She stepped back as dread slid through her. “I—I don’t understand.”
“Of course not. I perform magic that no one has even conceived of, breathed about, so you can’t possibly understand.”
Suddenly, his head snapped back. His face lost all color and animation. He turned an otherworldly shade of gray, while his eyes lost their luster and life, graying out like the rest of him. A ghostly leg kicked out from the side of his calf, almost as if another being was emerging from her father’s body. But that was impossible.
Or so she thought until an arm protruded from her father’s shoulder. Another head seemed to come out from his ear. Then a whole separate body emerged and stepped forward. Her father fell to the floor, lifeless, like a marionette with its strings cut.
Olivia’s jaw dropped. Terror iced its way though her veins. With a frantic stare, she looked between her father’s slumped form on the dingy floor and the new man in front of her.
He looked younger than Richard by twenty years. Dark hair brushed the bronzed tops of his bulging shoulders. His top half was bare except for a thin coat of sweat that accentuated every ripped muscle. Biceps bunched and flexed as he hooked his thumb into the waistband of his leather pants, hanging so low she could see his hip bones and follow the treasure trail leading down.
Who the hell was he?
“Olivia?”
She’d been so distracted by the fact that a half-naked hunk had emerged from her father’s body, she hadn’t looked into his eyes. What she saw there made her recoil.
An icy blue so chilling, she shivered from ten feet away. Rimmed in black, they threatened and seduced at once. He embodied compelling menace, with his slashing cheekbones, strong jaw, and sensual mouth. The man was completely sexual, impossible to ignore, and utterly without warmth in his soul.
She was repulsed.
“Wh—what have you done with my father?”
“I made sure he will rest.” He smiled benignly as he stepped closer. “In peace.”
Olivia felt her eyes widen, her pulse jump. She stepped back. “You ki—killed him?”
“He had served his purpose and was becoming tiresome. Suddenly, he sprouted morals and fatherly concern.” The man pretended to yawn. “What use have I for those?”
God, his words…the man had no heart. The closer he came, the more her skin crawled.
“You may be happy to know that his dying words were about you. He never pleaded for his own life, but he begged quite convincingly for yours.”
Dead? The father she’d barely had a chance to know had been murdered defending her to this…creature? “When?”
“Directly after he helped you fight off the Anarki at your mate’s cottage. I had him followed—and his mind read—prior to that. As soon as he teleported away from you and back here, well, your father had been a smashing source of information, but I no longer needed him. So I provided him everlasting slumber.”
Olivia trembled. It was all happening so fast, she couldn’t wrap her head around the rapid-fire events. “Why kill him?”
“He was going to ruin my plan.” He ran the backs of his fingers down her cheek in a soft caress that, for all its gentleness, scared the crap out of her. “I couldn’t have that.”
Olivia jerked away from his touch. “Who are you?”
“Mathias d’Arc, of course.” He made a great show of executing a very courtly bow.
His name ricocheted around her head. The Mathias? Oh, dear God!
She stumbled back, only to encounter a wall. He laughed softly, the sound every bit as chilly as his eyes.
Mathias reached toward her and curled his fists around her hair, letting it slide between his palms before he grabbed her cruelly. “My fiery American witch. So lovely.”
“Leave me the hell alone!” She struggled to get away.
Mathias held her against the wall. “To touch you, I could break your mate bond, which you might not survive. Or I could simply take you and disregard your pain, but you might not live through that either, and I have no use for a dead le Fay witch. You’re quite lovely. More’s the pity.”
Yanking on her hair, Mathias pulled her closer. Olivia stumbled against him until her mouth was just beneath his.
“I would enjoy fucking you,” he whispered against her lips. “Your moans and pleas would provide me so much energy and pleasure.”
Olivia tried to shake her head, but he held her too tightly.
“But you reek of that immortal human,” Mathias growled. “And I’m in no mood to smell him while you scream in pleasure.”
Pleasure? How could he imagine that she would for a moment enjoy his touch?
“Your mind is deliciously easy to hear. You would feel pleasure because I would will it so. Watch.”
Suddenly, he released her and stepped into the middle of the room. With a wave of his hands and a snap of his fingers, a woman appeared, looking mussed and dirty and naked. Head down, her pale curls shielded her face, her shoulders, part of her breasts, flirted with her navel. But Olivia could see she was a beauty.
“Come,” he called to her.
Without looking up, she walked toward him.
“Kneel.”
She did as she was told. Knees apart, hands clasped behind her back, pose submissive.
Behind the woman, Olivia’s jaw dropped. Why would the beauty subjugate herself to a monster? God, she was going to be sick.
Absently, Mathias brushed the woman’s hair from her face, then moved lower, fondling her breast. He grabbed her nipple and gave his wrist a slow, hard twist. The woman gasped, then began to pant.
Time to run. Maybe Mathias would be so distracted she would have the opportunity to get away. He’d probably kill her for it.
Olivia ran two steps toward the door when she felt something loop around her neck and give a vicious yank. She pulled and scratched, looking for the something choking her, but her nails gouged only her own skin.
Then suddenly, her hands were forced to her sides and she was turned to face Mathias and his slave once more.
“I insist you stay for the fun. This one gives me a great deal of energy. So full of anger I can translate into such juicy enthusiasm for my cock. Isn’t that right, lovely?”
Grimacing, Olivia felt moments from losing her last meal.
“Rise,” Mathias demanded of the woman, then dropped his voice. “You’re a minx. I’ll bet you liked it rough with your former mate as well.”
The woman had once had a mate?