That wasn’t the only thing that I could feel. Strangely, I felt a mood besides my own. Not like when I sensed Victor’s mood, no, not that type of connection. But I could feel echoes of irritation and apprehension that were not coming from me. Nor were they coming from a person. More like an animal.

“I would recommend that you stay here with us,” said Quinn. “We can keep you safe and can help you avenge the death of your Sire.”

Like I cared about that! If I ever met the vampire who killed him, I’d shake his hand.

“Yes,” agreed Wyatt. “We can also help you find out why energy seems to be magnetised to you, and why you feel ‘different’, as you described it.”

Quinn nodded. “It is what Victor would want.”

“Besides, do you really want to be alone, Samantha?”

Once more, the damn python hissed. Like a trigger, the sound sent various pictures shooting through my mind: a blue snake twined around my arm, a red snake striking at a faceless person, a piebald snake tattoo on my arm, a black snake slithering from my arm to another arm. This arm was male, sprinkled with chestnut hairs.

More images now: the same arm holding me close, strong male hands cradling my face, thumbs brushing tears from my eyes.

Sensations rolled through me: hands knotting in my hair and tugging, fingers probing and sinking inside me, thumbs sending electric shards of pleasure/pain through me.

Another hiss stole me from my memories. Yes, memories. They were memories. “I have a snake,” I said with utter surety this time. Again, I saw a flash of that snake on a crescent sofa…my sofa. “I have an apartment.” An apartment with soft beige carpets, white walls, a glossy-cream kitchenette, and a queen-sized bed covered in rosy-pink satin sheets who I shared with –

“I have a fiancé.” It was only then that I looked up, only then that I saw the horror and dread on the faces of the five vampires around me. “I have a fiancé, and his name is Jared.”

Suddenly, with the force of a slap, everything came flooding back to me. Oh the little bastards!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

(Sam)

In under a second, my whip was in my hand and I’d cracked it at Quinn, slicing through his shirt and chest. Knowing Wyatt would attempt to freeze me, I remoulded my whip into a shield, wrapping it around me.

I almost jumped out of my bloody skin when Jared appeared beside me. Instinctively, I pushed the shield outward to encompass him as well.

He crushed me to him, kissing me hard. “I couldn’t feel you. I’ve never been so f**king scared in my life.”

“Blake took my memories of you.”

Jared’s eyes slammed on the person in question. “Oh did he now?”

“You could teleport you and Samantha away, Jared, but we would find her again,” vowed Quinn. “She is ours.” He couldn’t have said a worse thing.

Jared’s voice was deadly. “That’s where you’re wrong. She’s mine. And neither of us is going anywhere until all five of you are dead.”

Wyatt laughed. “Do you think that we are the only vampires here? I appreciate that you both are very powerful, but you are not a match for sixty Pagori vampires who have special gifts of their own.”

Jared’s smug smile had me instantly intrigued. “That would be a good point…if most of them weren’t dead.”

Confusion splattered across Wyatt’s face. “What are you talking about?”

At that moment, he got his answer as several vampires barged into the room – all of whom I recognised: Sebastian, five of his men, Reuben, and Salem. I hadn’t been expecting that.

Reuben shot straight to the brothers, momentarily touching their shoulders. That easily, their powers were weakened. Sebastian, his men, and Salem took out Blake and the other two vampires, leaving them nothing but ashes.

Still not willing to trust that they didn’t have the ability to harm Jared, I didn’t lower the shield as he and I walked to where the two brothers were now being held to the wall. When did Sebastian get here? I asked Jared.

He returned to The Hollow not long ago; said that he’d located the brothers and that they had you. I gathered the squad and we came here with Sebastian and his guys, and infiltrated the place. We’d been halfway through killing the vampires outside and in the rear of the house when I felt you.

Wyatt stopped struggling when he looked at me. “Quinn…her eyes.”

Similarly, Quinn stilled. “They glow silver. Mercury. Beautiful.”

I jiggled my head. “I tend to think of it as a bad side effect. But now that we have you, you’re going to fix that for me.”

Does Sebastian know what they did to me?

Yeah, I told him − I know we can trust him. But the others have no idea.

Obviously understanding that it was important that very few people knew about my new ‘hybrid’ status, Sebastian turned to his men. “Go and see if the others need any assistance.” As his men did as ordered, Sebastian turned to Salem and Reuben. “Perhaps it would be a good idea for you to check on the rest of your squad.”

When Salem and Reuben both looked to me, I nodded.

Only once they were gone did I speak to the brothers. “Now it’s time to put right what you did.”

“As your vampire has weakened our gifts, we cannot,” said Quinn.

I shrugged. “That’s fine. We’ll just keep you in a containment cell at The Hollow while we wait for the effect of Reuben’s gift to wear off.”

“I could not reverse the changes even if I wanted to.”

Jared shook his head. “If you did it, you can reverse it.”

“I could try, but I would not be able to completely reverse them.”

Narrowing his eyes, Jared demanded, “What does that mean?”

“It means that she would be somewhere between a Sventé, and what she is now.” Quinn gazed at me curiously. “Would you really want to change, Samantha? Would you really want to go back to being a Sventé?”

“I was perfectly happy as I was,” I told him.

“Perhaps you were. But wouldn’t you prefer to have all this power, to know that you can protect Jared and your squad much better by staying as you are?”

Jared growled. “By being as she is, she’ll always be in danger.”

Wyatt looked at me with something akin to reverence. “She is not dangerous, she is unique.” He sounded like a regular scientist talking about his subject.

“We’re getting nowhere with this,” I grumbled to Jared.

“So you can’t reverse it?” Jared asked them.

“We could try,” replied Wyatt. “Are you prepared to take the risks?”

