Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 113936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 570(@200wpm)___ 456(@250wpm)___ 380(@300wpm)
After that, everything went translucent: Sure as if a brilliant light were being shined on the exterior of the structure, the heavy fabric seemed to disappear, a red fog replacing that which had been solid.
Which was how he saw the old female change shape just outside the shelter.
One moment, she was up on two legs; the next, she went into a contortion, her shape changing until she was down on four paws.
As she threw back her head and howled, the eerie sound went into his bones and he looked down at Nadya. Things had taken a very paranormal turn, and that was saying something, considering he was a vampire—
An internal voice cut in: If you leave, you are on your own—and she will definitely not survive.
For a second, he was confused about its origins, but then the message truly sunk in.
“Nadya,” he said, “I need to lie with you.”
He started to remove his clothing, and as he bared his torso, he could really feel the heat rising from her, sure as if he were in front of a fire. Moving faster, he kicked off boots, peeled socks, pulled off his pants. No undergarments.
Staring down at his sex, he gave it a quick pep talk to not get peppy. This was medicine, he told the damn thing.
“I’m going to lie with you now.”
She moaned a little and moved under the towel. “Kane?”
“Yes,” he said urgently. “Yes, it’s me.”
“Help me…”
“I will. I have to lie down with you.”
Nadya lifted her arms up, rolling herself back and forth on the pallet.
“Here I am.”
Gritting his teeth, he shifted down and stretched out next to her. Immediately, she settled against him, her body like cozying up to a rock that had been baking in the sun, the dry heat warming him as if, sure enough, his flesh was a sponge for it.
The ragged sigh she let out suggested that it wasn’t all in his mind, that what the old female had told him to do might work.
“I’m just going to get us sorted,” he said awkwardly as he moved arms, shifted legs, positioned them better.
And that was how, for the first time in two hundred years, he came to be naked with a female.
No, that wasn’t quite right. Cordelhia had never been fully nude the few times they had been together. She had always declared the need for her modesty by retaining her silken nightgowns, and of course he had wanted to honor whatever made her feel more comfortable.
Besides, though he had wanted further closeness from his shellan, he had never been sure whether that was just the nature of sexual acts—or whether it was specific to his mate. Not that the answer to that would have mattered. He had just wanted Cordelhia to be happy, whatever that entailed.
“Shhh,” he said as he ran his hand up and down Nadya’s shoulder.
He wasn’t sure whether he was trying to calm her… or himself.
This felt wrong, to lay with another female.
It also seemed very, very right—
Just outside the red fog of the hut, he heard another howl—after which there were voices, males talking with urgency back and forth.
They were under attack, he thought. From who, though?
That was yet another question that did not require an answer. Not right now, at least. He could only hope that Apex, Lucan, and Mayhem would help the wolven.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered as he closed his eyes.
The heat that entered his body was unrelenting, to the point where he was convinced that he was going to have more burns. But as long as Nadya came out of this somehow, any suffering on his part would be worth it.
* * *
Inside the wolven’s den, Apex stood on a precipice, and the temptation was to jump into the rather miraculous natural basin that, given the steam rising up, had some kind of underground source of heat: The male in the undulating water was staring up with an invitation that was unmistakable, and the urge to get in there with him and find out what else could happen when they were in private was irresistible.
“Your name is Callum.”
The wolven nodded. “What have you been calling me in your head? I’m just curious. To me, you were That Vampire. Capital T, capital V.”
“I haven’t been calling you anything.”
“You sure about that? Even when you weren’t sleeping today.”
Apex took a step forward. “I didn’t have to give you a name.”
“No?”
“I just remembered what you looked like down on your knees in front of me.”
The vibration that purred up and out of the male in the pool was an enticing sound if Apex had ever heard one—and then Callum’s hand disappeared under the churning surface of the water. As he bit his lower lip with sharp white fangs, his eyes glowed.
“What are you doing, wolf?”
“Would you like to see, predator?”