Blood Mate (4 page)

“No,” she
whispered. She’d never said it out loud.

“Then why do you
wear the bracelet?”

“Because the
moment he gave it to me was the last time he loved me.”

The depth of the
pathos of that statement was reflected in the pity in August’s
eyes.

“You don’t
deserve to be treated this way.”

She jerked her
hand away from his. “How do you know what I deserve?” If he
thought that line was going to work on her, he hadn’t been on the
dating scene in a while.

“What happened?
You were floating the day I met you.”

Something niggled
the back of her mind, but it didn’t make any sense. Coincidence
happened. Maybe Dominic hadn’t been as great as she’d thought.
Maybe she’d been settling somehow. Maybe running into August,
another man showing a strong interest in her had taken the wool from
her eyes so she could see Dominic for who he was.

But that didn’t
make sense. She knew she hadn’t imagined the easy way between her
and her husband, the caring, the jokes, the playful teasing, all the
sex that wasn’t just two bodies joining, but two souls as well. All
of that had stopped on a dime, as if when she’d come from the
bathroom that night at
Au Soleil,
she’d stepped into a
parallel universe where Dominic didn’t love her, and the only true
evidence that he ever had, that he’d seen her as his soul mate, was
an inscription underneath the bracelet she couldn’t bring herself
to take off. It was all she had left from the other world before
she’d entered this harsh, cold new one.

She guarded it as
if it were an enchanted talisman that would somehow unlock a door in
reality to take her back to the real world, the one where her husband
still loved her. Sometimes she thought about going back to that
bathroom, of wearing the same dress, of standing in front of the same
mirror, washing her hands, and then walking back out to the table
beside the fountain, and being back in the right world with her
husband smiling up at her, the adoration lighting his face like
sunrise. Maybe this was all some terrible dream.

“Nicolette,
you’re worlds away.”

She blinked and
shifted her attention back to the man sitting across from her. “We
were happy, and then… we weren’t happy. And I don’t know what
happened, what I did. It was so sudden, like a switch flipped in
him.”

“Come to dinner
with me.”

Her eyes snapped
up to his. “I can’t do that. I’m married.”

Any man who would
pursue a married woman this doggedly was not a man she wanted to get
involved with. But she didn’t say that out loud. She could never
say it out loud. He was so sad and alone. Like her. It would be cruel
to say something nasty to someone who was suffering. Had he been this
sad when she’d met him? She couldn’t remember. She’d just
needed to get away.

“How long will
you hold onto a man who neglects you?”

She focused on the
bracelet, willing it to transport her through time and space to where
the world was right again. “I don’t know. Forever, maybe. He’s
my soul mate.”

His hand on hers
tightened. “Forever is so much longer than you could ever imagine.
It’s far too long to suffer. Perhaps he’s not your soul mate.
What if someone else is?”

“And that
someone would be you?” She was sure the skepticism dripped out of
her voice. He may have thought he’d fallen in love at first sight,
but the concept was too esoteric and unreal to her.

“Sometimes souls
wander centuries before finding one another, then when they do, it’s
in the most mundane way. Give me a chance to put a smile back on your
face. I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”

He talked like
Dominic. Of destiny and soul mates, and the kind of love that spanned
eternities. The kind of love she’d almost believed in, but now no
longer could. Her husband had created the dream and then snuffed it
out, all in the brief span of a decade. So much for forever.

“I can’t. I’m
not going to cheat on him. I’m not that kind of woman. Thank you
for the coffee, but please don’t bother me again.” She stood and
made a hasty retreat to her car. She’d grocery shop in another part
of town. It wasn’t worth it to return to her cart and risk August
following. There was no part of her that believed he’d just
happened to bump into her today.

Chapter Four

Another month
passed. August stood among the bushes next to Dominic and Nicolette’s
kitchen window. The husband had just gotten home. He’d been
arriving later each night for weeks now.

“I made your
favorite.” Nicolette’s voice was hopeful.

