I tried to slow my thoughts, my breathing, before I picked up the phone. This was indirectly Richard’s fault, so I couldn’t really yell at him. Not yet, at least. My focus now was staying safe and making sure Edward wasn’t a ticking time bomb. When I was sure I wasn’t going to chew out my ex-boyfriend, I called him. From the opening of the marks earlier, I knew he was at home. Surely he’d be finished with his, ahem, business by now. Wrong. I got the answering machine.
“Richard, it’s Anita. Call me the second you get this message. It could be a matter of life and death.” I hung up, pissed off. I needed a place to put the insane bounty hunter. I needed bodyguards. No offense to them, but frankly, Cherry and Zane wouldn’t cut it alone. Who else could I call? Jean-Claude and his vampires had hours before they were awake and functional. That left me with few options.
Not twenty minutes later I had the pleasure of Merle’s company. He was the only one of Micah’s pard that I trusted enough to have over. That and he’d been the only one at home. Merle stood at attention, arms crossed in a typical bodyguard pose. Grey eyes tracked my movements as I paced the living room. “Okay, what are we going to do with Edward?” It wasn’t the first time I’d asked.
“I still vote to kill him,” Merle said. It wasn’t the first time he’d answered. If the leopards had been wary of Edward before, now they were downright hostile.
“We can’t kill him until we find out what’s wrong with him.”
“How do we know there is something wrong?” asked Cherry.
I frowned at her. “Something has to be wrong. Edward would never kiss me under any circumstance.”
“Says who?”
“Says me. I know him better than you do.”
Zane muttered under his breath. He looked up to find me glaring at him. He shrugged. “Maybe you don’t know him as well as you thought you did.”
“This is still very un-Edward like.” I had a bad thought. “Maybe he’s been brainwashed.” Resuming my pacing, I continued. “Maybe the guy who trained him got hold of him. Maybe somebody wants me dead again.”
“Again?” Merle made it a question.
“The former Ulfric tried to have me assassinated. Not to mention some of the Council members don’t like me much.” Actually, the Council pretty much hated me. Killing some of them was perhaps not the wisest idea, but it had needed to be done. “We need a plan of action here.”
“We could track down Micah and Nathaniel, bring them back here,” suggested Zane.
“That’s a good idea, but what do we do with Edward?”
The leopards all exchanged glances again. I was going to have to tell them to stop doing that. Cherry spoke up. “He is still drugged and tied up. You’d be okay alone with him until we got back.”
“Oh no.” I shook my head. “You are not leaving me alone with him. What if he develops superhuman strength and comes after me?”
“Anita, he has enough drugs in his bloodstream to keep him unconscious at least another day,” Cherry argued. “Besides, if shooting him doesn’t work, what can we do?”
Reluctantly
I agreed to stay at the house while the three of them retrieved the Nimir-Raj.
Not long after they left, the events of the day caught up with me. I needed
sleep in the worst way. Might as well get it in now while I could. Who
knows when I’d get a chance to rest again. Double checking to make sure
Edward was indeed knocked out and tied up, I locked the basement door and
headed to my bedroom to sleep. And yes, I took Sigmund with me.
I awoke feeling less than rested. The bedside clock read 9 o’clock. I’d gotten four hours of sleep. Not enough by far, but it would have to do. Yawning, I got up and padded to the bathroom. I glanced at my reflection in the mirror and regretted it instantly. There were circles under my eyes so dark they seemed like bruises. My skin was paler than usual. All in all, I looked like shit. I wanted to crawl back under the covers and not get up until things were back to normal, or at least as normal as they ever were.
Dressing in faded jeans, a red tank top, and socks, I dragged myself into the kitchen. I was pissed off at the leopards. It was so generous of them to leave Edward under my watch. It would serve them right if he woke up and killed me. I sighed. I couldn’t blame them. His behavior was so bizarre it’s no wonder they were scared out of their minds. Hell, I’d been ready to pee my pants when he come onto me earlier. If only we could figure out what was wrong with him.
