The Mortal One (The Mortal One Series) (12 page)

Chapter 12

AS I CLIMBED the stairs to my apartment, I began to relax again.

I walked in the front door, noticing it was unlocked. A smile spread across my face, quickening my pace just a little, “Nico,” I called.

The bathroom door opened and steam poured out.

“Nico,” I called again, getting excited and doing everything but run to the entrance of the bathroom. “I’m so glad—“

“Dylan.”

“You’re—!” I gasped “You’re not Nico.”

I exhaled slowly and took a step back and my nerves kicked into high gear. Olivier stood in the doorway with his dark blonde hair wet and slicked back against his head. He wore nothing but one of my oversized cotton towels and a smirk.

Everything in my being told me to run, but knew it would do no good. This was a dangerous man. Nico and Costin struggled with him and his power radiated off of him.

Not knowing whether to scream or run, I just stood there, staring at his sculpted abs glistening with water and the trail of dark hair that crept beneath the towel.

The thought to run was becoming stronger but moving wasn’t happening. I took a step backwards and tried to avert my attention to anything other than his glistening biceps painted with tribal tattoos.

I let out a startled gasp as he moved in on me.

“Dylan,” he called out. “I thought you’d like this. Perhaps my introduction in the park was too aggressive.”

My heart was in my throat and my mouth went dry. I couldn’t seem to find enough voice to say anything.

“Do you not like what you see?” He asked, his voice playing with the very root of what made me female. It didn’t matter if he was a vampire or what his intentions were. It’s hard to keep my mind in the game when I’m staring at over six feet of chiseled perfection in Egyptian cotton less than an arm’s length reach away.

I was hoping like hell that Costin or Nico would jump in at any time. I took another step back and shook my head slightly from side to side. I didn’t want to
say
anything. My voice would betray me in one way or another. I certainly didn’t want to
do
anything, either, especially not what Olivier had in mind.

“Dylan, come now,” he cooed as he walked towards me. “You can’t possibly want him over me. I’m younger, much closer to your age. Besides, I’m a better kisser.”

“I-I….” I stammered with words and fell into the chair in an effort to dodge him. “I’m not—”

“Interested? I think you are. I think you just need a little convincing.” He grabbed me by the shoulders, pulling me out of the chair.

His arms wrapped in front of me, pressing him more intimately to my backside than I thought ever imaginable. I fought to get out of his grip and he strengthened his hold on me. I was vaguely aware that my squirming was arousing him more than it was allowing me to get loose. He was very interested, judging by the pressure that was getting firmer against me.

“Hold still!” He pulled my hair with considerable force.

“What do you want from me?” I asked, trying to pull free, though I knew it was pointless. No amount of strength I could ever muster would be enough to get myself loose from Olivier. It was like being held in place by concrete.

“It’s not obvious?” He pulled me closer to him, if it was even possible.

Oh, it’s obvious
, I thought. I squirmed against him in an effort to get an inch between us.

His breath crept across my skin as he inhaled and exhaled. “You smell really good. No wonder Niccolò can’t keep his hands off you.”

“Please,” I begged. I found myself wishing for a few things – like not coming home alone and for shorter hair. He gripped a good handful of it to keep me taut against him.

“We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

“I have nothing to say to you.”

He didn’t like my answers and he pulled my wrists tighter into his grip. My wrists were pinned to my side with his right hand when I saw the door to the balcony open.

Two figures walked in – Costin and a new guy, someone I didn’t recognize. The stranger had jet black hair hanging loose past his shoulders. His skin was a little darker, maybe of Hispanic origin. His eyes were the same shade of black as his hair and he stared at me through loose strands, which hung in his way.

“Costin!” I shouted.

Costin looked over at me and gave me a nod, as if to say not to worry.

“Tell them to leave,” Olivier said.

“No.”

“Olivier, just let her go,” he commanded, crouching in his tan slacks, ready to attack.

There was a laugh echoing through my ear. “Why would I do that? I just got her where I want her.” He slid his hand over my head and smoothed my hair under his palm.

I wiggled against his embrace as he stood there, locking me in his grasp. Costin better have another plan than just asking nicely.

“She’s not yours,” the stranger spoke, mirroring the fighting stance Costin had taken on the other side of us.

Were they going to fight in my apartment? While I knew they didn’t want any witnesses, the square footage of my place was limited.

I took the opportunity to pull against Olivier when I felt his grip go slack on me. As soon as he felt me move, I was pinned to him even tighter.

“Keep wiggling,” he whispered in my ear. “It feels wonderful.”

Ugh. I stopped wiggling instantly to ensure that I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of getting off on my struggles.

“She. Is. Not. Yours,” the stranger emphasized again.

Olivier turned to address the men. “That’s where we disagree. I saw her weeks ago. She was mine then and she’s mine now. She disappeared out of Paris quicker than I anticipated, though, and it took me a little while to track her down.” He grabbed my hair again, bringing my head against his. I let out a yelp of pain before I could muffle it. “You just had to check out early, didn’t you?”

This information caught me off guard. Had he known when I was supposed to check out from my hotel? The idea of him getting any personal information of mine made me cringe when the dark haired vampire to my left let out a deep-throated snarl. It startled me back, closer to Olivier, which was the last thing I had wanted. I was hoping the stranger wasn’t going to attack Olivier while I was standing in his arms.

“Easy, precious,” Olivier whispered to me. “I won’t let any harm come to you.” He stroked my hair as his hand made its way up the back of my neck.

