An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Sixteen

My skin blazed, singing from his touch. His hot fingertips were everywhere, constantly moving and skimming and fulfilling. He pinned my wrists above my head, mouth working against mine, other hand moving to the back of my thigh and lifting it round him. He pressed into me harder, groaning hungrily.

At first, I'd been protesting, but all of a sudden, I forgot about Acera and my dignity and wanted nothing more than to ruthlessly strip Inerra. What was wrong with me?

    "Dear lord," he whispered. He kissed along my jaw. "You're so alive." His forehead rested on mine. "I can hear your heartbeat," he murmured, touching just above my heart with three fingers. "It wants me."

  "You're so full of yourself," I breathed, coming to. I tried to glare with all my might.

He chuckled lowly and then dipped his nose to my neck, following it down as he inhaled several times. His tongue found my collarbone, tickling it, making me try to suppress a shriek.

    "Stop," I whimpered, pathetically attempting to free my wrists from his hold. "Please. Stop."

He slowly let go of my hands, only to gently place his own on my waist. My chest rose and fell frantically. "I won't hurt you, Charlie," he promised, glowing blue eyes lifting to mine and settling there. Whoa, they were pretty.

  "I don't believe you," I said, averting my gaze to his chest.

    "No, you don't trust me. When you trust me, believing will be the least of your worries," he assured.

  "I'm never going to trust you!" I spat, looking him right in the eye. "You're a horrible person. You've killed so many humans and vampires! You deserted your own brother who needed you and the rest of your family because of pure selfishness. I hate you, Inerra. I hate you."

He stared at me for a very long time, not making a noise or even breathing. I glowered back, not regretting a single word.

    "I've got a surprise for you," he muttered. His face was washed clean of troubles, as if I hadn't said anything at all. Not even his eyes gave him away. He was stronger than Acera.

  "I don't want anything to do with..."

But we were already moving; fast. The room disappeared in less than a second, wind beat at my face, rain soaked through my dress, played on my skin. One thing stood out amongst all of this, though: the strong, fiery arms secured around my waist.

The weather was too awful to see through for me to find the venue where everyone was dancing, completely unaware that the notorious Inerra had been there. How had he gone undetected? Or had everyone known except Acera and I? Were they all plotting against us? Had they helped Inerra get into the venue and then take me?

The dancer hadn't smiled ruefully at me, she'd smirked. She'd taken my hero, Acera, from me so the enemy, Inerra, could attack.

    "Oh my..." I breathed. We'd been set up. We'd been tricked so perfectly.

Could I communicate with Acera? Could I tell him that his brother had kidnapped me?

I closed my eyes and tried to envision amber eyes, raven dark hair, porcelain skin, light pink irresistible lips, muscular body...

    "Charlie!" someone shouted fiercely. "You need to get away from him! He's another level of evil..."

It was dark and when I opened my eyes, even darker. I was in some sort of cellar. Water dripped eerily. Moonlight streamed thinly through a window high up, illuminating someone chained to the wall opposite me, amber eyes pleading with mine.