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Seth’s chest ached in the strangest way as he watched Lorelei’s strong white wolf form disappear up the trail. Her presence in his life disturbed him more than he would have ever believed possible.
She was a fairly delicate woman and wouldn’t be of much use in a hand-to-hand combat situation despite the fact that she carried a helluva lot of latent realm-power. However, she could sniff out the presence of Invictus wraith-pairs from several miles away, so her frequent warnings had been invaluable. He always gave credit where credit was due. But he still didn’t know what the queen had been thinking to send her to him.
Yet he knew that the real trouble lay deeper, because from the first moment she’d shown herself to him, a good month ago, he’d been way too attracted to her. She’d appeared at his front door at full-dark wearing a Russian fur hat, a short jacket, tight pants and furry boots, the kind she’d worn since. And from that moment until now, she’d pretty much overtaken his thoughts, though he worked hard to make sure she didn’t know it.
She was beautiful, which didn’t help, with large doe eyes, softly arched brows, and layered dark brown hair that floated around her shoulders and down her back. A vulnerability clung to this woman, making him want to drag her into his arms and hold her close, to protect her, to love her, to take her into his bed and keep her there.
More than once, his mating frequency had lit on fire when he’d opened the back door for her first thing at night. He was drawn to her in a way he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
A very long time.
Centuries, in fact.
But something more than just her appearance had snagged him, maybe her smile because she seemed to find a lot of pleasure in life, an anomaly given her horrendous background as the daughter of Margetta, the great evil of the Nine Realms.
He knew a number of critical things about Lorelei, having vetted her when she’d first shown up. Basically, she’d been kept a solitary prisoner during her growing up years without company of children her own age. A good-hearted troll, named Genevieve, had raised her and even helped her to escape.
Lorelei had spent her adult life running from Margetta until she’d come under the queen’s wing and Rosamunde had taught her some serious enthrallment skills. Now she was free from her mother’s ability to locate her so that she could live wherever she wanted.
And now she was here.
Closing the back door, he followed after the wolf, levitating and flying just a foot above the snow covered trail. He stuck close to the ground to avoid detection.
He found her at the uppermost peak of the ridge, well above the forest tree line, so that he had a spectacular view in all directions of the Shauck Mountains. The vast range extended across nearly the entire northern half of his realm.
The recent snowstorm had eased up but still clouded the night sky, blanking out the stars. His vampire night vision, however, warmed up the snow-laden scene. The mountains had been his home for centuries and he loved it here.
Lorelei waited a few yards away, looking lean
and regal as she sat on her haunches, nose sniffing the air and never getting too close to him, something he preferred. Despite that he liked her and approved of her work ethic, for her own safety he wanted her removed from his service. He would defer to the queen, of course, but at this point, he feared Lorelei would become a hindrance in some future encounter and she’d get hurt, or worse, die.
Well, he couldn’t change that tonight.
He put a hand to his stomach, cramping already even though one of his vampire doneuses had come and gone.
All mastyr vampires suffered as he did. Something about the increase in power that came with reaching mastyr status created a corresponding chronic, and very painful blood starvation. He could have fed from a donor on the hour, every hour, but he’d still cramp up as he did now.
He felt Aaron tap his telepathic frequency. Something so soon, Aaron? We’ve just gotten started.
The worst. An elven family slaughtered in the south, near Kavelith Gorge but the Invictus pair got away.
Shit. He took a deep breath. I’m at Shauck Gorge. Which direction was the wraith-pair heading?
North.
Okay. I’ll try to intercept. Heading south now. Keep me informed.
Yes mastyr.
He broke off communication and at the same time, from his peripheral, he saw Lorelei’s ears dart forward and her muzzle jerk toward the south.
He pathed to her. What do you see?
Invictus.
He told her quickly about the elven family.
Lorelei didn’t shift her wolf eyes in his direction as she added, I see a wraith-pair, maybe three miles away. They’ve just dipped down the east side of a ridge.
