“But first”—his hand reached up and his thumb polished over the shape of my lips, making thinking difficult to attain—“there’s something I need to do.” His eyes danced with the mischief that would always be his trademark, while his arms grabbed tightly around my waist, pulling me down over him as he laid back in bed.
His movements were so swift I wasn’t quite sure how I’d ended up on top of him, my face inches from his, but our uneven breathing and the electric charge coursing through my body assured me of our precarious position.
“What do you need to do?” I asked, not really caring as long as he didn’t let me go.
“This,” he answered, running one hand up my back and behind my head, pulling it to him. Our lips touched with the shyness of strangers at first, but it didn’t take them long to be reminded of who they were united with. Mine moved always a bit more urgently than his, and by the time he caught up, I’d already moved on to the next level.
This pattern continued until I could feel his lips quivering beneath mine, and the heaviness of his breathing was interlaced with sighs of pleasure. If he would have been a Mortal, I was sure I would have been suffocating him—but excusing my actions given his Immortality and that he wasn’t objecting—I continued on.
With as much speed and grace as before, I was suddenly on my back. William’s face hovered over mine, and to my great satisfaction, the rest of him did as well. The movements from the quick rise and fall of his chest threatened to undo my slightly refocused mind now that our lips were separated. With that reminder, my head lifted off the mattress and towards his mouth floating above mine. I let my lips rest on his without moving, parting his mouth softly, so I could breathe his breath in and hold him inside me forever.
William’s gaze suddenly flashed up with alert in them, but his eyes moved a one-hundredth of a second faster than his lips and the rest of his body could move from me. I heard the thunder of my door being thrown open so hard it smashed into the wall behind it.
William froze, only removing his lips from our embrace. His arms tightened around me protectively as raucous footsteps pounded through the door. I didn’t look at the intruders, I didn’t need to. I knew who would be there and only waited for his voice to do a final confirmation.
“My, my—look at what we have here,” John’s voice exploded, cutting through my ear drums and pounding my insides. “This wouldn’t be the woman I was Betrothed to not even twelve hours ago lying beneath one of my men and her professor would it be?”
I refused to look at John and whoever else was with him. I held my focus on the man above me, melding my body against his. His eyes were glowing with hatred.
William looked ready to take on John and his crew at any minute, and I couldn’t find a trace of doubt on his face that he wouldn’t succeed. It was his confidence that gave me mine. I wanted to shout obscenities at John, along with : Don’t you see you idiot? I’ll never love you. Or perhaps, There’s nothing you could have done, or can do now to keep William and me apart. Even with our deaths you cannot separate us. I wanted to spit the pent up shrapnel at the man nearing his boiling point behind us. I’d never seen John lose his cool, but the frantic pacing I could hear behind me and the words spoken through tightly clenched teeth confirmed—without having to look at him—he was close to loosing his claim on sanity.
“What is a man to do about this,” John feigned musing—his words not inflected as a question and I was certain this was because he already knew what he was going to do about this.
“Thomas, Dante—would you please retrieve my Betrothed from underneath Mr. Hayward and bring her to me?”
At John’s request, I heard two figures stepping towards us, but with the tap of the first footfall, William grabbed me up from the bed and had me across the room with blinding speed; with him positioned between me and the approaching men. He held his arms out and was kneeling defensively, ready to attack.
I got my first glimpse of the party in my room; John, a couple of his approaching goons, and Stella. Her arms crossed contemptuously, and a smug smile decorated her bee-stung lips. Her presence seemed out of place in this muscled line-up John had assembled, but I was certain he’d brought her along for a reason. John never did anything without intention.
I gasped when my mind caught up with the impending situation and I recalled what name John had used of William’s—his true last name. Hayward. My stomach churned and my throat constricted as if a boa constrictor wound around it, suffocating it of life. He found out who William really was . . . but how?
I was sure William hadn’t missed John’s mention of his true name, but he continued his silent sentinel in front of me. He was teetering from side to side, depending on which side either man approached. At the same time, he was inching back, forcing me to do the same. He was making our way towards the open balcony doors.
“Why don’t you stop right there, Mr. Hayward. I don’t think you’ll find that exit any more desirable than the door behind me.” John glanced purposefully behind us.
I turned my head, following John’s gaze. There were two more men I’d never seen before, pressing towards us from the balcony, equally as large and imposing as the two still advancing before us. My head shot feverously from William, to John, to the two men in front of us and now the two men behind us—closing in the gap between us with each step.
John’s face was filled with a look of conquest, William’s filled with resolve, and the faces of the four men who would be able to wrap their open arms around us in six more steps, were filled with a sense of duty.
