The Sacrifice Read online

  I wonder where Aiden is. To my shame, the mere thought of the big vampire makes my heart beat harder. It’s almost like I’m infatuated with him, which of course, is ridiculous. I just met him yesterday—he’s practically still a stranger.

  A stranger you bared yourself body and soul to. A stranger you told your most embarrassing secrets, whispers a little voice in my head. Trying to shut it up, I flop back down and pull my pillow over my head. As I do, I stretch out my arms and my fingertips find something thin and smooth that crackles when I touch it.

  I sit up again and look to see what’s in my hand. It’s a piece of paper covered in bold, flowing script—a note.

  My Darling Emma,

  I trust that you slept well after your exertion last night. I will be waiting for you in the dining room when you awake. Please wear what I have left out for you—you will find it on the dresser. Wear this and nothing more. I look forward to continuing your education.

  A.

  “Controlling bastard, aren’t you?” I murmur to myself as I read over his dressing instructions. Then again, I suppose that’s part of the whole Master gig. My heart skips a beat when I see the last line about continuing my education. Goddess, what does he have in mind for me today? “Only one way to find out,” I murmur and hop out of bed.

  After a quick but refreshing shower in the master bathroom, which has marble everything and is bigger than my living room, I wrap myself in a plush crimson towel. Then I wander back out to the bedroom to see what kind of outfit my new master has chosen for me.

  “What the hell is this?” I stand in front of the large mahogany dresser with its ornate, oval mirror and stare at the 'outfit'. Only it’s not an outfit at all—it’s a collar. A lovely one, to be sure—it’s been made to look a little like a necklace with a ruby charm dangling from the front—but a collar just the same. It even has a buckle instead of a clasp. Seriously, he expects me to wear this? This and nothing else?

  “I don’t think so,” I mutter to myself. I might be willing to wear the collar, since we’re playing this dominance and submission game. But there is no way I’ll prance around naked with it on. Letting Aiden see me nude is one thing. Walking around with no clothes in a house made of glass walls is something else entirely. It’s not going to happen.

  I’ll just wear what I had on last night, I tell myself. But when I go to search for them, my blue halter top and peacock colored skirt are gone. Well, crap. It doesn’t look like Aiden is leaving me many options.

  But I’m not going down without a fight. If I can’t find my clothes, I’ll have to wear some of his. Opening the mahogany wardrobe at the far end of the room, I begin rummaging through the rows of clothes. Hmm, it smells wonderful in here—like cedar and some kind of dark spice—Aiden’s personal scent, I realize. I’m tempted to burrow in among the hanging suits and dress shirts and just breathed him in. Maybe I can find the entrance to some magical land where animals talk and nobody expects you to submit and wear a collar. But I sense I’ve kept my master waiting long enough.

  I pick a deep red, long sleeved shirt and put it on. Aiden is so big his shirt falls to my thighs, making a suitable, if somewhat short, dress. I have to roll the sleeves up almost to my elbows and then I look at myself in the oval mirror.

  Not bad. The crimson shirt contrasts nicely with my pale skin and makes my mousy brown hair almost blonde. My mother had the same pale skin but her hair was raven black and fell to her waist. I sigh, wishing that I’d inherited her hair color and not just her skin tones.

  The shirt looks good but what about the collar? Reluctantly, I decide I’d better wear it. I’m already disobeying Aiden’s orders about not wearing anything else. Maybe seeing that I also slipped on the article he left out for me will appease him.

  I buckle it around my neck and am surprised when it fits perfectly—almost as though it was made for me. It doesn’t feel constrictive and it doesn’t choke me. Instead, the smooth black leather seems to mold itself to my throat, like a second skin. The ruby pendant nestles in the hollow of my throat resembling a drop of blood, glittering when I move. I’m glad I chose the red shirt because they definitely go together.

  Finally I’m ready to leave the room. I let myself out of the bedroom and start walking but soon I find that the house is kind of a maze. There are hallways branching into hallways, sitting rooms, bedrooms, a study lined with leather-bound books, even a professional looking kitchen hung with burnished copper pots—but no dining room that I can find. The glass walls everywhere makes it seem like a mirror maze at the carnival—I’ve always hated those things. Even worse, I start getting the weird, creepy feeling that someone I can’t see is watching me.

  Just as I’m about to get really weirded out, I turn another corner and find myself in a large, formal dining room. There, sitting at the far end of a table that could easily seat sixteen, is Aiden. He has a laptop open beside him and is going over a thick sheaf of paperwork but when I come in he looks up.

  “Ah, finally.”

  “Sorry, I got a little bit lost.” I come over to the table, very aware that he is staring at me without blinking. Goddess, suddenly wearing his shirt—when he expressly forbid me clothing—seems like a bad idea. “Do you like my outfit?” I blurt at last when he still doesn’t say anything.

  “You look very fetching in my clothing,” Aiden rumbles, frowning. “But as you well know, Emma, you’re not supposed to be wearing anything but the collar.”

  “I am wearing the collar, see? I shake back my hair, baring my neck for him, making sure he can see the ruby winking in the hollow of my throat.

  “Yes, and it looks lovely on you. But why are you also wearing my shirt?” Oh crap, he sounds so stern.

  “I…uh…” I swallow hard, trying to think of an excuse. “I thought I might be cold?” I say weakly.

  Aiden frowns. “The house is kept at a constant seventy-five degrees during the day, Emma. And with all the sunlight coming through the windows and walls, there’s no way you could be too cold.”

  “Well, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” I snap, suddenly angry at his unreasonable demands. “Maybe I don’t want to run around nude in a house that has mostly glass walls. What if some pervert was peeking in?”

  “That’s impossible,” he says flatly. “I value my privacy highly and I pay well to make sure it stays intact. No one will see you, Emma. Remove that shirt right now.”

  “I don’t want to,” I whisper, clutching the crimson fabric to my chest. “I…I feel safer with it on.”

  “That’s exactly the point,” Aiden says patiently. “How can I break down your boundaries when you feel safe? You need to be out of your comfort zone.”

  “Maybe I like my comfort zone,” I say mutinously.

  He sighs. “Do you really think I want you naked just to discomfort you? I have other reasons as well. I want you to make friends with your body.”

  “Make friends with…what?” I stare at him incredulously. What the hell?

  Aiden must see the skeptical look on my face because he raises a hand and says, “All I mean is that you need to spend some time in your own skin in order to realize how beautiful you are.” His eyes roam over me from top to toe, making me feel hot all over. “To see yourself as I see you.”

  “That sounds like some kind of crazy therapy,” I say but I can feel myself blushing from the way he’s looking at me.

  Aiden shrugs, his broad shoulders rolling under the expensive gray suit jacket he has on today. “Call it what you will but until you learn to love yourself, until you’re completely comfortable with your body, you can’t submit to me properly.”

  I sigh. “I still don’t understand why you need my submission so badly. Is this the way you augment your power?”

  “Something like that but it’s not what you think at all. This isn’t just for me.”

  I look around. “Are we doing it for someone else? Are they watching?”

  Aiden laughs. “No, Emma, it’s nothing like that.�€