Demon Bound (Bound Series, Book One) (13 page)

Luc ignores her as he no interest in her games.

“She has had a visitor,” Jezebelle continues. “Someone you
loathe
.”

Luc grates his teeth together. He doesn’t need Jezebelle to tell him it was her twin, Evan. He will kill that nosey son-of-a-bitch the next time he sees him.

“He seems to care for her,” she says, but he doesn’t rise to her taunts.

“You are getting weaker,” he states as she flickers in and out of existence. “All I have to do is wait.”

“Darius will…”

She didn’t get to finish that thought as she disappears from his line of sight. A good thing too, she was really starting to piss him off. She seems to think she has a sway over Darius and that is not acceptable. It is time to see where his guard’s loyalties really lie.

Later.

Right now, he wants to stay here and watch over his bound demon.

Axelle comes to as she feels like she is being watched. She cracks one eye open and fixes it straight on Luc’s blue ones. He is staring at her while she sleeps again and it sends a slight flush over her cheeks.

“Hey,” she says, opening her other eye and stifling a yawn.

“Did you get some rest?” he asks her.

“You tell me, you have been sitting here watching me the whole time,” she answers with what can only be described as a shy smile. Since when does she do shy smiles?

“Not the
whole
time,” Luc replies with a stunning smile that makes her heart flutter and her brain to scramble. “I need you to get dressed and come downstairs,” he adds.

“What for?” she asks, pulling her robe tighter around her. It had slipped open during her sleep and truth be told she is growing weary of Luc’s rejection of her.

“I am going to tell you what the ritual is for,” he says to her astonishment.

“Come again?” she says.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” he whispers leaning forward.

Axelle leaps out of bed now completely awake. “Let’s go,” she says clapping her hands.

Luc chuckles at her enthusiasm. “How about a shower and some clothes?” he says. “We will have dinner first.”

Axelle looks down at herself only then remembering she is still dressed in a white, fluffy robe, which also happens to be splashed with blood from her fight with Yasmine. Why did he not tell her she looked such a mess?

“Yeah,” she says a bit embarrassed.

“Wear the red dress,” he says as she turns away.

“I don’t have it,” Axelle says.

Luc stalks over to the closet and pulls the double doors open. Inside, the only item of clothing is, of course, the red dress.

“I’ll take it in here,” Axelle says taking it off the hanger and is about to head into the bathroom with it, but as she steps back, she bumps into Luc. He is standing so close to her, she can feel his breath on the back of her neck.

“You look so beautiful in that dress,” he murmurs to her and she freezes.

What the hell is he doing to her? Is this some kind of test to see if she will refuse him?

His hand brushes her long hair off her neck and he bunches it up into a tight fist, pulling only slightly on her so she gasps and her head is forced back a fraction. Her breathing becomes ragged as she pulls against his grip to turn her head slightly to the side. Her lips are millimeters from his, all he has to do is press his against hers and they would be kissing. She parts hers ready to accept him, but he forces her to face the front again and presses a soft kiss to the nape of her neck instead. An excited shiver goes all the way down her spine as she feels his lips on her skin, and then she lets out another gasp, this one a strangled mixture of a moan and a hiss.

She can feel a light flick on the back of her neck, so soft yet quickly darting, tasting her skin. She knows without looking that it is his real tongue. The one he hides from his minions, the one that he has let loose in her presence once before for only a second. His forked tongue.

It makes her knees go weak as she imagines seeing him graze her with his serpent’s tongue and once again she turns her head to the side, pulling harshly on her hair that is still so tightly wound up in his fist.

He gives her a close-lipped smile as she fixes her eyes on his luscious mouth.

“Show me,” she whispers so quietly.

“Get dressed,” he whispers back and releases his hold on her.

She stumbles, her breath a quick pant as he has turned her on so incredibly with just one, light kiss. If she thought she was falling for him before, she knows now that she has hit the ground hard and she can no longer deny her feelings for him, or that she has feelings at all for that matter.

