Cathedral (Cradle of Darkness 1)

As if he could read my thoughts, pity crossed Malcom’s angelic features. “Your father would never condone it.”

“My father disappears for months at a time. I don’t even think he knows what decade it is. One new fledgling would be nothing to him.”

Cold, dismissive, my guardian said, “The answer is no.”

Fists clenched, my heart racing and my color high, I marched straight for the blockade to my only happiness. Close enough to physically challenge him, I hissed, “That is not your decision to make, Malcom.”

“It is forbidden from changing humans from a certain class.”

“Bullshit! Marie was the queen of France before that ogre Gustavo snatched her away. I can fake Ethan’s death.”

“And spoiled Ethan would run right back to his family. Don’t you think a man of his cut would want to rub immortality in their faces?”

“…Then I keep him from them for a few decades until all his living relatives are dead. This is not novel. Many fledglings have to be locked away until they’re ready to accept their new role in life.”

Fire lit behind an ethereal gaze. “I’m glad you agree on that score.”

What had been shrill dropped to an animal growl. “You wouldn’t dare…”

“Locked you up?” Dressed in his typical spy-on-Jade black slacks and sweater, Malcom crossed his arms over his broad chest and smirked. “I would have buried you so deep underground that no soul but I would have known you existed. Hunted for you, fed you, taught you our ways… properly. Eons might have passed before I felt like sharing.”

Now he was goading me, and for once I was not falling for it. “You want to talk about infamy? You’ve changed hundreds of females and left them all to scatter and stumble through immortality. How many of your children still live? Ten?”

The fastidious man didn’t know the exact number, and I could see in his expression that it irked him.

Trailing a finger between the flexed pectorals of an agitated male, I dug my nail in right over his heart. “And I wasn’t changed, Malcom. I was born. You’ve never sired a pureblood, though not for lack of trying.”

Miniscule, the movement was so subtle. A slight cock of his head. “Is that what you believe?”

It was impossible to read that expression, leaving me without the proper dagger to make my next stab at such an ego.

In typical Malcom fashion, he spun the argument out of my comfort zone. “I know you were born. I held you as an infant. The first time, you nipped my finger and drew blood. You had a taste for me from that day forward.”

Shuddering, I pulled my claw from his chest, and moved myself far away. The room went ice cold, my skin bumping, more shivers following. And now it was full dark.

“I… I have to get ready for tonight.”

Why did he have to pursue every time I retreated? Why couldn’t this man just leave me alone? While I shrank into myself, while I tried to rub heat into my arms, the bastard toyed with my hair. Just like he always did when he really wanted to piss me off. “You’re not attending the fundraiser this evening. The excuses have already been sent. I don’t trust you not to approach Senator Parker.”

Screw that. Defiance stole my chill. “I’m going to marry Ethan.”

It was hardly a whisper. “We’ll see.”

“If you try to take him from me like you took Gerard, I’ll kill you.” Slapping the fingers away he thought might trace my jaw, I dropped fang and made sure he heard every word. “Do you hear me, Malcom? I’ll see you dead no matter the consequences. And then I will hunt your children, and their children, and their children. I’ll see your entire line demolished.”

There was a look in his eyes, something utterly unsetting when he purred, “Then you better start feeding so you might gain the strength you’ll need. Not a single challenger in seven hundred years has been able to take me down, child.”

And we were back where we’d begun. A feeding schedule.

“Let’s get this over with.” That’s when I noticed the cut of his sweater exposed his neck, and my panic returned. “Not from you!”

“Yes, from me. And then from another where you will practice restraint. There will be penalties if you kill your dinner.”

This had to be a joke. A barb because of my embarrassing slip last night. “Last night was an accident…”

Rolling up his sleeves to expose strong forearms, Malcom ignored my complaint. “And starting tonight you’ll learn how to prevent them. Starting tonight, you’ll learn restraint.”

Chapter Twelve

Malcom

She argued with me for an hour, just as I knew she would. Jade argued, she threw things, she went through the stages of denial, even begging so prettily it took a sheer force of will not to grow hard and frighten her.