My heart thundered in my chest as he swallowed hard. The tick in his jaw hammered wildly while he watched the horror unfolding on my face. His emotions slammed shut, and he smiled coldly.
“Get the fuck into bed, Silversmith. I’m exhausted after you drained me. Rather greedily, too, I must add.” His smirk was cocky, and I wanted to slap it off his face. “Now. Or you can deal with whatever befalls you from the curse on your own, woman. Your choice,” he stated, moving to the bed as the wall cracked behind me, forcing me to move toward the bed, or deal with bringing his house down around me.
“I thought I was dreaming,” I said after settling on the bed beside him.
“You were at first. It was a nice surprise to wake up buried in your throat. Did we do anything else?”
“No,” I said quickly, turning away from him. I felt his stare on my back but ignored it as I settled into bed beside him.
“Remi,” he chuckled darkly. “If we didn’t do more, how come I can taste you on my lips?”
I grabbed the pillow, covering my face as embarrassment washed through me. How hadn’t I noticed it wasn’t Rhys? I’d seen the eyes, noted the difference within him, but I didn’t know he and his demon weren’t the same creature. Why, out of everything my mother taught me, wasn’t that among the important things?
Hands wrapped around my waist, pulling me flush against his muscular body seconds before he ripped the pillow from my grasp and rolled me beneath him. Heated blue eyes stared down into my mine, and I glared at him with irritation.
“I ate your pussy, didn’t I? That’s why you were on your knees for me. What else did you allow me to do?” he asked in a raspy tone that caused my nipples to harden. He studied my face, and there was something worrisome in his expression. It was as if he was jealous of his demon and assumed we’d done more.
The really messed up part about the entire ordeal? I was naked, because that had happened too! I could feel every inch of him above me, along with the fact that he was already hard once more. Rhys lowered his gaze, taking in my naked breasts as he shook his head.
“What else happened?”
“Nothing,” I whispered huskily.
“Did I fuck you?”
“No, it didn’t go that far.”
“Good,” he grunted, rolling off me, only to collect my body against his once more, placing my head against his chest.
His heart raced, as if he had feared we’d gone all the way. I gazed up to find his long black lashes dusting against his cheeks. His heart calmed, and his breathing grew even. I closed my eyes, hating myself for not realizing I was on my knees in this room.
Sitting up, I stared around the room, searching for the desk, not finding it. My nightgown lay upon the floor with both straps cut, and next to it sat a switchblade with the blade still exposed. I peered down, finding Rhys observing me.
“What did he show you?”
“You and your family murdering mine,” I muttered.
“And still, you allowed him to have you, knowing what we did to your people?”
“Obviously, I let my guard down, lesson learned. I thought it was a dream, and nothing more.” I looked at the white sheets, finding them covered in dirt, along with my feet from running in through the meadow. “I was there, wasn’t I?”
“Part of you was there, but your soul was here. You can’t be harmed in a dream walking state. Not unless I’m there too. I wasn’t the one chasing you. I woke up to those pretty lips wrapped around my cock, and your clumsy fucking hand stroking me. I’m guessing you’ve never done that before either?”
I groaned, lying back down as his hand lifted, cradling me. “That obvious, huh?”
“You are a rarity, Love. A dangerous one that others will want to taste if they think you’re susceptible to dream walking. Very few can come out of a dream walk awake. Most are still slumbering, unaware that they fed a monster in their dreams.”
“So why wasn’t I asleep?” I pried.
“I don’t know, but you also heal with your saliva, which isn’t part of what your bloodline can do. Throughout our history, your line hasn’t ever been able to breed with another race except your own. Werewolves, vampires, and incubus can heal with saliva. Yet you do. So who the fuck is your daddy, little girl?”
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “My dad left when I was little. My mother said he caught her sacrificing a chicken, packed up, and was gone before she could stop him from leaving us.”
“And you bought that lie?” he asked carefully.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Your mother is a powerful witch. Do you honestly think someone would just walk away from her, and she’d allow it to happen?” Rhys snorted.
I adjusted on his chest, lifting to stare at him. “If a man wants to leave you, what else can you do other than let him?”
He blinked at me, and his lips tugged down into a tight frown. “You’re really young if that is how you think our world works, Remington.”
“Why do I feel like you’re putting me down as being dense when you use my full name?” I countered. “And as I said, if someone wants to leave you, you let them. You don’t force them to stay if that’s not where they want to be. What the hell kind of relationship would that end up as in the long run?”
“The kind your family expects. Once someone is theirs, that’s it,” he snorted. “If a man takes another woman when dating a Silversmith, they end up murdered by said Silversmith, and placed in a shallow unconsecrated grave. The men don’t ever leave, not alive anyway. That is your family’s legacy. Once you agree to be theirs, it is forever. Until death do you part,” he muttered crossly.
“None of us have fathers,” I pointed out. “You’re wrong, Rhys. People can change, and it’s been a very long time since you’ve known my mother.”
“I don’t care what you think, little girl. Your mother is just like her sister, Roslyn. Even when she had a mate, Elizabeth couldn’t keep her legs closed to other males. You’re lying to yourself if you think she changed without her mate to hold her sanity together.”
“You don’t know my mother at all if that’s what you think. My mother has never taken a lover throughout my life,” I gritted out tightly, anger clenching my jaw.
Rhys snorted, closing his eyes as if he’d just dismissed me outright. I bristled, turning away from him, and then cried out as part of the ceiling landed between us. Rhys reached over, yanking me back toward him as his other hand picked up the drywall, tossing it aside.
“Do try not to die while I sleep from that meal I just gorged on, Remington. I’d hate to have to bury your corpse before breakfast.”
Chapter Ten
I awoke to someone stroking their hand through my hair. Pushing up from the bed, I took in the disheveled Van Helsing, smiling sleepily at me. Yawning, I sat up, stretching my arms before smiling at him, right up until I noticed his gaze had dropped to my chest. My hands covered my breasts, and I groaned. He sat up, capturing me before I could move away from the bed.
“Good morning,” he murmured, running his nose over the shell of my ear in a sleepy tone.