Inacio chuckled. “I’m well fed, Kele. I have no interest in virgins. The meal would be so scant.”
She narrowed her gaze. “Then ease away from me. Your scent stirs my blood.”
“Forgive me. I did not wash after my last interlude but be assured I am a gentleman.”
She crossed her arms as best she could with a chained wrist. “Why would you help me escape?”
“I don’t see any keys in my hands so I don’t see how I’m helping.” He hid a smile behind his hand.
Her blood boiled but not from lust. “You just told me I’d break free if I shifted.”
“Yet strangely, you haven’t.” He tilted his head. “Is this some sex game you are playing with Benic? I don’t mind sharing as long as I’m included.”
Jaw unhinged, she could scarcely breath. “A game?” The question was almost inaudible.
“You know, a little slave and master role playing?” He batted his eyelashes. “I can be the cabin boy. I give great cunnilingus.”
Clutching her throat, she couldn’t make any sound. Did mates play such games? An uncalled image of her parents playing this flashed in her mind. Dark night, she’d have nightmares for weeks. “Stop it. This isn’t some game.” She whipped the hair from her face and glared at the overly amused incubus.
“So, then, why haven’t you shifted yet and torn out my throat?”
“I can’t shift.” She tossed the words at him as if they were stones.
He sat up, his gaze clear and bright. “Really? You’re always in civil form?” Without permission, he stroked her arm.
She shrugged him off.
“Are you afraid?”
She squirmed, her heart twisting. “What kind of question is that?” Of course she was, but years of practice kept it under control. Better to be angry than afraid.
He laughed, loud and easy. “You’ve a sharp tongue. I’m happy Benic brought you home. I could use a companion and more stimulating conversation.”
She snorted. “I doubt you lack in companions.”
“Then you know very little of my people.” His smile took on an edge of sadness.
“I thought the incubi lived far south from our lands. What are you doing here?”
“The arms of the Vampire Nation are long. I was captured and sold on the black market. Benic was kind enough to rescue me from a worse fate than being his toy.”
Vampires traveled the world. They weren’t tied to the land. She’d been so focused on her little forest that she never gave thought to beyond the tribe’s borders. “Then you are a slave?”
“I must repay my debt, then I am free.” He winked. “I was not cheap. Even then, what will I do? Walk back to South Amerigo? My kind is hunted outside the protection of our nests.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t been aware of such things. “With your—power, couldn’t you persuade someone to help?”
“Fuck my way home?” His smile grew wide as he leaned closer. “That would be dangerous.” His pupils constricted and his scent grew strong.
Musk floated around her. She held her breath but already the muscles in her back relaxed. Her thoughts grew slow and she sighed. Scooting nearer, she strained against the chain and touched his face, but she wanted so much more.
He retreated from her touch, leaving a void.
She almost cried out, the emptiness that sharp.
He watched her while pouring a cup of water from the pitcher. “What would you do for me, Kele?”
“Anything.” She clawed at her clothes.
He tossed the water in her face.
The cold bit through the fog of lust. She shook her head with a growl. Blinking the water from her eyes, she tried to gather what diginity she still owned. “Don’t ever do that again.” She’d fallen under his spell so easily.
Inacio leaned against the table. “See? If I force someone under my will, I have to keep them there. Creating the pheromone is not an easy task. At some point I need to rest. When they awakened from my influence, I would be dead or worse.”
She retreated from him. “Lesson learned.” He spoke the truth. If Inacio had taken advantage of her she would have torn his throat out afterward.
“I’ve never met a wild shifter. All the servants are domesticated shifters. Benic protects me too much.”
She blinked, not sure how Inacio fit into Benic’s life. “He does?” The ferret had never mentioned Inacio once in the years she’d known him. She recalled the kiss—the promise hidden within it. All false. “Are you—together?”
“As in being in love?”
Treachery ripped her guts and licked at her inside. She pressed her hands to her stomach, the pain a surprise. Benic meant nothing to her.
“You’re very innocent to think such things, Kele.”
She turned her shoulder from him. “Then what would you call it?”
“I’m a food source with benefits. A well-fed incubus or succubus can sustain a vampire much longer than any other creature.”
The pain grew worse as Benic’s duplicity deepened. “What about humans?”
Inacio shrugged. “Never heard of them.”
“Benic stole one today when he took me.”
“Oh, that female? I doubt she’s for feeding. He took her to his laboratory where he conducts experiments.”
A shiver ran up her spine. She twisted to face him once more, her earlier anger forgotten. “What kind of experiments?”
He shrugged. “You can ask him yourself. He shouldn’t be long. The laboratory is above us, on the top of the tower.”
“Inacio, please. Tell me what he’s doing to her.”
“I don’t know but don’t worry so. He studies blood, Kele, not torture.”
A knock on the door sent her into a defensive crouch.
A servant girl entered carrying a tray. Food. She was starved.
Two guards stood by the entrance.
Inacio moved out of the servant’s way, turning his back to the door.
Kele’s gaze met one of the guard’s and her heart stopped. Ahote. She gasped.
The incubus spun around as her pack mate attacked and punched him with a quick, hard jab. Inacio crumpled to the floor unconscious.
Dropping the tray on the table, the girl rushed to her. “Did he hurt you?”
Kele looked closer at the familiar face. “Peder?” Not a girl. Her omega wore a dress. He’d braved the dangers of the castle to rescue her. With a soaring heart, she hugged him tight. “No, he was—nice, in an odd way.”
Ahote shouldered between them. “This is all very touching but have the reunion later.” He grasped her metal bracelet, his thick civil fingers barely fitting. The muscles of his shoulders bunched and strained as he tried to force it open.
She gasped.
“You’re hurting her.” Peder wrestled with Ahote’s wrists.
A pop vibrated through her body as the bracelet clattered to the floor. She sucked in a long breath and watched her guardian shake off Peder.
She cleared her throat and rubbed her wrist. “Susan’s at the top of this tower. Benic might be with her.”
Sorin, standing in the doorway dressed as the other guard, left without a word.
Ahote glanced at Kele and Peder then back at the exit.
She waved him away. “Go. I’ll wait with Peder.”
Before he stepped out he twisted around. “You need a better disguise. Wear the dress. Peder, take the male’s clothes.”
Peder knelt next to Inacio and undid the fastenings of his clothes. He glanced at her. “Kele?”
“Yes?”
“You should undress.” He tugged the shirt over the incubus’s limp head.
She nodded. Undress. Yes, she could do this.
“Kele?”
She opened her eyes, surprised that she had closed them. “I can’t. Not with you in the room.” Her voice quivered as she spoke. Weakness. She shouldn’t express such submissive behavior.
Peder took her hands. “I’ll turn my back.” He smiled. “You can trust me.”