VET Vampire Romance 01 - Covet

forever.
    If they survived what was coming.
    Lilah pressed her hand to her bare chest and focused on her heart and her blood, trying to sense her master. She clung to the hope that the wretched man was nowhere near and hadn’t felt what she had done with Javier. It would give them time to track him down and speak to him. They couldn’t hide from him forever. When she saw him again, she would make him release her so she could be with Javier.
    She stepped into the shower and turned on the water. The pulsing beat of hot water over her skin chased some of her tension away and she closed her eyes and raised her face into it.
    The sound of the door to the apartment opening made her pause and then smile. Javier. She had promised they would shower later so she remained under the jet, waiting for him to come to her. She heard his footsteps on the tiled floor of the white bathroom and turned with a wide smile to face the curved glass doors as they opened.
    “Where did you go—”
    Her eyes met dark red ones. She stared at them, every inch of her trembling despite the hot water cascading over her back.
    Lord Ashville grabbed her wrist in a bruising grip and yanked her from the shower. She slipped on the floor and slammed onto it, banging her knee and elbow. It didn’t stop her master. He dragged her along the floor until she managed to scramble onto her feet. She clawed at his hand on her wrist, trying to prise his fingers open, but it only made him tighten his grip until her bones creaked.
    Lilah cried out.
    “Shut up,” Lord Ashville snapped, his fiery red eyes scalding her. He raised his arm, dragging hers upwards, and her feet left the floor, her shoulder threatening to pop out of its socket.
    “Please... it hurts,” Lilah whimpered and shivered, fear thundering in her chest, turning her stomach.
    His eyes darkened, almost as black as his short hair, cruelty marring his youthful face.
    “I told you to shut up.” He snarled and threw her across the bedroom. She hit the dressing table and collapsed into a heap, pain blazing through every inch of her, burning fiercest in her shoulder and hip. He stalked towards her, blurring in and out of focus as she struggled to remain conscious, and crouched, grabbed her by her throat, and dragged her onto her feet.
    Lilah choked and flailed her legs, kicking wildly. He grunted when she managed to catch him in the balls and dropped her. She made a break for the broken door but he reached it before her, blocking her way with his broad build. Lilah backed into the room, desperately searching for something to use as a weapon. Unsurprisingly there was nothing she could use to dispatch a vampire. There were only things that would probably annoy him even more. A letter opener on the bedside table, a wooden chair in the corner, an empty glass decanter on the dressing table. All of them were within her reach if she moved quickly enough but none of them would stop him.
    She tried for the letter opener but Lord Ashville came up behind her and caught her by her throat. The feel of his fingertips against her jugular stopped her dead. He pulled her hair aside so roughly that her head went with it, her neck cracking under the force, and snarled.
    “Who did this?” His other hand scratched the marks on her throat and she whimpered again, afraid that he would cut her open with his nails. “Who violated you?”
    “No one violated me,” Lilah whispered and then grimaced when Lord Ashville sniffed the marks. “I chose to be with him. I initiated it!”
    “Impossible.” Lord Ashville grabbed her arm again and pulled her towards the corridor. She made a desperate reach for the splintered doorframe and clung to it, grimacing as he yanked on her other arm. Her fingers slipped and she hit the deck with another violent bang.
    It didn’t stop Lord Ashville. He dragged her across the wooden floorboards in the corridor until she managed to get back onto her feet. Lilah redoubled her efforts and clawed at his hand, drawing blood with her nails. It didn’t even slow him down.
    He tugged her down the stairs and she stumbled, her heart pounding and tears filling her eyes. The air of the theatre chilled her bare damp skin and she hung her head, hiding behind the wet lengths of her dark hair as they reached an area where humans and vampires were still at work. Shame burned her cheeks as she felt everyone staring at her naked body and bile burned up her throat. She covered her privates with her free