Bound to Me Read online

  Grabbing a handful of my skirts, I placed my other hand on the railing leading up the stairs. “I’ll quickly change into some trousers and then we can head to the gaming hells,” I said as I started up the stairs.

  Before I could climb more than a couple of stairs, I was jerked to a sudden halt as the sharp sound of ripping fabric tore through the silence. Twisting around, I found Valerio standing at the bottom of the stairs with a wicked grin on his lips. In his hand was the torn hem of my dress.

  “I think you could use some assistance in getting changed, cara,” he murmured, his eyes traveling over the length of my sapphire gown.

  Releasing the handrail, I grabbed another handful of my gown, pulling the hem free of his grasp. “Don’t even think about it, bloodsucker,” I growled. “I like this gown.”

  “Then run, cara. Run like a little rabbit if you wish to protect that precious gown of yours.”

  I didn’t hesitate. With my gown grasped tightly in both hands, I hiked it up to my knees and ran up the stairs, my slippered feet silent on the hardwood. As I reached the top stair and turned down the hall toward my room, I heard another, louder rip of fabric, but I didn’t look back to see the kind of damage that Valerio had wrought. Biting my lower lip to hold back the laugh, I ran down the hall and threw open the door to my bedroom, but I knew that Valerio had only been playing with me. He was older than me by centuries, making him stronger and faster. I had always known that he would catch me in the end. Which was, of course, the point.

  Valerio wrapped his arms around my waist from behind as we entered the room together and kicked the door shut with his foot. He spun me around, his mouth finding mine in a rough kiss that kept me from screaming in frustration at the sound of fabric tearing. Valerio had slipped his fingers down the bodice of dress and gave it a quick, sharp jerk, shredding the dress down the front.

  Placing both of my hands against his chest, I pushed away from him with all of my strength, but I only managed to stumble a couple feet away from him because he had allowed it. Around the room, candles flared to life as I lost control of my temper and my hold on my powers faltered for a second. It only caused Valerio’s smile to widen as he reached for me again.

  I smacked his hand away from me, not caring about the fact that I now stood stark naked before him. “I loved that dress.”

  “I’ll buy you another dress. Another exactly like that one if you want,” he promised, beginning to stalk me once again. “I need you, Mira.”

  I hit the end of the bed. Quickly, I crawled up onto it and continued to back away from him on my hands and knees. “If you need me so badly, then you should allow me to disrobe you in the same barbaric fashion.”

  Valerio’s shoulders stiffened and he straightened from where he was leaning over the edge of the bed toward me. His hand ran over the front of his black jacket and crisp white shirt. “Come now, Mira. Let’s be reasonable. You should never discuss a man’s wardrobe in such a manner. It’s just uncivilized.”

  “Uncivilized!” I shrieked. “You destroy my dress and I’m not to lay a finger on your clothing because it’s uncivilized?” Reaching behind me, I grabbed a pillow and flung it at his head with all my strength. He deftly deflected the missile, but that didn’t stop me from grabbing a second. “Get in this bed right this minute or I’ll burn the clothes off of you.”

  Before I could blink, the nightwalker was on top of me, pinning me down to the thick blankets that covered the bed. He pulled the second pillow from my fingers and tossed it over the side onto the floor. Holding me down by my wrists, he hovered over me while his eyes took in my tousled red hair spread about the bed, a stark contrast to my pale skin.

  “It’s too late. I look at you and I am already on fire,” he murmured as if mostly talking to himself as his eyes continued their perusal of my body. “You are beauty and passion combined in a tempting flame that will consume our entire race. Will you burn me too?”

  I tilted my head to the side, waiting until his eyes finally met mine again. “All little boys should know the danger of playing with fire.”

