Deceptive Lord (Lords of Bondage) (8 page)

He watched them
all
exit the room, and in moments, he was alone.
He was in a rage, which would impede his progress toward breaking free of the bonds.
He was only mildly
skilled with the ability to weaken metal with his mind, so it would take some time.
With only the briefest amount of effort, h
e turned himself invisible
by bending the light around his body.
I
t was a skill he had mastered long ago.
It was not necessary that he make himself unseen, but it made him feel better.
He concentrated on calming himself and focusing on the shackles.
He felt some relief when the collar and chains were freed from his neck.
Ten minutes into it, he felt a light object hit him just below his stomach.
He glanced in that direction and saw that it was a silk scarf; it must have fallen from the ceiling.
He tried to dislodge it, but it remained on his body.

CHAPTER FIVE

Eden wondered why the
countess
was in such a crappy mood
.
She watched her storm from her chambers; she tried to move out of
her
path, but the
countess
barreled straight toward her.
“Countess, can I assist you with anything?”

Nefertiti
huffed
a response and started to dismiss her.
When Eden started to pass down the hall, the
countess
waved her over.
“I need you to fetch something for me in my bedchamber.
It is a small purple jar that is on the table beside my bed
.
Do not bring me the blue jar; I only want the purple one.
I’ll be in the pink salon, so you can bring the item to
me.
And do not linger in my parlor; that would be unwise.
Head directly to my chambers.”

Eden hurrie
d to the
countess
’s rooms, intending to perform the errand as quickly as possible.
She wondered why she was told not to linger in the parlor, because the parlor was empty.
She passed near the bed and was about to head straight toward the door to the
countess
’s bedchamber when she saw something incredibly odd.
A scarf was hovering over the bed, seemingly suspended in mid-air.
It was impossible and it appeared to be
remaining in place in that incredible position through some sort of magic.
Such strange parlor tricks; what else was the
countess
hiding?
Her
bedroom
experiments were
getting more and more bizarre.
Overwhelmed by her curiosity, she neared the bed and reached for the scarf, trying to determine what method kept it afloat.
She grabbed the scarf and was shocked to feel w
armed flesh
under her fingertips.
The scarf was not suspended in mid-air; it was lying on top of someone, someone who was invisible.
No doubt she was hallucinating; the stress of living with Nefertiti was causing her to lose her mind.
She spread her hand wide and began an exploration.
What was she touching, anyway?
She made out the indention of a belly button and felt
stomach
muscles clenching under her hand.
What she was touching certainly had the feel of
a
naked man, but
invisible naked males did not
exist.
The skin felt warm to her touch and she sensed slight movement, suggesting living flesh.
She leaned down and rested her face against the
skin.
It felt hard and muscular
.
She
closed her eyes and
inhaled a musky male scent, but there was something about it that seemed strangely foreign and unfamiliar.
Immediately after that idea entered her head, she dismissed it as being fanciful.
It wasn’t like she
ever
got close enough to the harem males to know what they tended to smell like
.
She opened her eyes and still saw no visual evidence of a person lying beneath her.
What was she supposed to believe, her eyes or her nose?
Her senses were giving her conflicting information.
She tentatively investigated the mysterious
area with her tongue, licking slowly.
It tasted flesh-like, although it had been quite some time since she had actually tasted
bare skin, so she had little to
compare it to.
She heard a f
a
int sound of an indrawn breath, which startled her.
If she didn’t know any better, she would think she was touching a real man.
Since it had no visible form, she wondered if it was a spirit being or a ghost.
That explanation seemed unlikely, as spirits and ghosts would not feel so solid.
Moving farther
with her hand
, she encountered a hardened velvety ridge
of flesh
.
She knew what that was;
it was unmistakably the most masculine part of a male.
S
he snatched her hand away and stared at the bed.
The scarf was now in her
hand and the bed appeared to be empty.
No sign of a naked male on the bed, so why
had she felt
one?

