“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grimaces, leaning away from me. I snatch his hand and pull him back. He bares his teeth, and I see how sharp they are up close. It doesn’t stop me, though. I can see he’s angry, but mostly, he’s scared.
“I enthrall myself to you, or whatever, and I get all the benefits without the downsides. Right?” Tannis explained it again that morning when they were doing my make up, but I don’t plan to tell Gray that I was gathering information behind his back. And besides that, Tannis didn’t give me much more than what they had already said.
A bond that would make me a de facto vampire, sans the undead part.
Gray is still as a statue as he considers me. Then, just as quickly as he was to anger, he snaps back to. Only, there isn’t anger; his expression is blank and devoid of anything. It makes my skin go cold and my spine shiver.
“If you were my thrall,” he says evenly, leaning forward, “our connection would mean that you are bound to me, to my wants and needs. It is complete and utter manipulation, disguised as unwavering devotion. Your mind would hardly be your own.”
Gray gains more ground, pushing me back to the other side of the tub. It shocks me when he climbs in after me, still fully dressed. Normally, I might find that kind of sexy, but right now, he’s got me cornered. I’m too mesmerized by the look in his eyes to care about the proximity or the way he’s positioned himself above me as I sink into the water, subdued like prey.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I murmur.
Gray’s face takes on a sharper edge, the glamor of his beauty fading into something wicked and teasing. “I like you, pliant and submissive, Millie, but only when I want it. When I’veearnedit.”
I can guess what he means, but I have to ask. “Earned it?”
“When you sigh,” he starts, licking his lips, “when you moan, when your body shakes, all those tiny thrills of pleasure—I’veearned them. I don’t want a drone in my bed, Millie. I want you, aware and alert. When we fuck, because we will, I want you to think about me because I’m buried inside of you, not because I’m your master. Is that clear?”
I swallow a lump in my throat and nod. “Crystal.”
“Good. Now wash up, and get to bed,” Gray says, the indifference melting away. He’s back to his usual self, which is slightly jarring. I watch him climb out of the tub, clothes wet and sticking to his body, already missing the nearness. He crosses the room to the door and pauses.
“And Millie?”
“Yes?” I sit up and peer over the edge.
“Don’t bother with a towel.” He smiles coyly, rolling his eyes over what he can see of me. Nothing is showing, but it doesn’t make me feel any less warm and tingly.
My dreams are washed in varying shades of red. Fresh blood coats every inch of my body, and I’m unmoving, stuck in the center of a deep crimson lake. I lift my hands and hold them high, but the blood stays. It’s thick, like syrup, winding in an endless drip as it moves down my curves in rivulets. It smells like death here, like ash and smoke and Gray’s cologne.
“Shh.” His voice curls around my ears as he presses against my back. Two white hands trail along my arms until his fingers twist into mine. He pulls them down against my chest, cradling me against his solid frame.
“What is this place?” My voice echoes.
“Hell.”
My body shivers just before several heads break through the surface of red water. I don’t recognize any of them except one. Dante leads them, his presence foreboding. He’s bare-chested, marked up with deep wounds across his body, baring his fangs which are sharpened to a point. He snarls, and his face takes on an inhuman expression. Eyes as red as Gray’s watch me with bright, fresh hate.
“Whose hell?” I whisper.
But Gray doesn’t hear me, or ignores me. He’s just a dream, and this is just a nightmare. Right?
A scream tears through me as the vampires lunge, descending on me with fangs and sharpened nails. I tear through the blankets as I sit up, locked in a cold sweat.
“Millie?” Gray is already beside me, rubbing my back, coaxing me to breathe. “Are you alright?”
A tear slips down my cheek. “No… not really.”
“Will you tell me?” he whispers against my ear. It’s too much like the dream, too similar to the way he’s holding me from behind. I cringe away from him.
“Give me a minute,” I say, holding back the tears.
Though it’s dark, I can tell he’s moved away. After a few deep breaths, I feel myself calming.
“I… I had a nightmare,” I start, voice shaking. “There was blood. You were there, holding me, and Dante was there. He had others with him, but I don’t know who.”
“Others?” Gray sounds surprised, if not concerned.