  “And yet I cannot help myself.” Valerio released my arms and sat back on his heels as he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it to the floor in a rumpled heap. I didn’t touch him, but simply watched as he hastily unwound his neck cloth and tossed it aside with the same lack of care before moving onto the buttons of his shirt. I was beginning to doubt that we would make it to the gaming hells that night, but then again, we had missed many a night of planned activities in favor of more private entertainment.

  Running the tip of my tongue over my lips, I reached up and ran my hands over his smooth chest as he started to pull his shirt free of his trousers. After an evening of rubbing elbows with London’s elite and a little playful hunting, I was ready to get down to some more serious pursuits with my companion. Sitting up, I pressed a kiss against his flat, hard stomach, letting my tongue run along his bellybutton, sending a delicious shiver through his body as his hands descended to his pants. And then he paused. I could feel nearly every muscle in his body tense and harden, while the cold touch of his powers swept past me and through the house.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. Everything inside of me demanded that I resume my quest to kiss every inch of his perfect chest, but something was wrong. If danger was near, I needed to be ready. I had to be Valerio’s comrade in arms, despite the fact that I lay in bed completely naked.

  Valerio looked down at me and smiled sweetly. He ran his hand over the back of my head, sweeping away some of my hair from my shoulders. “Nothing so serious, cara. We merely have an unexpected guest.”

  Despite his smile and easy words, the tension had yet to completely flow from his body. He was not happy, but Valerio was not one to show many emotions beyond amusement, lust, and the occasional boredom. Yet, after traveling with him for more than a century, I was beginning to pick up on the warning signs of some other, darker emotions that lurked beneath his carefully crafted veneer. Violence was a part of his nature, but it always came with a smile. The only thing I feared was that violence paired with an angry fire in his eyes.

  A gentle touch on my cheek jerked me from my dark thoughts, causing me to raise my lavender eyes to meet his all-too-knowing blue ones. “Let’s get a robe for you and then meet our guest. The sooner this meeting is over, the sooner we can return our attention to something more pleasant.”

  Turning my head, I kissed the palm of his hand, pushing a smile onto my lips. I had done my own scan and there was a nightwalker standing at the front door, waiting to be welcomed into the town house. We both climbed off the bed at the same time and Valerio waited as I crossed to my wardrobe. Quickly pulling on the silk robe that he had purchased for me in Paris, I headed down the stairs, following just a pace behind him.

  There hadn’t been a single knock at the door, but then there had been no need. It had been no hard task to sense the nightwalker when he drew near to the residence despite the constant miasma of magic that seemed to hang in the London air.

  “I really wasn’t expecting to be found so quickly,” Valerio said softly as we crossed the hallway.

  “I fear that is my fault.”

  Valerio paused and turned to face me, one eyebrow raised.

  “Jabari always knows where I am,” I said with a slight shrug of my shoulders. “I fear if we are to continue to travel together, that it is something that you will have to tolerate.”

  “Ahh . . . yes,” he said with a slight hiss. “Your doting guardian likes to keep a close eye on you, and I’m sure even more so now that you’ve fallen in with the likes of me.”

  “Nonsense. There is no one more faithful to our people and the coven than you. I’m sure that Jabari trusts you,” I countered, laying a hand on his chest.

  Valerio’s head tipped back with a bark of laughter. “I’m sure Jabari doesn’t think such a thing at all, and if you’re honest
with yourself, I’m sure you don’t either.”

  I paused a moment and then smiled up at him. “You’re quite right. I don’t. But regardless, I am here with you now and I am here to stay.”

  “Good girl,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead before finally turning around to the front door.

  Valerio said nothing to the nightwalker when he opened the door. He simply nodded once and motioned for him to enter the hallway that was still as black as night. I spared our guest only a cursory glance before I turned toward the main parlor and padded silently on bare feet across the creaky old hardwood floor. Candlelight flared to life as I walked past each candelabrum until a fire suddenly roared into existence a second before I took a seat in a chair next to the fireplace.

  You’re intentionally trying to scare the young thing, Valerio laughed in my head.

