Enticed (The Brazil Werewolf Series Book 3) (11 page)

              “Luc!” I cried with my heart in my throat.  I took a step toward him before being restrained by men on either side of the door. 

              I struggled desperate to get to him but Eli and Emilian stepped out of the shadows of the room and moved toward me.  Eli’s grin stretched across his face as I raised my narrowed gaze to his eyes.  Absolute hatred slammed through my soul as I looked upon the man who had killed my parents and hurt my husband simply for revenge.

              “What have you done to him?” I asked through clenched teeth as I tried to keep my temper from exploding.  I raised my chin realizing that I was still new at transitioning and anything could release the beast.  So, I had to be careful.

              Luc forced his head up to gaze at me.  Remorse covered his face.  Bruises were visible over every inch of his skin.  It was obvious that he’d been beaten nearly to death.  He blinked swollen eyes as he struggled against his bonds to no avail.  His head dropped forward defeated as a single tear fell slowly down his cheek.

              “No,” he whispered as he renewed his struggle against the chains and then, cried, “Mary Jane, no.” 

              I returned my gaze to Eli, who shrugged, “We subdued him,” he said with a laugh, “You should be proud we didn’t kill him.  It is what I wanted to do, after all but Fiona is soft hearted toward this family.”

              I pursed my lips, “You still tortured him,” I said, glancing back at Luc as I tried to keep from trembling.  It hurt to see Luc in so much pain.  I could barely stand it. 

              “I had to have my fun,” Eli said and then, glanced at Emilian with a grin, “So did he.”

              “Aurora and Lilly told me how cruel you were,” I said raising my chin as I took in Emilian’s appearance.  It was amazing how much Aurora resembled him with the same black hair and silver eyes.  However, Aurora had kindness in her stare.  Emilian had the eyes of a predator…cold and calculating.  My nostrils flared as I said, “You are just as bad as they said.”

              “So, they’ve told you stories about me?” He asked with raised brows. 

              “Like I said…It was nothing good,” I said as he took a step toward me.  I felt the grip of the men’s hands tighten against my arms, causing me to wince in pain.  As if he’d felt it, Luc began to struggle again.

              “Let me go,” I said through my teeth and I was surprised when they did and returned to guarding the door.  I turned back to Eli with no hopes that my next request would be answered, “Now, release Luc.”

              “No,” he said, taking a step toward me.  He reached out and caressed my cheek.  I cringed away from him and he gave a short laugh, “But we will keep him alive until we can break the bond between you.”

              I nearly sagged in relief but instead, raised my chin so that I could stare into his eyes, “You can’t break the bond I have with Luc,” I said, raising my brows, “It’s unbreakable.  I’ve bonded every way I can with him…Including the blood bond which I wouldn’t have had to do if you hadn’t have shot him with an arrow.”

              Emilian laughed, “You could have chosen not to and let him die.  There was that choice.  And the blood bond is not unbreakable,” he said, glancing at Fiona, “It is still difficult to break but able to be achieved.  Until then, we’ll have to endure this Brazil dog’s presence.”

              I glanced at Luc, who raised his head.  Most of the bruises were beginning to heal already and I willed some of my strength into him as I moved my gaze back to the two men in front of me. 

              “How do you break the bond?” I asked, terrified of the prospect.

              Eli shook his head, “Do you think I would tell you?” He asked with a grin, “You must think I’m really stupid.”

              I smiled, wryly and then, shrugged, “Yes, I do think that…among other things,” I said.

              A hand slammed against my mouth causing my head to whip to the side. I immediately tasted blood.  I sensed Luc’s reaction before I saw it.  The monster was close but they still thought he was subdued.  A strange scent wafted from him burning my nose and I realized why.  They had bled him.  My eyes drifted down to the drain beneath him as my heart broke.

              I inhaled sharply as Eli whispered in my ear, “Do not ever speak to me that way again,” he said, angrily.

