Avowed (The Manipulation Trilogy Book 3) (5 page)

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I’m sitting on the counter watching as Damon attempts to cook us a meal. Every few minutes he leaves the stove to come and kiss me or just be near me. He feels like home to me.

I never envisioned a future like this. I never thought I’d be a mother to be, and wife, sitting contentedly as my husband cooks us an evening meal.  I’ve never given myself time to look forward to a future. When I was younger I enjoyed my youth with Pops and then when I lost Lydia I only planned for each day. My life is now so far from what it was at just the beginning of this year.

“Motherfucker,” Damon growls. His words bring me from my thoughts and I chuckle at him as he shakes his hand out in pain. 

“Do you need a hand?” I ask, trying to mask my amusement at his flustered state. Damon spins in my direction with a predatory look.

“Are you laughing at me Mrs. Hunt?” he growls. I shake my head innocently and flutter my eyelashes at him.

“Would I?” I mock gasp.

“I think you would and I think you do,” he states as he stalks over to me.

“Everything okay, babe?” I ask, suddenly breathless. Damon reaches me and places his hands on either side of my body , caging me in. His eyes swim with an unknown emotion and he shakes his head no.

“What did you just say?” he asks in a quiet whisper. His voice has a rasp to it that I only ever hear when he’s speaking of his love for me or when he’s aroused. I’m happy with either of those reasons.

“I asked if everything was okay.”

“No. Not that, beauty, the other part. What did you call me?” he rasps. I think back and my eyes widen as I remember calling him babe. Is that what has him turned on? I gasp when he presses his erection against me.

“Babe. I called you babe,” I breathe. His lips crushing down on mine takes me by surprise and I have to pull away after a second to take a breath. My heart skips a beat when I look into his eyes and see them darken with lust, but brighten with love.

“I like it. It’s the first time you’ve ever used a term of endearment to me, beauty,” he whispers. He moves away from me, leaving me happy that I pleased him. I hadn’t realised I had never said it before.

“Do you need any help Damon?” He shakes his head no and I continue to watch him as he turns his attention back to cooking. I watch each muscle contract as he stirs the food and my mind conjures up the image of him using those same hands to stir my body to life.

After watching Damon it appears he finally seems to have everything under control and he comes to stand in front of me, between my parted thighs.

“Are you okay beauty? Can I get you anything?” he asks softly.

“I'm fine Damon. I'm enjoying watching you cook. It’s enlightening.”

“Oh yeah? How is it enlightening you wife, pray tell?” I laugh at his old fashioned phrasing, and wrap my legs around his body.

“What are you, like a hundred?” I tease, laughing. “Who says that? You’re like a caveman.”

Damon brings his hands from around me and beats them against his chest, like a caveman. He laughs and I snort with laughter at his antics. I bury my face in his neck and giggle until I feel a change in the atmosphere. Damon is silent as I bring my gaze to his. The laughter in his face has now been replaced with lust, and his eyes have darkened, his gaze feral. His body inches closer towards me and he grasps my hips and pulls me towards him, pressing me into his hard cock.

Letting out a growl, Damon begins kissing down my neck, nipping along the way. He spreads my legs wider and thrusts against me. I'm not wearing any underwear so the move has my naked core open to him.

His hand runs up to the nape of my neck and wraps my hair around his fist gently, tugging so my chin juts up into the air and my eyes are staring directly into his.

“You are so fucking beautiful, you take my breath away Ella.”

I can’t help but blush at his words. I love how much he loves me and that he feels the same way I do. I don’t think I will ever have enough of him.

I'm about to reply when I smell something burning, Damon must notice it the same time as I do as he quickly pushes away from me and runs to the stove. Picking up a towel, he lifts the burning pan of what was a tomato sauce of some kind, and throws it in the sink.

He turns around and looks at me and I have to bite my cheeks to stop myself from laughing. He looks so dejected. Picking up his mobile from the counter, he scrolls through before dialing a number. 

“Hi, I would like to order some Chinese please.”

I listen as he finishes his order, ends the call and places his phone on the counter.  Turning off the rest of the pans and chucking them in the sink too, he looks into the oven and takes out the chicken he was cooking. He puts it on a plate and covers it with foil.

I watch every movement he makes, taking it all in. When he finally stops puttering about he walks back towards me.

“They said it would take half an hour.” His eyes sparkle in humour as he lifts me into his arms and carries me to the bedroom.

“There’s a lot I can do to you in half an hour.”

He sets me down on the bed and quickly strips out of his clothes.

“What do you plan to do to me Mr. Hunt?” I wait for him to turn and look at me, and when he does I let out an audible gasp as he stalks towards me.