I called Marianne down in Tennessee to see if he could possibly be under some sort of spell. She said she didn’t know of a spell that strong that I wouldn’t have sensed already. She also brought up motivation. For all practical purposes he wasn’t trying to kill me, not outright. Wisely, she advised me to be extra careful who I asked for help. There was no telling who was behind this. I was relieved to hear that it wasn’t magic. I wasn’t ready to deal with a rogue witch just yet.
A thumping sound suddenly came from downstairs. I froze, hand going for the gun that wasn’t there. Had Edward gotten out of his bonds? It was impossible unless he was Harry Houdini. I ran to the bedroom and grabbed the Browning. I picked up the tranquilizer gun for good measure. You could not have enough weapons when dealing with a crazed sociopath. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I put my hand on the basement door. It was quiet below again. I turned the knob, trying not to make any noise. Slowly, I eased the door open and stood listening. Silence. I took the stairs one at a time, ears straining against the lack of sound. Edward came into view, tied to a chair and gagged. He wasn’t moving.
“Edward?” I whispered. A faint groan came from him. I couldn’t tell yet if he was playing possum or not. Caution overruled my fear. The tranquilizer gun pointed at his body, I moved so I could see his face. He opened his eyes as if it were an effort. He tried to talk around the gag, but all that came out was muffled sound. I think he was asking me to remove it. What harm could it do? I bent slowly and eased a hand forward. My hand touched strip of cloth and I worked at the knot. It came loose easily and I tossed it aside. Edward moved his jaw around and coughed.
“Anita.” His voice was scratchy. Probably effects of the drugs in his system. He coughed again. “Why did you tie me up? I wasn’t going to hurt you.”
“How do we know that? You start talking about how you love me and have to have me no matter what. What were we supposed to do? Let you run free and take our chances?”
Grimacing, he tried to move despite his restraints. I tensed, finger tightening on the trigger. “Don’t move, Edward, or I’ll shoot you.”
“Please don’t. I don’t know what’s in those darts but I feel like I died and was brought back.” His eyes widened. “I’m not dead am I? I don’t remember anything after kissing you.”
I frowned at him. “That’s all you remember is kissing me? What about your threat?”
“What threat?”
Okay, he really didn’t remember. I wasn’t about to jog his memory. “Nevermind.” I did not feel like reminding him about the things he’d said. The words “I love you” coming from him would haunt me for the rest of my life. The scene flashed in my head. The feel of his lips on mine, the press of him against me. A shiver ran down my spine. My eyes went wide. The ardeur was awake and hungry. “No, no, no,” I hissed.
Edward stared at me. “No what?” he asked. The look on my face must have told him. “Oh, shit. It’s that….ardeur thing again, isn’t it?” I nodded, struggling to stay where I was, to keep the gun on him. I had a feeling I was fighting a losing battle. “It’s okay, Anita. You can use me.” I shook my head now. “I want you to. Please.”
“No. You’re not yourself, Edward. I am not taking advantage of that.” I clenched my free hand, nails digging into my palm hard enough to draw blood. Bad idea. The coppery smell of my blood only enticed the ardeur further. My breath came in short pants. I don’t know which terrified me more; the fact that I wanted to fuck Edward or the fact that he wanted me to fuck him.
He watched me quietly. Edward was a patient man. I eyed the ropes that bound him. His ankles were tied to the legs of the chair. The rope wrapped around his chest, not trapping his arms to his sides, but his hands I assumed were tied behind his back. I could cut his hands free and he’d still be restrained. Where was a knife? My eyes scanned the room, coming to rest on my zombie-raising kit on the floor near the stairs. There was a machete in there. Overkill, yes, but it would do the job.
The next thing I knew, I had cut the rope on Edward’s hands and stood with the blade at my side. I’d lost the guns along with a few moments of time. There was a light in his eyes I had never seen before. Lust, it was lust. I was willing to bet it was too late to turn back now. I laid the machete down on the floor and licked my lips. The ardeur flared, taking Edward with it.