              “How do you expect me to speak to you?” I asked, finally able to move my eyes upward to his face, “You killed my parents.”

              He smiled wickedly, “They shouldn’t have gotten in my way,” he said with a short laugh, “It was their fault…Though I will admit that I enjoyed every single moment of it.”

              I trembled with rage as I sneered, “I suppose you think that would make me want to marry you,” I said through clenched teeth, “Instead, I loathe you.  I want you to die and I want you to suffer.”

              His eyes narrowed dangerously, “It sounds as if you’ve decided how you feel about me.  I suppose you think that you know how you feel about this dog when you are bonded with him.  As you know it can create the illusion of love.”

              I straightened my spine as I glanced at Luc, “We’ll leave the delusion of love to Fiona,” I said and Emilian straightened, “I know how I feel and it has nothing to do with the bond.”

              “How is that?” Eli asked narrowing his eyes.

              I moved my gaze to Luc as my heart clenched.  I had realized how I felt about him the moment I stepped into the room.  No bond could make me react to his pain the way I did. 

              I raised my chin as Luc met my eyes.  I felt the tears surface as one fell slowly down my cheek.  I didn’t move my gaze as I said the truest words I had ever spoken. 

              “I’m in love with him.  The reason why I blood bonded with him was because I was in love with him and didn’t want to lose him,” I said as Luc’s eyes widened and a wolf’s howl broke through the air.

              I glimpsed the shock on Luc’s face just before glancing toward the ceiling as dozens of howls broke through the air joining the one we’d heard just moments before.  When I lowered my gaze I found that Emilian was unchaining Luc with quick efficiency.

              “Lock them below,” he said, shoving Luc’s weak body toward the two men guarding the door. Luc fell to his knees before one of the men caught him.  Again, I was gripped by large hands which pushed me toward a door near the back of the room that I didn’t notice before.  I would have struggled but I realized that they intended to lock me and Luc in the same room together.   

              The guards shoved us down steps until we reached a heavy metal door.  Keys were placed in the lock and then, we were shoved into the dimly lit room before the door was closed behind us.  I waited until I couldn’t sense their presence any longer before I moved toward Luc who was laying on the ground.  His bruises had healed and so had the cuts but he was still weak from blood loss. 

              “We have to get out of here,” I whispered as I turned him over and laid his head gently in my lap.  His eyes met mine but I could tell that it was hard to keep them open.  I caressed his cheek, “Luc, do you hear me.”

              He didn’t answer and I pressed my lips together, deciding in that moment what to do.  I glanced around the room searching for something I could use to accomplish my task.  The room was perfectly square with walls made of stone.  The floor was made of dirt with little pieces of rock lying here and there.  I bit my lip as I gently moved Luc’s head from me and searched the pieces until I found one sharp enough.  I steeled myself before drawing it across my wrist once, twice and three times until blood began to flow. 

              I returned to Luc, desperate to give him strength and pushed my wrist into his mouth.  Drops of blood dripped onto his tongue and his eyes opened wide.  He tried to push me away but I wouldn’t let him.  I pushed the gashed wrist further into his mouth.  Tears rolled down his face as he drank.  I swallowed hard as I wondered at his sadness and then, discovered the only answer I could.  He didn’t want to be bonded with me any more than he already was.

              Once he was strong enough, he pushed my wrist away and I stumbled back weakly as my heart broke into.  He didn’t say anything as he made his way to the door.  I lowered my head as he began to kick the steel face in front of him, still too weak to transition.  My roiling emotions twisted and turned within me, causing the beast within me to rise. 

              I didn’t fight it allowing my body to reach for the monster I had once feared.  It didn’t hurt this time when I transitioned.  Instead, it happened instantly and this time I didn’t transition fully.  Instead, I was the half woman, half beast that people wrote horror stories about.  A howl of heartache rose in the air as Luc turned startled at my transformation.  I stood amongst my ruined clothes as I stalked toward the door.  He moved away from me as if afraid.  I glanced at him once before I kicked the door, splintering it into a thousand pieces. 

