Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) (30 page)

Ethan remained completely still in the doorway, a mixture of feelings washing over him as he realized what was expected. As much as he hated it, there was little he could do to stop the wash of desire that covered him as he looked upon Layla’s naked beauty.

Feeling his body begin to respond, he closed his eyes, trying to focus on the phantom pull of his bond to Alexa which, until that moment, felt as if it remained only to punish him for what he had done. It was then he realized that the taunting pull was the last piece of Alexa he had left and he was overcome with grief, knowing that Lucias intended to use this woman to take it from him.

“Go to her,” Lucias commanded before he licked up the side of Molly’s neck. She moaned dramatically in response, as she squirmed on his lap.
 

As much as Ethan screamed at himself inside his own mind to stay where he was, his body moved obediently across the room where Layla waited.
 

“You’ll have to go get closer; I have commanded her to remain on the bed until released. A regrettable, but necessary, precaution as long as Molly is in the room. Our new friend is freshly out of transition and unable to completely control her hunger for human blood,” Lucias said as his fangs pushed through his gums.

“But later she’ll be able to play with us, right?” Molly asked, tilting her head to the side, giving Lucias better access to her neck.

“Yes, of course. I am quite pleased to find you so eager to share me with another of my kind,” Lucias remarked before he sank his teeth into her vein. He felt his cock jump as he thought of the other he wished to share both women with someday; his true mate whom he hadn’t seen in nearly a century.

When the scent of Molly’s blood hit the air, Layla’s head snapped in her direction, breaking her focus from Ethan for the first time since she laid eyes on him.

Ethan stood mere inches in front of Layla, whose attention was still locked on the couple across the room.

Lucias released his hold on Molly’s neck, sealing the puncture wounds with a swift swipe of his tongue before he spoke.

“Ethan, remove your clothes,” he commanded as he slid his hand between Molly’s quivering thighs.
 

The sensation of the bite already had her teetering on the edge of orgasm while she kept her eyes locked on Ethan. She had wanted the handsome vampire since the moment she’d greeted him boarding the plane in Eleuthera, but she knew better than to mention that fact to Lucias. While her master didn’t seem to mind her taking pleasure with the humans she lured home, he’d made it abundantly clear she was to stay away from other male vampires.

In a matter of seconds, Ethan stood obediently naked beside the bed. With the wounds on Molly’s neck fully healed, Layla’s attention returned to him. The scent of her arousal flooded the air around them as her eyes fell upon his manhood. Even in an unaroused state, he was an impressive sight to behold.
 

“Don’t be shy, my dear,” Lucias encouraged as he continued to stroke Molly. “For now, Mr. Kellar is yours to do with as you please.”

With Lucias releasing her to act, Layla’s hand shot out and gripped Ethan’s tender flesh without hesitation. The taking of blood was often a rather sexual act, so insatiable desire was an expected side-effect of the bloodlust evoked by infection.

Despite his mind’s protests, Ethan was potently male and, though he hated himself for it, his body responded to Layla’s demanding touch.
 

Lucias smirked, watching Ethan’s hips thrust forward into Layla’s hand. The smirk developed into a lustful smile when he felt Molly’s body clench around his fingers as she cried out his name.

As the air in the room became saturated with tension and arousal, Ethan felt the grip of his control slipping further and further away. His mind was awash with the conflicting emotions of his beast and his soul; the beast pushing him forward, eager to ravage the woman before him, to take her with complete and primal abandon. His soul cried out with grief and regret, knowing the cause was already lost. With one last effort, Ethan closed his eyes and again focused on Alexa, on the bond he still felt, opening up to it, praying it could somehow give him the strength to fight. But instead, the sensations he felt pulsing through the bond only strengthened the lust growing in his veins.

Suddenly, it was Alexa’s touch sliding over his body, her scent filling his lungs, her face looking up at him with desire. And in that moment, even though he knew it wasn’t real, Ethan let go, let himself feel Alexa as he covered Layla’s writhing body and thrust himself inside her.