“Yes.” His voice was rougher now, but it held that undertone of sex to it, not the drugs any longer. His breathing quickened to match mine. He stretched a free hand to touch the edge of my shirt. I was afraid to move any closer yet I took that last step toward him. I stood with my legs touching his. He ran his fingers across my hand and I knew I was lost. The need in me was suddenly so great I could taste it at the back of my throat.
“Edward…” I started. I was aware of the wetness between my legs. I swallowed.
“Shh.” With a sudden movement he grabbed my shirt and pulled me forward, off balance. I ended up on his lap, straddling him. I could feel how excited he was through his jeans and mine. Closing my eyes, I leaned forward to kiss him. Our lips met and it was like a rush of fire coursing through my body. His hands wandered over my back, pressing me to him. He sighed. I pulled back enough to see the eager look on his face. Then I wondered how I was going to get his clothes off without undoing the ropes. I remembered the knife.
“Hold still,” I told him. I reached down and grasped the handle. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Pondering shortly, I started with his shirt. Since it was only a T-shirt, the blade sliced cleanly through. I held the material away from his skin and ripped. I used the knife on the sleeves and collar, working it out from under the rope. Getting his jeans off was a little more challenging. I finally decided to work my way up from the bottom. With the blade facing away from his skin under the leg of the pants, I slit quickly from ankle to knee. It was trickier the rest of the way up, but somehow I managed. When the only thing holding them together was the belt, I cut through that and pulled the cloth off. Edward wasn’t wearing anything now.
I let my gaze rest on a certain piece of his anatomy. He was so erect it looked painful. I didn’t want to delay things any further. I removed my clothing with an urgency I didn’t know was there. Edward gave me not a once but twice over. “Anita.” He held his hands out to me and I stepped into his arms, legs on either side of his. We kissed again, with more passion this time. I explored his mouth with my tongue, nipping gently on his lip. He made a sound halfway between a groan and a sigh. His hands wandered over my buttocks, raising me up. I guided him inside of me carefully, the feeling sheer ecstasy. He was well endowed, Edward was. Hands on his shoulders for balance, I moved my hips, slowly at first, then faster to match the pace of my pounding heart. Straining against his bonds, he arched his back. The movement tilted us backward, then we crashed backward onto the floor.
“Shit!” he yelled as his head hit the cement. I ended up sprawled on him with my breasts dangerously close to his face. The grip of the ardeur momentarily lifted.
“Are you okay?” I asked, raising myself up, hair dangling down around him. He was no longer sheathed inside of me, so I could think.
“Could you please cut me loose?” he asked, eyes pleading. I hurried to do it. Without the chair in his way he stretched his limbs. “Much better.” He looked at me as like a dying man looks at water if he finds it. I knew exactly how he felt. He gave me a hand standing up. We stood facing each other for a second or two. When we came together again, the hunger was back in full force, stronger than I’d ever felt it before. If we didn’t get back to having sex soon, I literally thought I would explode. “Bed,” he breathed into my neck. I tilted my head in the general direction of the spare bedroom. With a swift move, he picked me up and carried me across the cold floor into the other room. He practically flung me onto the bed. I lay on my back peering at him through my hair. He crawled until he was above me, tension singing in the space between our bodies. Suddenly he dropped onto me, calling the power of the lust to the surface.
I cried out. My body craved his touch so badly it almost hurt. His lips caressed my neck and trailed over the hollow of my throat, lingering over the scars on my collarbone. The feel of the roughened skin must have excited him because he pressed himself against my stomach hard. That wasn’t where I wanted to feel him and I tried to tell him, but he silenced me when his mouth found my breast. Using teeth and tongue he teased my nipple until I thought I would lose control right then. Only after he had me writhing did he finally press himself to my wetness. I grasped his shoulders where there weren’t claw marks. He entered me again and didn’t wait to begin pumping his hips, pushing himself into me hard and fast. My spine bowed; I think I said his name.
The ardeur opened my mind to his and a barrage of images washed over me as I reached orgasm. He shouted something and it was the face of Belle Morte that I saw in my mind’s eye. With a final shudder, he collapsed, panting next to me. I couldn’t move. I had glimpsed a thread of power inside Edward that wasn’t his. Suddenly I knew; he was under Belle Morte’s control.