Seduce (Vampire Erotic Theatre Romance Series #3) (12 page)

Sera stopped breathing, the motion of her hand against his back ceasing too.

She was still for too long. He needed to hear her speak, needed the reassurance that came with her steady caress.

He jumped and his heart lodged in his throat when she flung her arms around his shoulders and squeezed him tightly, her face buried in the crook of his neck. “My God, Antoine... your brother did those things to you.”

Antoine tamped down the sharp wave of pain that threatened to tear through every scar on his body, unwilling to surrender to the past and afraid that the intensity of it would wake Snow. His brother needed his rest. He had vowed that night that he would do all in his power to ensure that Snow never suffered like that again, a slave to his bloodlust, mindlessly killing and unaware of what he was doing as he gorged himself.

“He did not mean to. It wasn’t him who attacked me that night. It was the sickness that festers within him.”

Sera tightened her hold on him. “He said something like that to you earlier. I heard him.”

“He means it,” Antoine said on a sigh. “I fought my brother and although he almost bested me, the familiar scent of the blood he was spilling and the sound of my voice eventually reached him. I brought him back but I didn’t have the heart to do the right thing, not even when he begged.”

“He wanted you to kill him.” There was sorrow in her voice. He felt it in his blood too, but it was his sadness not hers.

“Was it cruel of me to refuse such a request? I forced him to promise me that he would never take his own life in payment for what he had done to me, and to our family. He was all that I had, and I love him. It was not Snow who wrought such horrific destruction that night. It was his bloodlust. I told him that, countless times. I promised him that together we would master it and he would be free again. I mean to keep that promise.”

“You didn’t want to be alone.” Those words were whispered but each screamed in his ears as though she had shouted them.

There was a time once when he had convinced himself that he had refused Snow because he had wanted to help his brother and save his life. That honourable intention had faded and worn over the years to reveal the uglier truth beneath.

He hadn’t wanted to continue in this world alone, bearing the horror of what he had witnessed and what he had done. He hadn’t wanted to kill his own flesh and blood, the brother who was everything to him, who he had looked up to all his life and loved more than anything in the world.

“I did not want to be alone,” Antoine echoed, empty inside as the truth of it sank in. “So I made Snow suffer. I cannot lose him, Sera.”

“I know.” She pressed a kiss to his forehead and he sat back, wanting to look into her soothing forest green eyes and see in them that she didn’t think he was despicable for the things he had done and she didn’t fear the darkest part of him that would inevitably surface one day. He needed to see that she knew what she was getting in to by choosing to be with him, before this went any further.

Sera smiled softly, her eyes full of understanding, overflowing with compassion and concern.

“You need to save him, not only because he is your brother and you love him, but because you need to know that you too can be saved.”

Wise woman. She had seen through the mask of one intention to the others that lay hidden beneath.

“You are not your brother, Antoine.” She stroked his cheek and then leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He wanted to drown in her then. Wanted to kiss her and make love with her in an attempt to lose himself and leave reality behind, forget everything they had talked about and the uncertainty of it all. Sera was good, and beautiful, and pure. Perhaps as Lilah could sway Snow from the darkest moments of his bloodlust, Sera could protect him from the demon completely and help him hold it at bay so he never suffered as his brother had.

Perhaps.

“Are you part fae?” He searched her eyes, looking for something magical in them, a spark of fae power. It was possible for a fae to mate with a human. Her ancestors might have passed it through her bloodline to her.

She laughed. “I don’t think so, why?”

Antoine brushed his fingers through the silken threads of her wavy ash blonde hair. “Whenever I look at you... whenever you touch me... I feel bewitched.”

Sera smiled. “I think that’s just plain old lust.”

He shook his head. “No... it is deeper than that.”

Her eyes widened. His did too. What he had said could be considered a sort of declaration, the kind that he had promised he would never make again. It was the closest he could ever come to saying the words all women liked to hear, and it was far too early for those sorts of feelings between them.

