Dash it. I might have said too much. I would never betray Alex and spill his secrets. “I think we’ve talked enough.”
“What is his problem? Does he have a condition? Is he deranged? Does he have manias?”
“He’s perfectly fine. Now, I’m sure you’re busy.”
After he lingered for a moment, he returned to his blasted wood, his aura a jumble of confused emotions. I understood Alex’s annoyance towards the werewolf, but I also understood Graves’s suspicion. Someone who didn’t know Alex as well as I did wouldn’t sympathise with his predicament.
I had to calm myself before releasing my power.Concubine my foot.
Cara came out of the house, wrapped in a dark cloak, and strode towards the gate as if on a mission.
Her aura was multicoloured like Darius’s and just as wide, spreading like fireworks. But something prevented me from digging deeper as if there were a barrier protecting her aura. She had nothing of the distraught woman sobbing in front of a grave.
When she walked past me, a little shiver slithered up my arms, and I lost my focus. Also, what had happened to Alex kept distracting me.
He’d been so frightened I’d feared his heart would have stopped, if that was possible for a vampire. In that moment, he hadn’t looked like the powerful, detached duke always in control, but like a scared man, alone in his agony.
Whatever had caused that reaction from him must have been a horrible experience. An experience he didn’t want to share.
If I relaxed and focused on one head, the aura changed colours, but aside from that, not much happened.
Darius was reading a book under the sycamore. His usual bright, multicoloured aura sparked. I followed the twists and turns of the golden tendril through the halo. The tendril vanished to reappear on the other side, like a bright snake.
The muscles in my neck hurt. I rubbed them before concentrating. The tendril twisted and darted, diving into the light. His halo froze, showing a blue glow shining close to his head. On the edge of the glow, the other colours shone and shifted as usual.
The motionless aura lasted a couple of seconds, and I had no idea what the colour meant, but a thrill made me squeal. That had to be the inner layer.
I rushed inside and up the stairs, eager to tell Alex about my progress. I knocked but didn’t wait for his reply.
“Alex, I—” I skidded to a stop.
His mouth was latched around the wrist of Fiona as she lay on his bed. My first thought was that he was hurting her, but no. She moaned and rolled her hips as he drank her blood without touching her.
The fact his bedroom looked like a cave added to the macabre atmosphere. The huge four-poster bed was big enough for three people, and it was easy to imagine Alex sprawled on it. The heavyblue drapes and domed ceiling turned the room dark. And the brown carpet did nothing to brighten the atmosphere. A funeral home was more cheerful.
Our gazes locked.
His eyes were fully obsidian, and the hunger in them was unmistakable.
I couldn’t look away. The scene was both terrifying and enchanting. By the way Fiona bit her bottom lip and undulated on the bed, she was enjoying every second, and if the healing was anything to go by, the bite had to be ten times more pleasurable.
“Alexander.” She whispered his name in such an intimate way that a prick stung my chest.
I started to leave, but staring at me, Alex raised his head. He licked her wrist with long strokes of his tongue, which caused Fiona to cry out in pleasure.
Her back arched as she squeezed her thighs together. When he finished, he licked the last drops of blood from his lips.
Fiona sighed, slumping on the bed. She thrust her breasts out in an invitation he ignored.
“You may leave. Thank you.” The frost in his tone would chill the most passionate lover.
“You can take more.” She ran a sensual hand along her body.
“I have a guest.”
Fiona whipped her scorching gaze towards me. “And?”
“Thank you, Fiona.” Alex stood up, uncoiling his massive body.