              “Mary Jane,” Luc whispered but I was already moving out of the door and away from the man who I loved more than he could ever love me.

*********

            
 
Luc followed me up the stairs silently as I found the two men who drug us down the stairs to begin with.  Their eyes widened as they glanced at each other in surprise.  Both grabbed for their guns but both were too late as I smashed their heads together effectively knocking them out. 

              Luc bent and picked up both of their guns before cocking them.  His eyes met mine for an instant but quickly glanced away.  Still, he said nothing and I moved forward becoming angry and more hurt than before. 

              We moved through the hallway and out of the house quickly.  No one was within.  When we stepped onto the street we were met by werewolf upon werewolf, biting and snarling as they bit chunks out of each other.  I stepped forward, finding Eli within the crowd.  He was in the middle of transition and I narrowed my eyes determined to make him pay for every offense he had made against me. 

              My parent’s faces flashed in front of me as I stalked toward him with narrowed eyes.  My father’s last words to me touched my memory as my mouth began to water for his blood.  Tears fell down my cheeks, matting in the fur there as I got closer to him. 

              I wanted him dead.  I wanted to devour him until nothing was left and I was sure that no one would stop me until Luc’s sharply inhaled breath reached my ears.  I turned finding Fiona with a knife to Luc’s throat.  I stopped in my tracks and stepped toward her.  My nostrils flared.

              “I will kill him,” she said, narrowing her eyes, “I will…If you hurt my family.”

              Emilian stepped in front of me with a grin, “Transition back to your human form,” he said as I moved to peer around him at Luc.  I narrowed my eyes as I realized that if I couldn’t get Fiona to release Luc, we would be imprisoned here or worse, they would kill him.  I moved my gaze to where she held the knife to his throat and sighed heavily as I realized the only thing that would make Fiona let go of Luc. My heart ached with the consequences but I couldn’t lose Luc.  I wouldn’t lose him. I took a deep breath and without hesitation punched a hole through Emilian’s chest.  His eyes widened in surprise as I pulled his heart from him.  A scream unlike any I have ever heard echoed through the air as all fighting stopped.  I pulled Emilian’s heart from him as he took his last breath.

              Tears fell from me as blood dripped down my arm.  I blinked as I began to transition back into a human.  A sob broke from my throat as I realized that Aurora would hate me now because I had essentially killed her mother to save the man I loved.  Lilly and the rest of the Brazils would soon follow in that hatred.  It only made my situation worse when I understood that Luc didn’t love me and he probably never would now.

              I shivered as I dropped the still beating heart, standing naked amongst the blood and the gore.  Fiona had dropped the knife and was running toward the man who she was bonded with, leaving Luc free to stare at me in shock.  I moved my gaze to Fiona who had dropped to her knees as she cradled Emilian against her chest as she screamed over and over again.

              A blanket was draped over my shoulders and I turned to find Sophia pulling me away from Fiona and everyone else as I became lost and numb.  The last lucid thought I had was the wish that I could trade places with Emilian.

              I didn’t speak.  Instead, I relived the awful scream that had burst from Fiona’s mouth at the sight of Emilian’s body or Aurora’s cries when she realized that her mother would most certainly die because of me. When those two images weren’t taking up space in my mind, the look on Emilian’s face as I pulled out his heart did.    

              When we returned home, I was led to the shower where Sophia washed away the blood.  Tears rolled down my face mixing with the water from the shower.  I dressed mechanically and went to my bedroom where I laid on the bed for days.  After a while, I didn’t experience guilt, remorse or pain as I laid there. Instead, I only experienced numbness. 

