Lure of Forever (7 page)

****

Coralie's
head was on fire. Licks of pain shot down her spine. The touch of coolness on
her shoulders barely registered in the pain-filled haze. Someone was talking,
in low, urgent tones, and more coolness surrounded her – her stomach rebelled
as she was lifted. Pain suffused her body. Sharp red-hot stabs made her cry out
and grope blindly for something, someone to hold her, to rescue her, to make it
stop.

Thick, hot liquid filled her mouth.
Coralie
struggled against the iron hold on her body, the
hypnotic voice in her ear urging her to drink, reassuring her she would be
okay. She gagged, her body rebelling against the thick tide of fluid in her
mouth. And still the pressure against her throat increased, forcing her to
swallow more of the thick goo. It caused a new kind of pain down her body and
she writhed against the hold on her. Fire pushed through her veins, as every
cell in her body tingled with awareness. Sensations too intense to name
overtook her, as
Coralie
hovered between life and the
sleep of oblivion – every pain-filled exhale centering in the back of her head
until blissful darkness took it all away.

She came to, surrounded by softness.
Cool silk sheets slid across her naked skin and she moaned her contentment.
Stretching like a cat, her outstretched arms encountered an unfamiliar
headboard and she froze. Where was she? Semi-darkness met her when she gingerly
opened her eyes. Her heart beat a painful rhythm against her breastbone, and
she bit back the shriek of fear, as her memories returned in Technicolor
detail.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
This had to be some sort of desperate nightmare. What she remembered couldn't
be real, it just couldn't. If it was then everything she'd ever believed in
wasn't real either, and heaven help her, the man she allowed into her home and
into her body was a monster. A movement outside the door had her scrambling off
the bed in horror. The sheet wrapped itself around her legs and she stumbled.
Lucas' arm came out of nowhere and saved her from pitching forward onto her
face.
 

"Easy,
Chere
,
you're still
recovering. Get back into bed."

Nooooooo
.
The silent
scream echoed in her head. Her stomach churned and acid burnt the back of her
throat. Adrenaline coiled her muscles and she struggled to free herself out of
his cloying hold. His dry scent filled her lungs and terror made her voice
shrill.

"No, let me go. Let me go. You
have no right. Let me go, damn you. Please…"
Coralie’s
voice broke on the last word. She blinked the hot tears away, as the futility
of her struggles dawned on her. His grip on her hadn't lessened.
 
Her struggles achieved absolutely nothing and
no one would hear her screams. He'd taken her back on his narrow boat. Oh God,
she was doomed.

 
The sheet had slipped in her struggles. His
hand rested just under her exposed breast and she screwed her eyes shut in
terror. He breathed heavily into her ear, his erection pressing into her
backside, and she froze in his arms.

"Please don't hurt me."

He released her immediately with a
vicious French curse. He spun her around so fast her head snapped back and a
dull pain spread down her back. She bit her lip and clutched for the sheet in a
desperate bid to cover herself.

"
Putain
l'enfer
,
I would never hurt you,
Coralie
. Damn it, look at me and stop acting as though I'm
going to attack you."

She shook her head. "No,
you're, you're a…" God, she couldn't say it out loud, that would make it
real and this just had to be some sort of desperate nightmare.

His sigh raised the ends of her
fringe and she didn't have the strength to resist the gentle hands urging her
back onto the bed. But she didn't have to look at him. She couldn't look at
him. God only knew what he would plant in her mind if she did.

"Yes, I'm a vampire, and count
yourself
lucky I am." His hands probed the back of her
head carefully and she couldn't stop the slight wince.
"Still
sore?"
His voice dropped an octave with the whispered question and
he tilted her head up.

"Answer me,
Chere
.
Please, open your
eyes. You lost a lot of blood. I need to know you're all right."

Oh
my God, what did he mean?
 
Renewed terror shot through her at the things she was imagining and she
clutched the sheet as though it was a shield. Her fingers cramped, the pain
grounding her in reality and beads of perspiration erupted on her skin. The
blood rushed in her ears and her lungs hurt with the effort it took to slow her
breathing.

"Calm down." One cool hand
settled over hers, his thumb rubbing circles on her wrists and she wrenched
herself away.

"Stop it. I've fallen for this
once. It's not happening again."

His whispered laughter skittered
across her skin, just under her ear and she scooted further away from him. One
hand still had the sheet in a death grip as the other covered her neck in
horror. Her eyes connected with his.

She wasn't prepared for the flash of
pain she saw in his eyes, or the way he grew tense under her scrutiny, his eyes
darting to the spot on her neck her hand covered. His eyebrows narrowed and a
flush appeared on those perfectly sculpted cheekbones.

"I owe you an apology for that.
I didn't mean to…"

"Spare me." He reared
back, as she spat the words at him. "You didn't mean to what, feast on me?
Use me and then discard me like an old shoe? Play with me like a dog with a
chew toy? Damn you, you had no right. No right at all."

"
Chere
,
I…"

"Like I said,
spare
me.
You lied and manipulated me into your bed and I fell for it like the stupid,
naïve cow I am and to top it all, you're not even human, but some bloodsucking
monster
."
 
She shrunk away
from the growl erupting from his still form. Oh shit, he looked murderous and
defeated and disappointed all at once.
 

"I guess that is all you would
see."