  I’m just trying to create a more hospitable setting, I replied innocently.

  Liar.

  I recognize him as a flunky of Macaire. What’s wrong with scaring him?

  Not a thing, my dear. Not a thing.

  Valerio settled behind my chair, leaning one of his arms along the high back, while crossing one foot in front of the other in a supremely relaxed stance. The nightwalker who had come to call on us was young, barely more than a couple centuries old. But then so was I. The time I had spent with nightwalkers who had passed the millennium mark was more than normal for most nightwalkers. Combine that with the fact that I had killed nightwalkers more than three times my age, and I tended to forget my youth.

  “Forgive the unexpected intrusion, Valerio,” the nightwalker opened, quickly bowing to my companion. “I have been sent by the coven on urgent business.”

  “It is my sweet companion you should be begging for forgiveness, as it is her pleasure that you have disrupted, Gustav,” Valerio commented blandly.

  A frown flitted across the blond nightwalker’s face before he could catch it, as his eyes slid over to where I was sitting. Settling deeper into the cushions of the seat, I reached over and ran one hand over Valerio’s closest leg while I smiled smugly at the flunky.

  Blond hair with ice blue eyes, Gustav reminded me of Macaire’s three other flunkies that I had killed during fights before the four members of the coven—fights that had been intended as entertainment. Now Macaire didn’t allow his underlings near me without a very good reason.

  “I was trying to do Mira a favor by ignoring the fact that she is here in London with you considering that she has been forbidden to be here,” Gustav said with no small amount of enjoyment.

  Uncrossing my legs, I jerked upright in my chair and twisted slightly so that I could look Valerio directly in the eye. “What is he talking about? I haven’t been forbidden to travel to London.”

  Valerio gave a half shrug as he met my narrowed gaze. “I’m afraid you have been. The last time we were in Venice, Jabari informed me that I was not to take you to London under any circumstances. You were forbidden from setting foot on the island.”

  “Why?”

  “He never said.”

  Forcing a smile onto my lips for the benefit of Gustav, I struggled to keep my voice from rising in volume. “And when were you going to see fit to tell me of my mentor’s edict?”

  “I thought we could slip in and out of town without his notice,” Valerio admitted.

  “We planned to spend the entire season here, if not longer. That’s months.”

  “Just a few grains of sand in the hourglass.”

  Pushing out of my chair, I stalked through the room, my robe flaring out to reveal my long pale legs. “Days, months, years; it doesn’t matter. Jabari always knows where to find me. He probably knew the moment that we settled in London. I’m surprised that it has taken this long to hear from the coven.”

  “Calm yourself, cara.”

  Spinning on my left heel to face him, I leaned in close, poking him in the chest with one finger. “You were not the one forbidden to be here. You’re not the one that has to face Jabari’s fury. You should have told me and at least given me the chance to choose whether to accompany you here.”

  Valerio wrapped his long fingers around the index finger poking him in the chest, holding me in place so that I couldn’t resume my pacing of the room. “And would you have come?”

  I stopped trying to pull my finger free of his grasp and met his direct gaze. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “You should have given me the choice.”

  “I feared you would make the wrong choice, so I said nothing,” Valerio said, pressing a kiss to my forehead before he finally released his hold on my finger. “I wanted you here with me.”

  His words warmed me. I loved Valerio’s company, and even feared that deeper feelings were starting to form for the dangerous nightwalker, but at the same time, I wasn’t willing to risk Jabari’s anger just for Valerio’s pleasure. Jabari had spent more than a century protecting, teaching, and caring for me. He had helped me to escape my creator and had become more than my mentor. He was my most trusted friend and confidante. He was the only nightwalker in the world that I knew I could rely on under any conditions. While we may have been growing apart during the past century, I never wanted to do anything that would jeopardize the relationship and trust I had with the coven Elder.

  “While this is all very touching,” Gustav interrupted with a sneer in his voice, “there are more important matters that we must discuss before the sun rises.”