William’s eyes scanned over each man, as if analyzing every strength and weakness, formulating a plan as to how best attack so as to provide enough of a window for an escape. I knew though, there would be no escape if he factored me into it. I was still too weak to do any good against these monster sized men. A thought flickered through my mind—if I could tie up a couple of the men with a distraction, William could make an almost easy escape . . .
“Go, William . . . please,” I begged, my voice shaking. I took a step back, and then another; separating from my protector and surrendering to the unknown men behind us. Their attention distracted by my surrender would give him enough time to make his escape via the balcony.
His head spun around, and his eyes became wild when he saw me moving towards the men behind us. In another blinding flash, I was in his arms as they formed like vices locking around me.
He whispered softly into my ear, “I thought we already discussed this—we won’t ever let ourselves be apart again. No matter what price we must pay . . . no matter what befalls us.”
I nodded, choking back the ball suffocating my throat, “Whatever end may come,” I vowed, as our eyes locked in what might be the final exchange of intimacy.
John’s voice crushed the sliver of peace we’d summoned, and stilled the two men in front of us. “Come now, William. There’s no need to be so overly-protective.” His voice sounded placating. “Do you really think I would allow any harm to come to my lovely Betrothed?”
William’s eyes narrowed, his face full of hate. I could see John’s words had not convinced him any more than they had me.
“Of course, I can’t promise the same thing for you, Mr. Hayward, but I will allow justice to be served. We shall put this before the Council, and they will sentence you for what they see appropriate.” John approached us, Stella sneering her way in unison.
“Although I don’t think the outcome will be what the little infatuated pet in your arms would approve of. Espionage and, shall we say, inappropriate behavior with another man’s Betrothed?” John thrummed his fingers together. “And to think I’d always been under the impression the Hayward name came with such a high degree of respect and moral esteem.”
William’s clutch tightened yet again on me, and I buried my head under his chin, savoring our last embrace.
Tired with the formalities and seeing that his lecture was getting him no where, John sighed. “There’s two ways this can go, William.” His tone scalded like acid. “One—you can maintain your hold on her, and I command my men forward, but of course, I cannot guarantee she will not be injured in the process.”
William’s face contorted, despite the fact that whatever injury may be inflicted, I would be healed from it in hours.
“Or two—you can release her and surrender yourself, to await your sentence from the Council. My Council. ” John tilted his head and smiled crookedly, knowing William enough to know what option he’d choose.
“You swear to me no harm will come to her.” William growled through his teeth. My fingers gripped deeper into his flesh, wishing I could adhere to him. I didn’t want to go anywhere without him.
A half smile pulled at the corner of John’s mouth. “I swear.”
I felt his hold on me loosen, but it wasn’t the natural kind of loosening one might expect when being set down from someone’s arms. It felt like ever muscle and fiber in his body was fighting a battle to contract around me again, to permanently cement me to his body—the only thing able to force the continued loosening was the strength of his will.
“It’s your choice, William, but you’ve got five seconds to make it.”
Ignoring John, William lowered his mouth to my ear again. His quiet voice flowed with urgency, “You stay silent, no matter what is said or happens. Let me do the talking . . . and then,” his voice nearly faltered, but when he continued, his voice was flat and emotionless, “when I’m gone, you wait and stay obedient here until my brothers come for you. They will come. I swear to you.”
My body chilled with the understanding of his words, and a darkness covered me that could only be cast by pure evil’s soul.
“I love you. I always have Bryn, and I always will. My love will always be with you—to protect you whenever you need it most.” He kissed me softly just below my ear, and then his determined arms lost the battle to his formidable will, and he set me down on the floor.
I twisted immediately around to face him, to reach back out for him, but he was already backing up from me, with his hands raised in surrender towards the men behind him.
“No, William!” I cried out. I wanted him to run more than I had before, even after his reminder that we swore we’d never allow separation to tear us apart again. I hadn’t allowed myself to think of the severity of punishment he would be sentenced to, until he’d whispered it into my ear.
He smiled at me with peace filled eyes, and the two men grabbed him from behind.
John sounded exultant, “Stella, if you would be so kind.”
Stella sauntered from John’s side to the trio of men. She smiled wickedly at me in passing, before resting one hand over William’s shoulder and raising her eyebrows to John.
“We wouldn’t want you doing anything too rash, now would we? You see, now that I know who you are, I’m very well aware of the powers you possess. Your remarkable strength could quite easily best my men. That’s why I’ve brought Stella along, of course. Her talent comes in handy in these kinds of situations.”