Charmed (15 page)

Filled with guilt, Tristan reached out and removed the pikes from his brother’s shoulders. Once they were removed, he held his hand out to him in truce.

“I’m sorry, Simon. I’m sure having me as your older brother has made your life at times insufferable. I know I can be extremely arrogant, overbearing and at times an arrogant and pompous ass. From now on, I promise I will stem my assistance in your affairs and allow you to lead your own life.”

Simon hesitated for several long moments before taking his hand.

As the crowd erupted into approving cheers, Tristan hauled his brother to him and wrapped him into, what seemed to those around them, a brotherly hug. But Simon knew better as Tristan held him in a viselike grip. “I forgive you, Simon, but I promise you if any harm has come to my wife, I will hunt you down and tear you apart.”

Tristan released Simon so suddenly that the other man stumbled backward. He then turned on his heel to leave the great hall. However, Horatio’s voice boomed over the excited shouts of the raucous crowd.

“Stop!” he bellowed. Tristan turned around slowly and faced the eight-man council. A black eyebrow rose questioningly.

“This is unacceptable! A challenge has never ended with both opponents still alive.”

“Well, a new precedent has been set,” Tristan drawled, folding his arms over his broad chest. “Because
this
challenge is over. I know how this must pain you, Horatio, but I’m still the leader of Warwick coven. And will continue to be as long as I have life in this body.”

Horatio slammed his hand against the council bench in anger. “Enough of your insolence! You dare change the rules of a tradition that has been in existence for thousands of years?” Horatio asked, his voice rising several octaves when Tristan suddenly rushed to the council bench.

“I dare to do anything I damn well please,” he snarled. “You fail to forget you are nothing but an
advisor
, who can be easily replaced. I have put up with you and the rest of you arrogant sacks of wind for several centuries out of respect to tradition. But lately I have thought long and hard about replacing all of you with a new council.”

“I-i-insolence!” Horatio sputtered, his mouth opening and closing sporadically, reminding Tristan of a fish caught on land. However, whatever he was trying to say was thwarted by a council member on either side of him, grabbing him by the arms, hauling him out of his seat and dragging him from the assembly.

Once the doors were shut behind him, the remaining council members conferred with one another. It did not take them long to come to a unanimous decision.

“It has suddenly come to the council’s attention,” Tristan’s eyes swung to Morgan Twist, who was as pompous of an ass as Horatio but was generally viewed as the voice of reason, “that, since this is an ‘unprecedented’ turn of events, it is the findings of the
present
council to overlook tradition and establish a new interpretation of the law. The challenge will stand. Tristan Smythe will continue as the rightful leader of Warwick coven.”

The great hall filled with thunderous applause as the crowd approved of the council’s findings. Tristan, however, only acknowledged their decision with a stiff nod of his head. He then turned on his heel and left them behind. His mind already set on more important business.

Finding his wife.

Chapter Eleven

Shortly after they’d left Chloe’s office, Ashei drove them to the airport and they boarded a private plane bound for Europe. Once they’d touched down, Yasmine made sure they kept moving until they were safely behind the walls of her private estate somewhere outside London.

Although Chloe had been given her own private room, she was reminded on a daily basis that she was not a guest. There were no bars on the windows or locks on the door but Yasmine made certain she didn’t escape. For every night during the past three days, she’d stolen into Chloe’s room and fed on her. Yasmine had taken just enough blood to keep Chloe too weak to escape. And considering she was already in a weakened state due to her recent transformation, it was a chore just trying to will herself out of bed.

Lying back against a mountain of silk pillows at her back, she resisted the urge to cry as she took in the luxury around her. Swaths of rich Indian fabrics in various exotic colors hung from the ceiling like flowing incandescent jewels, providing a bit of privacy to the low-slung bed in which she lay.

Despite the decadent environment, it was still a prison. She was quickly coming to realize that the longer she remained as Yasmine’s captive the smaller her chances of ever being rescued became.

“Are you ready to play again, love?” Chloe’s eyes fluttered open as she recognized her husband’s voice. She heard him pad across the room and stop just beyond her reach at the foot of the enormous bed. His chest was bare and a pair of black slacks hung low around his hips revealing his v-cut obliques.