She’d tried
everything to reignite her husband’s interest. Lingerie. Fancy
meals. Theater tickets. But nothing would sway the command the
vampire had embedded in his mind.

“I ate at the
office,” Dominic said. His voice receded, and August knew he was
going to the study to work, shutting her out once again.

“I-is there
someone else?”

The door shut
without the courtesy of a reply, and Nicolette dissolved into tears,
great heaving sobs that mirrored August’s nightly pain after
feeding.

He should have
taken her already, but once he crossed that line, it was crossed. He
could never enthrall her and return her to her life with the world
never the wiser. He’d wanted to give her another chance to come
willingly. Things would go so much easier for her if she would open
up to him.

He’d avoided
approaching her again outright, knowing she’d feel hounded.
Instead, he’d taken a walk past the flower shop she worked at. He’d
put on a mask of surprise when he saw her through the window, smiled,
and waved, but she’d turned away and gone to the back room.

She was never
coming to him on her own.

He hadn’t
anticipated the depth of her love for her husband or how faithful she
would be despite his neglect. She saw August as a threat to her
marriage, and even after the sad state of that relationship, she
still guarded it like a seedling that might sprout into something
breathtaking.

He could have put
another command into Dominic’s mind. He could have made her husband
a legitimate physical threat. Then August could be the man who
rescued and protected her from the brutish bastard. She’d run to
him for safety. But he would
never
risk her. Not ever. If her
husband’s indifference didn’t make the necessary impact to bring
her to August, he had to take her.

He watched through
the window as she sat at the counter and ate the dinner she’d so
painstakingly put together. She poured a glass of wine from a bottle
she’d bought to make dinner special. At the wine shop, there had
been so much hope in her eyes as she’d retrieved the money from her
purse. Every time he saw that naked hope, it crushed him. He hated
himself for this, and yet, nothing he could do to her could ever
equal what he must do each night. She was a justifiable casualty in
his war against the curse.

In a normal human
relationship there were good times and bad times. Often one partner
stayed long past the point they should have left because they kept
remembering and hoping for the good times to return, and sometimes
they did—if briefly.

But the vampiric
mind control didn’t allow for glimpses of hope. From the moment
August had gotten inside Dominic’s head, Nicolette was an annoying
gnat to him. Inconsequential. It had led to a lingering sadness which
would turn to full blown depression if he didn’t either release the
husband or take the wife.

He listened in the
shadows as she scraped her plate and the garbage disposal whirred,
then she emptied the garbage and stepped outside.

The pungent cloth
was over her nose and mouth before she saw him. That was for the
best.

“Shhhh, shhh,
shhh,” he soothed as she struggled in his arms. She went limp and
there was no more time for guilt.

***

Nicole felt fuzzy
and unreal when she came to. It took a moment to figure out what had
happened. It had been her day off. She’d spent hours on dinner.
She’d bought Dominic’s favorite wine. She’d worn his favorite
dress, and of course the bracelet. She always wore the bracelet. The
whole day’s work had been pointless. But none of that mattered
right now. What mattered was figuring out where she was and how to
get away.

She’d stepped
out to take the trash to the side of the house. Whoever it was had
been watching her, and deep down, she knew who it was. On some deeper
level, unknown and hidden from her, she’d expected this. It was why
her fear stood muted against the backdrop of inevitability.

A piece of cloth
covered her eyes, but her hands and feet were free. She was fully
clothed. All good things. The smell of a man’s cologne hung on the
air. She reached up to remove the blindfold, but was stopped
by his voice.

“I
wouldn’t do that if I were you. The sight you’d be greeted with
is not what you’re used to.”

“August?”

She
flinched when he took her hand, partly because of his touch, and
partly because he was wearing gloves.

“I’m just
helping you to sit up. I’m not going to do anything to you that you
don’t agree to.”

As if she would
agree to anything at all after he’d kidnapped her. But she allowed
him to pull her into a seated position. Sitting was better than lying
down right now. It was less vulnerable, if only by a small degree.