She loves him and there isn’t a damn thing she can do about it.

Axelle exits the bathroom and smooths down the skirt of her dress. She knows she looks damn good, having taken great pains with her hair and make-up. Something has changed in Luc and it is not just about him telling her the reason for the ritual. He feels something for her as well, she knows it and hopefully he will stop denying it now.

She flicks her long hair over her shoulder and then heads for the stairs. She takes them slowly as a pang of nerves suddenly hits her. She has never been nervous a day in her life before, but now her palms are sweating and her heart is racing. She pauses at the bottom of the stairs as a realization overcomes her. Luc was trying to sweeten her up before with the kiss and his tongue--oh that tongue--and his gorgeous smile and compliments. This isn’t about him waiting to tell her she has beguiled him with her beauty and strength, oh no, this is because what he has to tell her is so heinous he thinks she will try to back out.

Axelle gulps. She has thought of every single reason she can come up with why he would be doing this with her and while some of them may be more depraved than some of the others, there isn’t a single thing she wouldn’t do. So this is more. Something she hasn’t thought of because she is incapable of imagining such a terrible act. And that… that terrifies her more than anything else because she is no slouch in the depraved and disturbed department.

Crap.

She doesn’t know if she should keep walking or turn and run. Not that she would get very far. Luc will hunt her down and find her within seconds she is sure. Or worse, send Darius after her.

Axelle decides to keep with it. Maybe she is making this all up and Luc is acting weird because of loves her.
Yeah, right!

She slowly puts her left foot in front of the other and makes her way super slowly down the hallway with the artwork. Axelle’s heart slams in her chest when she sees that the portrait of the woman she surmised was Evan’s twin, Jezebelle, has been removed and in its place is a painting of her. She peers at it curiously as how did this get done so quickly. It is of her crawling out of the fire ring and that happened only this morning. Shit gets done quickly around her, she thinks as she nods her head at the painting. She loves it and she feels honored that Luc has hung this in the place of the beautiful dark-haired woman. But once again the happy feeling she has is rained down upon as reality punches her in the gut.

Yep, Luc is definitely trying to butter her up. She really does not want to hear what he has to say now that he is going to such lengths to make her happy.

Axelle turns away from the painting and passes the one of the horned creature and then she stops dead and looks at it quickly. She could have sworn it just followed her progress past it by turning its head. She glares at it, but it is still looking away from her. Then she jumps as the painting moves and the beast stares directly at her. With a muffled yelp, she picks up her pace and enters the dining hall flushed and only slightly freaked out.

She calms her nerves when she sees Luc sitting at the head of the long table with Jasmine, Yasmine’s sister, standing behind him looking as grim as ever. Luc watches her as she strides confidently towards the other head of the table where she sat the first night she came here. There is no place setting and she frowns down at the table, but then Luc clears his throat and motions to the seat directly to his left.

Under the withering gaze of Jasmine, Axelle takes her seat and places her black napkin on her lap. Two big, sliver platters, with domed lids over them, appears in front of each of them.

“Dismissed,” Luc says quietly to Jasmine, never taking his eyes off Axelle’s. “Your grieving is getting on my nerves.”

Axelle’s eyes widen slightly and then go briefly to Jasmine as she exits the hall with bad grace.

“So,” Axelle says. “What is this all about?”

Luc can tell she is nervous. She has a sheen of sweat on her brow and her body language is stiff. “Eat first,” he says easily.

“Okay,” she says and indicates the platter. “What are we having?”

“Whatever you want,” Luc says. “Just lift the lid.”

“Hm,” she says and removes the lid with a flourish. In front of her is the biggest, juiciest cheeseburger she has ever seen. She grins at him as he looks at it with mild horror.

“Oh, you don’t know what you are missing,” she teases him as she picks it up with both of her hands and takes a huge bite out of it.

He watches as the gooey cheese and relish splats onto the platter and he shudders. “Pass,” he says.

“So what are you having?” she mumbles as she chews.

