Seven devils, p.13
Seven Devils, page 13
Seamus’ frown deepened as he helped me sink into the plush couch. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
“Of course. Why?”
Wils came up the stairs with a baby in her arms and a beaming smile on her face.
So I wasn’t crazy. I had heard a child. A very small child.
“So glad to see you up and moving!” My best friend gushed. She was my mirror in so many ways. Same dark hair and eyes. Shockingly similar facial features. Only she must have cut her hair since the last time I saw her. That was my fault again. No avoiding my best friend anymore. “Seamus scared the crap out of me when he came to check on Ava.”
I watched with shock as Seamus slipped the sleeping infant into his arms, grinning like a lovesick fool at the tiny bundle.
What. The. Fuck?
“You missed your momma, didn’t you, baby girl?” He cooed as he bounced her, walking towards me.
What was happening? Why were we at the cabin when we were supposed to be meeting at the cottage? Why was Seamus holding a baby? Why did I feel like I’d just walked into someone else’s life?
He eased his big frame down onto the couch next to me, wrapping his other arm around my shoulder and leaning the baby towards me. “See? Safe and sound, just like I promised.” He kissed my temple.
Wils grinned down at us. “Ava will always be spoiled when she’s with us. I know it was hard leaving her for the first time, but she was an angel and now you’ve done it. Maybe next time will be easier.”
“Especially since it will be sooner than later.” Seamus gazed down at the sweet baby. She had dark hair like me and Wils, pink cheeks and lips, and baby soft skin. “I hate this.”
“Rain says the energy around the body is dark. Very dark,” Wils said. “Rever is on the scent, though. You probably have an hour or two with Ava before you have to go. Do you want us to leave you alone?” She looked expectantly at me like I had the faintest clue what was happening.
I must have hit my head when I fainted because none of this made any sense. “Whose baby is this?” She was cute as hell, but this was beyond weird.
Wils jaw fell open and Seamus stiffened beside me. “Florence? What’s wrong?”
Were they nuts? I threw my hands out at the cabin. “Everything! Everything is wrong! Why are we in your cabin? Why is there a baby here? What the hell is going on?” I shot up off the couch and paced to the windows.
“Why do you keep saying my cabin?” He held the baby close while shooting worried glances at Wils.
“Because it is your cabin. Isn’t it? I don’t know. I’ve only seen it from the outside, but that view,” I threw my hand at the window.
“Shit.” Seamus shot to his feet giving the baby to a shell-shocked Wils. The blood had completely drained from her face.
He came straight for me, grabbing me by the shoulders. “Do you have amnesia?”
Did I? I didn’t think I did but the evidence around me said otherwise. “No. I remember everything just fine. Whose baby is that?” I tried again.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” He got right in my face. Fear, worry, and terror warred for domination in his eyes.
I gulped, my heart racing, my mind flying through the possibilities. “We were at Midnight Manor reexamining the scene.”
He nodded. So at least we were aligned on that.
“And then all the stuff I just told you happened before I passed out.”
“Okay, before that then. How did we get to Midnight Manor?”
I glanced over his shoulder at Wils clutching the baby. It couldn’t be…could it? No. Just no.
That wasn’t possible.
“I took you to the secret Underground beneath Midnight Manor. We saw Tristan. And then we made up just before Rever got us topside. We slept in the woods before going to the scene with Rever. We…kissed.”
His frown got deeper and deeper. “We went to the Underground and saw Tristan, but I don’t know what you mean about making up.”
My heart plummeted into my stomach. What the hell was happening? “We finally,” I waved my hands between us, “got over the whole fighting thing and forgave each other.”
“Babe,” he gasped like I’d punched him in the gut. “How can you remember some things but not others? What the hell is this?”
I wiggled the ring on my finger as I searched for something that made sense.
Then I froze. I didn’t wear rings. I held up my hand. On my left ring finger was a simple gold band. “What the hell is this?” It was a wedding ring.
I thought Seamus might faint. He was too white, his hands gripped me too tightly. “It’s your wedding band. Our wedding band.” He let go of my shoulder and held up his hand, showing off the matching band on his ring finger.
“No. No, I would remember getting married.” Where was that couch? My knees were about to give out.
“Two years. We’ve been married for two years.”
Two years? I started shaking my head and couldn’t stop. “No, two years ago we had an epic fight and haven’t spoken since. Not until I saw you in the Underground when I went to meet Rever.”
He covered his eyes, then let his hand slide to his chin. “Two years ago we got married on the deck,” he pointed down, “and three months ago Ava was born. Our baby girl. Don’t you remember?”
Our baby girl.
We had a baby girl? And were married? It was like the last two years had been erased and replaced with an alternate version of my life. The one I might have had if I’d forgiven him.
What the hell was happening?
