The Sacrifice Read online

  The next time I glance up at the clock, it’s almost four forty-five. “Oh my Goddess.” I scramble out of my chair. “You have to leave—Aiden is going to be here in fifteen minutes.”

  Lexy pouts. “I thought you said it was okay with him for me to come by? Why can’t I stay and meet him?”

  “He said it was okay as long as I kept on the harness,” I say. I’m already on my feet and tugging at her arm, trying to get her up and out of the house. “But I took it off. He’s already pissed at me for disobeying him last night—I don’t need him to be even angrier.”

  Lexy frowns and crosses her arms. “And what happens when he gets mad? Does he beat you? Because there are limits, Emma, even for the Sacrifice Laws.”

  “No, it’s that he doesn’t beat me,” I say, thinking of last night. “He doesn’t whip me or kiss me or tuck me in or anything. He just gets all cold and withdrawn.” Just thinking of the look on Aiden’s face last night makes my chest tight. I really, really don’t want to go through that again.

  Lexy looks thoughtful. “Hmm. An emotionally withholding vampire. Now what you have to do is—”

  “What I have to do get you out of here so I can put that stupid harness back on before he gets home. Which is going to be in…” I glance at the clock. “Ten minutes. Hurry up, Lexy—move your ass!”

  “Well you don’t have to be rude about it,” she huffs, but at least she’s moving now. I shoo her out of the house with multiple promises of more get togethers and lunches by the pool. But despite my attempt to hurry, I still only have five minutes to get back into the harness and try to look normal by the time she finally drives off.

  Feeling like Cinderella at five ‘til midnight, I rush for the bedroom, stripping off my clothes as I go. Why do I keep doing this to myself? Next time Lexy comes over I’ll set the alarm on my phone and get rid of her a whole hour before Aiden gets home. That is, if there is a next time. If he catches me without the harness on and I let on that I took it off because I didn’t want to wear it in front of my cousin, he might ban her from the house.

  My thoughts are chaotic and my hands are trembling as I finally manage to get free of my clothing and start strapping the harness back on. The loop around my right thigh goes surprisingly well, the thin leather strap folding into place around my flesh as though it was made for me. I insert the vibrator—making sure it’s all the way off first—and then go to work on the second strap.

  And this is where I run into trouble. The strap is stiff and it doesn’t want to fasten. I push and wiggle, trying to get it threaded through the tiny silver buckle but it doesn’t want to budge. A quick glance at the grandfather clock says it’s one minute until five. I still haven’t heard the crunch of tires on the shell driveway but Aiden could be here at any minute.

  In desperation, I return my attention to the stubborn strap. I have managed to feed the thin leather through the silver buckle but now it won’t come out the other side. Cursing under my breath, I give a mighty yank…and hear a sharp pop. With dread I open my hand to see that one entire side of the strap has torn off and is lying like a dead snake in my palm.

  I stand there for a minute, just looking at it. Oh my Goddess, what have I done? What have I done? Panic rises in my throat but I push it back down. Grimly, I examine the damage. Maybe I can tie the leather straps back together and then…

  “Don’t bother. It’s broken.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The deep, familiar voice from behind me makes my heart sink. I turn slowly to see Aiden standing there, wearing a disapproving look on his face.

  “Master,” I begin. “I can explain…”

  “No explanation is needed,” he says crisply. “I can see well enough that you’ve disobeyed me.”

  Feeling backed into a corner, I try a counter attack. “How did you even get here? I never heard your car driving in.”

  “I saw your cousin driving away as I was coming up the drive. I stopped the car and walked the last bit of the way.”

  “In order to sneak up on me!” I say accusingly. “You were hoping to catch me doing something wrong.”

  “No, I was hoping not to.” He frowns. “I was afraid you’d disobey orders and remove the harness if you had your cousin over.”

  “Why shouldn’t I?” I demand. “It’s one thing to wear it around you, but it’s just plain weird to have it on around family.”

  “It was my order that you wear it without fail all day, every day,” Aiden says quietly. “You agreed to that, Emma.” He takes a step toward me, looming over me, looking every inch the intimidating vampire master that he is. “I also gave orders that you not touch yourself.”

  I feel my cheeks getting hot. “What…what are you talking about?”

  Aiden looks at me angrily. “Don’t lie to me, Emma—I can stand anything but that. I can tell you’ve allowed yourself a sexual release.”

  Now I’m blushing all over. “How can you possibly know that?”

  He lifts his nose and inhales deeply as though testing the air. “I can smell it,” he says, his voice dropping to a menacing purr. “Your pent up desire, your desperate release. You deliberately disobeyed my orders and made yourself come.”

  I open my mouth to deny it…then remember my crazy multiple orgasm-fest when I was trying to get the damn harness off. “Okay,” I say at last. “I did but it wasn’t deliberate. It was an accident.”

  He raises one very skeptical eyebrow at me. “You had an orgasm by accident? Emma, do you think I’m stupid?”

  “No, of course not! But if you’d just let me explain—”

  “Let me explain something to you.” He grips my chin firmly with his long, cool fingers and holds my eyes with his own, speaking with a quiet intensity that shuts me up. “I need your sexual tension just as I need your complete submission. Not just for me—there are other forces at work, other things at stake than just the two of us and this petty little game we’re playing.”

  “What other things?” I demand. “Why don’t you just tell me instead of hinting around all the time? I’m the one who’s expected to submit. I’m the one who has to wear harnesses and straps and let you fuck me naked in public. Did it ever occur to you that if there’s a bigger reason for all this, maybe I’d like to be in on the secret too?”

  His face is closed and he drops his hand, releasing my chin from his punishing grip. “You’ll know everything in the fullness of time. But not now—not yet.”

  “When?” I explode, so full of frustration I can’t hold back anymore. “When are you going to tell me? Or are you just going to keep me in the dark as long as it suits you? Is that how you treated Katherine?”

  His gray eyes flash silver and I know at once I’ve gone too far. I shrink back away from him but he never lifts a hand to me. He just stands there, looking at me. “Where did you hear that name?” His voice is cold and quiet but his eyes are terrible to look at.

  “It doesn’t matter where I heard it,” I say, but the courage has leaked out of me at the sight of those eyes. It’s not just anger I see in their silvery depths but pain—somehow I have wounded him. And though I’m hurt and upset and completely pissed off, I never wanted that. Never wanted to hurt him. “You loved her, didn’t you?” I say softly. “Would you have kept her in the dark if there was something important going on?”

  “No.” His voice is bitter and he finally looks away. “It was she who kept me in the dark. And then her secrets killed her.”

  “Aiden—” I start to say but he shakes his head.

  “No more. I cannot speak of this.” He turns to go, his broad shoulders tense under his expensive gray suit jacket.

  “Wait!” I exclaim. “What about dinner? And…everything else?” I’m trying to ask him if we’ll ever get back to our regular routine. It seemed bizarre to me at first but now it’s the norm and well, I miss it. I miss Aiden. His hands on me, his lips and mouth exploring my body, the soft, caressing way he calls me 'darling'. But now, even though he’s standing