An Unacceptable Mate

Chapter Twenty Three

I forced my eyes to open, shielding them from the falling debris with my hand. My entire body ached, but I had never been more thankful that seatbelts had been invented. Anna seemed to be struggling but I was fearful that if I lifted my face to look at her, something sharp would fall from the ceiling and blind me.

    "Please!" she shrieked. Fists pounded against leather, nails scraped and scratched.

  "I've given you too many chances, sweet Anna. It's time your pretty little tongue was silenced once and for all," someone said viciously.

    "No..." Her scream was cut off by the tearing of muscle. She gurgled and as I peered into my lap, dark red blood spilled over my light blue dress. It glistened like wet rubies with its sinister undertone staring me right in the eye.

  "You're worthless to me now without a tongue," Inerra spat. "It's been a pleasure; literally." And then, as I started to mutter about it all being my fault, there was a thud. Silence. I didn't have to look to know Anna was no longer functional. A strange mix of regret and guilt clogged up my throat. I'd been so horrible to her. She'd tried to be my friend. She'd trusted me. I'd just let her die.

    "Now it's time for your punishment, Charlie Rose. Just wait," he snarled excitedly. A pair of arms snaked around me. I pushed the seatbelt buckle as far into the slot as I could, refusing to move.

    "Don't make me hurt you anymore than I already will," he warned softly, warm lips at my ear.

  "Fuck you," I whispered. "She didn't have to die."

He hissed, releasing the safety mechanism and pulling me out into the sunlight. "Since when have you cared about the existence of one bitchy vampire? She was a whore. She might have been good at sucking me off, but there were no particular traits of hers anyone liked. No one will miss her."

  "I miss her!" I wailed, sensing the tears. I couldn't believe he'd just said that and so freely. What a horrible, horrible person.

The natural light disappeared as he pushed me against a wall in a dark alleyway, a hand around my throat and my toes barely touching the ground. I couldn't breathe.

    "Listen to me carefully, my stupid little human," he purred into my ear, fangs grazing along my skin. "I'm going to drink you so dry you'll be gagging for me to stop. Gagging. I'll make you gag, Charlie."

He pushed his fingers through my hair and held my wrists between us with the other, roughly beginning to nip at my neck. This wasn't playful; this hurt. I muffled a noise of protest, lifting my knee to his groin in an ill attempt to pain him. This only encouraged the bastard.

    "If you really wanted to touch me there, you should have just asked," he chuckled, taking one of my hands and placing it on his belt. My cheeks inflamed. He wasn't serious.

  "Are you...drunk?" I managed to breathe, squinting through the darkness. His blue eyes were a deadly electric.

    "Drunk on love," he sighed, stroking up my arm with a delicate finger. He tilted his head to the side. "I don't like it when you talk to other males. Or think about them. Or even show the slightest bit of interest in them. And the entire time you've been with me, that's all you've been doing. Acera never loved you, Charlie, get over it. And Jake is a toy boy who really staged that entire phone call just so British Intelligence could trace you. I'm the only genuine guy you're ever going to meet. Make the most of your life. Stop thinking about them and think about me!" 

My jaw was slack. I'd never been so shocked in all my life by someone's words. Acera never loved you, Charlie, get over it. Those eight words did nothing but bring the pain of reality into my heart like a blade through soft butter.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and closed my eyes, fighting the tears; fighting the emotions building up because of these two brothers.

Don't let them in, I warned myself. If either one gets in your head, they've won.

    "I was expecting at least an insult. Aren't you going to say something, Charlie, or do you not want your tongue either?" he spat, grip tightening on my hair.

  "Punish me then," I said, opening my eyes to look into his. I smiled; challenging.

It almost hurt to force it onto my face.

His hot body hesitated before pressing me firmly to the wall. His grasp on my hair loosened as he ran his fingers over my scalp. He laced his other fingers through mine between our stomachs and then he moved them up to the wall. He was fierce and hungry and wrong. I felt no passion. Just the sadness that I was trying to mask with this distraction.

Acera never loved you, Charlie. It must be true. But the way I'd felt with him and the way I thought I made him feel...it couldn't possibly be a lie. He couldn't feign those kisses or that desire or the gentleness of those amber orbs – it just didn't make sense. Why was he suddenly the bad guy? Why did he suddenly want me dead when he'd gone against his entire race to protect me?

Inerra made a deranged animal noise. "I told you to stop thinking about other males, Charlie."

He could definitely read minds.

My eyes widened to their full extent as his fangs slid deeply into my throat, so close to my airway. A cold sweat broke out over my skin as he began to suck, groaning. It was like having a hook in my flesh and I didn't want to tear it out as it would only cause more damage.

  "Inerra...please...stop..." I managed to pant, wincing and gritting my teeth. It was too intense. I was going to faint.

He pulled out slowly, not bothering to clean the mess he'd made of my neck. His lips crashed down on mine, filling my mouth with a coppery tang. I was revolted.

    "I'm sorry," he mumbled all of a sudden. "I am angry. Too angry. I should not be taking it out on you, but you contributed too much to my fury."

He let out a long, trembling exhale. My heart thundered in my ears. His words became distant and the alleyway seemed to blur. "I really am sorry, Charlie."

I started to fall, slowly yet quickly. He helped lower me to the wet ground and then started to walk away.

Was he leaving me here to die?

Shaking, I lifted my fingers to my neck and felt a pool of hot blood sliding over my skin like a waterfall. My eyes squeezed shut. This was it.

It was my time.

        "...Charlie..."

    "Am I dead?" I choked out, hands over my face and knees at my chest.

The back of a cool, reassuring hand stroked down the length of my temple. "No. I would never let that happen."

That voice. So familiar. So close.

As my eyes started to open, the vision was snatched from my grasp. All I'd made out was a soft mass of raven black hair and alarmed amber eyes.