Page 179 of Master of My Heart

Chapter Fifty-Six

Maybe I should just encourage her to be with you.”

Chase paced in Richard’s office. He’d vented for the last thirty minutes about his tormented thoughts. Richard had called earlier that morning and asked him to come over. He was eager to hear if Sabrina was okay, but when Richard had asked how he was doing, he’d exploded with his frustrations.

The older man sat there silently, watching him pace and listening to him talk.

“Is that what you really want?” Richard finally asked.

“Of course not. I love her. She’s everything I thought she was. And more.” He leaned forward and rested his head on the wooden mantle of the fireplace, staring into the charred black ashes of a past fire. “But she’s right. How can I ask her to be a part of a world where I sleep with other women on a regular basis? After all she’s gone through...”

“She’s already part of our world, Chase. If nothing else, she needs to be under our protection to keep anyone else from getting hold of her.”

“Her views of marriage are conventional. Traditional.”

“Most women feel that way. But I think she’s beginning to understand our way of life.”

Chase straightened and turned. “Did you get through to her? Does she understand?”

“I heard her and Theo talking. I believe she is on her way.” Richard looked out the window and pressed his lips together. “I need to talk to you about what happened when I took her to the Manor. I showed her around, she met the slaves and seemed to be understanding that things weren’t quite what she thought they were. But when we got to the Gathering room...”

Richard hesitated, and Chase’s stomach clenched. He could see it in the older man’s face. Something had happened. “What happened? Is she okay?”

Richard nodded. “Yes. She’s...” He exhaled through pursed lips. “When I took her in there, she was attacked.”

“Attacked?!” Chase exclaimed. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“It wasn’t a physical attack. The Immortals... They sensed her and came for her. I didn’t know what to do. I’d never been in that situation before. Theo heard my call and came, and... I had to take her, Chase. I had to become her Master to protect her. Theo brought—”

“Wait. What?” Chase stared at Richard, not believing what he was hearing. He knew how Elders became Masters. “You fucked her?”

“I had to, Chase. She would have been taken if I hadn’t.”

Chase spun around and paced the room, anger boiling inside. “You took her? The woman I want to marry? Did you even ask her first?”

“There wasn’t time. I saw her fading. I performed the ritual to save her.”

Chase stopped at the window and stared out at the perfectly manicured lawn. The leaves on the myriad of trees lining the back of the property were a full spectrum of bright colors, reminding him of his and Sabrina’s walk along the river. “Then she’s gone. She’s yours now. I have nothing.” He pressed his lips together as his eyes burned with tears.

“It’s not a permanent bond. She is not an Elder-Mistress. She is simply under my and Tom’s protection.”

“Tom came?” Somehow knowing that another Elder was there helped soothe some of the pain in his chest. It wasn’t just Richard going behind his back and taking her. Maybe it really was as he said.

“Theo brought him.”

Chase nodded, still staring out the window. “Did you do more than what the ritual required?”

“Yes. She was rather demanding of our attention afterward.”

He closed his eyes, his mind filled with images of his precious Sabrina naked and writhing with pleasure as Tom and Richard attended to her.

“If it helps, when she woke up, she didn’t remember much of anything.”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know. But she was telling the truth. Perhaps her instincts took over and she did what she needed in order to protect herself.”

“By fucking you and Tom?”

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