Luc sweeps the platter off to the side and picks up his silver goblet. “Nothing,” he says. “I prefer to watch.”

“I remember,” she says and takes another big bite.

He keeps his eyes on her as she polishes off the burger and then licks her fingers delicately, before she wipes them on her napkin. She picks up her goblet and sits back, replete, with a happy smile.

***

Luc drums his fingers on the table. He isn’t very eager to get this show on the road. He knows the Dark Oracle said he had to tell her so she could choose to carry on with him, but he isn’t sure she is going to be happy about it. Demons have no maternal instinct. It isn’t programmed into them as breeding isn’t an option, except in the rare case of Jezebelle and her twin. He has no idea how Axelle will feel about carrying his child and the danger that the pregnancy will put her through. He would rather just leave her in the dark until it’s too late.

“Well?” she asks and takes a sip of her wine.

“You had a visitor today,” he says instead and she freezes with the goblet at her lips.

She doesn’t deny it as he thought she would, or try to start explaining, she just sits there regarding him, waiting for him to say something else.

What can he say? Anything else he adds now will make him look like a jealous fool. She is a crafty little bitch and it almost makes him proud. Almost. His anger far outweighs any of his other feelings as she has backed him into a corner. She raises her eyebrow at him and it takes everything he has not to strike out and force her to submit to him. That will just lead to an area that he cannot go with her. Yet.

Once she is prepared he is going to do things to her that her little demon mind hasn’t even thought of yet.

“What I am about to tell you can go no further,” he says after several long, tense minutes that he needed to get his temper into check. “I will cut your tongue out of your head if you utter a word of this to anyone.”

“Understood,” she says putting her goblet back down on the table and then placing her hands in front of her as if awaiting trial.

Luc leans back in his chair, bringing his hand up to his chin to assume an air of casualness that he doesn’t feel.

“Your essence, and your body, is being prepared for a very special task, Axelle. Something that is so very important to me,” he starts.

“I know,” she interrupts him quietly.

“Under normal circumstances, I would not be telling you this now, but it has been advised that you require this knowledge for the next phase,” he says.

“Okay,” she whispers.

“Should you survive the next two phases, Axelle, you will have come through the trials necessary to conceive and carry my child--my son--until it is time to expel him from your womb.” There he has said it, and he wishes that he hadn’t. Axelle’s shocked look makes him clench his fist and bite his tongue so that he doesn’t say something reassuring and well, quite frankly, lame.

“I beg your pardon?’ she splutters, her hand shaking violently. She claps her other one over it and shakes her head. “A b-baby? No, this can’t be happening.”

“Oh, but it is,” Luc says trying to remain calm. She is losing her cool rapidly and that tells him everything he needs to know. She doesn’t want to do this for him.

“No,” she says standing up. “I can’t do that.” She holds her hand up to stop him from saying once again that she has no choice now. “I have thought of almost everything that you could ask me to do. I was prepared, Luc. I was prepared to enter into any arrangement that you required of me. Dark Priestess of an elite coven to bring forth Armageddon? Yes, I was in. Sneaking into heaven to steal the key to the Pearly Gates? Sure, totally up for it. Replace Darius as you personal guard? Absolutely! Even if I did end up looking like a hideous freak! I was prepared to do all that and more for you, Luc. But this? Oh no? This is too much!” Her voice has reached a pitch that is making his ears hurt. He knew it was risky telling her, but he really didn’t think she would find carrying his child this offensive. He has to concede that he is rather impressed with where her imagination has gone to, but it is very clear that she never went where he needed her to go.

“Axelle,” he says calmly. “I greatly appreciate your dedication to me. I need you to still have faith that you were meant to do this.”

Axelle swallows loudly and shakes her head. “How can you ask me to do this? I am a creature of destruction and chaos. I revel in pain and torture and now you tell me I have to be a… a…
mother
?” She says the word with such disgust he finds it insulting.

“Not a mother,” he says defiantly. “Just a vessel.”