FOREVER KNIGHTS: #3 Forsaking the Vanquished
Every Single One

She hasn’t noticed. He fought a smile. Working hard to focus on her words.

“The men you meet with sometimes?” Her eyes were wide.

He nodded. “In the library.” He tossed his head behind him, back in that direction.

Another small step and he stood between her thighs. One hand resting on the outside of one, which she didn’t currently seem to notice as she took it all in.

Busy questioning.

Good. Be busy. His other hand dropped to the outside of her other leg. Feeling the sinewed shape.

“The large, handsome men?”

“Strapping, is more the word I’d use. Though none as good looking as me.” He displayed large square teeth.

Like a shark. She thought.

He scowled. Catching her hips, he drug her closer to the edge of the table until they were nearly pressed against each other.

“They all have the same energy as you…” She murmured. Still blinking thoughtfully at him.

What? He struggled to focus. The smell of wildflowers surrounded him. The smooth satin fabric over the sinewed line of her thighs, the peek at the hollow of her cleavage beneath the neckline of her dress, now available to his eyes as he stood over her, the flatness of her stomach revealed by the fitted lines of the garment. Stormy blue eyes assessing him. Her soft pink lips parted as she mulled it all over. Waiting for something.

What the hell did she say?

He replayed the conversation. “Not as powerful.” He said definitively.

Her eyes fell as she murmured to herself contemplatively. “That’s why they watch me so resentfully.”

“What?”

What did I miss?

“One of them looked…just like you. From upstairs, anyway.” She pointed, bouncing her finger as she continued to murmur to herself.

“You’re…brother?”

“Yes.” He corrected. “Though I’m far more fun.”

His body responded to the heat of her, warming his skin. Heat he so rarely felt.

I want her. His beast was rolling beneath his skin. The panther restless in it's hunger.

“And better looking.” She added matter-of-factly. So, distracted she didn’t realize she’d offered him a compliment.

We’re identical. Even I can’t say there’s much difference in that realm. But nice to hear she thinks so.

“The one right after you first brought me, the dark haired one?”

That man had seen her standing atop the stairs and looked up from the foyer, sensing she watched them, she recalled.

“Lucien?” Bast studied the floor thinking, trying not to dwell of her nearness. Though he still unconsciously drew longer breaths to take in her heady scent. Willing his body to cool.

“No, I remember that one. This one had midnight hair and steel gray eyes.”

“Ah.” He deflated, words slowing. “Chavias.” His head fell. “That was Chavias.”

Masking his pain, he pointed to her. Injecting a teasing note into his voice. “You’re good at this.”

Her shoulders slumped, and she ceased guessing, seeing through his mock encouragement. “They’re all like you, aren’t they? Every single one?”

“Every single one.” He said proudly.

“Who’s the Captain you often speak of?”

“Good hearing, Little Eavesdropper.” He commented. “And I thought we were so quiet.”

“I only heard pieces!” She defended.

Not wanting me to become more cautious.

“He’s sometimes here, isn’t he?”

“Looking for someone to help you escape, are you?” His voice turned unyielding. “He won’t help you.”

“You can’t save them all from me.” She retorted.

“You won’t be seducing my friends.” His fingers bit into her hips as he jerked her against him.

Gasping, she went ramrod stiff. Blinking in shock as she registered how intimate the position had become. She leaned away from him, realizing her lower body still molded his.

And angled better for her effort. He grinned wolfishly.

“You’ll not tell me what to do.” Her back stiffened. Every muscle in her turning to iron as she withdrew the pleasant heat he’d been enjoying.

“You’ll stay the hell away from my brethren!” He slapped his hands down onto the stone next to her waist leaning over her to pin her to the stone. Nearly dropping his weight on her

She stared up at him. Huge eyes blinking in her small triangular face. Her mouth moved as she sought words. Paralyzed.

He felt the shiver of her thighs and knew his nearness affected her. But I’m too damn pissed off to take advantage of it right now.

“Do you understand me?” He hissed through gritted teeth.

To his surprise, her face went expressionless. She leaned up enough their lips nearly brushed when she spoke. “Not everything is about seduction, Sebastian. I wasn’t the one mentioning that…”

His chest heaved and his jaw ground as he looked at her, wanting nothing so much as to ravish her. And she’s challenging me to do it.

As an excuse to hate me forever.

Nice try, Harpie. He growled in uncharacteristic temper before pushing off from the stone table, lurching away from her and spinning on his heel to stalk away.

“Who’s running away now, Lord Bodane?”

He paused and his shoulders rose and fell with the temptation to go back. I should rip her clothes off. Take her right there on the stone until her viper tongue stills its venom.

Drawing slow breaths, he felt the creatures under his skin start to wake, seeing his upper chest starting to round as something rose and moved across toward his sternum. Preparing to release. To tear out of me. He didn’t have to look to know the markings on his arms were moving to his back.

His shoulders lifted as he breathed deeply, exhaling through his nose. When he’d calmed enough, he looked back over his shoulder. “When I take you, it won’t be by force, Elsabet. It’ll be because you asked me to.”

“That will never happen.” She enunciated.

“Yes. It will.” His head rolled forward once more. “Best not play with me, Little Harpie. When you offer yourself to me, I won’t hesitate in taking you.”

As he headed down the hall, he heard her thoughts. Wondering what’d upset him the most. Her threatening to seduce his brethren, or that she might harm them?

How the Hell should I know! He headed out the front door to go replace a cool lake to wash in.