Page 20 of To Crave Truly

“Because I need to ensure you obey me. Can’t have you running to your little friends to tell them all my plans now, can I?”

She growled. “I don’t want to do it.”

I smiled. She sounded like such a petulant child. “If I let you go, do you promise to behave?”

“No.”

I laughed at that but let her go anyway. She wouldn’t beat me. “Come on. Up you get.”

I tried to help her up, but she brushed me off, slapping my hands away. Such a feisty little thing. I almost admired it.

Her bright eyes met mine and I could feel every flame of defiance in them burning my skin as she stared at me. She was going to fight me every step of the way, and damn, if that didn’t excite me.

“You don’t need to do this, Mordecai.”

Anger and rage surged up, hot and instant. “I do, Lori. And you aren’t going to change my mind. He needs to pay for what he did to us. I will destroy him, and I will enjoy it.”

“Mordecai, please. Don’t do this. Don’t make me do this.” Her bottom lip trembled as she begged me for something I’d never be able to do. This hatred had been with me for so long, it was a part of me, carved into my very bones and weaved through every breath that I took. And I was never going to let it go, no matter how prettily she begged.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.” My words were barely above a whisper, and I realised, I was sorry. Where the fuck had that crept up from? Must just be her emotions I could feel through the sire bond. I refused to believe it was anything else.

“Come on. Time to see the witch and then I can send you back to that shithole you call home,” I said gruffly, my mood darkening with all the memories and emotions that were starting to resurface. I needed to focus on my end goals, and not the confusing little hellcat in front of me. She was most likely going to die, and I couldn’t get attached.

Then why couldn’t I shake the feeling that she’d already sunk her claws into me?

Chapter Ten

Lori

Itrailed behind Mordecai wondering what the Hell had just happened. The man was confusing, and his moods were giving me whiplash. Was I really going to let him have some witch put a spell on me so that I couldn’t tell my friends anything?

But I knew I’d already decided. If I had even the smallest chance of beating Mordecai, I knew I needed everyone.

“Well, if it isn’t everyone’s favourite triune.”

I looked up and spotted Selene leaning against a large chair set beneath a high vaulted ceiling.

“This is the witch you want to use? Nope. No fucking way.”

She blew me a kiss. “Aw, love you too, honey.”

I turned back to Mordecai and caught his smile twitching. “I’m not letting her anywhere near me. I don’t trust her.”

“Neither do I.”

“Hey!” Selene called out with a pout.

Mordecai shrugged. “It’s the truth. You have your own goals in life, I’m sure. I don’t trust that you’ll follow the plan if it stops you from getting what you want. We’re all the same, Selene. We’re all concerned with what we want, and, at the moment, we want the same thing. Lucifer gone.”

“I won’t do it, Mordecai.”

Selene giggled manically. “Ooh, first name terms. How endearing.”

Mordecai scowled, but I wasn’t sure whether it was at me or Selene. To be honest, I wasn’t sure the pair of them actually liked each other.

“Lori, you know you don’t have a choice. Just sit in the damn chair, before I put you in it.”

I looked between the silver haired vampire and the ancient looking chair. It looked more like a medieval throne than anything else. Mordecai was right. I knew I didn’t have a choice, well, not really. I could try to fight him now, while my demon and my magic seemed to be missing, and probably die, or, I could sit in the chair let Selene do her stupid spell and hopefully live to fight another day.

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