“Here, drink
this.” He pressed a glass into her hand.

“W-what is it?”

“It’s water.
It’ll help the fogginess.”

“Can I please
take the blindfold off? Please, August.”

“No, you may
not. I’m not ready for you to see yet.”

“See what?”

“Drink.”

“I’m fine. I
don’t need any… ”

His mouth was next
to her ear now. “If you don’t drink, I will pour it down your
throat. I would not give you anything that would harm you.”

He’d only
stalked her and kidnapped her. So of course whatever was in the glass
was harmless water. Fuck him. She didn’t owe him trust or
acquiescence or anything else.

She hauled back
and threw the glass, surprised when she didn’t hear it smash.
Instead, she heard August place something on a table. It sounded like
a glass. Had he… what?
Caught
it? Maybe it was his own
glass. Maybe hers had hit a pillow or something, preventing it from
breaking the silence.

“I understand
you’re frightened, but please don’t throw my glassware. It’s
quite old and priceless.”

The stupid part of
it all was that she’d found him attractive. And she’d hit her
limit with Dominic. Her husband was making her miserable, and nothing
she tried to reach out to him worked.

“The last thing
I would ever want is for anything to harm you. I’m sorry for how
you’ve suffered the past few months, but it’s what had to be
done.”

“What do you
mean? Did you say something to my husband? Did you tell him we were
having an affair?” They were the only plausible words that could
have passed between the two men to turn Dominic away from her with
such finality. But wouldn’t he have confronted her? Asked her? How
could he believe such a lie from a stranger?

“No. I didn’t
tell him anything like that. Come with me, and I’ll explain and
show you everything.”

The panic rose as
he helped her stand. “Where are you taking me?”

“Downstairs.”

“Where are we?”

“My home.”

He wasn’t
annoyed by the questions. If anything, he was trying to be less
threatening. But if that was what he wanted, a blindfold couldn’t
accomplish those goals. It made the dread inside rise to strangle
her.

She tried to pull
out of his grasp, but his hold was too tight. She used her free hand
to try to remove the blindfold, but he was too quick. And then he was
holding both of her wrists in his impossibly vise-like grip.

A small whimper
escaped her throat. “Please, you’re hurting me.”

His grip loosened.
“I apologize. I forget my strength at times.”

There was nothing
for her to do but allow him to lead her through his endless house.

Finally they
stopped, and a door creaked open.

“Step down,”
he said. “These are the stairs.”

He had her wrists,
holding her steady, but she wanted to be able to hold onto something,
even if it was him. Without anything or anyone to grasp onto, she
felt more helpless as she stepped blindly down each step into
darkness. The air grew colder around her and damp with the faint
scent of mildew. The wood beneath her feet creaked ominously as she
descended.

When they reached
the bottom, she heard crying.

“Please, let us
out.” A man’s voice.

“We won’t tell
anyone about this.” A woman.

The idea that he
was keeping others against their will hadn’t crossed Nicole’s
mind. Both men and women.
He’s going to kill all of us.
Once
the thought had wriggled in, she could barely stop herself from
hyperventilating, but then August let go of her wrists and took
several steps away from her.

“You may remove
the blindfold.”

Now she didn’t
want to. She didn’t want to see or know what was down here, the end
that awaited her.

“Please, you can
still let me go. I don’t know anything. I haven’t seen anything.
I don’t know your full name or what kind of car you drive or where
you live, o-or anything important.”

“If only it were
so simple, Nicolette. You’ll never know how sorry I am for doing
this to you. Now, please, take it off.”

Her hands shook as
she lifted the fabric from her eyes. It took several seconds to fully
process what she was seeing. It was too nightmarish to be real. There
were cages. Two stood unoccupied. The others each held a man or a
woman—some of them crying, some of them in shock. A few clasped the
bars and stared out at her like abandoned pets at the pound, while
others huddled in the corner trying to be invisible. Finally her eyes
went to August.