Jared answered without missing a beat. “No.” Without moving his eyes from them, he spoke to me. “Sam, could you go with Sebastian to see the squad, let them know you’re safe. They’ve been worried about you.”

“Jared—”

“I warned these f**kers that I would find and destroy them.”

“Jared—”

Finally, he looked at me. “I need this.”

Yes, he really did, I realised. In doing what they had done, in putting me through pain, they had left him feeling helpless, powerless, and unable to help and protect the one person he most wanted to protect. And by having me teleported to them, they had put him through all those feelings once again. He had a score to settle. Just like Jude had needed to destroy Orrin to ease the rage and pain, he needed this now. And he needed to do it alone, just as she had.

I could have quite rightly pointed out that it was me who had been the true victim, and that I had some rage of my own, but I was willing to give him this. Besides, there was another score that needed settling, and I wanted to be the one to settle it. If I let him have the brothers, I could claim the right to punish Magda as I saw fit.

Giving him a nod, I left the room with Sebastian. But no matter how far away I got, I could still hear the screams.

(Jared)

I couldn’t stop staring at her. Didn’t want to. Not simply because of how beautiful she was, but because I’d never appreciated the sight of her as much as I did at that moment. I could see that it was annoying her, and I was pretty sure that she was going to hit me with her pillow soon if I didn’t stop. But after spending what felt like hours wondering if I’d ever see her again, I didn’t want to take my eyes off her. I wanted, needed, to drink in the sight of her.

Although coming inside her had felt like letting go of a lot of the stark fear I’d felt, it hadn’t been enough to reassure myself that she was back, here with me, and absolutely fine. The fact was, I had never had anything ‘good’ before, and I was petrified of losing what I never thought existed. Tonight had given me a tiny taste of what that would be like. Hell.

“Stop staring at me or I’ll poke you in the eyes.”

I smiled, running my hand through her hair. “Can’t help it. When Sebastian took me to the house where they were keeping you, it took everything I had not to charge inside. Even though I knew it was best that I didn’t risk exposing our presence to the brothers, all I wanted was to get to you.”

“You did.”

“How did you get your memories back?”

“I remembered Dexter first,” she admitted, which made me frown. I still had a love/hate relationship with that damn serpent. “They had a snake, and it was making me have flashbacks of Dexter, and then that led to me having flashbacks of the apartment, and of you.”

“So each memory triggered another?”

“Yeah, sort of.”

“Is there any damage? I mean, do you have any blank spots, like some of the memories are still repressed?”

“I don’t think so. Antonio said that Ryder can take a look for me, if I like. I’ll think about it. Right now, all I’m bothered about is getting some sleep so that I’m awake for our ceremony.”

“You’re feeling up to having it tomorrow?” I scrutinised her face. “You have to be tired.”

“The ceremony is not being postponed – deal with it.” There was no room for negotiation in her tone, which made me smile.

“As long as you’re sure, that’s fine with me. What’s not fine with me is that Magda’s still alive.” I hadn’t known she was responsible for Sam’s disappearance until an hour ago.

“She’s in one of the containment cells. I want her alive when we Bind, Jared. You know this.”

“And then?”

“Then I kill her.”

“Good.” I would have insisted on having the honour if Sam hadn’t pointed out that I’d got to kill the brothers. I was pretty sure she’d planned it that way, though. Tricky bitch. Seeing that dawn was approaching, I groaned. “I have to go now, don’t I?”

“Yep.”

I snuggled closer to her. “I don’t want to.” It sounded a little petulant, but I didn’t care.

“I’m not going to disappear again. Orrin’s dead. The brothers are dead. Magda and Brook are locked up. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you pissed that the brothers couldn’t reverse the changes?”

“Yes, and no.” At my confused look, she explained, “Yes, because I don’t want to always be worrying that someone will find out about me. And no, because it’s nice to be able to wrestle you in bed. When you were stronger and faster than me, it didn’t work so well.”

Yeah, that was definitely a perk. But no perk could outweigh the huge problem that this would make her a target if the news somehow got out. People would come for her, wanting to either kill her or breed her. In any case, only one thing would happen – I’d burn shit down. I’d go to war if I had to, and I’d have every right to, because I’d be Bound to her.

“Don’t think I don’t know that you’re lying there planning deaths.”

“What can I say? I have weird hobbies.”

She just shook her head at me, smiling. “Another benefit of being more powerful is that vampires are no longer fretting over whether I can protect them. I would never have let you step down from Heir.”

“And I would never have Bound myself to anyone else. You’re mine, I’m yours, and that’s it.” I cuddled her closer, kissing her hair.

“I have an idea. Why don’t we give each other our Binding gifts now? It’ll lift the mood, and I’m impatient to do it anyway. It was annoying that I couldn’t spend money on you, but I figure you might like this.”

Whatever I was expecting, it wasn’t for her to retrieve an A4 sized brown envelope from behind her bedside cabinet. Confused yet excited, I tore the seal open and pulled out a sheet of paper. I instantly laughed when I saw the heading.

PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT

This agreement is made on this ____ day of ______, 200__, by and between Samantha Parker (herein referred to as “The Boss”) and Jared Michaels (herein referred to as “Slave in All Things”).

Both parties acknowledge that they have read and understand this agreement, and that they have not been subjected to any form of coercion, duress, or pressure − by orgasms, or otherwise.

The parties hereby agree as follows:

1. It is necessary for there to be a 100 mile radius between them and any ex-partners. Should this condition be violated, violence and death may be the result.

2. There will always be equal control of all remote controls presently used, and any that may be acquired in the future

3. “The Boss” will courteously fake orgasms if and when necessary

4. At all times, “Slave in All Things” will not tease “The Boss” endlessly with his tongue and fingers during foreplay