Chains of Frost: The Bellum Sisters 1 (32 page)

“And you, my sexy Commander, make
my head spin every time you touch me.” As his eyes fell to her lips, Chloe’s
heart thumped wildly. God, she loved this man.

Her entire body stiffened.

“What’s wrong?”
You’re
entirely too perceptive
was what she wanted to say.

“Nothing, just got a chill.”
Damn, second lie in two minutes.
See, this is what happens,
she thought.
But then his arms came around her and pressed her into the heat of his body and
she sighed. Maybe some lies weren’t so bad after all.

His lips came down on hers and
the kiss was sweet with a trace of longing. He claimed her with a sincere
passion that swept her off her feet and made her feel like she was floating.

When he pulled back, she looked
up at him. Her heart raced so fast, and yes, she knew. She loved this man.

“Come on.” Tyrian led her to the
great room and dropped her off with her sister. She saw Lucinda was sitting at
the edge of her seat with her spine stiff and straight, her hands folded gently
in her lap.

“Finish your spell. I’ll come get
you later.”

“Bye,” she whispered and gave him
one last kiss before walking away. A sharp spank landed on her ass as she
turned away. Her jaw dropped as she spun around to see him laughing. But she
had no time to say anything because he spun around and went in the other
direction.

Progress? Check.

“Lucinda, I’m so glad you came
down.” The vampire blushed prettily and fidgeted in her seat.

“Yes, well, thank you for
inviting me.”

“I was just telling Luci—you can
call her that by the way—that she’d look smokin’ in a black leather jump suit.
Don’t you think, sis? With those Cat Woman type boots that go all the way up,”
Lily said.

“Oh, yes. You’d have all the men
after you.” The vampire blushed even harder and Chloe felt guilty. She was
about to mutter an apology, in fact, when a rapping sounded behind her.

All three of them turned to see
Draven standing there. His smile was gone once again, and his brow was
furrowed. He glanced at Chloe and swore she almost saw anger there.

“Lucinda, may I speak with you?”
Chloe climbed to the edge of her seat to see this. Draven even sounded…polite.
The beautiful vampire stood and walked gracefully to the warrior.

“What’s all this about? Lily
whispered. Chloe quickly rehashed what happened with Lucinda and her
conversation with Draven while they eagerly watched on.

“Oh, my God. You should have let
me come. Look at that, he totally wants her!”

Chloe wasn’t so sure. “I don’t
know, Lily. He was pretty angry and he still looks upset.”

“That’s the ‘because I want you
and shouldn’t have you’ anger, sis.
Duh
.” Chloe glared at Lily then they
both shushed as Lucinda approached the warrior.

She dipped into a little bow,
keeping her eyes downcast. Just faintly, Chloe could make out the sound of
voices but not distinct words.

“Damn,” she muttered.

Their conversation was short and
soon Lucinda was returning to her seat, bright pink on her cheeks.

Chloe opened her mouth to talk
but Lily beat her to it, “Spill now! That man wants you bad.”

Lucinda pressed a dainty hand to
her mouth but it did nothing to hide her blush. “Warrior Draven asked, said
he’d be honored in fact, to act as my
host.
”

“Tell me you said yes,” Chloe
demanded.

Lucinda pulled her hand away to
reveal a woman’s smile—naughty and secretive. “A lady never reveals her true
desires at first. I graciously told him that I would be happy to think upon
it.”

Lily and Chloe burst out laughing
and soon Lucinda’s surprisingly bawdy laughter joined them. The vampire looked
startled at her own laughter and quickly stifled it.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be. That’s priceless.
You’ll have that man eating out of your gloved hand if you wanted,” Lily said.

“Oh, I doubt that. He’s much too
strong. Besides, I like him the way he is. I wouldn’t want him to change.”

Chloe and Lily both
awwed
at the same time.

The conversation slowed as they
finally got to work on the spell. Lily wrote a catchy chant and willed the
words with magic, as she called it. They spent the next few hours preparing a
concoction with an array of ingredients that produced the nastiest odor Chloe’d
ever smelled. Well, not as bad as that demon had stunk.

As the last of the ingredients
were stirred in, the potion didn’t poof with smoke or explode so much as make
wet, garbled sounds as if it, too, were unhappy with its existence. It looked
thick as tar and Chloe wondered how she’d ‘throw’ this stuff on anything. Maybe
if she had a butter knife she could coax it out like ketchup.

“Are you sure this thing will
work, Lily?”

She shrugged. “No, but it’s worth
a shot.”

Chloe read over the piece of
paper with the spell on it.
Go back whence you came, I unsummon thee demon.
Chloe
blinked, and then read it again.

“That’s it? It’s not even two
sentences. The spell from before was like a paragraph.”

“Just trust me, sis. It’ll work…I
think.”

Chloe grimaced and prayed her
sister was right. Standing, she stretched her stiff muscles.

“All right, I’m going to bed.”

“Memorize that spell and here,”
Lily said, putting a cork cap on the flask then handing it to her, “keep that
with you at all times. You’ll never know when this thing might show up.”

Chloe’s stomach clenched with
that unsettling feeling. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Lily. Goodnight,
Lucinda.” Chloe made for Tyrian’s bedroom with heavy steps.

She took a quick shower then
climbed naked into the bed. She wanted to wait up for him, wanted to kiss him
goodnight, but her eyelids grew heavy and soon she was asleep.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Henry flung open the medical
ward’s door with a bang. Nanu jumped, glancing up at him nervously from behind
her desk.
Yeah, you’d better be scared.

Last night he’d let her into his
room, into his bed, and into his heart. Then he’d awakened to a cold bed next
to him. He’d checked the bathroom but she wasn’t there. She wasn’t even in her
own bedroom. And when he’d gone searching for her, all he found was her
brother, who told him in not so gentle words to fuck off.

