Page 50 of Blood Bought

“Knew you were secretly a teddy bear,” I whispered. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”

He chuckled deeply, like sleep was already pulling him under. “Good. Tell my secrets andthatpunishment will be a twenty-four-hour period when the only thing your tongue will be allowed to do is lick my cock.”

I twitched, sucking in a sharp breath at the thought. As much as I wanted to believe I wouldn’t let him do that to me, a little piece of me wanted it... and that alone was enough to have me shutting up and settling in.

“We’ll see,” I whispered, closing my eyes and letting sleep overtake me.

That comfortable, warm peace only lasted a couple of hours before I was jerking awake to the sound of his door slamming open and Alaris jumping to his feet with a snarl. Only, he didn’t start fighting. He looked at the four Veresian guards and then turned to face me as they forced him to his knees and began to chain him, and when he spoke into my mind, I knew it was something only I could hear.“I thought we had more time. It’s okay, Sweets. I’ll be okay. Stay close to Kellian and Renzo.”

“What the hell?” I said aloud, grabbing the sheet to wrap it around myself as I tried to catch my footing. “Let him go, he didn’t do anything!”

“Sit,” one of the guards growled, and I felt the persuasion race down my spine as my ass hit the floor.

Seeing Alaris like that was breaking me and scaring me more than anything he’d ever said or done, and I knew if I fought them, he’d be the one that ended up hurt. “Don’t force her to do anything!” Alaris growled, and the guard seemed to love having the power over him because he tightened those chains so roughly, Alaris grunted.

In a desperate attempt not to make things worse, I shut my mouth and tried not to watch — I didn’t want to give them a reason to put on more of a show for us, so I simply held that sheet a little closer and stayed put as they hauled him out.

“Come back to me,”I thought, hoping he could hear.“I wasn’t done with you yet.”

Chapter Twenty-Two:

Shattered, terrified, and utterly confused, I scrambled to find my clothes and get dressed. I wasn’t exactly sure where they were taking him or why, but I had a pretty damned good idea – an idea that was confirmed when Kellian appeared and shut the door behind him. As he bolted it, I pulled my shirt down and buttoned my jeans.

“Kell, what’s happening?” I asked quickly. “Is this about Tamsin?”

He nodded once, holding his finger to his lips as he listened at the door, then knocked a strange pattern on the wood. “There. Now we can speak freely. Azel enchanted this room a long time ago so no one can hear through the walls unless we want them to. Alaris had dropped those wards for a while because it goes both ways and he was listening to you, but it’s probably better we’re not overheard.”

“Wait, if you’re blocking it out, how will you know what’s happening to him? Drop it, we need to know!”

Kellian shook his head vehemently and guided me to the table, then sat me down. “Alaris, Renzo and I can hear each other no matter what wards are up. You can thank Azel for that too, though that particular ritual was a little weird and a lot painful. We had a feeling one day our shenanigans would get us into a situation like this.”

I breathed a little easier knowing he could still communicate with Alaris. “So? Is it about Tamsin, then?”

“Yes. Ciro has filed a formal complaint against Ris for fucking with his food, which isn’t great. He’s being taken to the courtroom now.”

The worry creasing Kellian’s brow did nothing positive at all for my mood, though I was briefly surprised the castle had a courtroom at all. “They’re not going to kill him, are they?”

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