An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Eighteen

How long had I been in here?

Despite the impossibility of it, I'd slept while hundreds of vampires bled to death.

Giving a stretch in which my bones clicked like a musical instrument, I rubbed at my sleep-stuck eyes, trying not to be bothered by the now dry blood over my hands and arms. The door to the room was ajar. I moved to it like a drunken moth to the flame, the room spinning a little. Why did I feel so queasy?

I kept to the wall of the cream corridor, my hand running along the cool roughness of the wallpaper, liking its refreshing texture against my hot skin. Circular lights lit the way to god knows where. I passed various wooden doors, occasionally pressing my ear to them and hearing nothing. My brows plucked together the longer I walked.

Where am I? I thought in a whisper.

All of a sudden, I was thrown to the side, smacking against the opposite wall. The breath was knocked from me. Why the hell was the corridor moving? It rocked a little to the other side but I managed to latch onto a door handle and keep myself upright. The rocking subsided to a little sway.

Now I was panicked and as I approached a metal door at the end of the corridor – much like the one at Head Quarters at British Intelligence with the metal wheel – my ears picked up the roaring of waves.

I was on a ship...

I turned the wheel, releasing it from its tight lock so that it flew open instantly. My mouth popped open. People fought with ropes, shouting at one another in a different, incomprehensible language of commands. Each was shirtless, all males and all abruptly appealing to the eye.

Vampires.

    "Oh my, please tell me Inerra sent us a little snack," someone gasped excitedly, leaning against the outside wall. I stared at him, mind not quite functioning like it used to before...before...I forced myself not to recall anything about him.

  "Uh...no," I muttered. Wow, he was gorgeous. Dark brown hair, light blue eyes, a straight jawbone. I felt myself swaying closer; utterly mesmerised.

        "That's not a snack, El. She's the one everyone's squabbling over," someone else said from my right. I slowly glanced his way to find a curly, honey-brown haired male with hazel eyes and a sly smile playing at his lips. His eyes travelled the length of me while his fingertips lifted to graze my cheekbone. Cold.

It reminded me of...

I flinched back, trying not to allow the memories to flash in my mind.

    "Oh, that's right," the first one recalls. "The Royal Darknesses are clawing at everyone to have her found. Maybe we should hand her over?"

        "You're hilarious," the honey haired one said dryly before addressing me politely. "You're lucky to have Inerra protecting you. If anyone can keep you safe and off of the radar, it's him. He's not as evil as he seems..."

All of a sudden, a white hand shot out past me, locking around honey-hairs neck and clenching. He gasped, eyes bulging in a sickening way. I stumbled back into a hard chest.

  "Did I tell you to stop working?" he hissed, an arm snaking around my front. Inerra. His possessiveness was abruptly making my heart thrum in my ears, clenching my insides with...desire? Or was that fear?

    "N...no, my lord. I apologise," the honey-haired one said, yanking his friend after him into the midst of the hard-working crowd. I stared longingly after, almost missing their boyish attitudes.