She kept walking, scanning in the way of Carpathians, trying to find the one stalking her. He seemed to be everywhere, surrounding her, circling her. She refused to give in to fear. Of course Sandu would awaken starving for blood. He was Carpathian. Her enemy wasn’t telling her anything she didn’t already know. She refused to engage with or acknowledge him.
“He was approached by so many willing to serve him,” that soft voice continued.
Abruptly, she was at the edge of a clearing, and she could see in the distance beautiful women, most without clothes. They wrapped themselves around a man, stroking him, offering him their bodies, pleading with him to take them.
“Sandu,” she whispered his name.
There was no mistaking his tall frame. Those wide shoulders. That long blond hair falling down his back. He was as naked as the women, and one had her hands on his thighs, while another stroked his hard cock, her mouth inches from him. Even as she watched, Sandu bent his head toward a dark-haired woman who swept back her hair to expose her neck while she thrust her breasts at him.
Sandu’s teeth bit deep. One hand grasped a breast while the other fisted his engorged cock and thrust it into the waiting mouth. He transferred his hand from his cock to the woman’s hair, holding her still while he surged into her mouth over and over, all the while drinking from the dark-haired woman.
“What are you doing?” Adalasia whispered.
The dark-haired woman weakened, and Sandu pushed her aside. She collapsed onto the ground where she lay motionless. Another took her place, sliding up Sandu’s body, her hands greedy and grasping. She pleaded with him, trying to pull his head to her breast. He sank his teeth into her as his cock erupted down the throat of the woman kneeling at his feet. The moment she crawled away, another took her place, wrapping herself around him, licking and sucking at his cock, pleading for him to take her. She got on her hands and knees in front of him, deliberately enticing him. When he pushed the second woman to the ground, without even closing the twin holes on her neck, he grasped the hips of the woman on all fours and plunged into her.
Adalasia stared in horror at the scene unfolding before her eyes. Sandu had become a madman, gorging himself on blood and sex. She felt the burn of tears and desperately tried to tell herself he didn’t know what he was doing. This wasn’t a betrayal. He might not even remember he had a lifemate.
“He indulges himself while you suffer the heat. You risk your life to save him, and he gives in to his real nature. He has always carried the beast in him. You saw it in him when you first looked into him.”
She put her hands over her ears in an effort to drown out the voice. She had seen the beast in Sandu.
“He has always been more demon than man. Locking himself away didn’t prevent him from wanting these things. Dreaming of them. Why do you think he doesn’t share all of himself with you? He doesn’t want you to see the cravings he has. The hunger for other women. The way he has acted for centuries, betraying you over and over again.”
“Stop,” Adalasia whispered, but she didn’t know if she was telling the voice to stop or Sandu. He did have a demon in him. She had caught glimpses of the demon when he fought. She felt the rise of it, the need for the kill. The love of the battle. It was an addiction, just like the need for blood and sex.
It was also true that when she merged her mind with Sandu’s, there were very strong barricades she couldn’t get past. Was this what he had been hiding all along? His need for more than one woman? His dark obsessions?
“Look at him. He thinks nothing of you. He will continue to deceive you. He is an ancient and can hide whatever he wishes from you. You can’t trust him. Why did you think that you could? In the beginning, you had concerns, but he used his voice on you, didn’t he? He pushed them aside and got from you the things he wished. He will always get what he wishes.”
That insidious voice continued to murmur in her ear. To surround her with her own doubts. It was true that she had so many concerns, so many reservations and fears, and yet, in spite of all of them, she had somehow come to the conclusion that she should join forces with him. Why? Her memory seemed hazy. A film over it. She could clearly see her apprehension, feel how strong it was, yet she didn’t remember why she changed her mind.
Sandu pushed the woman aside after he finished in her, and he beckoned to others, pointing to the ground so they crawled to him, begging to service him. Someone called out to him, and he looked over his shoulder and laughed. “Join us.” She heard that very distinctly. “I like to share.”