He wasn’t gentle when he pushed into her over and again, but his pace and roughness were exactly what Layla’s infected body craved as she clung to his back, drawing blood from the flesh covering his hard muscles. The smell of the red liquid reignited Layla’s bloodlust, pulling a primal cry from her throat as she sank the sharp points of her fangs into Ethan’s shoulder. He growled out with pleasure; so lost in the sensations washing over him, picturing Alexa and feeling her almost as surely as if she was the one there with him, Ethan reciprocated, piercing the vein at the base of Layla’s neck. Releasing his shoulder, she cried out again, his bite sending a jolt through her body which set off a powerful climax.

The instant her blood hit his tongue, the pretense disintegrated. While he may have been able to squeeze his eyes shut and imagine it was Alexa lying beneath him, blood didn’t lie.
 

Lucias sighed, watching the exchange while Molly moved up and down on his lap, as satisfied with watching the two taking each other’s blood as he was with feeling Molly’s tight flesh wrapped around him. Though it was not enough to create a genuine blood bond, Ethan and Layla’s exchange was sufficient to create a temporary tie, which he was confident would erase whatever lingering connection he felt to Alexa.

In a blur of motion, Ethan flipped Layla onto her stomach before he pushed inside her again. While the guilt was nearly unbearable and he was screaming inside his mind to stop, to move away from this strange woman, his beast would not relent, pushing harder and deeper with each thrust. Ethan felt as if he had left his own body and was floating above, watching the events in horror and disgust as an orgasm pulsed through his body, finally quieting his beast.
 

He pulled away from Layla, looking to his master who was too consumed with his own pleasure at the moment to care what Ethan was doing. Lucias hadn’t commanded Ethan beyond sending him to Layla and giving her lease to do with him as she pleased. So overcome with guilt that he felt physically ill, Ethan whispered, “Are you finished with me?”

“Mmmm,” was her only response as she rolled over on the bed. Being so newly infected and in the absence of direct commands from Lucias, Layla’s body and mind were functioning purely on the instinct to satisfy her baser needs. Pleasured sexually and full with enough blood to sustain her for several hours, she had no use for anything but sleep.

Taking her reply as affirmation, Ethan collected his clothes and sped from the room with every ounce of his speed, arriving in the bathroom of his quarters just in time to release the contents of his stomach.

CHAPTER 25 -
An Old Friend

I know you can hear me. I’m sorry to do this, but I need your help. Please.

Chloe opened the door and hurriedly ushered Dante inside, certain that many of her family members would be furious if they discovered him there, especially those who had learned of his power.
 

“I know why you’ve come,” she said quietly.

“Yes, of course you do. I only touched you for a moment yesterday, but some of your power still lingers. I have never been able to sustain borrowed power for this long without great effort,” he said holding his hand out towards a small bottle on the nearby table. Chloe watched as it lifted several inches off the surface before returning to its place in correlation with Dante’s movement.
 

“I can only move small objects now, and the telepathy faded within a few minutes; but it seems that something about your abilities enhances mine.”

“I saw about your kind in my aunt’s mind. Could you really take all of my power?” Chloe asked, already knowing the answer; a part of her wanting him to do exact that. If she was ordinary, at least as ordinary as a vampire could be, Lucias wouldn’t want her anymore. But she knew that even though he could, Dante wouldn’t risk her life. With a sigh, she addressed the concerns bouncing through Dante’s mind.

“My visions have been limited to two events, one which has already occurred. I don’t believe the other is far off and there was something in it which will please you; Layla will come back to the compound with my father.”

Dante dropped to his knees before her, a wave of relief washing over him as he battled the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. “She’s alive. Layla’s alive, and she’s coming home,” he whispered and closed his eyes.

“Yes; she will come back to you,” Chloe said as she reached out and stroked his hair gently. When her fingertip grazed the top of his scalp, a vision slammed down on her so hard and fast that she stumbled backwards beneath its force.

“What is it? Are you all right?” Dante asked in a panic, instantly on his feet with his arms around Chloe, steadying her as the vision formed.

