Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
But then you got to his face, and it seemed to belong to another person.
Between the intensity of his eyes, the square jaw, and the strong, expressive brow, no doubt he’d been handsome once, in a rugged sort of way. But now, sunken circles darkened the skin below his eyes and his cheeks were thin and hollowed. Wrinkles pulled at the corners of his eyes and mouth. How could he and Jakob be brothers, yet look so different?
Realizing she’d been staring, she mumbled her thanks and drank three long gulps before she convinced herself to slow down. She was just so thirsty. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she found him watching her, gaze focused on her mouth with such longing.
Kaira’s heartbeat tripped and heat flooded her belly.
He turned on his heel and paced across the small room. He finally settled against the wall at the far end by the door, arms crossed over his chest. “People know. My kind has long been in alliance with a select number of yours, for the good of everyone.”
“People know?” She sipped at her water, attempting to settle the strange, visceral reactions he elicited within her. “Wow.” Out of nowhere, a wave of nausea washed over her. She eased back against the pillows and cupped her hand to her forehead.
“What’s the matter?” he asked from immediately next to her. How the hell had he moved so fast, so silently, that she hadn’t noticed? Maybe it was a vampire thing? The thought did nothing for her stomach.
She blew out a breath. “Am I a prisoner?” When he didn’t answer right away, she opened her eyes and peered up at him.
He returned her stare for a long moment, and then his shoulders sagged. “Yes.”
Goose bumps erupted over her flesh, even though she’d already known the answer. “Are you going to kill me?”
“I told you no harm would come to you.”
“Forgive me if my current status is making me a little shy of trusting you.” She stretched to put down the cup. Kaira debated for a long moment, then released her next words on an exhale. “You asked me what’s the matter. Everything that happened last night aside, I’m sick. Without the meds I need, I’ll get sicker. So if your word really means something, you have to let me go.”
He grabbed the rail along the side of her bed, his knuckles going white. A large gold signet ring with some sort of engraved crest sat prominently on his right hand. “What kind of illness?”
She shook her head. No matter how much her instincts said she could trust him, part of her brain refused to forget that last night he’d bitten her, drank her blood, and kidnapped her. Now his brother believed she’d seen too much to be let free.
How could this situation end up in any way good for her? At the very least, she probably shouldn’t advertise that she had a disease likely to put her in an early grave. If they thought she was going to die anyway, whatever compunction they had against killing her now might just evaporate.
“You will tell me.” He towered over the bed.
His nearness brought his tantalizing scent to her nose. It rippled along her nervous system and warmed her everywhere. What the hell was wrong with her? “I won’t.”
The angles of his face sharpened, just as they had in the gallery before everything got weird. “How can you hold me to a promise and then keep from me the means to uphold it?” His fangs flashed, and anger seethed just beneath the surface of the words.
She scoffed. “How can you hold me at all?”
“Because I need you!” The words ripped from his throat and echoed against the painted cinder block. He pressed his fingers to his lips, as if he hadn’t meant to make the admission.
She flinched at the volume of his voice, at the sudden eruption of his temper, at the appearance of his fangs. In spite of herself and her circumstances, she was fascinated and curious. “Why? For what?”
Two men burst in the door. She recognized one as the vampire who had held Henrik down against the car’s hood—or tried to, but not the other.
“My lord?” the one she knew said.
Henrik paid them no attention. “Leave us.”
They hesitated only a moment, then nodded and left. No questions asked. Why did they obey him so automatically?
“Why do they call you that?” Kaira asked.
He heaved a deep breath. “If you want the truth from me, Miss Sorensen, you need to give me yours in return.”
“I don’t want to die. That’s the most important truth here.”
An emotion she didn’t understand flashed through his pale eyes. “I don’t want you to die, either,” he said, gentling his tone. It was almost tender.
And full of longing.
His words set off a pang in her chest she didn’t understand. Was the sympathy she felt some sort of Stockholm syndrome? And did that even matter? No matter the reason behind it, she couldn’t deny that he stirred something within her. She massaged her right thumb into her suddenly aching left palm.