4: Set Up to Fail

MAEVE

I opened my eyes slowly. I was still dazed by what just happened. I could still feel the pressure between my thighs and the pleasure humming through my entire body. 

But when my eyes met those of Lucien, and I saw the undisguised disgust and disdain in them, all the good feelings disappeared. 

What just happened dawned on then. What Lucien was. What I was. The realization made me slam my palms over my mouth as I backed away slowly. 

I was a blood whore. A disgusting, lowly creature that was taught in history classes. They were creatures that existed just to serve the vampire lords. But they went extinct centuries ago. Same with vampires. 

But here I was, as one of them, while Lucien wasn't a normal wolf like the rest of the world knows. He was a hybrid, a werewolf-vampire. 

But how the hell was that possible? How could I possibly be a blood whore? Maybe all these were a hallucination. Perhaps it was all just a bad dream. 

But even with everything going on, with the realization of what I was, my pussy was still throbbing, and I was practically dying to have his fangs return to my neck. 

“You're really disgusting, do you know that?”

My eyes snapped up to meet his, “Don't pin this on me. What happened…”

“None of this would have happened if you hadn't moved in,” he snapped, his voice a silent growl. He was glaring at me with his eyes blazing red, and even as he spoke, his eyes occasionally drifted to his neck. 

It was almost like he was dying to get back to his earlier position. 

“You…” he gritted before he turned back and walked away, but not before I noticed the massive tent in his trousers. 

I collapsed against the wall, heart racing and breath shaky. It took me a while to return to my room, and when I eventually did, I couldn't sleep at all. I kept replaying every minute of what happened between us. 

His skillful fingers massaging my folds, and his fangs suckling my blood. That was all it was. And yet, it made me feel the kind of pleasure I've never felt before. Made me come as I've never before. 

I couldn't sleep at all, and Mom was alarmed the next morning when she saw my puffy eyes at breakfast. I had to lie to her that I stayed up all night looking for a job. That prompted her husband to mandate Lucien to give me a job before the week runs out. 

And that was why I was, right now, just five days after Lucien gave me the most intense orgasm of my life, I sat opposite him as we were both driven to work. 

We haven't said a word to each other since that night. He has hardly even glanced in my direction. I was grateful for the distance. It should allow me to think and force my mind off that forbidden night of passion. 

But instead, it played on my mind every night, and whenever I was done replaying what happened between us in vivid detail, my pussy would get so wet that I couldn't ignore it. 

So I started touching myself to the thoughts of Lucien Thorne. 

Now, we were sitting adjacent to each other, with him on the other side facing an empty seat, while the seat opposite me was also empty. The air was quiet, stiff, and tense. I distracted myself by admiring the interior of the car, the posh and soft leather that was enough to lull me to sleep, the wood trim, and, well, Lucien Thorne. 

He was sitting still, casually flipping through a business magazine on which he was featured. He looked too put together in his navy blue suit, black shoes, and Rolex wristwatch peeking out from under his sleeve.

I was dressed in a sky-blue gown, a complete coincidence but one that seemed to have annoyed Lucien more. 

“You should take a photograph,” Lucien’s cold tone cut through the car's quietness. “It's going to last longer.”

“What?”

He closed his magazine and looked at me thoroughly. He has never looked at me like that, and it was unnerving. His aura was both powerful and intimidating. He wasn't just an Alpha. He was a werewolf-vampire hybrid, the most powerful creature ever. 

I keep forgetting that, and I still don't understand why that information was hidden. 

“What are you playing at?” he asked, focusing his attention on me. “What's your end game?”

I was so lost, “I lost my job, and I just got a new one.”

“No,” he shook his head with a vehement certainty, “you're up to something, or you're probably working with someone, or you're playing your mother's games of digging your fangs into wealthy people by trying to get a rise out of them.” 

He thinks my Mom married his father for money, which isn't surprising. If I didn't know her too well, I'd have assumed the same thing, too. 

“Don't insult my mother, and I'm nothing like that. I've lived without using the Thorne’s influence for the last three years. And besides, even if I were like that, there's no one to dig my fangs into. I've told you this before, and I'll say it again: You're my stepbrother. We're family. That night was a stupid mistake that we both are…”

“Didn’t look like that when you rubbed my palm all over your soaked pussy and begged for more?”

My mouth dropped open, my cheeks flushed, and heat rushed to the wrongest part of me. Lucien, with his cold businessman demeanor, never struck me as someone who'd say something as dirty as this. 

Especially with the most impassive expression. 

I struggled to put words together, but it was futile. Then, we were in front of the company, and the doors were open from the outside. 

I stepped out, momentarily taken aback by the lines of men in suits who instantly bent in greeting when they saw Lucien. Through the lobby, a line of staff members bent in greeting for him. 

I followed, unsure where I fit in and where to go, until one of the ladies in suits stopped me while Lucien and his entourage walked up to the elevators. 

“Miss Maeve Winters, right?” I'm Sara Vaughn from the Human Resources Department. Your interview starts in 20 minutes. You should follow me.”

She was already walking away, even though I was rooted to a spot in shock. 

“Interview? I thought I was resuming work today.”

She turned back with a polite smile, “No, there's a mandatory interview you must pass before becoming a staff member at Thorne.”

I knew Lucien Thorne intentionally didn't tell me so I'd fail and he'd have a reason not to employ me. 

I was ready to prove him wrong.