Savage Chains: Captured (#1) (13 page)

Opening the top drawer, he pulled out a red leather case and popped the lid. On a bed of scarlet velvet lay a pair of identical dark-metal chains. He touched each in succession and felt the powerful vibrations they carried. When created, the chains had been infused with his blood and carried his DNA, which meant that he could bind Angelica to him if he wanted to. He could keep her close to him with a range that rarely extended beyond ten feet.

The chains would prove he’d brought her under his complete control. But they would do more than that. He’d have a sense of her at all times, and she’d know exactly what he was feeling moment to moment.

Everything about their current relationship would be heightened, including his desire for her, his longing for her blood, his need to bury himself inside her.

He knew she desired him, so in turn, what she felt for him would be enhanced exponentially as well.

The thought of taking Angelica to bed as a willing partner while bound in blood-chains caused him to groan.

“You okay?”

He closed the lid, then the drawer.

Pivoting in her direction, he met her gaze. She wore a robe, tied up tight at her narrow waist. Her hair was slicked back, wet from the shower, which made her eyes look huge, enhancing her vulnerable humanness.

He really couldn’t ask this of her.

He couldn’t.

Instead he answered her question. “I’m fine. Tired, maybe.”

“Will I be sleeping here tonight?” She dipped her chin toward the bed. With a towel she rubbed the ends of her hair.

He nodded. “I can sleep in the guest room.”

Her gaze roved the bed. “I think that would be best.” But she frowned.

“What is it?”

“Nothing.” At that, she smiled as she met his gaze once more. “I could use some sleep. Maybe a decade’s worth.”

He realized then that whatever she could do in terms of helping him reach his Starlin destruction goal, there was another reason he didn’t want her to go. She eased something inside him he couldn’t define.

And he wanted her to stay with him, at least for a little while longer. “I need you.”

“What?” She tilted her head.

“I need you.” There, he said it again, flat out. “I want you with me for the next few weeks. The Starlin Group is hosting a festival, like your New Orleans Mardi Gras, with parades and parties in many of the local sex clubs. It culminates in a masked ball.”

“I don’t understand. What are you saying?”

He dove in. “I want you to stick this out with me, to share a blood-chain bond—which will help keep you safe. I think with you by my side, I’ll be able to finish my mission. In fact I’m sure of it. Angelica, I want you to stay, to continue to pose as my slave, to be with me.”

#

Angelica drew close to Reyes, trying to understand his meaning. She frowned so hard that the muscles of her face hurt as she stared once more into clear blue eyes. He was pleading with her, something she hadn’t expected from him.

And he wanted her to stay.

But how could she remain in this world? She’d already been through so much. That last episode, when he’d mentally checked out, had almost put her square into the hands of a madman.

“I can’t. You know I can’t. I have to go home. I have my mother to think of, and my future. If I stay, there’s a good chance I won’t make it out alive.”

He drew her into his arms and kissed her, then nuzzled his neck. “Angelica,” he murmured against her throat. “You made everything possible and I want you with me. I need you with me. Please stay.” He kissed her again.

She sensed how desperately he wanted her with him.

She pulled away from him, rubbing her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this.”

He turned back to the drawer he’d closed and pulled out a red case. Opening it, he let her look at a pair of chains.

“These are blood-chains, aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are. We would each wear a chain and once bound, you’d be able to siphon my power, sense where I am at all times, and to some degree what I’m feeling and thinking. And I would experience the same with you. It would make working together much easier on every level. And if I bound you, I’d gain credibility with Engles.”

Even without touching them, she sensed their power.

“I want you with me more than anything in the world, more than I’ve wanted anything in my life. And I know you’ve felt it, too—it’s what brought you back to the Ocean Club and why you didn’t leave my world when you had the chance. We belong together, Angelica. Please stay by my side. Help me bring Starlin down.”

Her heart lurched as she met his gaze once more. She was so drawn to him. She hated that he’d once been a slave himself, that throughout the first part of his life, he’d endured decades of torture. And now all he wanted was to make a difference, to end the horrors of sex slavery.

She thought back to the Russian slave, whimpering in pain as her new owner sank his fangs into her neck and drank from her with the intention of hurting her. Reyes had taken her blood, but it hadn’t hurt at all. Instead she’d never known such exquisite pleasure.

And there was the other, sensual side of the equation: She wouldn’t just be partners with him, she knew he’d become her lover, the thing she’d wanted more than anything else over the past several months.

But he’d spoken of her staying with him for weeks? She couldn’t be away from her mother for that long. And despite Reyes’s assurances, what if she died? Who would care for her parent then?

Did she really want to enter such a completely intimate relationship with a vampire? Even if she survived, would she like the person she’d become by the time it was all over?

She couldn’t do this. She felt in her bones that to choose a blood-chain bond with Reyes would alter her life forever, that she’d never be able to go back to her human world.

“I can’t, Reyes. I wish I could, but I can’t. I’m not strong enough for this. Trust me.”

“You have more strength than you know.”

She shook her head. She’d made up her mind.

Then as if from a great distance, she heard his spirit calling to her.

Stay.

She didn’t know how she knew, but this wasn’t telepathy, not like before. It was a plaintive cry straight from his heart. And for that reason alone, she wanted to say yes, but how could she?

Stay, Angelica. Please stay…

To be continued…

Get even more sexy romance with Caris Roane’s full-length Men in Chains series from St. Martin’s Paperbacks!

Available
July 2014

SAVAGE CHAINS
Surrender to your darkest desires.

Don’t Miss Any of the Installments in This Sexy Serial from St. Martin’s Press!

Savage Chains #1:
Captured

Savage Chains #2:
Scarred
Available early June 2014

Savage Chains #3:
Shattered
Available late June 2014

Caris Roane
is the author of the Guardians of Ascension series and the Men in Chains series, both featuring powerful vampires and the women who love them. Caris lives in the Phoenix area of the Sonoran Desert, really doesn’t like scorpions, and in her spare time tries to stay off Facebook. You can find Caris at
www.carisroane.com
.