With the contact, Chloe’s power again began to seep into Dante and the images in her mind began to flash through his.

He watched with fascination as Layla’s beautiful face came into view, so clear and vivid it was as if she was standing before him. Dante could only see the side of her face as she appeared to be transfixed on something off to the left.

“Layla,” he called out, though he knew she couldn’t hear him. Yet somehow, at that precise moment, she turned; facing him as the view moved outwards.
 

Dante yanked his hands back, releasing Chloe as if her skin burned him. “No, please; God, no,” he whimpered as he closed his eyes and sunk back to his knees.
 

Though the contact was broken, the vision he shared with Chloe persisted and he was forced to watch helplessly as the glow of Layla’s red eyes stared back at him, her naked body practically writhing on the bed as another man approached her. Before long, the man’s large body completely blocked the view of Layla and the images began to fade entirely as the power he’d absorbed from Chloe dissipated. The man turned ever so slightly, giving Dante the tiniest glimpse of his face; before the view was blocked by the shirt he pulled over his head and the vision disappeared from his mind.
 

Dante began to shake uncontrollably as a whirl of emotions rushed through his mind, and as much as he knew it would hurt to see what would inevitably pass next between the woman he loved and the stranger in the vision, he opened his eyes and reached for Chloe’s arm.
 

Reading his intention, Chloe moved away just in time, the only contact with Dante from the soft material of her skirt which grazed his outstretched hand.

“No good will come from you seeing anymore,” she said, choking back her own sadness as the vision ended. “You saw her eyes; you know she is not acting on her own free will. She loves you, despite everything you may have done to stop her.”

“Did you see who the man was?” Dante asked through his teeth.

“She will come back to you; the rest doesn’t matter,” Chloe said matter-of-factly, still struggling to deal with what she had just seen.
 

Dante opened his mouth to ask something else, but Chloe beat him to it.

“I don’t know how yet, but she will be cured. Please just trust me,” Chloe pleaded as she approached the door.

“My mother is waiting for you; the training helps her and she could use a friend right now. Both of you could. Just be careful to guard your thoughts around her,” Chloe added before she closed her eyes and focused her senses. “It’s safe now; move quickly before someone sees you,” she whispered and opened the door.
 

Dante’s only response was the breeze left in his wake which kissed her face as he passed by.

✧

Chloe leaned back against the door and lifted her hand, watching as it trembled before her. Now she understood more clearly than ever what her grandmother had meant when she told her what a curse clairvoyance could be.

No matter how old, no child ever wanted to see one of their parents in a position like what she had just witnessed. Beyond that, her mother already knew and, as much as Chloe wanted to go to her and offer what comfort she could, there was something else she needed to do before it was too late.

Sliding her finger down the digital control panel, Chloe dimmed the lights and took a seat on the edge of her bed. Reaching around behind her neck, she unclasped the silver necklace which had hung over her chest since the witch, Tara, had returned it what seemed like a lifetime ago.
 

She dangled the delicate silver charm in front of her face, smiling as she closed her eyes and thought of the one who gave it to her when she was still very small.

“I was wondering when you would call on me, child,” Barb said quietly appearing seated on the bed beside her. “I’ve been trying to contact you, but those shields of yours are something, even for someone with the power to reach beyond the grave.”

“Oh, Barb; I don’t know what to do,” Chloe said, her chin trembling as she drew the silver charm to her chest for comfort.

“Hush now, my sweet girl. There’ll be none of that, you hear? You just listen to what’s in that good heart of yours and you’ll be just fine. When the time comes, you’ll know what to do, and just in case, always remember what you mean to us all, even him. Your power isn’t just what you can do; it’s what others will do for you.”

Chloe swiped at her tears, feeling confusion at Barb’s somewhat cryptic words which was unfamiliar. Normally, if she wondered what someone meant, she simply listened in on their thoughts. Apparently, even with telepathy as powerful as Chloe’s, the thoughts of the dead were theirs to keep.