“Things? That’s kind of vague… what things,” Lily asked glancing over at him. Damn why this is so hard, James swore silently and took a small quick breath, in and out.
“Well I wanted to talk about us,” he replied and she stopped, looking at him with an expression he couldn’t read.
“Us? I thought we already had that conversation, James,” she said, her expression still unreadable and it was driving him nuts.
“In part yes but there is still something I want to say,” he told her and she gave him an expectant look now. He took a deep breath, well here goes nothing.
“Well, James?” She asked with a small smile that made him suspect that she was laughing at him.
“I don’t want to be your friend,” he told her with a little irritation that she was making fun of him. The smile fell from her face and she looked like she had been struck. That didn’t come out right, he thought. “What I mean,” he started but with a harden expression she threw him a dismissive wave and cut him off.
“It’s cool James. You don’t need to explain. I get it. I really do,” she told him walking off quickly, and he swore silently. How could have he messed this up?
“No Lily you’re not getting it,” he started, racing after her, but she ignored him. He grabbed her arm and forced her to stop.
“Look James seriously I get it. Sometimes the past is just too much to get over. At least you were honest,” she said, clearly trying to act as if she didn’t care about it, but he could see that she did care. In a strange twisted way that gave him the sign he needed to continue.
“Lily for once will you just shut up,” he growled at her and her eyes opened in surprise. “What I meant is I don’t just want to be your friend. I want to give being mates another try,” he told her and her mouth fell open as she stared at him in clear shock. “Well what do you think,” James asked when she hadn’t said anything for a solid minute.
“Yes, Lily please do give the little dog his answer the suspense is killing us,” a cool, smooth voice demanded. James quickly turn and growled when he saw the two vampires standing there smugly. The former vampire king stood there with a hint of a grin on his pale Hispanic face, looking too well dressed to be an escaped prisoner. Next to him stood his liege, Bianca, she looked a little worse for wear James noticed.
“Silvano,” Lily hissed at him, glancing at the woods, no doubt wondering the same as James. Where were her two bodyguards… the ones who were supposed to jump out of the bushes and take down the bad guys?
“So we meet again,” he said coolly and took a step towards her but James quickly put himself between them, remembering she said she didn’t fight. Silvano gave him a disgusted look. James growled at him in warning. There was no way he was going to let that leech get near her. “Down dog,” Silvano commanded and suddenly his eyes flashed into a reddish hue.
“James don’t,” Lily started to yell, but it was already too late. James felt an icy numbness spread through him and he couldn’t move a single muscle.
“Buen Chico… now move aside,” Silvano told him and to his surprise, James did just that. He tried to stop himself, but he felt like a puppet at the command of his puppeteer. “Now where were we, oh yes my tenacious little hybrid,” he said walking towards Lily. James kept trying to override what Silvano had done to him but so far he couldn’t even flinch.
“What do you want Silvano?” Lily demanded, taking a step back. The vampire king laughed softly in reply.
“I have to say I’m impressed with the progress you’ve made, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was right. You did lose control didn’t you,” he told her with a chilling smile and Lily looked at him in surprise.
“How did you…” she started, guilt tainting her expression. What the hell the vampire was talking about?
“How doesn’t matter but just know that I have heard about what happened those days of your brief training. Though I do admit I’m curious what caused you to completely lose it that one day? The fact that you were about to lose a fight or the fact that the woman called you low-class beast?” Silvano asked her and Lily swallowed nervously, lowering her eyes. James growled in rage, though not a sound came from his mouth, at the submissiveness in her body language.
“You killed her and how long did it take them to pick up the pieces? And that’s not counting the nearly thirty other people you had injured at varying degree before that fairy brought you to heel,” Silvano went on and Lily cringed, backing away from the vampire with a still submissive attitude. Damn it, Lily don’t let him manipulate you like that, James swore silently.
As if she had been able to hear him Lily lifted her chin with her lip curled into a scowl. “If you know so much then you must know that I haven’t lost control again since and I took myself out of the guardian training. I’ve sworn off fighting,” she snapped at him and once more the vampire chuckled at her with a challenging expression.
“Yes, but have you really sworn off fighting or have you simply not haven’t had the chance or the temptation to enter into a physical altercation?” He asked her, clearly goading her.
“I. Do. Not. Fight,” Lily demanded with a rock solid conviction.
“What if I offered you a chance to fight me? If you win I let you live and leave you in peace,” he suggested but quickly Lily shook her head side to side in refusal. “Alright, then what if I offered the same deal, but you fight with Bianca. After all she’s the one that merciless and needlessly killed your sister,” he suggested and Bianca looked appalled at the idea.
“I killed a torturer and a traitorous dog! Silvano, you can’t re-” she started, but Silvano cut her off with a cold dark glare.