AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, I don’t know.” Victor rolled his eyes behind his tangerine lenses. “The fact that secrets seem to be a trend with you? First, you sneak into my home under false pretences, then you announce you’re a Mercer, and now you murder as easily as if you’re a hired assassin.” Leaning closer, he smirked dangerously. “What other skeletons are in your closet, mon ami?”
Henri flicked me a look, his eyes black and stony.
God, my golden collar and cuffs seemed extra heavy today.
The bite mark on my neck ultra bright.
For three days, he’d shut down.
Buried himself in books and closed out the world.
The longing I’d grown used to—the unshielded yearning within him that made my heart flutter despite myself…all gone.
Or at least…hidden.
He’d been monosyllabic ever since he’d left me dripping against the wall, and I probably deserved it.
He saved me.
Avenged me.
That one act of kindness had somehow negated all his badness…at least in my newly twisted mind. I curled my fingers into fists on my knees, ignoring the small twinge in my hand from punching Larry.
When Henri had exploded out of the darkness like some murderous werewolf—when he’d given a lupine howl on the storm’s wind and morphed from a man into a tornado of violence…that’d been the moment things had changed for me.
Not in the shower.
Not in our bedroom.
That moment.
And…no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t undo that moment or change how my heart now felt.
He’d saved my mind from ruination.
Protected me from a lifetime of emotional scars.
He’s still good…deep, deep inside.
I know it.
Running his fingers over my bare shoulder, Henri didn’t seem aware he’d reached for me as he tipped his chin at Victor. “No more skeletons, Vic. I swear.”
The way he reached for me…even now. The bond between us…despite everything.
I’d been wrong to think he was heartless.
If anything, he was heartful.
Too full.
Overflowing.
Drowning.
“Fine…tell me, then. How did you fight so well?” Victor asked.
“Would you believe me if I said I have no idea?”
“No idea?” Victor’s eyebrows rose. “You’re saying it was all instinct?”
Henri continued caressing me.
I wished he wouldn’t.
Wished I didn’t have to shift to hide what he did to me.
“I’m saying they made me irrational,” he said. “She makes me irrational.”
“Ah, yes.” Victor scowled. “You became…how did you put it? Murderous?” He dropped his navy stare to where Henri stroked me. “Tell me, have all your crushes created this sort of violence in you, or is it just lucky Ilyana?”
My nipples pebbled beneath the scant silver bikini a maid had delivered after Henri had called for clothes for me. Something suitable for swimming. Something that allowed him to see me but hid forbidden parts from others.
Not that I was complaining.
The stretchy Lycra was the most decency I’d had since arriving here.
“Just her, I’m afraid,” Henri muttered. “And as much as I wish I could undo her hold on me, I can’t. Besides, I did warn everyone not to touch her.” He threw a scowl at the guests having their breakfast, deliberately ignoring our table. “Least they’re aware now.”
My skin broke out in goosebumps as my heart quickened.
The longer Henri touched me, the harder it was to ignore the rapidly building fire between us. A fire that only seemed to grow stronger every time we were near.
Flames incinerated my insides the longer this awful silence between us stretched.
Say the word…
Admit what he might be…
You were warned by that astrologer. He said one day you’d find your—
Enough!
Just like I knew Peter wasn’t my soulmate, I refused to entertain the idea that Henri might be my…
I shut that thought down.
God…if only he’d kept fighting that night.
If only he’d grabbed me and run the opposite way—toward the drawbridge and onto the plane—like a true gallant knight should. Everyone knew the saviour saved the damsel, not carted her back to the tower to ravage her.
And wow, did he ravage me.
“I need information, Henri,” Victor clipped. “Tell me how you did it.”
“I have nothing to tell. I just…let myself go.” Henri shrugged, his fingers still sending pinwheels of heat through my blood. “I wasn’t thinking about anything apart from making them pay.”
“And you’ve never trained in Muay Thai or mixed marital arts?”
I looked between the two men.
Was Henri a master in warfare like Victor suspected?
The way he’d attacked those creeps. The typhoon of fists and hurricane of violence.
I could see why Victor was interested.
He’d seemed…inhuman.
“Never.” Henri shrugged. “However, now that you mention it, I used to watch quite a few matches on YouTube when I wasn’t working at the bar. MMA has always interested me. Brutal sport. Maybe I picked up a few tricks that way?”
“Perhaps,” Victor muttered, all while looking highly doubtful. “From the accounts of my battlement guards, it sounds as if you turned into a death machine.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“I wouldn’t, if I were you.” Victor smiled thinly. “It’s got me thinking…”