Drest
had been molested twice in one day.
This time the perpetrator was Eden Avenal
, who had been the focus of his lust for two days
.
She probably did not even know what she was doing, as she appeared quite young and innocent.
That would probably change in the future, as the longer she stayed under Nefertiti’s con
trol, the more warped
she would become.
He wouldn’t mind her touching him under different circumstances, but after what he had just been through, he wasn’t in the mood.
Unfortunately, the lower part of his anatomy wasn’t listening to his brain at the moment.
No, that part of him seemed ready for
action regardless of the impracticality of it.
He watched her, seeing the confusion and indecision on her face.
She was beautiful, so different from her half-sister Nefertiti.
He was surprised when she removed her robe
, leaving her clad in a thin white linen undergarment that reached her mid-thigh.
The low scooped neckline revealed much of her breasts, and what was not revealed was hardly concealed by the thin fabric.
Perhaps he misjudged her and she was not as sweet and innocent as she appeared.
Seconds later, she flung the robe on the bed and it covered part of his body.
She then stared at him some more,
and
with much concentration,
she
tugged the robe tighter around his body.
As she studied the bed, he
imagined how he must look to her.
He would appear solid wherever cloth
touched his flesh.
He would look
like a man from the chest to the legs, but
he would appear to have
no head or shoulders or feet.
The expression on her beautiful face reflected her confusion.
S
he placed both hands on the robe
and pressed them against his body
.
Sh
e explored upward, past those areas not covered by cloth.
He knew that she would feel solid masculine flesh in t
hose invisible areas.
She tugged the robe
lower and spread the material flat, then halted when she noticed an area in the center rising conspicuously.
He
tried to ignore what
she
was doing and instead focused on weakening the shackles.
He was nearly done and
would be able to break free in seconds.
The effort it had required to do that
had
exhausted
him and he would be
un
able to sustain his invisibility.
He knew it would have been better to stay invisible, because now he would have to do something about the witness.
In seconds, he was free and he was also fully visible.
He watched
the shock form on
her
face and he didn’t miss how she let out a nervous giggle.
He sat on the bed, keeping his eyes trained on the lady to prevent her escape, should she make an attempt.

Eden
couldn’t get past the fact that she had touched, sniffed, and licked this man just moments ago.
He didn’t seem real to her when he was invisible, but it was a different matter
now that he was visible and very much in the flesh.
Her eyes shamelessly roamed over his naked body.
“
Lord Woodcock?”

He shook the remainder of the broken shackles free from his hands and feet.
“Lady Eden.”

His intense regard made her feel nervous, and her anxiety intensified when his irises
started to glow an unnatural crimson shade.
She glanced at the shattered metal lying on the bed.
Slowly, horrific realization dawned as her initial shock faded.
Red eyes, invisibility, disintegrating metal
.
That could only mean one thing – hybrids.
What reason could a hybrid have to invade a harem?
She couldn’t begin to guess, but it couldn’t be
good.
Anything she had ever heard of the alien hybrids suggested they only involved themselves with humans when they were waging war.
They sure as hell weren’t known to come in peace.
H
er eyes widen
ed
in petrified fear.
She backed away and turned as if to run, although she stopped in her tracks when he shook his head.
“Lord Woodcock, how did you do that?
Is that even your real name?
Exactly what are you?”
She
did not expect him to answer her questions, not really.
She was stalling, trying to figure out how best to escape with her life intact.
If he could make himself invisible and disintegrate metal, he could probably kill her in seconds
.
Running may just make her death that much faster.

“What do you think I am, lady?”
He
slowly moved from the bed and took a step toward her.

“I don’t think you’re human.
You’re not human, are you?”
She
paled and took a step backwards.

“I’m not completely human
.
Do you understand what that means for you?”

She
shook her head and took another step backward.
“You’re one of them.
The ones from Asstrumnia, the ones that wage war on humans.
The alien
hybrid
s.
What are you doing here, in Avenal?”

“Your people started a war with us many hundreds of years ago.
We only wanted to be left alone.”

“But we have left you alone.
No one goes to your lands.
Why are you here?”
She
backed up into a wall this time; she started to panic when she realized the hybrid was getting closer.

“The Romans invaded our territories.
I also understand that some of your people are allying with the Romans now.
That makes you our enemies once again.”

She
debated whether or not she should make a run for it, but decided she would not make it far.
“We didn’t even know you existed.”

“Your people had forgotten our existence.”
He shook his head again in warning.
“Don’t run.
You know I can’t let you walk out of this room.
You’ve seen too much.”

She
ignored him and raced for the door, but
right before
she reached it,
she slammed into his body.
The man could move like a vampire, so she
had a feeling that she was
royally
screwed
.
He locked his arms around her body
, effectively restraining her.
She struggled wildly, but she quickly realized her efforts were futile.
She tried to force herself to calm down, so she could think of a way to thwart him.
“Please let me go.”

As she went limp in his arms, he
tightened his grasp on her.
“There is no choice here.”

A couple of
minute
s
later, she
experienced a wave of nausea and dizziness.
When her eyes cleared, she
found herself in a completely different
location.
She had a bad feeling she was far away from Avenal, likely in alien hybrid territory.
She did not know much about Asstrumnia, but she had heard that the few humans that had entered th
e
area
had
never returned and were never seen again.
She looked around her and noticed they were in a large room.
It was occupied by several males, all with dark hair, and they were staring at her in shock.