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She wanted to stay as passionately as she wanted to get the hell out of this insane world.
Once more, she rose up from the bed and crossed to the leather box.
This time, she took it back with her, sat down again, and balanced the box on her lap. Opening the lid, she decided to hold one of the chains this time. Maybe the blood-infused links would speak to her in a way that would help her make up her mind.
Several very small metal latches kept the chain in place, and once she removed them she drew the chain from the box. She set the red leather container aside.
She slid the blood-chain over her wrist and found that it had a nice weight. Only this time, perhaps because it rested against her skin, she experienced a faint vibration that felt like Reyes. She couldn’t express it any other way. The chains reflected the way she thought of him, very powerful, intense, with a layering of determination that expressed his current goals.
She closed her eyes and forced her mind to relax. She posed the question silently: Why should I stay here with Reyes? Why should I choose such an impossible path? Why?
A single image rose swiftly within the center of her brain, of the Russian female slave from last night, the one who bore bruises all over her na**d body. Angelica saw her clearly outside Engles’s mansion, when her slave owner had attacked her throat and drunk from her neck.
Angelica opened her eyes. She could still hear the woman’s whimpers.
From that memory Angelica’s decision roared toward her with hurricane-force winds. Though she’d wanted to escape back to her ordinary life, she was needed here, maybe even for as long as it took to make sure that Starlin didn’t abduct even one more vulnerable human.
She slid the chain off her wrist, holding it in both hands.
With her decision made, she simply slid the blood-chain over her head and let it fall around her neck. She pulled her hair from beneath until each link connected with her skin.
She drew in a deep breath as the chain began to vibrate softly and a sense of Reyes came into focus. She could even tell where he was in relation to the upstairs bedroom, as though some kind of vampire locator process had just clicked into place. Right now he sat in his office on the bottom floor.
She took another breath, and through the chain she began to siphon his power, letting it flow into her. She felt strengthened and renewed, something she hadn’t expected.
###
Reyes had been so intent on reviewing all the parties to which he’d been invited that at first he didn’t notice that his power was leaving him in a steady stream.
When he realized what it had to be he stood up abruptly and struggled to take a couple of breaths.
Angelica had put on one of the blood-chains.
Though he’d never been chained before, he knew instinctively that this was exactly what had happened. He could sense it in the same way he felt the level of Angelica’s determination.
She’d made her decision.
She was staying.
A wave of relief poured through him, as well as a thrill that he’d have the woman with him for at least the next few days.
But he had to calm down. His adrenals had released a huge amount of hormones, which had in turn ramped up his ever-present desire for the human. Glancing down at his jeans, he saw he had an uncomfortable bulge and adjusted himself because what shouldn’t have been the least bit swollen was now rock solid.
He hadn’t expected such a sudden, profound reaction. Maybe he’d wanted the bond and wanted her with him, but he’d set aside just how deeply attracted to her he was. Now, however, all that longing came into sharp focus.
But the last thing she needed was him coming at her in an aroused state.
Closing his eyes, he focused not on Angelica, but on his mission. That, at least, would help calm things down. He could finalize his itinerary now and choose which of the Festival parties to attend. There’d be a boat parade first in an extensive underground cavern that had over fifty mansions built on either side of a wide and very deep underground river. Engles had a place there, so his party would definitely be one of the stops.
Reyes was still the acknowledged guest of honor, and a variety of invitations had lit his in-box within the first hour following his winning bid at the auction.
Now Angelica would be with him. But how was he supposed to control his drive toward her?
At last calm, he shifted to altered flight and made his way slowly toward his bedroom, though he thought it only fair to give her a warning. I’m coming to you.
###
I’m here. Angelica still sat on the bed, the red leather box beside her.
She was suddenly very nervous. The chains would change everything. She’d known it instinctively, which was why the decision had been so damn hard.
But even as these thoughts rippled through her mind she could also sense Reyes’s feelings and reactions. She smiled. His initial response had been full of sex, so much like a man.
She’d gotten that.
His desire for her had been like a warm wave easing down her body and making her feel things she shouldn’t be feeling. But she’d known this would be a problem for her and for him as well. The chains merely accentuated what was already there, what had been simmering between them from that first kiss in the foyer of the Ocean Club.
When he arrived she watched him move through the solid wall and cabinet in the sitting room, appearing almost opaque at first, then solid, as he shifted from altered flight to mere levitation. He touched down near one of the brown leather club chairs but stayed put.
She rose to her feet to face him, suddenly aware that she should have at least gotten dressed. She’d been so caught up with her need to make a decision that she’d forgotten, until his gaze drifted up and down her body, that she wore only a short blue silk negligee.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“For what?” But his voice sounded hoarse.
“I should have put something on.”
He nodded. “It’s okay. I’m just so … grateful.” His gaze fell to the chain around her neck. “Angelica, what you’ve done is enormous.”
He moved toward her slowly, which affected her senses all over again. He walked like the powerful athlete he was, the outlines of his muscular shoulders and chest visible beneath a thin dark-blue V-neck sweater. He wore snug jeans and she couldn’t decide whether she preferred this look, or the leather jacket he’d worn at the Ocean Club, or his tux. The man looked great in anything.
She touched the blood-chain, which vibrated more and more heavily the closer he got.
When he stood in front of her she caught a whiff of the ocean, like he’d been running along a seashore. The scent was very male and weakened her knees. His eyes were so blue, and once more the scruff over his jaw and chin made her tongue tingle.