To be continued…
Seven Sins
01/23/2024
ALSO BY INDIA AMARE
The Blood Falls Series
Queens and Monsters
Kings and Sirens
Virgins and Vampires
Nightmares & Daydreams
Psychic Dreams Trilogy
In the Shadows Deep
Where Demons Dwell
And Destiny Weeps
Elements of Evil Trilogy
Seven Devils
Seven Sins
Devil’s Due
The Blood Falls Erotica
Carnal Cravings:
Blood Moon Rising
Blood Moon Eclipse
Bitten By Love
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QUEENS AND MONSTERS
Book 1 of The Blood Falls Series
Silence fell between us for so long I finally looked up from my feet to find Dray staring at the floor too, his body very tense and his jaw ticking. “I keep thinking about myself,” he finally said. “How you affect me, my family, how you might ruin me.” He pulled his gaze up from the floor. “The Universe keeps shoving us together and I keep ignoring it. I keep denying it. Even when it’s screaming at me to stop, I use protecting my family as an excuse to keep away from you.”
I felt smaller and smaller with every word out of his mouth. It was impossible to focus on anything but the words affect, ruin, deny, stop, screaming and not see that Dray didn’t want me in his life. Sure he felt an obligation to make sure I was safe, but the last thing he wanted was to be attached to me in any way. Maybe the earth could open up and swallow me whole? Or a big random bolt of lightning could hit me from above? Anything to make this stop.
“I never let myself think about you,” his voice dropped to a whisper. “What you’ve been through and what is still in front of you. That you’re alone.”
That was the final straw. I started toward him with all my fury. “I am not alone. People care about me. Olivia for one and, even if you hate it, Gigi too.” I stabbed his chest with my finger.
He grabbed it up in his larger hand and yanked me against his solid wall of muscle, knocking the air out of me. “You misunderstand me,” he growled.
I slowly drew my gaze up to meet his and lost my breath all over again at the storm brewing in them. “Then what do you mean?” I barely got the words out.
His other arm wrapped around my waist, holding me to him. “I’m not drunk or high, Rhysa. I’m completely fucking sober.” He paused, his eyes darting between mine as he took in a slow deep breath. “Tonight when you drink from me, I want all of you.”
I froze, tried to pull back, but he held me firm. “I’m not a pity fuck.” God, did he really think I’d swoon in his arms because he deemed me worthy after realizing I hid knives and money to protect myself? Hell no.
He growled again, displeased with my protest. “You know exactly how badly I want you.”
“Do I? No. I know how much you don’t want me. Sure you get hard around me but arousal isn’t the same as wanting someone.”
He released me and stepped back. “Only you would block out all the times I’ve begged for you.”
I need you. The memory flashed through my mind. The pain and desperation on his face as fresh as the last time it happened.
“Again, you weren’t exactly in your right mind at the time.” I paced as far away from him as I could get in the small space.
“Why do you think I avoid you at all times? Stay as far away, even in a crowded room? All I want is you, Rhysa. All the time.” He held his long arms out wide. “I’m not fighting it anymore. I want you. I want to be inside you when you drink from me.”
Oh god. My entire body shivered at the idea. “And tomorrow?”
“You leave. I have no idea what happens next but I do know I’m not going to pretend I don’t want you.” He took a tentative step toward me. “You need to drink from me tonight. Give yourself the power to make your own choices at House of Axl. Whether we do anything else is your choice.”
I felt the effects of a week without blood. Gigi offered but I waved her off thinking I’d be fine, but now that Dray was asking me to think into the future, to a home I didn’t know and family that were strangers, my thirst magnified. I could deny him, but at what cost?
If I said no, I’d be at the mercy of whatever situation I was walking into.
If I said yes, I might lose control.
Did I want to lose control? Would being with Dray be the good things the Universe seemed to promise? The first time was unforgettable, and every wild moment between was a heady rush that felt worth the price of admission.
“I’m willing to see what happens,” I squeaked out. He prowled closer and closer.
“You know what will happen. What happens every time we’re alone together.”
My chest flushed. “To be fair, I’ve only been alone with you.”
He came to a stop in front of me. I pressed my back into the wall. “I have never reacted to anyone the way I react to you. I lose my damn mind just being near you, Rhysa.”
Tomorrow I would walk into the wolves’ den on purpose. Tonight I could have ecstasy.
There really wasn’t a choice.
👉 Read Queens and Monsters now!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
India Amare is the paranormal pen name of romance author, Alexis Anne. While she’s spent most of her career writing about couples set in the contemporary world, she finally unleashed the paranormal universe that’s been trapped in her head ever since she snuck a copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula into the shopping cart when her mom wasn’t looking. (And got in trouble for that!)
After a career in anthropology studying the long arc of human history she’s often wondered what if…
What if vampires existed. What if magic was real. What if everything we dream about isn’t imaginary after all…
Read The Blood Falls series to delve into this alternate world.
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India Amare, Seven Devils