  Stepping away from Valerio, I stiffly returned to my seat and stared deeply into the crackling fire, unwilling to look at either man. I had been tricked by Valerio and when I returned to the coven in Venice to see Jabari, I knew that there would be a price to pay. It wouldn’t matter that Valerio never spoke to me of the edict. The only important thing was that I had gone against Jabari’s wishes and I would have to endeavor to find a way to get back into his good graces.

  “The night is still young, but Mira and I have more interesting things planned for the evening, so let’s return to the business at hand,” Valerio announced. His hand passed over my hair in a light caress, but I was not yet willing to forgive him for his high-handed actions.

  “Both you and Mira have been summoned back to Venice to appear before the coven as soon as possible.”

  “Is this in regards to Mira’s appearance in London?” Valerio inquired.

  “Not as far as I am aware,” Gustav admitted. “My main concern was to fetch you back to the coven as they have a new assignment for you. However, Jabari was the one that pointed me in your direction through Mira, whom he wishes to appear before the coven as well.”

  “Excellent,” I said.

  “Do you know the nature of the assignment that I am to be given?”

  At Valerio’s question, I finally looked up at Gustav, who was thoughtfully scratching his chin. “Another hunt, I believe. A powerful nightwalker appeared before the coven not more than a fortnight ago and demanded assistance. Several nightwalkers have been slaughtered by an unknown assassin and it is feared that more deaths loom on the horizon.”

  My worried gaze drifted up to Valerio, who smiled down at me. Was he to be punished as well for his lack of discretion where I was involved? I had been accompanying him on his assignments for the coven for the past several decades to protect not only our own kind, but also our secret from the human race. We had hunted more careless and dangerous nightwalkers in our time than warlocks, witches, and lycanthropes combined. I didn’t like the idea of Valerio potentially being sent out on a dangerous assignment without me there to watch his back.

  “Your concern is touching, but a bit premature, I fear,” Valerio murmured. “You know that I can take care of myself, but let us return to Venezia first before you let your fear run away with you.”

  Straightening from where he had been leaning against my chair, Valerio looked over at Gustav again. “Consider you
r message delivered. We will leave for Venice tomorrow at sunset. I expect that we shall be arriving well ahead of you.”

  “Yes, my ship back to Italy does not leave for another two days,” Gustav confirmed.

  “Then we wish you strong winds and a ship overflowing with passengers,” Valerio said, dismissing the nightwalker. Gustav said nothing. He simply bowed at Valerio one last time and then silently exited the house.

  We both waited, listening to the nearly nonexistent sounds of him moving through the house and finally shutting the front door behind him before either of us bothered to speak. And even then, I was unsure of what to say. I was angry Valerio had not told me about Jabari’s declaration against my travel to London. That anger was quickly superseded by fear for Valerio. What was the coven planning? This could simply be another assignment like so many of the others that he had been on, but would Jabari allow me to accompany him? Or would my punishment be entrapment in Venice for a period of time where I stood at his side and frightened the court that hung on the whims of the coven Elders?

  Valerio grabbed my hand from where it was resting on the arm of the chair and pulled me to my feet. Drawing me close, he lay my hand on his bare chest over his still heart while he pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Your thoughts have settled into a dark place, cara, and there is no need.”

  “Valerio, you have crossed Jabari and no one does such a thing. You know better!”

  “It’s you he’s going to punish.”

  “I’m quite aware of that, but that doesn’t mean that my punishment might not have some dire consequences for you as well. You risk too much. Jabari has shown me kindness over the years, but that does not make him a patient or a tolerant Elder.”

  “Venezia will be fine,” he said confidently.

  I shook my head. He was older and more experienced than me, but I had been the one to destroy more than one nightwalker at the request of the coven because an Elder had been crossed in some manner. I was not willing to believe that Jabari was going to look kindly on me going against his edict.