“Who are you anyway? Why would Kade let you rescue Luca?” She couldn’t fathom why this stranger cared what happened to Luca.
“I am Kade’s maker,” he stated with resounding authority. “Now let’s not waste time. We have a vampire to save and an amulet to destroy. I need you ready, mentally prepared for what we are about to face. You must be focused. Draw on your power. Remember how it felt at the cabin. Bring whatever elements you need, but help us get Luca.” Léopold shut the door behind him, praying that Luca’s woman understood what they faced.
Samantha wasn’t happy to be in Léopold’s home. How could Kade leave her with him? She barely trusted Kade and now she was supposed to trust his maker? She put her face into her hands in grief. Luca was gone, and it was all her fault. If she could have resisted Rowan, she’d never have lost the amulet. If she’d listened to Ilsbeth and tried harder to learn her craft, she would’ve been able to fight back. Instead, she’d been nothing more than a marionette being played by a master puppeteer.
Wiping the tears away, she attempted to collect her emotions. She may’ve been useless to Luca in the courtyard, but she’d be damned if she’d give up on him. She couldn’t let Rowan wear him down to nothing. Resolving to fight until her last breath, she pushed off the bed. She wasn’t a quitter; she was a survivor.
Samantha knew in her heart that she loved Luca with every cell of her being. She wasn’t sure that she could trust Léopold, but he’d told her Xavier and Étienne were coming with them. Luca trusted those vampires who’d been at the club. If he could trust them, she would try as well. It was all she had to go on.
Pushing open the bathroom door, Samantha went about her business and then caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her long red mane frizzed out of the rubber band; her face was marred by dirt and a large thin scratch over her right eyebrow remained as evidence of her brawl with Rowan. “Shit,” she said to herself, deciding she looked like a hot mess.
She ran the water hot and wet a washcloth. After gently cleaning the wound, she rubbed the cloth up and down her arms, in an attempt to freshen herself up. Wetting her fingers with water, she finger combed her hair, braided a single braid down her back and secured it with the band. Satisfied that she was ready to face Léopold, she walked out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. Her delicate fingers closed around the brass doorknob. She took a deep cleansing breath; it was time to get Luca back.
Barely conscious, Luca writhed against the burning silver cuffs. Through blurry eyes, he took stock of the sparsely decorated environment. The spacious area held only a single tattered sofa and a dusty area rug, which partially covered the oak planked floor. Intricate antiqued crown moldings around the upper perimeter clued him that it might once have been used as a ballroom. However, not a window revealed his location, as they’d been boarded over.
Footsteps alerted him to the svelte figure watching him from the doorway. Her inky curly tresses spilled over nearly white skin. As his eyes came into focus, he could see she was wearing a scarlet satin corset and matching lace panties; a translucent full-length robe trimmed with feathers, deliberately showed off her assets. Her cherry-red lips began to move as she slithered toward him. A flash of metal in her hands caught his eyes; scissors.
“Luca, darling. So nice that you are finally awake.” She knelt beside him, running her long fingers up his chest. Pulling tightly on his shirt with one hand, she began to cut the material until his chest lay naked to her. She ripped the fabric aside until Luca felt the cool hardwood floor against his skin.
“Rowan,” Luca hissed. “You’ve gone mad. You can’t keep me here.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, my vampire.” She raked her fingernails down his chest until she felt the button on the top of his jeans. She unbuttoned his pants and unzipped him. “I can and will keep you here. You’re my shiny new toy. I do love unwrapping presents.”
She smiled wickedly and held the edge of the cold blades flat against his lips. “Keep quiet now, my pet. I’m going to enjoy every minute of this.”
Luca jerked his head away in disgust. Rowan laughed as she trailed the scissors down his chest and slid the blade under his jeans, letting it rest against his groin.
“Don’t worry, darling. I have no intention of damaging the goods. I have plans for you.” She cupped his balls roughly then began to cut his jeans away. Within minutes, she had removed all the denim. Luca lay splayed on the hardwood floor naked save only for his boxers.
“Rowan, don’t do this. Ilsbeth will find you. She’s the most powerful witch in New Orleans. You’re part of her sisterhood.”
“Ha! Ilsbeth,” she mocked. “All these years, you and Kade have been coming to the coven for her advice, her help. Using her like a whore. She makes me sick the way she panders to all you vampires. She’ll never find me anyway. Of course you don’t know since you’ve been out of it, but I’ll let you in on a little secret.” She straddled him, caging him with her arms placed to either side of his head. Seductively, she leaned over, rubbing her breasts against his chest. Lapping her tongue along the line of his neck, she whispered in his ear, “We’re not in New Orleans.”
“Are you mad? You know damn well that Ilsbeth can still find you.”
“So you think. But you need to accept that I have grown quite powerful too. Even if she managed to locate me by scrying, I’ve set up wards especially for Ilsbeth.”
“I am going to rip your fucking throat out and drain you dry, witch. Release me now and I’d consider showing you mercy,” Luca growled, baring his fangs.
“Now, now, Luca dear. You’ve got to come to terms with what’s happened to you. It will be much easier for us all if you simply submit to me. I am your mistress now. And I can do whatever I want with your mind and this fine body of yours.” Rowan dug her fingernails into his shoulders and began to grind her pelvis against Luca’s.
Luca thrashed against his bindings and tried to buck her off of him. “Bitch, it will be a cold day in hell before you’ll ever be with me. You disgust me, you bloody cow. Get off me!”
“Come now, do be a good boy. You are forgetting that I have the periapt. I can make you do anything now, whether you want it or not.” She fingered a silver necklace and held up the amulet; a key dangled next to it. Moving her body upward, she pressed the apex of her legs against the cheek of his face as she unlocked the handcuffs above his head.
“You will lie still on this floor, Luca. You will not stand. If you do, you will feel blinding pain. You see, you have no choice but to obey me.” Rowan patted his face and got up to attend to his ankle cuffs.
Freed from his bonds, Luca stretched but was weakened from the silver. His arms felt like lead as he pulled them over his chest. Yet the burns from the silver were already beginning to heal. Luca could sense his power returning as the bindings on his feet were released. Remembering the pain in the courtyard, he decided to lie still and formulate an escape plan. If he could somehow get the amulet off her neck, he should be released from its will.
Rowan rubbed Luca’s ankles, amazed at how quickly he healed. She congratulated herself for choosing such a fine vampire as her slave. She’d have him in her bed and for her warrior, she decided. Admiring his lean, muscled body, she glided her hands up his legs.
“Ah, you are an exquisite specimen. I can’t wait to nuzzle my plaything.” Her finger tips slipped into his boxers.
Luca heard a commotion in the hallway. Rowan froze. Five scraggly wolves tramped into the room. An enormous, menacing, auburn wolf growled at the others. Whimpering, the four lesser wolves cowered and scampered out of the room. The gray-eyed wolf approached Luca, sniffing his hair and chest. A piercing howl emanated throughout the room as it transformed into a naked, crouching man.