Henry slammed the door shut and
stalked to her. She was smart enough to recognize his anger. She backed up into
the corner, her palms held out.

“Henry, hear me out, please,” she
said softly.

“Hear you out? If you wanted to
talk to me, you could have found me. You knew I was looking for you. You
promised me, Nanu! What the fuck…” he said, spinning around and running a hand
through his hair.

“I know. I’m so sorry.”

“Was this just sex to you? Was
this just a fuck? Do you get off on fucking a warrior?” He turned and glared at
her. Her face paled but he didn’t relent. She’d hurt him, hard and deep. “Don’t
fucking look at me like that. Don’t play innocent. You knew what you did, what
you said to me, and what I expected. How could you—” Henry roared and kicked a
chair, sending it flying into a cabinet with a loud metal chink.

She jumped and that helped to
calm him down—some. “No, I had to leave. I’m sorry.” Henry’s anger boiled hot.
He stalked to her, crowded her against the corner.

He pulled her against him and
slammed his mouth down on hers. Her hands were stiff but soon fisted his shirt
and damn, it felt good. He was mindless for her. Blinded by fear and anger.

He ripped at her pants, his
tongue working in her mouth, and then he felt her fingers working just as
frantically, pulling his hard cock out. He grabbed her thigh and lifted her,
spread her open, then drove inside.

She cried out against him and he
groaned at the feel of her wet channel gripping him so hotly. He didn’t stop.
Couldn’t.

His mouth ate at hers as he
pounded her into the wall. She cried out quickly, her short fingernails digging
deeply into his back. It only took a few hard thrusts for her pussy to clench
and milk him as she came.

It was too much. Too quick. He
drove through her sweet, tight muscles then pulled his mouth away to shout as
he came hard, deep inside her.

He came back to Earth like a
dropped bowling ball. He tore himself away from her, panting. They both righted
their clothing, her movements much slower, her fingers trembling.

“Is that all you want from me?”

She hung her head and the soft
sound of her sob was like a knife to his heart. At least, a bigger one than she
already had planted there. The urge to go to her, wrap her in his arms, and
kiss her was so strong. He had to back away. He waited on the other side of the
desk until she could speak.

“No, I’m sorry. It wasn’t like
that. I didn’t want any of that to happen.”

Henry’s blood froze. “What do you
mean, any of it?”

She lifted her watery gaze to
him. “Not that, of course. I don’t regret being with you for a minute.”

“Then why did you leave? You made
your decision. Or are you just a liar?” A vicious, beautiful liar that had his
heart beating in her small hands.

“I—I can’t talk about it.”

Henry laughed, the sound bitter
and harsh. “Why? I don’t understand.”

She didn’t have to answer because
the medical ward’s door slammed open and Nanu’s brother strolled in.

“I think it’s time you leave
here, warrior,” Heru said and went to stand by his sister as if by visually
blocking his view of her, he could protect her. He was very wrong.

“She made her choice, Heru. She’s
mine.”

Heru’s laughter was mocking. “I
have the say in what she does, not you. I disagree with the match. My sister
will not mate with half-breed demon filth.”

Henry jumped toward him, ready to
feel bones crack, but Nanu stepped between them. The look on her face broke his
heart. She looked torn and lost, so sad his eyes nearly mirrored the tears in
hers.

“Choose,” he told her. “You know
I would do anything for you. Just say my name.” Choose me, his eyes pleaded
with her.

She took a ragged sigh, her head
hanging low. “I can’t.”

“You did the other night. You
chose me,” Henry said fiercely. His world was hanging in silken threads by the
tips of his fingers, slowly dwindling away.

“She doesn’t answer to you,
demon.”

Henry bared his teeth at the
bastard, his chest pumping with the urge, the need, to fight. “I love you,
Nanu. Don’t do this. Choose what you want.” Nanu’s gasp was like music to his
ears. She looked at him with raw emotion on her face. Sadness and hope all at
the same time.

Then, like an old record player
dying, Henry watched her face shut down. Watched as all hope was erased like a
candle being snuffed. The life in her dimmed and slowly she shook her head.

Henry growled, pain eating at him
with sharp teeth.

“Leave, demon filth, leave,” Heru
said, a smile on his face.

Henry took a deep breath and
slowly walked away, leaving his heart in that room.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chloe rolled over at the sound of
the door closing. She blinked in the darkened room and smiled up at the man who
had so quickly changed her world.

She’d dreamt that she told him she
loved him. She’d had two versions of the same dream. In one version, he slowly
smiled at her, then made love to her, and afterward he confessed that he too
loved her. It was overly romantic, but hey, it was a dream.

However, the other version had
been more like a nightmare. She’d told him she loved him and all the ice she’d
ever seen in him cemented until frost formed over his words. He’d pushed her
away brutally, shutting her out of his life for good.

He came and sat down on the bed
next to her. His hand ran through her hair and gripped it gently, tilting her
head toward him.

“I want you.”

Chloe shivered at his voice. It
was deep and raspy. She nodded at him and he tossed the cover off her body.

He hesitated as he saw her naked
body, then stepped back and started tearing off his clothes. His movements were
hurried, impatient.

“Is everything okay?” Chloe was
almost afraid to ask because that same gut feeling was there. Telling her
something bad was going to happen. But to who and when? She had no idea, and
the waiting was killing her.

He lay down beside her and kissed
the top of her breast. “No,” he breathed against her, his breath puckering her
nipple. “I haven’t seen you…I needed to see you.”

Her breath quickened at his
words. His tongue traced her nipple then sucked her deeply into his mouth. Hot
pleasure zapped through her body like electricity. She drove her fingers into
his hair and threw away the hair tie that bound it. Dark hair fell around her
in waves.