Dylan (Bowen Boys, #3)(44)

“When I do this to you, you’re going to be in a great deal of pain for a while. Monica said that it hurts more than giving birth to twins. She said to tell you that if you think about what it’s going to be like after, after the conversion is over, then that helps. Not a great deal, but it does help.” He watched her still as he continued. “I have to bite you, as I’ve said, but I have to do it deeply, tear into your body as if I’m trying to kill you. That terrifies me more than I can say to you.”

“You’re afraid of killing me.” He nodded. “I’m very strong and healthy. I know that helps. I talked to Caitlynne about it. Well, she cornered me and told me about it. She, too, said that it hurts, but she thought it was the most wonderful thing in the world. I personally think she’s a sadist, but I’m not positive.”

He laughed and reached for her again, and she came to him this time. “Do you still want to try, baby? I’m no less afraid for you, but I do want to try this.”

Looking up at him, she smiled. “I want to try. And so you know, if you kill me, I’m coming back as a wolf and beating the shit out of you.”

“Deal.” He held her for several more minutes, then they moved to the bedroom. He loved this woman very much. After helping her into her robe, they sat down to eat, and he told her everything that Monica had told him. By midnight, they were ready to begin.





Chapter Fourteen


Lucius found her. Now all he had to do was get her to him and to have her bring him what he needed to get Small free. He rubbed his hands together and thought of how nicely and neatly things were coming together. Frowning, he thought of the human again.

He’d tried to make the contraption work after the human had bled out. There was no hope for it. The machine would not do as he’d commanded it. He’d finally thrown it against the wall and destroyed it in much the same fashion he had the human. And he had destroyed him.

It had taken him several minutes to come back to himself. After his beast, a horrible creature even to him, had come forth, Lucius had lost control of himself. He’d not done that in many years and had actually been a little afraid. But the destruction was more than he’d ever seen from himself before.

The human was shredded. Parts of his body were strewn about the hotel room and had splattered on the windows and walls so badly that he’d been sure that he’d killed more than one person. But it had only been the one human. And before he could clean it up, he’d had to leave and feed, with the idea to come back and put things back to pristine order. With, of course, the exception of the human.

But he’d been too long. Someone from the management staff of the establishment had been there when he’d returned with all manner of police. He watched for a long while, wondering if they would know it was him, hoping really that they would say his name, but they only said unknown assailant. Lucius even thought of showing himself but didn’t at the last minute, knowing that he had to get to Small and the woman.

And now he had her. Or at least knew where she was. Getting to her was proving to be tricky, even for him. The girl had more silver on her person than he’d ever seen a human have before. But she would prove to be no challenge once he was able to get her.

The man she was with was a panther. Lucius had actually thought of taking him and making her do as he wanted by holding the man in his grasp. He had a feeling, though, that the girl wouldn’t play fair. She seemed to be a little unstable, and worst yet, as a female he knew she’d be unpredictable. He didn’t need a complication right now. Time was running short.

He materialized near the place where he knew her to be and waited. She’d have to come out of the house sooner or later, as would the man she was with. He shivered when he thought of the spell he’d nearly crossed when he’d tried to go onto the ground where she was. The place had been warded against him, specifically him. That bastard wizard had been up to his old tricks again.

Lucius had tried to kill him off several times over the years. The man had been crafty and free with his magic. Every time Lucius thought he was getting closer to his goal of ruling over the human, the wizard would appear, and he’d be thwarted once again. He was going to kill him as soon as he freed Small and had all he needed. And what Lucius wanted was power and money. With that he knew he’d be king.

Bored with watching the house, Lucius moved back to his hotel room. He only had a few hours before sunrise, and he thought he’d find a human to f*ck and to feed from before going to sleep. But when he got there, his room had been touched. Someone had been inside of it and had…cleaned it.

Looking around the room, he’d been amazed at the touches that he’d discovered. He thought about his house in the village where he’d grown up and the townspeople there, and he realized that he’d never been this clean before, his things so straight, and most of all, his sleeping chamber so nice smelling. He realized then that his bed had been neatly made twice now. Every time he left for the night, he’d come back to it made. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he thought about the spotty workmanship that his servants had done all the while he’d been keeping them around him.

Lucius remembered at the last second that he couldn’t go back to the village and make them pay for their laziness. They were all dead. Happy about that, and relieved actually that he’d not have to sully himself with them, he realized that it was now too late for him to leave. Closing up the room, he laid down. He smiled, thinking of the girl and all he was going to do to her once he had her.