Annie Nicholas - Bait

My heart raced as he ran his hands over my skin. “Where to begin?” He brushed his face against my left breast, over my hammering heart. His tongue made contact with my skin.

I closed my eyes and arched my back. A sense of pressure built around me like the air compressed itself. Then I felt him brush against my mental shield. A flood of panic filled me. I didn’t understand what he wanted and pushed at his shoulders so he’d get off.

He never noticed or pretended not to. His power surrounded me, tried to lure me into submission, and lay down my defenses. I’d forgotten how strong he could be, he never tried to touch me mentally since we first met.

I panted, not from passion but fear. I didn’t want him to find out what I was. Not this way.

The power shifted, like a weight off my chest, and I could breathe. I looked down at Rurik who gazed up at me with curiosity.

“Why do you fight so much? It will hurt worse.”

“What the hell are you doing? I don’t want you poking around in my head.” The sharp words were out of my mouth before I could edit them.

“I got that impression the first time we met. I didn’t cross the line then. I only influenced you, never went deeper. Why would I now?” He rubbed his cheek on my breast. “You’re always so closed up. It’s like a prison in there, with stone walls and barbed wires. You’re painful to touch.”

I closed my eyes so he wouldn’t see the tears. Painful. I believed it, I lived in that prison. Colby taught me to build those walls to protect me from being taken, but I’m the one who added the barb and never opened the door.

“Let me in, Connie.” He whispered the words into my skin. “Trust me. I just want to influence you so I don’t add to your pain.”

I took a shaky, deep breath. “I don’t know how. You drugged me the last time.”

I felt him smile. “I could again, if you wanted.”

“No.” The vial hid in my pants pocket, no longer in it velvet jewelry case in the chest. “No more drugs.”

“It was a joke. I’d be affected by it as well after I’ve fed.” He pulled himself up my body to meet my eyes.

“You would be?” This surprised me. “Drugs affect you?”

“No, just this one.” I opened my mouth to continue my interrogation but he pressed his finger to my lips and hushed me. “Slow deep breaths, trust me.”

I felt the pressure again. My instincts screamed to struggle with Rurik’s invasion.

“Deep breaths,” he whispered.

I inhaled and trembled with the effort. A visit to the dentist would have been less stressful. A sense of euphoric indifference filled me, just like our first date. The thought made me giggle.

Rurik moaned at my reaction. He liked it when I acted this way, all giddy and happy. Where did that thought come from?

I gasped when I felt the sharp stab over my left breast. It hurt for a moment but I didn’t care. He squeezed that breast and enjoyed the feel of it in his palm. My eyes widened with that sensation, his sensation. I grinned. The link he used to influence my perceptions worked both ways. I got little snippets of his thoughts. Such as, he thought I tasted like champagne.

His power made me feel wonderful and free. I giggled again which only elicited another moan from Rurik. He pressed the hard bulge in his jeans to my thigh.

I guess waiting to shower was a good idea.

The hot shower pounded all my well deserved aches away. Some pains could be classed as good, exercise and well, sex being among them.

I toweled myself dry then wrapped it around my body, anxious to return to Rurik. The soft fabric rubbed on the tender bite mark over my left breast. I saw it in the steamed up mirror, peeking over the towel’s edge and touched the spot, thankful for another chance at happiness. Two little puncture holes over my heart. The symbolism wasn’t lost to me, though he hadn’t said it, I suspected Rurik more than liked me. Never would I have hoped I’d be able to let Laurent’s memory fade enough to allow someone else an opportunity into the fortress of my heart.

Elated emotions that soared through me during the past few hours vanished when I walked into the bedroom. My suitcase sat opened on the bed with a set of clothes Rurik must have chosen for me folded next to it. They weren’t the only thing he removed from my luggage. The manila envelope lay empty on the floor and the pictures were in Rurik’s hands.

He examined them, holding the photos close. His temple twitched as he clenched his jaw. The concentration on his face made the fine cheekbones stand out against his lush lips, which had just finished kissing me before I escaped to the shower. They thinned out in a frown.

I felt empty. My heart dropped and I was surprised not to hear it rattle like a coin inside the hollowness.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed my entrance and nailed me with their icy coldness.

I tried to make my mouth work but my vocal cords froze. I wanted to apologize, I wanted to explain those terrible pictures, and I wanted to tell him about my job. Instead, like an ass, I grabbed the jeans and red t-shirt then dressed, pretending innocence.

He placed the photos onto my open suitcase and I watched as his angry face melted into a soft, seductive smile. “So, Rabbit, what’s this game you’re playing?” He stepped closer to me, the ice in his eyes never melted.

This was the Rurik I’d met four nights ago in the club. The one who drugged me, who gave me to Dragos. The dangerous Rurik. I recognized the empty gaze he gave me and moved away until the wall came against my back. Anger or even violence I could have handled, but this scared me more. It made me think I was wrong about him. That he was guilty.

“Please...” I didn’t know what I pleaded for. A mix of things, not to be the killer, not to hurt me, and not to break my heart. The pain stabbed me so sharply I couldn’t catch my breath. Tears burned behind my eyelids.

“Interesting pictures.” He gestured with his long fingered hand at them in the suitcase. “How did you manage to come by them?”

“I-I.” The one time I needed to spill the beans and I had lockjaw.

“Doesn’t matter.” He sauntered toward me and leaned in close to my face. The tick on his temple returned and I could hear him grind his teeth. He broke my gaze to look down and set his hands on the wall, trapping me in between his arms. “They’re such good pictures, I almost believe I was there.” His stare returned to me. “What could you possibly want with those? Blackmail?”

I felt my eyes widen with the shock of the truth. He really was clueless. The thought raised my spirit. “They’re not real?” I wanted to wrap myself around him and kiss the anger from his face. No matter the evidence, I believed his innocence, I needed to.

He hit the wall by my head with his palm. It creaked with the assault. “Of course not!”

I jumped with the bang. The suicidal urge to kiss him faded fast. “They were given to me. Someone is trying to frame you for those murders. They wanted me to believe you were guilty.”

“My guilt?” He stepped back. The look on his face made me feel as if I’d turned into a slime creature from the Black lagoon. “Even if I’d done this crime, I would be held to vampire justice not human.”

“Sometimes these matters fall into gray areas between our worlds. Some of those humans who live in that gray area are hired to fulfill that justice.” I could barely hear my own voice but his sensitive hearing would have picked it up. “We haven’t seen any evidence of vampire justice for this crime.”

“You live in this gray area?”

I nodded, afraid if I spoke, it would turn into tears.

“If you wanted to slay me, you had ample opportunity. Why attack my people?”