Chapter 70

Time stretched, but I didn’t push Cinder as she tried to gather the right words. Not to mention, with her eyes flashing at me even more, her courage. At last, she wiped her eyelashes and blew her nose into the napkin.

“I heard about you from Erville,” she said in a quiet, measured tone. “Um, and was intrigued.”

“Why?” I arched an eyebrow and lifted my mug.

“Neither he nor Charles sought to question your knowledge about security.”

“So?” I sipped.

“Well ... God, can I call you master, please? It’s driving me—”

“No, not yet. Keep talking.”

“O-Okay.” She nodded and chewed her lips before exhaling. Yes, she caught my glance at her juddering firm chest. How did I know? She lifted those perfect pale tits so I could get a clearer view. Different though the women were, thoughts of impish Mandy slashed into me. “When I saw you at that first party, back in May, I knew ... Well, there was something. You exude confidence. No, more than that. An unnatural energy.”

“Unnatural?” I mumbled as the same fear bubbled within me. Was I just as much of a monster as the creature who’d abandoned her? But after gritting my teeth, I forced a grin at her curious gaze.

“You’re not”–she gulped—”one of them, are you? Can’t be. But you are not, um, human, either.”

“Oh, no. Au contraire, dear Cynthia. I’m quite human. Perhaps more so, is all.” After lowering the coffee to the table, I focused on her glimmering eyes. “No, I’m no bloodsucker. Sorry, you’ll have to get your fix somewhere else.”

At my words, her head tilted and brows tightened. For a second, her mouth opened as if to reply. However, instead, she took a drink from the mug in her trembling fists. After a slow swallow, she smacked her lips.

“I ... My fix? It’s not the...” Her voice was soft. “Well, my mistress has been gone a long time. But she awakened things. Desires. Cravings. These drives that I can’t fulfill, um, on my own. You’re right, I thought Erville could provide, but he’s incapable. Not his fault. Nobody’s fault, I guess, but—”

“You still have the craving to be controlled.”

“No, mas—. Dominated. Used and—”

“–you hoped I’d be a suitable replacement?”

“Yes.” As she nodded, her snowy hair glimmered in the lights. “I wasn’t sure what or who you were, but I was drawn to you.”

“Humph.” I chuckled under my breath. “Yeah, I noticed at the second pool party. You practically eye-raped me in front of your husband and all the others while we talked.”

She nodded, then gnawed at her lower lip. “And when you came up behind me in Charles’ kitchen. God, right then and there, I wanted to bow down and serve you any way I could.”

At the memory of her sudden silence and the lack of response when I’d slid into her back and whispered into her ear, I sighed. So much was clearer.

“This is the most important question, Cynthia.” Gone was the grin. Instead, I pinned her with my gaze. “When you have those cravings now, who do you dream about?”

“You!” shot from her as those emeralds ignited with desire. “God help me, you!”

“Hmm, alright.” Still inspecting her, I gestured for her to calm down. “Your mistress. Has she ever sought you out?”

“No.”

That was an easy enough test. Once I’d known to look, I’d spotted only the faintest marks on her neck.

“No tattoos?” I glanced at her lap. No sign of clan marking, but she could’ve had it removed.

“No. She, um, didn’t do that.” After her tongue did a slow sweep of her lips, she gulped. “At least, not to, uh, me.”

“But she kept you collared?” I gestured at her throat, where she was running a nail across the bare skin.

“Um, yes, mas—” she eased the nail away and nodded, again causing her hair to shimmer.

“Miss it, huh?”

“Oh, God yes, mas—” As her head bobbed quicker, the platinum strands flashed.

Although her eyes also flashed, I ignored the second time she’d again tried to call me her master. Instead, my mind flickered with memories of the desert cave. And what could’ve happened had she remained in servitude to one of them. Perhaps she’d survive like the mother and her son. More than likely, though, their days were also numbered.