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Her fists pounded into my chest. The impact was nothing. A brush against my muscle for all the damage she was trying to do.
“Rape? I don’t think your orgasm would accuse what I’ve done, rape. You loved it.”
She hit me again, this time harder. My drug was wearing off and so was my patience. Tears were close to spilling from her eyes and it pissed me off. How could she say I’d raped her after what we just shared?
“Off.”
“I. Will. Not.” My teeth ground together at the challenge in her eyes. “You say I rape you, perhaps I will show you the difference. That way next time you don’t get so confused.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed.
“You doubt me?”
Her lids lowered in rage. “Do you love me?”
Silence stretched between us and I pushed from her body, too conflicted by my racing thoughts. I did love her. More than anything, but she’d hurt me by calling what we shared rape. All I wanted was for the sex to be the best she had ever had. Now this? I wasn’t used to the pain that came with this emotion.
“You ask me if I love you. What about you loving me? Does one accuse a person of such a crime when they have powerful feelings for them? Do you not love me? Is that it?”
Tessa crawled to the edge of the bed, forcing her legs over the side. Her body shook as she stood on wobbly legs. “You’re a fool to ask that question, Marko Delacroix. Would I be here if I didn’t?”
“Where else would you go? Maybe here is all you have left? And you seem to like headquarters.”
Dark hair swung over her shoulder as she spun to face me. One king size bed separated us, but it wasn’t going to keep either of us at a safe distance if this fight escalated.
“You think I want to be here? I want my city back. I want to go home. One that is gone because of you! Aetas wouldn’t have allowed for something like that to happen if he ran a city.” The last was said under her breath as she stumbled to grab her robe. Red flashed before my vision and I flew, scrambling over the bed as I tackled her down. In that moment, I was Marko, feeding from his hate of me as she hit the floor and I pinned her with my body. The room faded and so did my thoughts. Back and forth they came and went until I barely could recall what I was doing or saying.
“You dare compare me to him?” I gave her a good shake as I bared my fangs and surged back to her throat. I bit hard, raking my claws down her arms as she screamed and thrashed underneath me. The scent of blood perfumed the room, igniting the crazed vampire within me. I couldn’t think. I knew nothing but the crash of hatred and jealousy that was rocking my insides.
“Stop! Stop!”
Flesh shredded beneath our fighting limbs. The screams were getting louder, grating my ears as she kicked and hit at me. She was so slippery that it was hard for me to get a good grip, but I kept trying. Kept grabbing and trying to restrain her.
My poison left me again, leaving an ache behind so intense that I couldn’t help but jerk away from her neck. The crimson that met me as I slowly rose to my knees was enough to break through the evil haze. Tessa was covered in blood. Deep slices were opened revealing the damaged muscle below. I blinked hard, not believing what I was seeing. For seconds, I couldn’t move. She was unconscious from my venom … and still bleeding out.
“Jesus. Fuck.” A deep growl exploded through the room as my hands shot to my head. I was spinning. Falling into a place I’d never been before. Who was I? I didn’t know anymore. She said Aetas, as if I were her savior, but that wasn’t me. But I wasn’t Marko either. I was some creation I’d made by mixing our blood. A monster, in love with a woman who I felt couldn’t love me as much as I loved her. One who would come to hate me. Nothing I did was right. I couldn’t control myself in this form, but would I ever be able to again? I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t un-mix the blood. What was done was done.
My fingers locked in my hair as I tugged through the anxieties. All I could do was stare down fascinated and terrorized at Tessa’s mutilated body while she bled all over my floor. What was I going to do? How was I going to fix this?
Was there even a way to?
My eyes rose to the mirror as I took in Marko’s face—one I hated and loved. It was too soon to change back into me. My plan wasn’t nearly as far as I wanted, but how much longer would I have a choice before I lost my mind completely?
Chapter 28
Tessa
I awoke from the darkness, crying out through the sting that had jolted me awake. Grogginess made it hard to open my eyes, but somehow my lids stayed open long enough to see Marko’s hand drawing back, holding a bloody rag.
Memories filtered through and my head fell to the side as I let them sink in. Aetas was losing it. He was more unstable than ever. I couldn’t begin to know what was going through his mind, or even how to understand it. Had he always been this way and I never knew? Sure, he’d done some bad things to me over the time I had known him, but to go this far? Marko had been right. Love, it ruled him. But not as his true self, as a twisted version of Marko. Did he even consider himself Aetas anymore? I had hoped to test it by throwing in my jab, but I hadn’t expected that reaction. Quite the opposite.
“I never thought you’d hurt me like this. How could you?”
I sobbed for the separation of my men. For this hell I was living so they could be safe. I didn’t regret my decision. I’d stay as long as needed, but seeing the man I love act in a terrifying way wasn’t sitting right with my mind.
“I’m sorry isn’t good enough. I wasn’t thinking. I can’t think,” he said pained. “This blood in me, it’s ruining everything.”
I forced my eyes open to see him watching me as he lifted the rag out of the bowl and brought it back to my chest. Drops fell into the wounds and my body convulsed through the electrifying shock that brought agony.
