Lost Paradise (23 page)

“Part of me wants a girl as well, one that
looks just like you, Sar,” Dev murmured in my ear. “With my fair
coloring we have a good chance of that, though she may get my eyes
instead of yours.”

His eager words unhinged me, and I broke away
from him in horror at his betrayal. “No!” I screamed. “I agreed to
try once! I’m not only risking my life, Dev, but I’m losing my
mind! One will have to be enough for you! I’m not going through
this again, not ever, not for anything!”

“I’m telling you now that it’s not enough!”
Devlin hissed coldly, his eyes red. “And you will try with me, as
many times as I ask you to. You are mine, Sar. You promised
yourself to me.”

I ran for the door. Devlin grabbed me, then
brought me back to the bed, holding me down as I struggled and
screamed.

“Hold still!”

“Let me go! Let me go!”

Dev swore angrily, then climbed atop me,
holding me down with his weight as he tried to grab something
beside the bed. “Hold still! You’re mine, Sar!”

My mind raced frantically. Dev couldn’t be
with me the normal way, but he could do something else to me,
something I didn’t want him to do. He was reaching for
lubricant.

I shrieked in terror. “Don’t do it! Stop!
Stop it!”

With a loud crash, Lash kicked the door in.
He looked down at us from the doorway, irritated. “I heard
screaming,” he hissed. “But you’re not in danger, I see. Keep it
down. I’m trying to sleep.”

“Go back to bed,” Devlin snarled, turning
from him. “We’re fine.”

“Let me go!” I screamed. “Get off me, Dev! I
won’t do it, not ever!”

“What is the matter with her?” Lash hissed,
coming closer.

“Just hold her,” Devlin said, furious. He let
me go and kneeled beside the bed, rummaging under it. “I need to
put her collar back on.”

I ran for the door. Lash grabbed hold of me
and I began screaming again, yanking at his hands.

Lash shook me hard. “Stop it,” he hissed. “No
one is going to hurt you.”

I yanked again weakly, then collapsed to the
floor, crying hard. Devlin knelt beside me, fastening his choker
above Danial’s with a soft clinking sound.

“Get hold of yourself,” he said sternly.
“You’re acting like a child. Get up and get dressed.”

Lash turned to Devlin, his flat eyes cold and
hard. “What did you do, worse than you have already?” he hissed,
folding his arms across his chest. “Sar was not like this all week;
she was happy. She’s terrified of you now.”

Devlin ignored him. “Sar, get dressed. Lash
will take you to Danial. But you will understand something right
now.” He helped me stand. “You will be coming back to me on Monday.
Bring your pets if you like, and anything you want from your house.
You can help Danial with his business from here, I’ll have
something set up. You can see Danial on Saturdays and Theo on
Sundays—”

“No,” I gasped out. “I won’t do it—”

“You will, and you’ll do it gladly!” Devlin
snarled. “Or I’ll rescind my order to Samuel, and tell him it’s
okay if he kills Theo. He still wants to kill Theo, Sar. Badly. All
I need to do is let him know I don’t care if he does it, and it’s
done.”

“No, I don’t want to—”

“I don’t care if you want to be with me!”
Devlin yelled. “I want to be with you, and I’m not going to wait
anymore for you to come around. The games are over, Sar. You are
coming here to live where I know you’re safe. We will be happy
together. You’ll adjust in time.”

This was a nightmare. It had to be a
nightmare. Everything had been going so well.

“And Sar,” Devlin continued in an icy tone,
“If you enlist Theo to try a daring rescue, Lash will kill him. And
if he doesn’t, I will.”

Warm hands grasped my arms, then propelled me
forward. Lash opened the bathroom door, then shoved me in. “Stay
here. I’ll bring you some clothes.” He closed the door behind him
as I huddled there on the bathroom floor, trying not to cry.

“Stop coddling her, Lash,” Devlin spat.
“She’s a big girl—”

“Stop being stupid,” Lash hissed. There was
the sound of clothing rustling. “All you are going to do is make
her hate you more than she does already.”

“She loves me,” Devlin said angrily.

“Does she?” Lash hissed sarcastically. “She
loves Theo and Danial. But does she really love you, Dev?”

“She doesn’t love you,” Devlin replied
cruelly.