I shivered uneasily. Part of me was waiting for Nico to come down into the balcony at any moment and save me from this. I stared at the empty balcony and then back at the scene before me. Shit, I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“You can’t mark her, so what’s your plan?” Costin demanded. He had stood up and was leaning against the couch, almost nonchalantly.

“And why can’t I?” Olivier asked, amusement in his tone.

“She has to pledge herself to you, and she won’t do that,” Costin said. “You know the rules.”

Olivier seemed to think about this for a moment. “Why wouldn’t she pledge herself to me?” He looked over at Costin and then to the stranger, as if daring them to go up against him. “Besides, you know what they say about rules.”

I finished the thought for him – they were made for breaking. If he was going to break rules, though, I was screwed. My only hopes were that Nico was making a hell of a lot better progress than Costin was.

“What makes you think I’d pledge myself to you?” I asked vehemently.

He laughed against my ear again. “Why wouldn’t you?”

The man was so cocky that it pissed me off. Before I could start naming off the reasons, the stranger stepped in. “You can’t use mind control to sway her decisions. Marking must be a two-sided decision and she has already pledged herself to Nico.”

Wait a second…mind control? I thought that was for making people forget or getting them to do something, not controlling feelings. Could Olivier use mind control to make me want him? I was hoping the answer was no, but as I read the concern across Costin’s face, I wasn’t so sure. I stood completely pinned and unable to do anything but verbally object to whatever might come my way. This was so
not
how I pictured the evening going when I came home.

“Prove I used mind control as I mark her, gentlemen,” Olivier dared. As I felt his breath on my neck, I was regretting wearing the vest tonight. At least something with a collar would have protected me a little bit more for a few seconds, at least. The strength in his grasp made me think of something he had said to me earlier. He was younger than Nico. I knew Nico was over two hundred years old, but with my eyes shut their strength mirrored each other. That begged the question of how much younger was Olivier than Nico? More importantly, how bad could this be for me?

He drew me in closer and licked the nape of my neck before turning me around so I was peering into his deep blue eyes. My body cringed at the sensation of his fingers on my hairline and I moved my head. I did not want to look into his eyes. He took my face in both of his hands and placed his icy palms on my cheeks. They were colder than Nico’s. I hoped it wasn’t because Olivier hadn’t fed recently.

“Dylan,” he said low into my ear. “Look at me.”

His voice echoed inside my head and I looked at him. His gaze bore into mine like two amber gems.

“Good girl,” he commended.

He continued focusing on me and holding my head in his hands so I had no choice but to lock into his stare. I could always shut my eyes, but I didn’t trust anyone on the balcony, so I kept them open. Who knows what could happen if I closed them for longer than a blink?

Olivier breathed in my scent and smiled. “Dylan, I want you.”

I obeyed, pressing my body against his. We never looked away from each other and yet my actions were not my own. I didn’t enjoy the proximity to him, but I felt completely incapable of doing anything to my own accord. Just as I was thinking it, the stranger spoke.

“Costin, you must do something. He already has her under his control.”

Costin nodded. “It took less time than I thought it would.”

I was trapped inside my body, hearing their words and wanting to say or do something, but my fears had come true. Olivier had me under his control.

The smell of Olivier was much different in comparison to Nico. His breath was like spearmint. The intoxicating smell was lingering in front of me and calling to me. It made me want nothing more than to taste his mouth to see if coincided with the smell. That would do it. A long, sensual kiss from the sexy man in front of me would help to cure any curiosity that I had.

I looked up at Olivier and licked my lips slowly and purposefully, never backing down from him. The corners of his mouth turned upwards in a smile. It wasn’t long before his lips started to inch towards mine, though it seemed like an eternity before they would meet.

Around us, the earth seemed to stand still. There was just Olivier and me. A light humming sound encompassed us in our own little bubble. There was stubble on Olivier’s chin and I reached out to run my fingers along it in hopes of bringing his mouth closer to mine faster.

“That’s it, love,” Olivier said softly. “Focus on me. Bring me your lips. I cannot wait to taste them.”

The stranger tried to step in between Olivier and me but Olivier had his hand up, sending some kind of electric charge at him.

“What the -,” Costin asked, bewildered by what just happened.

The stranger shook his head, confused by the situation as well.

“Fight it, Dylan,” Costin yelled in the background, but I couldn’t seem to find the meaning of what he was saying. Fight what? Why would I want to fight this gorgeous creature?

Olivier’s thumbs rubbed along my jaw line as he held my head steady in his grip. The chill in his hands left a numbing sensation across my skin and I felt like gelatin in his arms. I couldn’t think about anything else except the distance his lips were from mine and the strong desire to close the gap.

I raised myself on tiptoe to compensate for his height.

Olivier watched me closely and his lips moved epically slow towards mine. He brought his right hand to rest on my hip while his other hand guided my face towards him. He tilted my head to one side, exposing the full length of my neck to him. His head bowed nearer to my skin and I could feel my heart beat faster as his breath left cold, tingling sensations through me.

His eyes gleamed a dozen different shades of blue. I watched only him as the other men seemed to blur into the background.

“Do you want me?”

I nodded. The sound of his voice was like velvet. His words were like unspoken promises of all the ways he could pleasure me.

“Let me hear you say it.”

“I want you.” There wasn’t anything in the world that I wanted more. This man was the embodiment of sex and lust and everything else. I wanted him, plain and simple.

“Dylan, you must pay attention!” Costin screamed. He came into focus and before I could ask what he meant, he lunged towards us.