Velvet

Tommie laughed, sounding genuinely amused. “Your Council is so moral, so predictable. If I got her pregnant, if she gave birth to another vampire bastard and died in the process, it would be so convenient for them. Adrian—you were intended to let her die.”


Tommie suddenly let go of my arms. I fell forward with a cry of pain, the blood draining back down into my limbs. He bent down, wrapped his arm gently around my waist, and pulled me up, holding me pinned against him.

“She could love you,” he said, staring furiously at Adrian. “You know how to make that happen.” He tilted my head back and breathed in the scent of my neck. “But if you don’t want her—”

Adrian stepped forward. “I want her.”

I didn’t understand what was happening anymore. I had no clue what was going on.

“Take her, then,” he said, lips murmuring over my neck. “If you want her.”

My head was still tilted back, but out of the corner of my eyes, I watched as Adrian walked slowly in our direction; the silver of his eyes rivaling the stars.

He stopped a foot away as his father kept a tight grip on my waist. Adrian reached out and touched my cheek, his irises burning like suns. I searched his face desperately, looking for a sign, a clue as to what was really going on, what I was supposed to do.

Staring me straight in the eye, he was in compulsion mode, I could tell. Jaw set in a hard line, he whispered, “Kiss me.”

Shit, he was really doing it—he was really forcing me to do this. Immediately, despite the situation, despite everything, I strained forward, unable to resist his command.

With a delighted laugh his father let me go and I rushed at Adrian, crushed my mouth against his as he pressed his warm body against mine in the cold, dead night, holding me tighter than he’d ever held me before, tangling his hands in my hair, completely unrestrained, and then—

“Stop,” he ordered, and I froze, because I had to. He slid his lips near my ear and whispered, almost too low for me to hear, “I’m so sorry.”

But as soon as he said it, he kept moving, lips gliding down my jaw, my throat, across my shoulder, my arm, finally pressing a kiss against my wrist. I winced involuntarily because my arms were a mass of fresh bruises. He held my hand in both of his and turned it, examining my skin in the moonlight.

“She’s bruised,” he said lightly, like he was commenting on a bad piece of fruit. He looked up calmly at Tommie.

And then Adrian punched his father in the face.

His head snapped back, unprepared for the blow. Before I could process this bizarre turn of events, Adrian swung, kicking his father in the face with his motorcycle boot with a sickening crunch.

Blood sprayed everywhere as Tommie shook his head. Recovering quickly, he feinted, tackling Adrian to the ground. They rolled halfway across the clearing, kicking, cursing, until Tommie lifted Adrian by the shirt and slammed his head back against a tree stump with a sound that made me gag. I was frozen in place, still in shock, or maybe Adrian’s command was keeping me from moving, I wasn’t sure. There was a sudden, intense flash of light coming from Adrian’s eyes—somehow he’d pinned Tommie. But the man only laughed.

And with that he blasted Adrian twenty feet into the air, though how I couldn’t see. Before Adrian could hit the ground, Tommie made a pushing motion with his hands and smashed Adrian into a tree with a blast of air. He crashed against the trunk, fell to a heap on the ground, and lay still. Tommie advanced slowly, and I knew that unless I did something, Adrian was about to die. I searched the grass around me desperately. Where was a rock when you needed one? No rocks. No rocks?

Shit.

Finding my legs again (maybe compulsions didn’t work once he was unconscious?), I ran toward Tommie and screamed, “I want to go with you!”

Adrian’s father looked up. I knew he could feel my fear, absorb it, but I also knew he could tell I was being honest—at least to a degree. If going with him meant saving Adrian’s life, then yes, I wanted to go with him.

Out of the corner of my eye, Adrian was still. I wasn’t sure if he’d actually passed out or if he was acting. Either way, I was not going to lose him. Not like this.

“Adrian,” Tommie called. “It appears your human doesn’t want you.” He turned his back on his son and smiled. “But she’s going to have to convince me.”

I was kind of amazed at myself in that moment. Amazed that I wasn’t crying. Amazed that I wasn’t shaking. Honestly, I was amazed that I was even standing.

I put my hand on his neck and whispered, “Come here.” He searched my eyes, was satisfied with whatever he saw there, and inclined his face so I could reach him. I closed my eyes. I was calm. I could do this. Adrian was going to die; I could do this.

I brushed my lips against the corner of his mouth.

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