VET Vampire Romance 01 - Covet

he was one of the most powerful vampires Javier knew, even more powerful than Lord Ashville.
    “Lilah is the reason I am here to speak with you.” Javier somehow managed to keep his fear from his voice. It was surprisingly steady. “Lord Ashville’s claim on her is either false or incomplete.”
    “What do you mean?” Antoine sat forwards and leaned his elbows on his desk, creasing his silver-grey tailored shirt.
    “She has her own will. She seduced me, could bear my touch and my bite with no ill effect.” It was hard to lie to his old friend but he had to maintain the charade for Lilah’s sake. She believed that it would save him and he was starting to hope that it would.
    “Impossible.”
    “Not impossible at all. Ask her yourself. She will tell you that what we did has not pained her at all and that she was the one to initiate things between us. I just need you to send word to the heads of society about this and let them deal with it. Question us if you must. Please... if Lord Ashville comes... do not let him take Lilah and do not let him carry out punishment on me.” Javier stood with the intent of convincing Antoine to go with him to Lilah and speak to her.
    A sense of panic surged through the theatre bare seconds before Callum rushed into the office.
    “We have a problem,” Callum said, his green eyes wide and fear coming off him in waves.
    Javier stared at him, his heart squeezed tight by icy claws, and sensed the pain in his blood before he heard her scream.
    “Lilah!”

Chapter 8
    Lilah woke alone in the middle of Javier’s huge four-poster bed in his elegant blue room. She stretched, muscles tight and aching from making love with him, and smiled to herself. The windowless room gave her no clue as to the hour. Had the sun risen yet? If it had, she was sure that Javier would be beside her, sound asleep. Sleeping curled in his arms had felt so good. She had never felt so safe. Her life before Lord Ashville had bonded with her had been rough, living day to day with little comfort, scrounging for food and money on the street. After Lord Ashville had given her blood and taken her to his mansion, her life had scarcely improved. She had become a slave.
    But then he had sent her here, to Javier, and she had fallen in love. During her past two years here, there had been times when he had been especially nice to her. Now she knew why.
    Now she knew what love was.
    Love was the way he had held her in his arms as she slept and watched over her, keeping her safe from the darkness in the world.
    Protecting her.
    Her heart hurt at the thought of him fighting Lord Ashville. She knew that he intended to fight for her. It was better than him letting her master enact the punishment for the law he had broken, but she still feared it.
    Lilah pushed the thick feather duvet aside and rose from the bed. She rounded the foot of it, gathering her clothes as she went, and headed for the open door to the bathroom. The rich gold fixtures shone in the light when she flicked the switch, revealing the expansive room. The curved glass door of the double shower was open. A shiver of arousal tripped through her at the thought of what Javier would have looked like had she taken longer to reach his room and caught him in the shower instead. The image of him with wet sandy brown hair, water dripping from the haphazard spikes and rolling down his bare chest, was too delicious to contemplate without arousing herself.
    She took one of the black towels off the white marble counter around the large oval sink and raised it to her nose. It smelt like Javier. Warm and spicy. She touched his shaving things and then his aftershave bottles that lined the back of the counter below the large rectangular mirror. He had quite the collection of the same fragrance but she supposed it made sense. It was annoying enough to a human when their favourite scent was no longer available and they had to find a new one. She couldn’t imagine how many times a vampire had to find a new fragrance.
    Especially one who was over six hundred years old.
    Lilah couldn’t even imagine what the world had been like when he had been born.
    To a vampire father and a turned mother.
    She hadn’t missed the look in Javier’s dark eyes when he had spoken of them and his sister’s recent marriage to a man she had turned into a vampire. He wanted that for them. It frightened her but there was already a part of her that wanted to let him turn her so they could have their