Laurentine drove straight to the King’s home and
for the first time, Jori’s palms began to feel clammy. He should have had a
cigarette before he left but since the call from Amelie, he’d been living
reckless enough lately. Too much booze and too many cigarettes left him with
feeling of disorientation. He personally watched as a helpless bystander the
life he could have had disintegrate. As much as he despised his
self-destructive personality, he held on to the memories of a woman he once
loved but alas had never been in love with because they were never meant to be
together.
They arrived much too soon for his comfort but
as soon as they pulled up to the front of the King’s mansion, Jori stepped out
and followed Laurentine inside a mansion with a manservant, maids and endless
priceless articles of furniture, art and keepsakes from another time and place.
His senses were alive with the smell of fresh
flowers everywhere; the marble floors they walked on were spotless and his
shit-kickers clicked slightly against the surface. The walls weren’t
wallpapered but instead painted vivid colors. Deep blues, purples, gorgeous
deep reds and serene greens; each section of the massive home had its own
personality.
Laurentine brought him to a set of deep oak
double doors. “This is the King’s study and he will see you in here.”
Jori met her lovely blue-gray eyes, the green
crescents intoxicating him as his heart beat faster and he could feel his
animal side near the surface. It felt wrong to refer to the animal within as a
wolf when he could become any powerful being in the animal kingdom. He was a
pureblood Lycan but certainly not one hundred percent werewolf.
“Aren’t you coming inside?” he inquired.
She tilted her head slightly as an eyebrow arched
up and her lips pursed. “No, I don’t think the King wants me to be there while
he speaks business with you.” Laurentine looked away from his face and slightly
bowed her head. “I serve many purposes for the King but I am not his equal…no
one is and ever will be.”
Jori grabbed her hands and held them in his own,
his massive palms swallowing her small, slender pale hands. “I want you to be
there. I can sense your anxiety and your nervousness. One of the purposes you
serve for the King is as his mistress and perhaps I can rectify that situation
for you today…now.”
Laurentine looked up. “I’m not his mistress—it
is true, we have sex but I do not belong to him in that way. I am merely a
means to an end. I scratch whatever it is of his that has an itch…do you understand?”
“Well, that ends today because if I am forming
my own pack for the King then he will have to grant my wish of bringing a mate
along. That woman shall be you.”
“Jori, don’t be absurd. You don’t even like me!”
He pulled her against him and covered her petite
frame with his. He held her slender waist and looked her in the eyes. “I like
you too much. I fear my fiancée knew there was someone else and that is why she
broke it off. My mother told me herself we would never marry but I proposed
anyway because I couldn’t understand how much my life would change in such a
short period of time.
“Woman, I can’t stop thinking about you, wanting
to touch you and wondering how it feels to be inside you, moving with you. The
taste of your mouth and the smell of your skin, the silky feel of flesh against
flesh—you cannot deny me.”
She opened her mouth to speak as the doors to
the King’s study opened and there, in front of them, stood Sebastiaan.
Jori knew he would have a powerful aura but his
presence exuded so much more than that. He was tall but Jori still had an inch
or so over him. He bowed his head and murmured, “My King, you called for me and
I am here to do your bidding.”
Sebastiaan smiled though the ice never left his
cerulean blue eyes. “Come in and you can bring your mate with you—”
“Wait a minute? I’m not his mate!” Laurentine
exclaimed as her face turned scarlet.
“You are what ever I say you are and as of this
moment, Jori has chosen you as his mate. You should be happy to accept such an
offer. He is an Omega and can have any woman he wants yet he chose you, some
poor little mixed-breed who is only a quarter Lycan. You should get down and
kiss his feet,” the King explained with little emotion in his voice though his
tone suggested what ever their “arrangement” was before had officially ended at
that moment.
Laurentine bowed her head again. “Yes, my King.
If that is what you wish then…I will become Jori’s mate.”
Although his heart thundered in his chest, Jori’s
demeanor didn’t show the nervousness or his complete surprise with the turn of
events. He wanted Laurentine, that was true, but on his terms and certainly not
because the King had demanded she become the equivalent of a “mail order
bride”.
He slipped an arm around her waist to steady her
and reassure her. The tautness in her shoulders relaxed and although she didn’t
seem all that pleased, she no longer had the tension in her body that existed
just moments before.
Jori would die before he wanted to ever be
thought of as an uncontrollable, feral monster who kidnapped women and made
them bow down to him. His mother, Grand-mère Poitier, was one of the strongest
people he knew. He needed her wisdom and strength now more than ever. However,
she had accompanied Jolie to Las Vegas for her meeting with the International
Vampire Council and would be gone indefinitely or however long it took for
vampires to negotiate.
They both sat across from the King on the sofa
he appointed to them. The love seat purposely provided a snug fit between them
but Laurentine had calmed down and he sensed her comfort despite their close
proximity.
A maid interrupted with a large Baccarat crystal
carafe of what looked like tea and three Baccarat glasses. She poured each of
them something to drink and set the drinks on coasters before she left.
The magazine table was large and Jori reached
for his glass and Laurentine’s which he immediately handed to her. She sipped,
grimaced and drank down half the contents before balancing it between her
delicate white hands and her exposed right knee.
The King drained half the contents of his glass
in one swallow. “It’s nice to have something a bit stronger on the palate when
it’s hot like this. Summer is just slippin’ through our fingers and soon it will
be autumn but I do enjoy a nice Louisiana summer.”
Jori wondered how the King knew it was hot
outside; the mansion’s thermostat couldn’t be set at anything higher than
seventy degrees if not cooler. Although it was indeed hot and muggy outside, it
felt chilly inside though not uncomfortably so. Like all Lycans, he ran hot and
the cool air soothed his skin especially after the run he had taken which had
lasted most of the day.
“It is beautiful here in the summer. I don’t
travel much and haven’t been many places outside of St. Tammany or Orleans
Parish but I suppose that will change once I become Alpha of the pack you wish
me to form on your behalf?” Jori finally spoke in a deep, gravel voice that
oozed sex appeal and feral heat.
“That is correct. I never have liked the number
‘three’, Jori. It seems uneven and the way your pack has treated you for simply
being whom and what you are is an embarrassment. It makes us appear to be
ignorant and small-minded.”
“We are no different than the vampires, your
Highness. They have their caste system and we have ours. The Sidhe vampires are
at the top of theirs—”
“And the Omegas should be at the top of ours,
Jori,” the King interrupted. “You are
the top of the Lycan food chain and there is no reason for your kind to stay
wrapped behind the shadows. As a Lycan who is half-Sidhe, if anyone is familiar
with a caste system then it is I.”
He finished his ice tea, stood and walked to the
French doors. “I am telling you this because I know you and your mate will keep
my genetic heritage a secret. I have always admired Omegas and thought them to
be superior instead of inferior. There are others but you are by far the
strongest; as your pack was rightfully taken from you by your brother, I am
offering you your own piece of the pie: territory, Lycan males and start up
costs. Laurentine will be your mate if you shall desire…or if you don’t, you
have inherited an indentured servant.”
Darkness Awakened is available at the following retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance, Smashwords, Kobo
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