“A lot Mrs. Hunt. I plan to do a lot.” I swear he licks his lips, looking like a lion who just found his prey. And by the looks of it, I'm the main course.

CHAPTER FIVE

October 2
nd
2014

Damon

Walking through the house I’m searching for my beauty. I hate spending time away from her, so I’m eager to get her in my arms and feel her lips pressed to mine.

“Ella,” I call, as I make my way upstairs. When I don’t get a reply a smile splits my face. She’s probably asleep, and that means I can wake her up with a treat, a treat of my mouth on her pussy. My mouth waters as I think about tasting her, no one ever tasted as good as my beauty.

As I near our bedroom door a baby’s cry sounds out, startling me. I pause mid-step and listen to the cries. My eyes widen as the cries get louder and louder. It’s not coming from our room, or even the room we planned to have as a nursery. It’s coming from further down the hall, from the last guest bedroom.

What the fuck?

I start walking again, picking up my pace. Has Ella given birth to our daughter alone? My heart fucking thumps against my ribs, and tries to break out of my chest cavity. It’s too early. The baby won’t survive.

“Ella!” I shout. When I still get no reply I begin running to the room where the cries are coming from but I can’t get there. No matter how fast and far I run, I can’t close the distance. It’s like the hall is expanding with each stride I take, and the distance keeps growing.

My feet pound on the carpeted floor but I don’t seem to be moving. Panic claws at me, dragging me into the darkness, away from my beauty.
What the hell is happening?

Blood roars in my ears as I finally reach the closed bedroom door, but as I start to open it the cries disappear. Everything is eerily silent. I hold my breath and open the door to find nothing.

Ella isn’t in here and neither is a baby.

I frown and look around the room puzzled.
What is going on?

“Ella,” I shout through the silent house.

“I’m in the bedroom Damon,” she calls.

Relief fills me when I hear her sweet voice, but my heart doesn’t slow its beat any. I need to see her, hold her in my arms, to fucking feel her against me. I take off out the guest bedroom and quickly make my way to our room to find her.

Closing in on our bedroom I hear her cooing and it brings a smile to my face. My beauty is ready for our daughter, she’s always cooing to her bump now. Pushing the door open, I stop dead in my tracks when red fills my vision.

Blood is everywhere.

Where the fuck is all this blood from? Ella has her back to me and is cradling something in her arms as she softly sways and sings. She’s had the baby?

“Beauty,” I breathe. “Are you okay?”

Ella doesn’t respond to me. She begins singing a lullaby to the bundle in her arms. My pulse races at the thought of meeting our daughter but fear soon sets in when I realise all this blood must have come from somewhere.

“Hush little baby don’t say a word,” she mumbles quietly. 

“Ella?” I question again when she doesn’t turn to face me or acknowledge me.

Her back goes rigid and she slowly turns to face me but what I see when she does turns my blood cold. Her green eyes are soulless. She stares at me like she doesn’t know me and the blood coating her clothes and body seems to be dry.

My eyes slide down her front to the baby cradled in her arms but it’s lifeless. There are no flailing arms and legs, no sounds to be heard. It’s still. I try to cough past my constricting throat as I look back to Ella’s face but it’s no use. The sight of pain in her eyes nearly drops me to my fucking knees and cuts off all air flow to my lungs.

Our baby isn’t alive.

“No,” I whisper. “Tell me she’s okay.”

A sob rips from Ella, and our daughter falls from her arms to land with a thump against the floor, sending me into action. I stride across the room a scoop the baby up, needing to do something, anything, to help her.

“Call 999 Ella!” I shout in panic. I wipe blood and gore from her tiny face, trying to clear her airways but my hands just seem to smear it more. “Come on baby,” I rasp.

Ella doesn’t move. She stands silently behind me, no longer crying, as I work to do something for our daughter. We can’t lose her. My beauty won’t survive another loss in her life. She’ll shut down and I’m not fucking sure I’ll be able to bring her back to life from a loss like this.

Fuck, I’m not sure I’ll survive this.

Unbearable pain slices through me as I remove the bloody towel wrapped around the baby and see nothing but more blood. Where the fuck is all the blood coming from?

“Ella,” I shout, needing her to snap out of her state of shock and help me. I freeze when a maniacal laugh spills from behind me. Turning my head, a wounded sound tears from me and I stumble back and land on my arse at the sight that greets me. It’s not Ella.

It’s Lydia
.

Blood oozes from her wrists and spills onto the floor as her arms hang limply at her sides. She tilts her head to an odd angle and watches me and I try to back away with the baby. She steps forward, following us with a glint in her eyes that scares the ever living shit out of me.

“Lydia?”

