Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141492 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 472(@300wpm)
“Nicu Dalca will guard my body and give me blood on my return.”
She tried not to wince when he so calmly explained that his friend would give him blood. She appreciated that he was taking the time to clarify each step for her, instinctively aware she was nervous, but she wanted to go home, not hear about what was normal for him.
Needing blood was a fact of his life. It was just that the information was very new to her, and she hadn’t had that much time to process what he was and what he would need. She was Imazighen and she always would be. As his lifemate, she would embrace his culture and his family, but it would not be easy for her to give him blood in the way Aura had explained he would expect. The thought of it had her mind shutting down again.
A second man emerged from the fog. He was leaner than Petru but clearly strong, extremely handsome, with blazing gray eyes and black hair. A deep scar curved from his left temple to the corner of his eye. He nodded to her, his gaze moving over the horrific wounds on her neck, shoulder and arm. Like Petru, his gaze moved over the ground, reading the battle that had taken place. His brows drew together.
“Where are the others?”
“Others?” she echoed, not understanding. She was swaying, even sitting there on the rock with Petru’s hand supporting her. The fog was warping time for her, the way it swirled in patterns of blues and grays. The pain might be gone, but she was definitely not at her best.
Nicu and Petru exchanged a look she couldn’t interpret. Petru gestured toward the scorched soil. “It is clear you fought this vampire on your own. Where are the others? Did they return to your farm when it was clear there was need, leaving you alone and wounded?”
She couldn’t exactly detect a change in Petru’s tone, but icy fingers crept down her spine. Something dangerous swirled in the air. Suddenly there was menace, a sinister promise of retaliation. It didn’t just come from Petru but also from Nicu and the unseen watcher beyond the fog bank.
She raised her chin and looked Petru straight in the eyes. It was much easier without the excruciating pain, although she was weak from blood loss and the dizziness persisted, making her feel sick. “I am the defender. It is my duty to destroy demons and vampires and anything else that preys on my people.”
There was silence. She knew instantly the three men were talking telepathically in the way she did with Aura. Alarm spread through her, and she did her best not to jerk away from under Petru’s hands. He continued to move the pads of his fingers over her scorched shoulder in a soothing touch, but now, she didn’t feel caresses. The sensation was more one of being his prisoner.
Were they talking about her behind her back? Belittling her? “If you have something to say, say it where I can hear it. I know I made mistakes, but it isn’t like I kill vampires every night. It was a trial run.” She couldn’t keep the defiance from her voice—or the hurt.
Petru took her injured arm, the one that hung uselessly at her side, and brought it up for his inspection. He bent down, examining the damage to her arm, so she could see the wild mass of silvery white hair inviting her to sink her fingers into the thickness. It was such a temptation even when he’d hurt her with his careless words.
She’d worked hard to learn how to slay a vampire, and she’d been very scared. He didn’t seem to admire her efforts at all. His lips moved over the blackened ruin of her skin, and her stomach clenched at the sheer intimacy he invoked. He was throwing her senses into complete chaos. Her mind was already far too disoriented with the fog, her wounds and the strange way she was beginning to feel.
“Pelkgapâd és Meke Pirämet,” he murmured in his language, and she struggled to interpret the phrase. The words were unfamiliar to her and sounded more like an affectionate endearment, especially the way the low whisper of his voice swept over her.
“You misunderstand. What you did here is extraordinary and unheard of. The question is, why were you fighting a vampire without aid of any kind?”
“There is no one else. Aura and me. My family. That is all. We spent years training, but this is the first time any of us has ever crossed paths with an actual vampire. Aura has, but she’s Carpathian. She’s the only one left though.”
His mouth continued to move over her blackened ruin of an arm. Everywhere his lips touched, her arm tingled, came back to life. Nerve endings she didn’t know she had began to wake up, coming to attention.