Page 26 of Sinful Mates

Coming to the bottom, I open the foyer door, and he stands there with his arms crossed over his chest, blocking my exit. How the fuck did he get here so fast? Even if he took the other fire escape, it’s on the other side of the building!

I take a step back, prepared to run all the way back up, but Theo stands on the stairs behind me. I’m trapped. Both watch me, like two snakes observing their prey before they decide if they are hungry enough to devour it. Tobias steps into the stairwell, closing the door behind him and pushing his weight against it, cutting off any escape I could manage.

“Oh, my. This is so very interesting. Tobias, your father is going to be quite disappointed, you took a human for a mate,” the woman says, but her cold calculating gaze remains on me. She’s just behind Theo, elbow propped on the railing. She studies me with a bored and unphased expression.

I am cornered, no escape. My heart pounds so hard I can hear it. I’m lightheaded, dizzy, ready to collapse into a pile of goop and give up, just let these monsters do whatever they want. How can I fight them? I shake and pitch forward, falling to the ground and the endless black that awaits me, but at least it’s an escape. Maybe it’ll be better if I never return from it.

Chapter Eleven

The buzzing of whispers wakes me. I crack my eyes open, unsure if I should sit up. I’m on a soft bed, but the ceiling doesn't look like anything I’ve seen before.

I rise on my elbows, glancing around. Heavy red patterned drapes hang from the windows, blocking any light. A soft breeze wafts in, sweeping over my skin. The ceiling is too high for anyone to reach without a ladder. What a bastard it would be to change the lightbulbs on the lights fixture hanging from the ceiling. A nonsensical thought, but I need something to focus on instead of the growing worry that I have no idea where I am.

I glance down at my body. I am covered with a gray duvet tucked tightly around me. It makes me feel claustrophobic. I wiggle my arms out. It’s like someone made the bed not realizing I’m under the blankets. I sit up the rest of the way, inspecting the rest of the room. It’s huge, it makes me feel like a doll in a dollhouse.

The bed is a four-poster bed with a canopy on top that matches the thick curtains. A huge bear skin rug is spread on the floor of the room. And a fireplace larger than me blazes in the corner. A brown curved couch sits in front of it. The stone walls fit perfectly with the mahogany and red cedar furniture. The room is something more fitting of a castle than a house. The buzzing whispers that woke me come from the cracked door.

I strain my ears, struggling to catch on but the soft feminine voice is too hard to make out. From what I can remember, she sounds similar to the woman from the stairwell. Similar except for a soft fury in her, and she argues with another voice I've never heard. It sends a chill through me. Have I been kidnapped? I slip out of bed, moving just a little closer until I can make out their words.

“I’ll give you a month, Tobias, and you too, Theo. Fix it, or I will. Whatever it is you have going on with that girl needs to end. Why you would even think of doing this is beyond me,” the unfamiliar voice sends a chill through me. Fix it? What are they planning to do to me?

“She is our mate; what did you expect us to do? Ignore her?” Tobias whisper-growls back, his voice rising. I’m torn between cheering for Tobias or just wanting to get out of all this. But the other man's coldness makes me think he wants to kill me, being Tobais's prisoner is a better alternative to that at least.

“Precisely, you should’ve left her alone to go about her life and you should’ve forgotten about her. You know the consequences for bringing a human into our world. You have condemned that girl to a fate she has no idea about.” The woman from before continues to scold him. A fate I have no idea about?

“If you really love her like your mate, you wouldn’t let this happen. I thought you would’ve known better than to put her life at risk, Tobias.” I can hear the anger in the strange man’s voice.

“One month like your father said. One month, either you convince her, or we’ll have no choice but to kill her. We can’t risk being exposed. The council will have your heads if they find out you broke the most sacred law we have.” My heart skips a beat. They really are talking about killing me. And the strange man is Tobias's father? I have to find a way out of here, but I want to hear the rest of the conversation. What is this mysterious fate they have in store for me?

“And if she says no?” demands Theo. There’s an icy softness to his voice.