“Maybe you’ve just been alone too long.” Her smile became a wicked grin. “You need a woman’s touch and some company, and that’s all this has to be, Antoine, if that’s all you can give me.”

Antoine raked his gaze over her. She had to be part fae. A wicked sort of one. It would explain that aura of innocence she wore to mask her naughty side.

A side he wanted to become more acquainted with.

A side that was addictive.

She was willing to let this end.

He wasn’t.

Now that he’d had a taste of her, not just her body but her warmth and the beauty of her nature, he wasn’t willing to let her go.

Antoine placed his hands flat on the bed and kissed her, leaning forwards at the same time, driving her backwards until her head hit a deep red pillow.

She had sealed her fate by seducing him and there was no turning back, no matter what happened.

She was his now.

S
era lay on the bed beside Antoine, watching him sleep. The crimson silk bedclothes rode low on his hips, revealing a delicious muscular ridge that ran over his hip and downwards under the covers. Her gaze followed the deep brown curls back up to the sensual dip of his navel. She wanted to lick that hollow. Had a few times already. Antoine laughed and told her to stop whenever she dipped her tongue into it.

It was hard to believe that the man lying next to her was the same one she had watched interacting coldly with others, keeping his distance. He had changed so much since three nights ago when Snow had lost himself to a fit of bloodlust and Antoine had told her things that had left her feeling honoured, touched, and a little bit in love with him. That he had never told anyone else the story of his past and what Snow had done, and had chosen to confide it all in her, still had her reeling to a degree. He had lived through so much darkness and terror. It made her want to give him light and love.

She gently brushed her fingertips across his brow and trailed them down the angular curves of his cheek to his jaw. He frowned and then sighed in his sleep. If he woke before midnight, it would surprise her. She felt worn out from their last bout of lovemaking, was tired to the bone and in need of sleep, but the sight of him kept her awake.

He frowned again.

Snarled.

His lips peeled back to reveal fangs.

Sera scooted backwards when he began to thrash side to side. He kicked at the covers, clawed at the pillows, and came close to hitting her.

“Antoine?” Sera got to her knees, nude in the middle of the bed. He snarled again and lashed out. She evaded his wild swings and grabbed his wrists, wrestling with him. The tighter she held him, the more he fought. He was too strong. Her heart pounded, eyes glued to his face as he growled. It was no longer fury in that thick snarl, but pain, endless agony that had her heart aching for him. What horrible things was he reliving in his sleep? Was it the night that Snow had butchered their family and tried to kill him?

He kicked out, catching the bedpost with his foot and making the whole frame shudder.

“Antoine!” Sera pushed down on his wrists in an attempt to pin him to the mattress but it only made him struggle harder. She didn’t know what to do. Whatever he was dreaming about, he wanted to fight it and therefore he would fight her. He lashed out with his feet again, one tangling in the sheets and the other smashing hard into the black wooden bedpost. He roared, his fangs enormous, and rolled his eyes. Crimson irises flashed as brightly as coals.

Her blood chilled and sank to her toes.

The mahogany door burst open and she turned wide eyes on the intruder. Snow’s pale blue eyes were equally as large.

“Devil, female, cover yourself and release him. You are only doing more damage than good.” He tossed the words at her on a dark commanding snarl and stalked into the room, the muscles of his broad bare torso shifting with each step, long legs tightly encased in black jeans.

Sera instantly grabbed the sheets, pulled them around herself, slipped off the bed and stood. Snow rounded the foot of the bed to the side opposite her, furthest from the door, his bare feet silent on the wooden floorboards, his gaze on his brother were he lay naked on the mattress, still tossing and turning. She kept her distance from Snow, torn between remaining near Antoine in case he needed her and maintaining a head start in case Snow turned violent.

Could she leave Antoine with him if he did?

No. She knew the answer to that question without even needing to think about it. She would protect Antoine no matter the risk. He had suffered enough for several lifetimes. She couldn’t let Snow hurt him. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.

“Is it bloodlust?” Those words trembled in the air between them for long seconds before Snow finally looked at her and shook his head.

