small hands pressing against his bare chest and a breathy sigh escaping her.

  Snow mastered her mouth, keeping the kiss light and soft, savouring her taste and warmth, and how she always responded to him so sweetly.

  He had never thought he would find a female like Aurora, one who stood up to him and refused to let him have his way, forcing him to open his eyes and take steps to improve himself.

  He wanted to be good for her.

  Whenever he was around her, he couldn’t stop thinking about what his life would be like with her in it, with her bright smile and tender touch warming his heart, and her soft voice soothing his bloodlust, keeping him calm and keeping the darkness at bay.

  He had never dared believe that there could be a female for him out there, someone beautiful and affectionate, and delicate, but strong enough to deal with him even in his darkest moods and in the throes of his bloodlust. He had never dared dream he could have what his friends did.

  Someone to love.

  Someone who loved him.

  Aurora knew all of his sins. She bore them all with him. She was his dream made flesh and she had always been with him, watching over him.

  “I wish I had met you again sooner,” Snow whispered against her lips and she drew back, her brow furrowed and mixed feelings colouring her eyes. He could sense sorrow and hurt in her, and that permanent dash of hope that she refused to let die.

  “Do not speak like you are doomed, Snow.” She raised her delicate hand and stroked his cheek, her eyes searching his, holding them and entrancing him. “There is still time.”

  But it was running out.

  She got a strange look about her, one he didn’t like. She was calculating again.

  “Do not even mention returning to my brother.” Snow pulled her back to him and started to kiss her again. She pushed against his chest, breaking free of his lips. He sighed and let her have her way, because he would have his soon enough.

  “We have a little time before we have to go… but we do have to go, Snow. Antoine will be worried sick and I don’t want to come between you. I think he hates me as it is. I don’t need to give him more reasons to despise me.”

  Snow caressed her cheek and cupped it in his palm. He stared into her eyes and ached to erase the hurt growing in them.

  “I will speak with Antoine. When he realises my feelings for you, his will change. I promise you, Aurora.”

  She nodded and then smiled shyly. “Your feelings for me?”

  He sighed and brushed his thumb across her cheek. She wanted to hear the words but he couldn’t say them, because he feared they would colour her judgement and she would damn herself just to be with him a few more days or years. Her smile faded and she ran her fingers over his bare chest.

  “I will not push to know them.” Her eyes tracked her fingers as they danced in maddening swirls over his skin, stoking the lust that already burned hotly for her.

  Snow tried to kiss her again. She braced her palms against his chest, keeping him at a distance, and frowned up into his eyes.

  “What do you remember of last night?”

  He groaned. He wanted to kiss her again and make her scream his name in ecstasy before they had to return to Vampirerotique.

  He had intended to talk with her later about the past few days, his feelings about his bloodlust, and what he believed her verdict should be. He had hoped to have as long as possible with her without mentioning that he thought she should judge him as a danger, because he couldn’t say for certain that he wasn’t.

  Maybe she could change his mind about it. Maybe she could ask for an extension so she could be sure. Was that possible?

  “I remember my bloodlust riding me.” And he really didn’t want to go back and remember exactly why it had
been riding him, because he still hadn’t fully forgiven her for pushing him into that situation. She might be strong, but whenever his bloodlust gripped him, he was dangerous and unpredictable. He might have tried to kill her. In fact, he was certain he had at some point. It was fuzzy and he liked it that way. “And then I remember you riding me.”

  She playfully slapped his chest.

  “Then I was damned tired and I fell asleep… and I lost it at some point.”

  “Because I pushed you too hard. I’m sorry I did that to you, Snow. I have so little time though and you were being stubborn about everything… and I had to do something to make you realise what you were doing to yourself.”

  He knew that and it was part of the reason he had started to forgive her. She regretted what she had done but she had seen it as necessary. She was trying to save him from death and he had made her desperate.

  He smiled inside at that. She fought valiantly for him. No female in his existence had ever fought for him. It touched him and he was feeling foolish enough to admit that when combined with his behaviour around her and that she desired to remain with him, it gave him a sliver of hope.

  “You seemed different last night,” she whispered, as though afraid to voice those words in case she had read him wrongly.

  Snow realised that he had the power to crush all of her hope and her belief in him, and that if he did, he would crush her heart in the process. She suddenly felt so fragile in his arms, her eyes filled with vulnerability that struck him deep and stirred a fierce need to hold her close and say whatever it would take to make her strong again.

  He nodded and relief touched her eyes.

  “I felt different,” he admitted and then bravely took a bigger step. “I felt almost… normal.” He grimaced as parts of last night came back to him. “Not quite normal… I gave you an owl.”