“She dies. We can’t have a human running around knowing all our secrets. It’s too risky.” The woman’s voice sounds tired and drained. “You know the rules.”

“No, I won’t allow it!” Tobias shouts, snarling like a wild animal pushed to its limits. His voice is breaking, hurting my ears.

“Either she chooses, or you choose for her, Tobias. I won’t risk our family. If you don’t fix this, I will kill her myself.” Tobias's father's words sound so final, like the matter is settled. He pauses. “Shh, she is waking.” His voice grows softer, and more alarming, closer.

I rush back to the bed as quietly as I can, slip back under the covers and pull them tight around me before pretending to be asleep. The door creaks open, a shadow fills the room. I stay still, not willing to risk their wrath. The door closes again, and I look up. I need to get the fuck out of here. As quietly as possible, I move to the open window and peer outside. I’m three floors up but there are vines wrapped around the stonework of the house and another roof of an outbuilding just below. It would be risky and isn't without its dangers. But if I can get out there, I’m pretty sure I can scale my way down from this prison and find a way to escape. I won’t wait here to be killed off.

Opening the window wider and as quietly as I can, I slip my top half through the window, grabbing onto the thick vines before climbing out completely. I swallow, my mouth dry. My arms wrap around the thick vines. Now that I’m out here, staring down, it doesn't look as easy of a scale as I thought. I try to climb down the vine, but the skirt I have on makes it extremely difficult. I try to get a better grip and slip, falling a couple of feet onto the rooftop below with a loud crash, the tiles breaking beneath my weight, sliding me closer to the edge.

I scramble to my feet. Someone has to have heard that. I push my back against the wall, praying I can hide. I tear the sides of my skirt. I need to be able to run. A woman sticks her head out, leaning out of the window and spotting me. My pathetic attempts at being one with the wall have failed. I squeak like a caught rat, glance around for an escape, and seeing none, I edge closer to a totally not safe jumping point. But what choice do I have?

My perfect escape is going as badly as it can. I've already been discovered less than five minutes into the plan.

“Let her try; she won’t get far. Let her tire herself out.” I can hear the challenge in her voice. Not waiting to see who she’s talking to, l jump, my ankle rolls on impact and shooting pain runs up my legs. I stand on shaky legs and run, but I have no idea where I am.

The entire property is surrounded by trees. I glance back at the house, trying to figure out which way to run, and how many people are after me by this point. The house is a huge stone farmhouse. It has three stories and a humongous veranda wrapping around the entire house. I don't see anyone spilling out of it after me yet, but who knows how long I have. I don't wait, sprinting toward the tree-line. The sun is starting to go down. If I don't make it to the other side of those trees, I'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere with no safety.

The tall grass comes up to my thighs, their sharp edges dig into my skin, punishing me for running. Trickles of blood appear all over my skin. I run through the yard as it turns into a paddock. Domesticated beasts turn big eyes on me as I streak by to safety, only to come to a wire fence. Lifting the taunt strings, I ignore their bite into my flesh and squeeze through their grasp. Once through, I race away, hobbling, but still able to move.

My ankle screams for me to stop. When I finally make it to the line of trees, I keep running, refusing to slow my pace no matter how much my body hates me for it. Pain is way better than being killed. The branches and twigs dig into my feet, making me hiss in agony. Tears stream down my cheeks, the monsters' words echo in my head. They want me dead or in a state of suffering they won't even put details to. I don't stand a chance out here in the woods by myself. I don't understand what I’m dealing with exactly, but I know they are sinister and dark. Everything inside me screams to keep moving, to escape or I'll never survive.

But no matter how far I run, I haven't spotted a single animal, not even a bird. The place is eerily silent, the only noise is my feet breaking twigs while I run and my own heavy breathing.

The trees thin out. I head toward them, the twigs sliding over my cuts, trying to push me back to this side of the tree-line.

I burst through to a long road, barely visible without the moon around. A twig snaps behind me, and I whirl to stare into the inky black. My heart pounds, but I can't see anything. I can hear the heavy breath right beside me, though. Breathing that isn't my own.