Lash laughed back at him. “I never asked her
to,” he said easily. “I’m not the one desperate for her love,
Friend.” There were more sounds of clothes rustling, hangers being
removed, and drawers opening and closing.

“Then why do you still smell of her, Friend?”
Devlin purred. “You wear her scent like a badge of merit—”

Lash let out a sharp angry hiss, yet his next
words were casual and calm. “I want to relish her scent on me, so I
can always remember how good she felt under me, how she cried out
so softly—”

“Get out!” Devlin shouted furiously. “Shut up
and get out!”

Lash didn’t reply, his footsteps coming
towards me. As he opened the bathroom door, my clothes in one hand,
Devlin tried to come in past him. Lash gave him a sudden shove
backward, knocking him sprawling.

“Sar,” Lash hissed sharply. “Shower fast and
put these on. Open the door when you’re ready; I’ll be right
outside.” He shut the door hard.

Devlin said something in a low voice. Lash
angrily hissed something back to him, but it was either in another
language or so soft I couldn’t make it out.

It didn’t matter anyway. I had bigger
problems to handle, like how to ensure once I left Hayden that I
never had to come back.

* * * *

“You look nice,” Lash hissed softly,
startling me.

We were in his truck heading to Danial’s, him
driving and me running scenarios through my mind, none of them good
enough to warrant a plan of action.

I nodded, unwilling to confront him about the
clothes he’d picked out for me; the tan duster, black jeans, and
dark brown top. At least the underwear had been white cotton.

“We don’t have to go to Danial’s
immediately,” Lash continued. “If you want a while to get yourself
together, that is.”

I glanced in the side mirror. My face was
blotchy, my eyes bright green, evidence of a good cry not quite
done. “No, it’s okay.”

Lash suddenly pulled in to a bank’s empty
parking lot, and shut off the truck. He turned to me. “No, it’s
not,” he hissed softly. “But there’s nothing I can say that’ll make
you feel better.”

“No,” I said brokenly, starting to cry again.
“There is nothing you can say.”

“Then take us back to the Everglades,” Lash
hissed quickly. “It will be warm there. We can sit awhile in the
sun.”

I blinked at him in disbelief. “What?”

“You need to get lost for a while,” he
replied, cracking a smile. “And I would love some sun. Danny can
wait a few more hours for you to answer his email.” He held out his
hand. “C’mon. The weather down there has got to be paradise next to
this late winter shit.”

I used one hand to wipe my eyes, and grasped
his warm hand in the other. Instantly we were there, the sun’s heat
and light engulfing us immediately.

Lash led me past the park office to an empty
spot of grass. Taking off his long black coat, he spread it on the
ground, then plopped down on it. I took off my duster, already
sweating, and sat down beside him.

The sun’s warmth felt wonderful. I closed my
eyes and basked in it, not talking. Lash shrugged out of his
overshirt, made a pillow out of it, and stretched out on his back
with a groan. I waited a few moments, then did the same, quickly
flipping over on my stomach to hide my eyes from the bright
light.

“If I notice you burning, I’ll tell you,”
Lash hissed. “You’ll be more sensitive to light. Your lasting youth
comes with a price.”

I didn’t answer, looking off to the
shoreline. The slight waves relaxed me. It was a beautiful day, not
a cloud in the sky. There was a gentle breeze off the ocean. Some
tourists were walking on the paths, taking pictures of the pelicans
and a group of four anhingas, a type of water bird that was basking
in the sun as they dried their feathers.

I thought for a long time about what to do
and came up with nothing that made any sense that I also could live
with. In my desperation, I looked over at Lash and suddenly was
tempted to ask him to bite me.

There was only one way to run away and stay
free; enlist him to help me. He’d wanted to make me snake last
night. The only problem was his two reasons he’d spoken for not
doing it were still in force. He’d refuse if I asked him. I’d have
to startle him somehow and get him to inject poison so he’d be
forced to turn me or let me die…

Letting out a huge sigh, I sat up and told
myself to stop the crazy daydreams. There was no running away with
Lash. I had to face this and find a solution.

Lash stirred. “Ready to go?” he asked, not
opening his eyes.

“Not remotely.”

“Then lie down and rest,” he hissed. “You
were up most of the night. Think of nothing but your body being
relaxed. Let the sun warm you. You’ll feel better.”