A grin spreads across her lips, blood coating her teeth. It’s not a nice grin, not pleasant or friendly. It’s a twisted grin. Her eyes hold me captive as she tilts her head to the other side.

“Do you like it?” she questions, motioning around the room. I follow her lead and look around to all the blood smeared everywhere. “This is for you.
You
did this,” she says, bringing my attention back to her.

“No,” I deny, shaking my head. Lydia slowly nods her head up and down.

“You did this. All this blood is on
your
hands.”

I look down at my hands and they’re covered in blood. My baby’s blood. I search around looking for her. She was just in my lap, but don’t find her. She’s gone.

“Where is she?” I ask. That maniacal laugh spills from Lydia again. It’s not a natural sound, it’s raw and animalistic. “Where is my baby?” I shout. 

“You killed her. You killed them both,” she sings in delight as she points behind me.

Turning my head, my stomach drops out my fucking arse. Ella is lying in a heap on the floor in the corner, and a pool of blood is spread out around her motionless form.

“No, no, no, no. NO! She’s not dead. She’s not.” Crawling along the floor to get to my beauty is hard. I slip and slide in all the blood, not able to reach her. “ELLA!” I shout, denying what I’m seeing, trying to purge the pain I feel out of my body so I can focus. My beautiful Ella. I killed her, destroyed her.

Like I knew I would
.

Finally making it to her, I pull her into my arms, brushing her bloodied brown locks away from her face. She’s dead. She’s fucking dead. I already know it by the lifeless weight of her body. I choke on tears as they blur my vision and block my throat.

“NOOOOOO.” I reach for her mouth, checking her airway. I need to save her. Pressing my lips to hers I blow air into her lungs, trying to breathe life back into her. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO. God no.” I feel arms on me, pulling me away from her, but I struggle, refusing to be moved.

I won’t fucking leave her. I won’t give up.

I look back down and now Ella is dying right before me as she gasps for air. I try to pry myself away from the grasping hands, but there are too many. I’m pulled away and a strangled cry escapes me, but then I hear my name being called. I fight and get free, rushing back to my beauty.

“NO!” I choke out. Silence settles around me and I rub frantic fingers over Ella’s beautiful face. I need to see her face. I need her to breathe, for her, for me, for us.

Pressure pushes down on my heart, squeezing the life out of me. I can’t live without her, without them. A blood curdling scream shatters the otherwise silent room and I turn to see Lydia with a knife in her hand. She waves it around maniacally as she continues to scream. I back up, pressing my back against the wall and place my body over Ella’s, not wanting her to come to anymore harm. 

“You killed us. It’s entirely your fault,” Lydia screams. “You’re a murderer. You don’t deserve to live.”

“I didn’t do this. I love her,” I argue.

“You did,” Lydia spits. “You killed Ella like you killed me and the baby.”

“NOOOOOOO,” I roar.

Stepping forward, Lydia thrusts the knife towards me and I shut my eyes waiting for the inevitable – waiting to feel my life drain away, to escape the pain of not having Ella in my life.

Nothing happens.

I open my eyes and find black, nothing but black. The room is cloaked in darkness. I’m disorientated, not knowing what’s happening. My hands frantically search around me, trying to locate Ella in the dark, but she’s not here. She’s gone.

“No, no, no, no. NO!” I’m drowning in panic as I continue my blind search. The tightness in my chest is excruciating, I feel like I’m having a fucking heart attack. My life is slowly, and painfully, being drained from me.

“NOOOOOO!” I won’t accept it. I need to find my beauty.

I fumble and stand, trying to find a light switch to help me see, gasping for air. Bright light suddenly illuminates around me. I squint as I try to see where I am.

“Damon.” Someone screams.

That voice. I know that voice but it’s not possible, it can’t be real. I strain my ears to see if I can hear it again, before looking back down to find the floor empty. Ella is gone.

“Damon.” I turn and start running in the direction I hear her calling me from. 

I shout out to her, needing her to hear me, so I can find her. I need to be with her. I fight to get to her, struggling to free myself from grappling hands trying to hold me back again, desperately needing to hold her, to bring her back to me. I feel trapped. I’m suffocating in the pain taking over my body.

I’m drowning in despair.

“Damon.” I turn and run in the direction I hear her calling me from. “Damon, wake up.”

I shout out to her, needing her to hear me, to help me find her. I need to be with her.

My eyes snap open, I’m gasping for breath. I see her beautiful face in front of me. I'm frightened she will disappear so I grab her arm, and hold her to me, trying to catch my breath as I pant. The look on her face is alarmed, her eyes wide with panic.

“Ella?” I question, needing to be sure she’s really here.

“I’m here Damon.”

I sink back into bed, holding her to me. My beauty is safe.