              Sometimes, conversations would break through the fog and I would hear with perfect clarity what was happening around me.  Luc did not come to the room though I know he tried.  His mother stopped him.  Her reasons were simple.  He needed to give me time for my mind to come back to me.  I had to admit that in the lucid moments of the morning before the numbness took over, I would miss his presence but I also assumed he slept on the couch though I didn’t know if that was because of his mother or because he didn’t want to sleep with me.  Four days passed like that before the first emotions stayed and lingered, slamming through me in waves. 

              When they didn’t fade, I rose, tiptoeing through the hallway.  I was surprised when I found no one within the motor home.  My heart ached as I realized how alone I was.  I raised my chin, deciding that I needed to be close to those who loved me.  I slipped out of the home without bothering with shoes.  Instead, I made my way down the road to the cemetery.

              A few minutes later, I stood in front of the newly forged stones with my parent’s names on them.  The birthdays were wrong.  They were far older than what the stones represented but everything else was correct.  I stepped forward and touched the stone with my mother’s name and then, my father’s. 

              “I wish you were here,” I whispered through chapped lips as the tears began to fall, “I need you so much.”

              I sat down on their graves, needing to feel as close as I could, hoping that I would feel their affection drift up to me, “I’ve let you down somehow,” I said, rubbing the ground beneath me, “I didn’t mean to.  I’m just not good enough for Luc or his family.  I’ve only managed to mess up their lives.”

              A soft breeze touched my hair, lifting it from my face, “I wish I was with you,” I sobbed, “I would be if it wouldn’t kill Luc too.  Now, I’m just doomed to be in love with someone who doesn’t love me and in a family I have hurt to save him.”

              “Please don’t say another word,” Aurora’s said behind me, “If you do, I won’t be able to hold myself together to say what I need to.”

              I turned to find her standing behind me.  Tears streaked her cheeks.  She walked to me slowly and sat beside me. 

              “Everyone is looking for you,” she whispered, gazing forward as she studied the tombstones, “We were worried you’d run away.”

              “Worried?” I asked, tilting my head and then, I nodded, “Because of Luc.”

              She turned her gaze to me.  Her silver eyes darkened, “You don’t think we’d worry about you?” She asked and then, shook her head, “Mary Jane, we love you.  We don’t want you to hurt.”

              I shook my head, causing tears to fly from my cheeks, “How could you love me?” I cried in thick sobs, “I’m the reason why your mother will die.”

              She was quiet for a few moments as I calmed.  She let my tears stop before she sighed, “I don’t hate you,” she said as a tear fell down her cheek, “I know why you did what you did.  It was the only way to save Luc.  I would have done the same thing if it had been Andre.”

              “You would have killed your father?” I asked, blinking in surprise.

              “I don’t think of him the way you think of your father,” she said with a shrug, “What I knew of him was evil.  He has tried to ruin my life and Lilly’s too.  I have no feelings for him.  He’s only lived to keep my mother alive.  That’s it.”

              “And now I’ve killed her,” I said, trembling with guilt.

              “You didn’t kill her,” Aurora said, raising her chin, “She’s not dead yet and from what I understand, there may be hope.  However, I want you to know that if she does die, it wasn’t you that did it.  My father did when he forced the blood bond on her.”

              I glanced away from her still experiencing the guilt.  I was ringing my hands in front of me.  It had become a habit since washing the blood from them.  It seemed that I would never be clean.  I could imagine it sinking into my pours.  Aurora covered my hands.

              “You’re not the only one who has killed,” she said, giving me a sad smile, “Lilly did too.”

              I nodded, “Andre’s crazy ex.”

              Aurora smiled, “Yes,” she said with wide eyes, “And she was definitely crazy and she deserved it just like Emilian did.  Still, I think Lilly can help you because she must have gone through the guilt of it too.”

              I pressed my lips together and then, sighed, “Maybe.”

              Aurora shifted and then, sighed, “Luc told us that you said you are in love with him,” she said with a soft smile, “Did you really say that?”

              I nodded and whispered, “Yes, I did.”

              “Do you really love him?” She asked, tilting her head so she could gaze into my eyes.