I stretched out on the warm grass, and closed
my eyes. For a short while my mind raced. Before long I fell
asleep, lulled by the warmness of the day and the heat of the
sun.

When I awoke, the shadows had lengthened, and
there was a chill in the air. Lash and I were wrapped around each
other, lying half on his coat, half on the grass mixed with dew. I
burrowed closer to him, trying to get warmer, then dragged my
duster over my shoulders.

“I’d like to stay, too,” Lash hissed in my
ear. “But we have to leave. Danial expected you hours ago..”

I blinked my eyes, then groggily got to my
feet. “Why didn’t he find us?”

“We were lucky,” Lash hissed, yawning. “There
are tracking devices in our cell phones. Devlin likely doesn’t know
we didn’t arrive. But he will soon, if we don’t get back and Danial
calls him. I don’t need the bullshit I’d hear about that and
neither do you.”

Tracking my cell had been how Devlin found me
the night I’d been taken. “Why on your phone? I understand mine,
but—”

“It’s a standard feature,” Lash hissed,
slipping into his shirt and coat. “I removed mine right after I was
given the phone, though keep that to yourself. I just thought I
should remind you that if you run from Devlin, Sar, you can always
be found.”

“And it will be you that comes for me, won’t
it?” I accused.

“Probably,” Lash hissed, offering his
hand.

I shot him a glare, then teleported without
taking it. Lash grabbed my hand before I could vanish, appearing
beside me in Danial’s great room. Danial was there, pacing the
floor, talking into the phone angrily.

“You can calm down,” I said loudly, my voice
reverberating. “I’m here.”

Ghost and Darkness came barreling into the
room and jumped on me immediately, almost knocking me down.

“Down!” I said firmly. They obeyed
grudgingly, whining, their tails wagging. “Someone has been letting
you get away with bad behavior,” I teased, crouching down and
hugging them, running my hands in their thick fur.

Danial hung up and strode over to me,
annoyance radiating off him like heat. “Where have you been?” he
said stridently.

“With—” I looked around for Lash, but he was
gone.

“You left Hayden back around noon. It is now
past five,” Danial said. “I repeat; where have you been?”

I ignored him and went into the kitchen.
After skipping breakfast and lunch, I’d be damned if I started
working without eating first.

“I asked you a question,” Danial said
quietly, his fury obvious.

“With Lash,” I answered, opening the fridge.
“I needed time to think things over. I have to make some
choices.”

Danial waited a moment, then cautiously
replied, “What things?”

“Devlin blew up and demanded I live with
him,” I said wearily. “He said I could see you and Theo on the
weekends—”

“Over my dead body!” Theo said hatefully from
the doorway. “You are not living with him, Sar! You are—”

“Shut the hell up!” I screamed, making both
Theo and Danial jump. “I need solutions, not blustering orders.” I
turned to Danial. “That’s your business, isn’t it; finding
solutions? Either help me find a way out of this or get the hell
away from me!”

Theo and Danial left at once, the scrape of
chairs in the dining room telling me they hadn’t gone far. When I’d
made my lunch, I brought it in to join them.

“—
I was afraid he would do this
eventually,” Danial finished. “He—”

“Sar doesn’t want to live with him and I
don’t want her there,” Theo interjected. “But I’m worried to have
her home with me. I still haven’t tracked down Robert. Karl’s men
have also kept their heads down—”

“She can stay here with me for now,” Danial
said decisively. “Samuel will not act against a fellow Ruler, not
with us being Oathed.” He looked over at me, then back at Theo.
“Both of you go home and pack anything important. I’ll have the
foxes watch your house for you.”

Theo shrugged. “Maybe that would work, but
where would we sleep? We could sleep in the basement, but you’d
need to feed some evenings. I suppose we could sleep at the were
compound—”

“Sar will stay with me in my bedroom, as she
always has,” Danial said, his eyes on Theo. “You are welcome to
stay there as well.”

Theo’s eyes got huge. “What are you
saying?”

“Theo, close your mouth. We are not going to
be having sex,” Danial said patiently. “I don’t wear pajamas,” Theo
said, blushing hotly.

I bit my lip, trying not to laugh.

“I have some you can borrow for tonight,”
Danial offered. “We only need bottoms anyway.”

Theo blushed harder, and looked at the
floor.