Page 28 of Hunt Me

“The humans have built,” Luka corrected.

A peal of laughter ripped from Ezra. “Oh! This is glorious. Siding with the humans already, are we?”

“I’m not siding. I’m being factual. Night Falls was not built by us. We conquered them and claimed an established civilization,” he explained.

Three firm knocks interrupted the warring men. Luka inhaled deeply, savoring Matilda’s scent as it drifted through the closed door. Ezra’s reaction was considerably less appreciative.

He stalked across the room and pulled open the door, finding Matilda standing in the corridor alone. Ezra leaned past her, searching the empty passageway for the attendant who should have been at her side. Finding no one, he turned his glare on her.

“What are you doing unaccompanied?” he snapped.

“Unaccompanied? Why would I need to be accompanied?” she asked in a sweet tone that was anything but innocent.

“To prevent you from escaping.”

Matilda chuckled, not from Ezra’s ridiculously accurate statement, but from the blood-drunk look on Luka’s face. Her blood was his opium—the most powerful weapon she had in her arsenal.

“Escape? Why would I do that?” she questioned, crossing the threshold. “I’m exactly where I want to be.” She turned to address Luka. “We should talk… alone.”

“Lord—”

“No need to dismiss me. The queen has spoken. I’ll take my leave. If you need me, I’ll be in my quarters writing a draft to amend Night Falls’s laws prohibiting hybrid vampire children,” he snarled before slamming the door behind him.

A few seconds of silence fell between the vampire king and huntress.

“He whines like a bawling babe,” Matilda said, referencing the petulant lord.

“An effective bawling babe,” Luka affirmed.

“Hm.”

He watched her as she toured his quarters—his nerves on end as her fingertips ran the length of the walls, nails tapping a whimsical melody on the stone. “How are you finding your accommodations?”

“Why do you care?”

“As Beta David’s future mate, I must ensure our esteemed guest is restful.”

“You will not be mated to the wolf. You should accept that now.”

“You are full of yourself, vampire.”

“You are counting your chickens before they hatch, huntress.”

She laughed. “‘Tis true. I do adore taking risks,” she agreed before standing in front of the window that offered a magnificent view of the forest. “You are standing too close,” she said, feeling him hover above her. “Beta David wouldn’t like that.”

“Fuck him.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I plan to.”

Without thinking, Luka grabbed a handful of Matilda’s curls and smashed her head into the panoramic window. The glass splintered into a scarlet spider web of Matilda’s blood. He released her immediately—astonished by his brutal reaction. There was no excuse, but the huntress and her teasing were starting to get the better of him.

Matilda groaned and faced her attacker. “If… you wanted a taste… all you had to do was ask,” she said, blood cascading from her head wound. “I must take my leave now. Clearly, my presence isn’t wanted.” She pushed past the oddly silent vampire and determined to leave him a parting gift. “King Alesi, my eyes may be deceiving me, or perhaps it’s the blood dripping into them, but I have reason to believe your bed is more comfortable than mine.” She tsked. “I must test this theory before I voice my complaint.”

She crawled into his bed, rolling on the blanket, marking it with her scent. Luka swallowed around the ball of lust in his throat when she crawled towards the headboard. Her ass was prominently displayed in her black leather pants, and if he didn’t look away, he might be unable to hide the evidence in his pants of what she was doing to him.

“Huh. Your pillows appear fluffier than mine. That can’t be.”

“Stop!” he ordered when she rammed her face into the pillow, drenching it with her blood. She didn’t stop. Instead, she repeated the process with his other pillow, smearing her delicious life force where he intended to lay his head that night. He could no longer stay in the room. Her scent colonized every oxygenated molecule in the room, and it’d drive him mad.