Page 25 of Bewitched By a Vampire

He dragged his eyes away from her throat, sure he was going to regret this. “You can leave your room if you swear you won’t leave the house.”

Her caramel-coloured eyes leaped to meet his and she blinked at him as her lips parted.

“Why?” That word tumbled from her bewitching lips, shaking him from his reverie, and he lifted his gaze to lock with hers. Suspicion coloured them. “Why are you letting me leave the room? You made it quite clear last night that this was my prison cell.”

He flinched but masked it by scratching his neck, pretending an itch was the reason he had suddenly moved.

“I’m not your jailer.” Although he certainly felt like it, something he would never forgive Bastian for. He sighed and glanced along the cream corridor to his right, towards the stairs, as he sensed other servants moving around. “You haven’t eaten all day. You must be hungry.”

He returned his gaze to her and she looked more surprised now than when he had announced she was free to move around the house. Shocked that he had thought of her needs? Or maybe she was surprised that he cared.

“I’m not hungry.” Her stomach growled on cue, calling her a liar.

She clutched it and glared at him, as if daring him to say something.

He would, but it wasn’t going to be what she expected.

“Do not leave. Bastian will be gone for a while longer. If you can just give me time, I can… I’m not sure. Figure something out.” He didn’t sound confident to his own ears, so he wasn’t surprised when she arched an eyebrow at him.

“Now you want to help me?” Her eyes searched his, mistrust glittering in them, and before he could defend himself and convince her that he had been torn about her situation from the moment he had met her, she continued, “Fine. I won’t leave.”

It was a relief to hear that, had more of the tension flowing from him. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to help her. Maybe he could speak to Bastian and convince him that he didn’t really want her, and that what he was doing was wrong. Maybe he could find another pretty female or two who were willing to be his brother’s servants and offer them up as an exchange.

As he had with the brute last night.

Lilian stepped closer to him, capturing the whole of his focus. Her delicate scent swirled around him and the feel of her eyes on him had his shifting to meet them. A soft look settled across her face, resembling concern, but he wasn’t sure what he had done to deserve it.

She lifted her hand and stopped just short of cupping his cheek, tormenting him with the sensation of her palm close to his face and a violent need to feel it pressed to his flesh.

“Did you sleep at all today?” she murmured, a tenderness in her tone that stole his strength and made him want to sag against her and gather her into his arms so he could rest his cheek on her shoulder and find peace.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes instead. “I could not.”

Lilian inched closer still and he wanted to tell her not to, that he wasn’t a strong male where she was concerned and he was dangerously close to taking hold of her and surrendering to his need of her.

Her eyes bewitched him though, holding him immobile, as if she had cast a spell on him.

They were so soft.

Held so much concern.

All of it directed at him.

He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had looked at him like that. He wasn’t sure it had ever happened. At least not from someone outside of his family. His mother had looked at him like that. His sister. He shut down that thought, the pain of losing her unwelcome in this moment.

Lilian’s brow furrowed as her eyes darted between his, as if she could see his pain. She probably could. He had never been able to hide it well. Discovering his little Luna had walked into the sun because she had feared bloodlust might seize her as it had their cousin and make her harm her beloved family had damn near destroyed him. He had been inconsolable for months. A wretched, broken thing. He rubbed his eyes as they misted, as his heart ached and felt as if it might break.

He was too tired for this, his defences weakened by fatigue, allowing thoughts to take hold of him too easily. If he let himself think about it, those thoughts would become a nightmare when he finally slept. He didn’t want to replay that day.

Lilian’s palm brushing across his cheek made him tense and his hand dropped from his face as he lifted his eyes, his gaze colliding with hers.

“You should get some sleep,” she whispered.

A wave of fatigue rolled over him, as if her words were magic, and something dark inside him rebelled in response, growling and snarling and driving him to lash out at her and force her away from him. He tamped down the urge. No one was casting spells on him. He was tired and he had been wanting to talk to her about her predicament, and now he had. That was the reason he now felt he could sleep.

It had nothing to do with what she had said.

His eyelids grew heavy though and he had to keep blinking to remain awake, feeling as if he would collapse if he remained standing before her much longer.

---