“Please…Tristan, help me.” Despite how real he looked, Chloe knew he was only a figment of her imagination. For the same dreams of Tristan rescuing her, of him making love to her had played out in her mind on a daily basis as she floated in and out of consciousness. Not that it mattered, though, as long as they made her feel better, as long as she could feel close to Tristan on some level. Plus, this one looked so real like never before.

“Of course I will help you, my sweet,” her dream man continued. “But, unfortunately, it might not be the kind of help you are in need of.”

“It doesn’t matter, Tristan… Just help me to forget,” Chloe whispered.

“Well, I can definitely make you forget,” he purred. She licked her dry lips in anticipation as he sauntered around the side of the bed and stood mere inches from her.

Chloe looked down at the waistband of the tailored slacks he wore and her hands fairly itched to touch him as he began to unbutton them. When his fingers strayed to the zipper, he stopped.

“Do you think you can be a good girl and help me with this?” he asked, placing his arms behind his back and playfully thrusting his hips in her direction. Chloe looked at all that muscular flesh that was hers for the taking. She ached to touch him so badly, her desperate need for him had become more intense with each dream.

Not one for self-torture, Chloe stretched out a heavy arm and allowed her fingers to glide through the slightly coarse hair peppering his rock-hard abs. When he groaned, she peeped up at him and the sight of his heavily hooded eyes now filled with lust made her heart beat faster.

Lowering her gaze, she centered her attention on the growing bulge in his pants. She smiled to herself, grateful for her colorful imagination that had been such a comfort to her over the last couple of days. Eagerly, she ran her hand along the waistband. When she dipped her hand inside, she wasn’t surprised to find that he was not wearing any underwear—after all she was calling the shots.

The thought of this sexy, virile, naked man increased the heat between her thighs and her nipples hardened in response. Although her hands shook with excitement, Chloe was able to unzip his pants without causing him undue harm. Once they were open, his cock sprang forward and flopped against the side of her cheek.

“Do you feel how hot I am for you?” he asked huskily.

Chloe nodded her head and his cock rubbed against her face. Suddenly a desire to see him completely nude filled her. With strength she didn’t know she still possessed, she grabbed on to the black material of his slacks and yanked them quickly down his hips.

She shifted her position in the bed until she was lying kneeling before him. Not needing any encouragement, just the intense passion now pounding through her veins, she wrapped her hand around his cock greedily. She pumped her hand up and down its length several times until it grew rock-hard and solid to the touch.

When he moaned, she felt unbelievably powerful, a treat after all the humiliation she’d had to endure at Yasmine’s hands.

Chloe leaned into him so that his cock was in direct line with her lips. Moistening them first, she then leaned forward another inch. Starting at the base, she followed the bulging vein on the underside of his cock then licked her way up and over the head until she reached the tiny hole at its tip.

Wanting to taste more of him, she opened her mouth eagerly. Inch by slow inch, she took him into her mouth. She was so enjoying the taste of him that she let out a little moan.

“Y-y-yes, beautiful, take me deep in your mouth. Yes, just like that,” he whispered.

At first, Chloe’s movements were slow and hesitant. But when his hands plunged into her hair and he began to whisper words of encouragement, she began to suck him hard and fast.

“Shit! Your lips feel delicious wrapped around my cock,” he groaned as if in pain. Chloe felt his hands trembling in her hair. But she didn’t give him any respite. Instead she let her lips envelop the tip of his cock then gripped the base with both hands. As she greedily sucked on him, she ran her hands up and down his shaft until he began to squirm and moan.

Turned on by his response and feeling in control, Chloe wanted to taste every available inch of him for she was just as much on fire as he. So much so that she wanted stimulation as well. Tearing her mouth from his cock, she pulled away.

“Do you want to please me?” Chloe asked, her breath coming out in painful gulps.

He licked his lips before replying, “Yes! Just tell me what to do.”

“I want you to please me like I’m pleasing you.”

“Your wish is my command,” he growled, his green eyes lighting up at her request.