Her heart clenched at his words. Oh
God, why did she feel sympathy for him? He fed on her like some leech and he'd
tricked her into his bed, no doubt using some form of mind control. Vampires
could do that, after all. Her immediate attraction to him made perfect sense
now. And he'd spun her that stupid tale about the murders, and...

Another thought surfaced out of the
still fuzzy corners of her brain.

"How did I get here? I was in
my bathroom and I
fell,
and I…"

Her heart went into overdrive again
as bits of memories zinged into awareness, too insubstantial to make sense. But
she remembered the pain all too well, the feeling of slipping away from
everything, until the cool presence had surrounded her.

"What did you do to me?"

****

This is why he didn't get involved
with anyone: The heavy feeling in his gut, the tightness in his chest, the
bitter disappointment that coursed through his veins, slicing them open until
it felt as though acid was fueling his body.

He'd saved her life and all she
could see in him was a monster. It had taken all his centuries' worth of
control to stop the bloodlust invading every one of his senses last night, when
he'd entered her house. She had lain in a pool of her own blood on the bathroom
floor, every beat of her heart draining the life force out of her.
The bloody imprint of her head on the side of the bath, a testament
to what must have happened.

Her injuries had been severe enough
to worry him. As well as the amount of blood she'd lost, there had been the
fracture to her skull to worry about. Had he arrived just ten minutes later,
the only way to save her would have been to turn her. He didn't know whether he
could bring himself to condemn her to a life in the shadows. Thankfully, he had
been spared from having to make that decision. But he couldn't leave her there.
She needed watching. He'd taken her back to his specially adapted barge to
watch over her whilst she slept and his blood healed her.

For all the good it did him. She
looked at him now, her body poised for flight, her usually soft eyes full of
suspicion and distrust.

"I healed you with my blood.
Your skull was fractured. It was the only thing I could do."

"You could have called an
ambulance, like any normal person would have done."
 
Color had returned to her cheeks in her
agitation and relief flooded him. She would be okay.
 
Agitation turned to fury as she jumped to all
the wrong conclusions. "Instead you turned me into one of your kind, a
monster?"
 

"I didn't turn you
.
I
simply healed you. You're as human as you ever were." He sighed in his
frustration. She didn't believe him. He was so bone weary of all this.

"There is a simple way of
establishing the truth."

He flicked the switch for the
automatic shutters and bright sunlight filled the room.
 
Merde
,
it
was supposed to be overcast. Slower than usual due to not having slept in over
twenty-four hours, he didn't manage to move away fast enough. There wasn't a
cloud in the sky, and the angle of the portholes meant the full force of the
sun settled on his skin. It peeled instantly, the stench of burning flesh
filled the room and his hand missed the switch on the wall.
 
He fell to the floor where he stood, his body
on fire. The last sound invading his consciousness was
Coralie's
scream of pure terror.

Chapter
Eight

Coralie
couldn't help the horrendous noise coming out of her mouth. She watched in
horror as Lucas literally burst into flames. Holy shit, now what was she to do?
Reacting purely on instinct, she pulled the remaining sheets off the bed and
threw them over him, smothering the flames. The stench of burning flesh in her
nostrils made her gag. Shit, shit, shit, he was too still. The flames were out
but steam still rose steadily from his frame.

Terror gripped her and she stuffed
her fist in her mouth to stop herself from screaming. God, she needed help. She
had to get him out of the sun. As she watched, his legs caught fire again and
she threw herself on top him in a vain effort to stop the flames. Pain scorched
her skin as the sheet wrapped around her also caught alight, and she screeched,
rolling off him. Oh God, they were both going to die right now, right
here.
 
Smoke filled the room and her eyes
watered.
Coralie’s
lungs burned as the flames sucked
the oxygen out of the room and she coughed her guts up trying to breathe. She
crawled away from the flames and curled into a ball at the far side of the
room, tears streaming down her face.

The door burst open and Ion ran
through like an avenging angel. The shutters went down and the raging fireball
that was Lucas dimmed. Warm hands grabbed
Coralie
around the waist and she literally flew through the air towards the open door.
She landed on the hard oak flooring and what little breath was left in her
singed lungs escaped in a big whoosh.
 
A
cold, heavy blanket was wrapped around her and she found herself lifted to her
feet. The woman in front of her nodded at
Coralie
,
her chocolate eyes briefly connecting,
the
woman's
attention focused behind her.

"How is he, Ion?"

"Not
good,
Marnie
.
He needs
blood
now,
or he's not
gonna
make it."

This was
Marnie
?
Long auburn hair framed a heart-shaped face, the summer dress only just holding
in her impressive curves, her eyes shimmering with tears as she responded to
her husband.

"He's got to make it, Ion. He
can have my blood."

Ion's furious growl behind
Coralie's
back made all the fine hair on her neck stand to
attention.

"No fucking way, little one.
Besides, it's human blood he needs.
You."
One
warm large hand settled heavily on
Coralie's
shoulder
and spun her around. "Don't just stand there, get your sorry ass over here
and help him."

"Ion, you can't make her."
Marnie
had moved to stand beside Ion, tears streaming
down her pale face. "It has got to be her choice, you know that. Lucas
wouldn't want it any other way."

"Damn it, little one." Ion
shrugged his wife's hand off, his attention focused on Lucas before his steely
grey gaze settled on
Coralie
. She swallowed nervously
at the leashed power and fury coming off him. The air shimmered around him and
in the blink of an eye he changed into the powerful wolf she'd seen only the
night before.