“Just a nightmare, but not the sort I would recommend interrupting.” Snow placed his hand on Antoine’s forehead, his large palm and fingers easily spanning it. “Shh, Brother. All is well.”

Amazingly, Antoine’s movements began to calm, growing weaker with each second that Snow stroked his forehead. There was love in that touch, deep affection that showed on Snow’s handsome face and shone in his icy eyes.

Snow’s pale gaze shifted down to the scars on his brother’s body and Sera caught the flicker of guilt that crossed his expression. There was pain in it too. Antoine had said that Snow didn’t remember much about the night he had attacked him and killed the rest of their family, but he knew what he had done. Antoine struggled to cope with the things that had happened, the scars a constant reminder that he couldn’t escape. Those scars were not only a terrible reminder for Antoine but for Snow too. How did he feel whenever he saw them, knowing that he had created them and had tried to kill his brother?

The pain crossing his expression as his gaze flickered over them was deep, fathomless, and he radiated clashing emotions of hatred and hurt. Sera felt sorry for him as she watched him struggling against his feelings. She couldn’t imagine how terrible he felt, how responsible and guilty.

“He told me what happened.” Although she whispered it, it came out sounding loud. Snow didn’t look at her. His mouth quirked into a grim smile and his eyes roamed back to Antoine’s face.

“Telling her our dark bedtime stories now are we? That isn’t like you. She must be getting under your skin.” Snow hunkered down close to Antoine and continued to caress his forehead. Antoine’s movements halted and his breathing turned heavy. Snow carefully lifted his left eyelid.

Pale beautiful blue irises.

Antoine had said she had some magic in her but Snow was the real fae here. He could soothe his brother even when he was sleeping, something she had failed to do.

“It would explain the nightmare.” Snow frowned at Antoine and shifted his hand to his cheek, softly stroking it. It was strange to see such a lethal, dangerous man being so tender. It soothed her fear and left her feeling that she was seeing the other side of Snow, the man he was when the bloodlust wasn’t riding him. She could understand the depth of Antoine’s love for Snow now and why he desperately wanted to save him, because she could see the endless depth of Snow’s love for him. “He hasn’t told anyone before.”

“I know.” She still felt awed and honoured by that.

“He must like you.” Snow smiled again but there was sorrow in it now and she recalled what Antoine had told her about him. He had asked Antoine to kill him. It wasn’t sorrow for his brother. It was sorrow for himself and the things he had done, and it was laced with an edge of finality and a sense of relief.

Snow still sought his death.

A permanent release from his suffering.

On top of that, he was watching his brother feel again, for a woman, and everyone in the room knew how well that had ended last time.

“He won’t leave you,” Sera said, afraid she was intruding and it would anger Snow, but unwilling to stand by and watch the man that Antoine loved so much believe that he was about to find himself alone again. “I swear to you, Snow. Your brother loves you and he feels guilty about his part in what happened to you and your family. He won’t make the same mistake again. He would sooner leave me than leave you. He loves you.”

“I know.” Snow stood and towered over Antoine, immense and dark, lethal.

He seemed calm but he still radiated power, his formidable build only adding to the sense of danger he wore. She couldn’t imagine how Antoine must have felt when he had battled his own brother and had almost lost. She was surprised he had lasted in a fight at all. Snow had killed their parents and others who were likely far older than he had been at the time. He had overpowered and murdered them all, but he had failed to kill his brother. Even in the darkest grip of his bloodlust, his love for his brother was stronger than his hunger for death and violence.

Snow huffed. “You do not have to fear me, female. Or for Antoine. I will not harm my brother.”

“I have a name.” Sera knelt on the bed, clutched the crimson sheets around her with one hand and shakily held the other out to him. He raised a pale eyebrow at it, as though the gesture was unfamiliar to him, or perhaps he just hadn’t expected her to risk touching him and placing herself at his mercy. “Sera.”

“Snow.” He grasped her hand, his huge one engulfing hers, and the strength of his grip surprised her. She had expected hard and tight, bone-crushing. He was gentle and warm.