              I swallowed over the thick lump in my throat, “Yes,” I said with a sigh, “I am in love with him.  I don’t think it matters though.”

              “Why do you think that?” She asked as she blinked.

              “He never returned the sentiment.  He hasn’t even spoken to me.  When I gave him more of my blood, he pushed me away because he doesn’t want more of a bond,” I said, thickly, “So, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t feel the same.”

              “He was chained to a wall when you admitted your love for him,” she said with raised brows, “Maybe he just didn’t want to say it then.”

              “He hasn’t said anything since,” I said, shaking my head.

              “Sophia hasn’t let anyone near you,” Aurora said, raising her eyebrows, “I’m surprised that you were able to leave.  You picked the one time that she had to go home.  Now she’s frantic and blaming herself.”

              My heart twisted in my chest, “I’m sorry about that,” I said, shifting.  The last thing that I wanted was to make Sophia worry.

              “As long as you come home and not run away again,” Aurora said with raised brows, “It should be fine.”

              “I wasn’t running away,” I said, raising my chin, “I was coming here to be near people who loved me.”

              Aurora stood and reached her hand out to help me on my feet, “You don’t have to come here to be near people who love you.  You can stay home.  If you ever want to visit your parents, I’ll come with you.”

              I smiled at her as I placed my hand in hers and she tugged me to my feet.  Once I was steady, she linked her arm with me.  She looked down and shook her head, “And the next time you decide to lose your mind, wear shoes.”

              I gave her a wry smile as we began our walk home.  I sighed feeling much lighter than I had when I arrived.

**********

              We entered Sophia and Gavriel’s home to Sophia’s sob of relief.  She surprised me by hugging me hard enough for me to lose my breath before pulling back with her lips pressed together.

              “Where were you?” She asked with her hand to her chest, “You scared me half to death.”

              “I’m sorry,” I said, shifting beneath her gaze, “I didn’t mean to frighten anyone.  I went to my parent’s graves.”

              “Luc is out of his mind with worry,” Sophia said and then, ground her teeth together before she spoke again, “He thought you left him.  He thought you weren’t coming back.”

              “Why would I do that when I risked my life to save him?” I asked, frowning.

              “I don’t know,” she said with a relieved sigh, “Maybe he thought like the rest of us…That everything you’ve gone through has been too much.  Maybe he doesn’t think he was enough for you to stay.”

              I swallowed hard and my heart dropped into my stomach, “Where is he?” I asked as I glanced around.

              She smiled sadly, “He’s looking for you,” she said throwing up her hands, “Where do you think he is?”

              “I need to speak to him,” I said, raising my chin stubbornly.

              Sophia shifted, “If you want to wait here…”

              I raised my hand and shook my head, “I want to talk to him alone,” I said, meeting her eyes.  I could see that she was trying to protect me but I wouldn’t hide behind her.  I needed to face him.

              Slowly, she nodded and then, let out a long pent up breath, “Wait at your house for him,” she said, putting her hand on my arm and rubbing it in soothing circles as she gazed into my eyes, “But before you go, you need to realize that everything isn’t what you think it is.  He wanted to be near you every second that you were in that room but I didn’t allow him to.  I did it because I was afraid.  I didn’t know how you would react to anything he said.  You’ve been through so much and it was obvious that you were going through a lot of regret.  Some of that regret may be your marriage or what you said while facing Emilian and Eli.  However, he’s been so worried about you that he’s sick with it.  He hasn’t slept and he hasn’t eaten.”

              I winced as she spoke and then, nodded, “I appreciate that you’ve protected me.  Now, I need to face him…no matter what happens,” I said and then, swallowed before meeting her eyes again, “So, tell him where I am and tell him I’m ready to talk,” I said and then, I turned and walked out of the door toward my home where something I feared worse than darkness or a date resided.  It was fear of rejection from the only man who would ever have complete possession of my heart.