Breaking Dawn

Chapter 9

Niall's face was grim. "It would have been before he was bitten. If he was already a vampire they would have killed him."

"And then I turned him into what he despised." Liam released a breath through his teeth as though he'd been kicked in the stomach. "It would have been unendurable."

"What about their vow?" What vow?

If possible, Liam paled even more. "For all his faults, Harry never broke a vow in his life. Unless it happened before he'd turned thirteen... " Unless what happened?

The two were silent for long moments, Niall's expression grave while Liam's was filled with guilt. "His life had been given over to a cause greater than himself. I should have" - Liam ran his hand over his forehead - "I should have talked to him, given him, and you, the choice that night."

"Harry was too far gone. The soldiers gutted him before me, hours before you and Zayn came. I don't believe he would ever have regained consciousness." He spoke as if he'd sidestepped the direst tragedy.

She floated in front of Harry to face him. He'd been stabbed in the stomach, she in the heart. Then against their wills, they'd both been changed into something else entirely. Neither of them had asked for their current existences.

He'd been a hero, his life given over to a greater cause. She sighed, waving her hand to send a gentle touch along his cheek. What happened to you out there, vampire?

Niall said, "But he'll never reconcile himself to our existence unless we can convince him that his thoughts aren't his own."

Liam nodded his head in agreement. "He seems to be doing at least a little better. We shall see in time. Let's finish this."

They stripped off his pants, leaving him na**d.

And she swayed weightlessly. Le dément est exquis.

Her gaze slid from his navel, following that trail of black hair. Oh, my, my, my. Even flaccid, his size was brow-raising.

"Harry, look at me." Liam waved in front of his vacant stare.

Harry blinked as if he had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there.

"Do you want to wash yourself?" Liam asked. "If we chain your hands in front of you?"

Seeming to shake off some of his confusion, Harry eased his muttering. A flicker arose in those red eyes.

He's calculating. At length, Harry grated, "Alone."

The brothers shared a glance, no doubt reviewing all the ways Harry couldn't escape. "Very well," Liam said.

Harry held his wrists up behind him, and all the rippling muscles of his torso flexed into sharp rises and indentations that spoke of a terrible strength.

After removing the cuffs, Liam refastened them in front, then pulled a pin to loosen the chain between the wrists so Harry could have more freedom. When Harry made no attempt to escape, they glanced at each other as if their brother was making outrageous progress. Which, she supposed, he was.

"I've left a towel and a change of clothes on the rack," Niall said. "They should fit. But if not, we've brought plenty more - "

"Alone!" Harry snapped. When they finally left, he entered the spacious shower stall.

Still facing her direction, he stepped under the water and let it cascade over his back. He appeared exhausted from the medicine, as if his limbs felt heavy and ungainly, but he seemed to enjoy the simple pleasure of the water sluicing over his body.

I envy him every drop!

He picked up the bar of soap, smelled it. Finding it acceptable, he lathered his face, then leaned back against the tile so that the water ran over his front.

And all she could do was stare because, as the blood, plaster, and burn marks washed from his skin in thick, grimy rivulets, a handsome visage surfaced.

No, not merely handsome, more like extraordinary.

She'd known he had pleasing features but hadn't been able to look past the unnatural eyes and dirt to truly appreciate his soft lips and wide, masculine jaw, or how his nose was aristocratic and strong.

Punch-drunk. That's how she felt about seeing his clean face and unclothed body as a whole. She'd heard women talk about encountering a man so devastatingly gorgeous they'd felt breathless, dizzy. Now she understood.

It dawned on her that though she'd spied on men before, never had any male as sexually attractive as this graced her shower stall.

When he began to rub the soap over his chest and under his arms, the slick muscles in his torso bulged in a breathtaking display. It'd take her weeks to learn just those muscles alone - how they flexed, how his body could move...

The soap went lower.

She swallowed.

Lower still...

She didn't think she breathed when he lathered between his legs with his big, scarred hands, washing his long shaft and the flesh hanging behind it without interest, while she was dumbstruck.

Am I shaking? For eight decades, she'd never yearned to touch anything as much as his body. Even though she knew she couldn't feel him, it was everything she could do not to reach forward.

His hands abruptly stilled at his privates, and his handsome face flushed. His gaze landed directly on her, before skittering away. He acted the way a reserved, inexperienced man would when he'd realized he was washing in front of an audience of one.

Her eyes went wide. He damn well can see me. She frowned. Then that means I'm being... ignored.

"Vampire, look at me. Please talk to me."

But he gave no reaction. The one man on earth she could communicate with wouldn't talk to her.

Which meant...

"Do you think I'm pretty, Harry? Beautiful, even? After all, you can see me, can't you? And I know you can hear me, too. Now I'm going to prove it. You dare throw down that gauntlet to a woman who entertained for a living? You can't simply shut me out."

Few knew there was a second reason that Amber had chosen her dream of ballet over following in her mama's footsteps, tempting crowds of men as a femme fatale: Turning males into a frothing, gawking, mindless beasts had been too... easy.

With merely a throaty laugh and a dab of her tongue at her bottom lip, Amber could send a man diving for his hat - to cover his stirring lap.

Too easy. And Amber had always craved a challenge.

With a wicked grin, she decided it was time to draw on her shady background, time to put away the popguns and engage the cannons. And Amber had a hidden arsenal he couldn't even comprehend.