Knowing that he wouldn’t disappoint her, Chloe slid her mouth down on his cock once again. But she almost lost her rhythm when she felt his questing fingers slide over her slit before dipping inside her hot, eager channel. When his fingers began to thrust in time at the same rate as her mouth moved over him, she almost thought it would be her undoing. However, she bolstered her resolve and continued to work his cock.

“Chloe!” he yelled. “I’m about to come!”

She reached out and palmed his ball sac in her hand and she knew he was telling the truth for his balls had shrunk considerably.

“Would you allow me to cream all over your beautiful breasts, love?”

Instead of answering him, Chloe shifted her position so that she now sat on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling off the side. She palmed her breasts, opening them wide enough so that his cock could easily fit in between.

“Fuck…fuck…fuck…” he panted, placing his hands over her own as he guided her movements. Chloe squeezed her eyes shut as his hot flesh slid in between her twin globes. Loving the feel of him, she lifted and lowered them over his rock-hard shaft, faster and faster until he joined her by bucking his hips.

She looked down just in time to see the first traces of his orgasm began to splash hotly over her bosom.

“Yes, milk every last drop of my cum, baby!” he groaned, still pumping his hips until he had no more of his seed to give. Once he was spent, he reached out his hands and rubbed his cum over her breasts.

“Oh, you little slut!”

Chloe groaned and her hands stilled on her breasts at the sound of the feminine voice that had rudely interrupted her dream. In an attempt to block out her tormentor, she squeezed her eyes shut tightly and willed herself back to sleep.

“Ah! I wonder what your husband would think if he knew you were pleasuring yourself. Obviously he’s lost his touch,” Yasmine mocked.

“He’s done no such thing, bitch,” Chloe snapped, coming up on her elbows. Her eyes narrowed angrily as Yasmine, now dressed in a traditional cream-and-gold sari, covered the short distance between them and came to stand in the center of the room.

“Ah! I see you have finally decided to join the living! Well, at least what’s left of you,” Yasmine snickered. “I do enjoy having you awake for our nightly tête-à-tête. Last night was such a bore. You were passed out for most of it.”

Despite her weakened state, Chloe hadn’t quite lost her spunk. “Yasmine, please spare me the honor of one of your boring speeches and do what you came to do. But I would like to ask a favor… I would appreciate it if you would take blood from someplace else besides my neck. I don’t want you to leave a permanent scar.”

As she expected, the other woman began to sputter with rage. It didn’t take much to set her off. And she had become a pro at it. Without warning, the bed suddenly dipped and Yasmine scrambled onto it, straddling Chloe’s chest.

She then took a hold of her jaw and applied just enough pressure until it opened. “How does he put up with your impertinent tongue?” Yasmine growled. “Maybe I should rip it out and save both of us the aggravation of having to put up with your mouth,” she sneered.

“Do as you will, Yasmine, because whatever you do to me, the same is in store for you when Tristan rescues me.” Chloe turned her head away from the other woman, summarily dismissing her. She bit back a groan of pain when Yasmine snatched her face back around.

“How are you so certain Tristan is coming for you? You’ve been here four days and no sign or word from him. Your kidnapping wasn’t entirely done in secret, you know. I supplied my real name and my exotic looks would be easily remembered. Maybe, he’s found someone else to replace you already. Tristan is very fickle. I should know. I was with him for over seventy-five years and then one day he just walked out on me.”

Yasmine conveniently left out the part that he’d caught her in bed with her new driver.

“Tristan wouldn’t do that, he—”

“He what? He loves you?” Yasmine cut in, her laughter grating on Chloe’s sensitive nerves. “Ha! You disappoint me, for a minute there I actually thought you had some sense. Tristan doesn’t love you. How could he? You’re a pale shadow compared to the countless women I’ve seen on his arm over the centuries.”

Although Chloe knew that Yasmine’s words were meant to intentionally taunt her, the old Chloe couldn’t help but take them to heart. Not willing to continue down that avenue, she decided to do a little reality-checking herself.

“You know I’m aware that you’re only saying these things out of envy,” Chloe replied matter-of-factly. “Because I know deep down inside it galls you that Tristan chose me as his mate instead of you. Have you ever thought that maybe it’s not my
looks
that made him want me? Thank God, for everyone knows that beauty fades.”