Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 21 - Levity

"You are not at all what I pictured," Kay said quietly as the beautiful werewolf watched her.

Adrian didn't look like anybody's mother, nor did she look over two hundred years old, and she was the youngest of Darius's women.

"Claudia suffered when I was younger. I was intimidated by my situation and youth, and with a man like Darius, a force of nature, I was uncertain of myself. Maureen helped me see myself differently," Adrian admitted, and Kay nodded, just as Adrian had done for her.

"Darius wants to know if you require help to get his new daughter to his side?"

The woman appeared from the hallway to the grand staircase and rivaled even Adrain.

Her expression made her look older, wiser, and slightly mocking, although more teasing than malicious.

Was this Maureen?

"We were just on our way," Adrian offered Kay her arm, and taking it with no reluctance, she sensed the same acceptance from these two women that she got from Claudia and intimidating Darius. Although Maureen seemed more remote, Kay suspected she warmed more slowly to people.

The others waited for them in the adjoining room.

Claudia looked like a dream, as did Marcus, like the prince and the princess of the ball, with Darius as the noble king. The other two women were as spectacular as Adrain, and although one smiled at her, the other was not so easy to read.

"Father wagered he would follow Marcus and me down the stairs alone for the start of the festivities, but I told him you were made of sterner stuff," Claudia teased, and Darius grinned at her.

Heat flushed Kay's cheeks.

"Your mother caught me making a rope out of the blankets," Kay admitted, and Claudia's laughter filled the room.

"Well, there are men out there who would have paid to see you shimmy out a window and down a three-story drop in that dress," she quipped, and Kay's blush deepened.

"And you just had to remind her of that dress," the unreadable lady chastised, and Claudia stilled, suddenly uncertain.

"We wanted to make a statement, Lady Marcella," Cat drawled from the door, appearing in a killer dress with an earpiece, a gun strapped to one thigh, and a clipboard under her arm, looking like any teenage boy's dream version of a certain Lady Croft.

"Twenty thousand dollars for one night?" Marcella bit out, an unholy light in her eyes.

Did she enjoy antagonizing the vampire, and did this suggest that Darius and Marcus also came a long way together, which was odd, considering the history of their species?

"That is a twenty-thousand-dollar dress, three-thousand-dollar shoes, and that necklace and matching earrings are priceless antiques. We were going for sexy, classy, drool-worthy, but not trashy," Cat defended through gritted teeth, and the slightest smirk touched Marcella's mouth.

"If hookers looked, dressed, and carried themselves like that, no married man on the planet would stay home," an amused voice corrected from the door.

The female version of Marcus caught and held the attention even in the presence of such great beauty. An element of glittering danger lingering beneath the perfect facade.

Although not looking a day over twenty-eight, her eyes gave the impression she had seen the passage of many ages. Perhaps it was fancy on Kay's side, but she could not shake the feeling.

"I agree, Morgan. A teasing bit of flesh and a dash of sexy to make them envy your son with a dark, raw hatred for having two such beautiful women. It does not seem fair," Maureen agreed. Laughter danced in her eyes, and Cat relaxed just a bit, cluing Kay in that the vampire worried the dress was too daring.

"Unfortunately, I feel as if I landed a starring role in the next La Femme Nikita, and you all are not helping. Can we go down before I choose to go finish my rope ladder?' Kay asked dryly, wondering if her ears were on fire yet, and everyone grinned.

***

"It is time," Talia announced from the door. Despite a spectacular dress, the vampire suddenly appeared a little ordinary compared to the others, almost human.

"Okay, girls; check your straps, make sure that sticky stuff's holding the 'ladies' in place, backs straight, smiles turned on, and let's go." Darius' sudden announcement was so shockingly out of character that Kay stared at him in dumbfounded amazement.

The tension broke as he pretended to shift his boobs into place. They were trying so hard not to laugh at his sudden silliness that they were halfway down the staircase before Kay noticed.

After that moment of hilarity, she could understand how such an intimidating man could have been a womanizer. The charm and animal magnetism beneath all that bulk were impressive.

Darius stared down at her and nodded solemnly with a flash of kindness in his expression she could not ignore. Her constant awareness of the bond he had forged was like a steady warmth at the back of her mind.

*Chin up, girl,* he reminded her from the confines of her mind. Almost instinctively, she straightened her back and lifted her chin. 

All she had to do was glance at the crowd to grasp the picture they made descending those stairs in their designated order. There was no denying the stirring among the guests as they realized that Darius had his queen on one arm and his daughter's soon-to-be husband's mistress on the other.

I would not have the guts to do that. Newest Version ©2014-2023 All rights reserved. If you find this on any other platform but Wattpad under @CSDreamer, please report it. No part of this book may be copied or reposted without the author's permission.