After checking in with the guard at the front, we were asked to sit in the feeder corner with the others. Huddling our chairs together, I bopped my foot nervously as more and more vampires flooded the space and filled the bleachers. The floor around the mat was bursting with vampires standing and craning their necks to get an eyeful of Luka and Morgana. The two royal members sat on a specially erected stage, just next to the elder vamps, who looked a hundred years old but were probably ten times that.
Luka looked calm and slightly annoyed as Cassara hung on his arm, stroking his bicep, her giant diamond ring glistening in the overhead lighting.
Kill me now.
Did they sleep together last night? Their wedding night. Of course they did. Pain pressed in on me as I thought of him having sex with her—doing to her what he did to me in the shower the other day. Being so intimate with someone who he supposedly didn’t even like … it sickened me a bit but I swallowed that feeling down.
“Miss Rose?” Gunner’s voice snapped me from my thoughts as both Liv and I turned to him. “Luka has requested you meet him in the feeding room.”
I swallowed hard, looking back at the space Luka had been sitting to find it empty. Instead I was met with another set of eyes. Cassara glared at me across the arena and I gulped, standing.
Walking through the large ballroom, I let myself out into the hallway and then over to the doors where the feeding rooms were. Once I was standing in front of the door that bore Luka’s name, I took in a deep breath to steady my nerves.
He married her … after what we did in the shower he married her. I’d told him to … but still … I hadn’t thought it would hurt this badly.
You idiot! This guy will destroy you!my heart was screaming at me.But I couldn’t help but turn the knob and step inside. The moment I closed the door behind me, my eyes adjusted to the light and then Luka was before me. He reached up with his hands and cupped my face, bringing my lips close to his.
“You’re all I’ve thought about day and night,” he murmured, his breath washing over my face and causing my body to melt into his. I reached up and threaded my fingers over his, stopping when I felt the cold chill of metal. Pulling back, I looked down at the wedding band on his ring finger and a whimper died in my throat.
“I can’t, Luka. Not while you’re married. It goes against my morals.” I dropped his hand and stepped away from him.
He nodded once, his face devoid of emotion. “I respect that. Can I assume that since you’re wearing the bracelet I gave you, it means you’ll wait a little while? That you trust me to figure this out?”
I looked down at the yellow VW Beetle charm and nodded. “A little while.”
I owed him that. I owedusthat.
A full-fledged grin graced his face, and holy hell it made him so much more beautiful. Luka Drake was off-the-charts sexy.
I gave him my wrist, the one that held the charm bracelet, and pressed it to his mouth. There was a pinch of pain before the pleasure ebbed into me mixed with a tumult of confusion. I didn’t know where we stood and that made the feedings all the more awkward. He pulled away after a moment and licked my wrist, sending a sensual tingle down my spine. Leaning forward, he brushed his cheek against mine and whispered into my ear. “I haven’t touched Cassara. I told her I was too stressed with the fight and she slept in her own room.”
Surprise rushed through me, then he pulled away, planting a light kiss on my nose, and left.
He hadn’t touched her … but how long would she be okay with that type of arrangement? Not to mention I doubted the marriage was legal if it wasn’t consummated quickly.
Still … his bold act told me something.
Luka Drake cared for me far more than I expected. It meant the world to me when people I could trust with my heart were in short supply.
After quickly returningto my seat, I made it just in time to hear the announcer invite Luka and Morgana to the ring. The space was about four times that of a wrestling ring you would see on TV, but it had the same mats and expandable strings around the edge. This was a different setup than the one with Nico and the others. I wondered if Luka was going to go for no weapons again this time, but instead he wisely grabbed two. A silver stake and a long sword, fit for a king. The handle glinted off the light, revealing gold, silver and a few precious gems.
Once the two had stepped into the ring, the announcer bellowed. “Place all final bets!”
I glanced out at the crowd as people rushed to a makeshift betting booth that had been set up.
“This is sickening,” Sage growled from her place beside Liv and I.
“Now remember what makes this fight so unique,” the announcer continued, “is that Morgana sired Luka and so hecannotkill her. Whether she wins or loses, she will be walking away with her life today. I can’t say the same for Luka.”
The crowd roared, but Sage, Demi, Liv and I all physically stiffened. Morgana could walk away from this even if she lost the fight? She was the one who changed Luka against his will?
My gaze flicked to Luka to find him shooting eye daggers at Morgana. She forcibly changed him and then tried to kill him at Bang? What a psycho.
‘Kick her royal ass,’I seethed through our bond.
He glanced at me, throwing me a halfcocked grin.‘Gladly, my love.’
My love.Those words slipped off his tongue so easily and yet they had so much impact. My entire body felt like it had suddenly become so light that I might just fly up to the ceiling.
