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His hair was still dripping from the shower. He smoothed out some of the water and let it fall onto the towel covering his lap.
Facing away from her as he was, he then leaned forward and balanced his elbows on his knees. He put his head in his hands as he’d done earlier.
“Devyn, I have no interest in pressuring you about this. About any of it. You’re a good man, you’re the vampire I want, that I’ve always wanted. The only thing I did wrong was not to believe in my worth more than I did. I settled for Kyle. I know you don’t want to hear that. I loved your brother, but you are twice the man he was.”
When she chuckled, he turned to frown at her. “Why are you laughing? You’ve just said something terrible about the man you were going to marry. About my brother.”
“I’m laughing, Dev, because he used to say the same thing about you all the time. He lived in your shadow. You were a mastyr vampire. He wasn’t.”
He shifted toward her. “That’s not fair. Kyle chose not to rise to mastyr level. Did he ever tell you that?” His words came out harsher than he’d intended. He felt surprisingly angry, but at whom?
She didn’t seemed distressed at all, either by his outburst or his question. Instead, she cocked her head. “What do you mean? Kyle never told me that. I didn’t even know a choice could be made.”
“I don’t know if it’s true for every vampire, but we each reached a point in the process when it was clear we could refuse the challenge. From the first, when we both got wind of what was happening to us, Kyle wanted no part of it. He rejected the whole thing. He saw what other mastyrs endured, including me, and he said he could do without the pain. Life was hard enough.”
“Oh, that is so Kyle.” She rolled onto her back which had the unfortunate effect of pulling the comforter down enough to expose her breasts.
He was a man, so of course his gaze got stuck on her nipples which became firm in the cool air. He licked his lips.
She laughed again as she pulled the comforter over her body. “You know, if I was any kind of demoness, I’d go after you with everything a woman has got. I’d manipulate the hell out of you. I’d break into your house and dance naked on your bed til you pulled me under you and had your way. Repeatedly.”
She sat up. “But I’m having none of it, dammit. Either you want me or you don’t. But know this, Mastyr Devyn, I’ll have to take a mate soon. You’ve already felt the call of my blood rose ability. I’m thinking I’ll start with an online screening process. I’ll say, ‘Are You a Mastyr in Need of a Blood Rose? Do You Want to Get Rid of Chronic Blood Starvation Forever?’ I could have each vampire fill out an application then I’d have my pick.”
He stood up half-aroused, half-irritated by the whole conversation. She drew the comforter around her tighter still, then dragged herself and it off the bed.
She had to push past him, but the comforter was way too big. She started knocking things askew, a cushion on a chair, a clock on a low table by the doorway, a book.
Eventually, she let the comforter fall away and levitated swiftly to the bathroom.
He hated himself for it, but he couldn’t help check her out before she disappeared. She had a beautiful body, he’d just made love to her, and she’d ended his chronic blood starvation, at least temporarily.
He’d have to be some kind of idiot to let her leave his house.
But images of his brother, his love for him and his own responsibility for his death, took over once more. The weight of his guilt knocked him down yet again.
Emily would always remind him of what he’d done, how he’d failed Kyle.
Letting her go was the only thing he could do or he swore he’d go insane.
Chapter Four
As Emily showered, her thoughts turned oddly enough to Rosam
unde. She’d seen footage of the final battle in which Margetta had been defeated. Rosamunde had been mated to Mastyr Stone at that point and had fought alongside him and the rest of the ruling mastyrs of the Nine Realms.
Despite her rise in power, she’d almost died.
Emily recalled many of the blogs of the different blood roses. They’d all become women of unusual power. One of them had the ability to help shifter packs work together. Another had hunted down a serial killer, even though her mate hadn’t been a ruling mastyr. Same as Devyn. There were many, many mastyr vampires throughout the realms, each with a different level of power. Only nine ruled an entire realm, like Stone.
For herself, she still couldn’t believe she’d carried a troll child to safety. Her effort wasn’t on the level of some of the feats she’d read about. She certainly hadn’t destroyed an evil so great it had lasted a thousand years. Neither had she brought a killer to justice. But she had saved Devyn’s life. Tonight.
As she soaped up, she forced herself through a rigorous life review. She was actually quite young by realm standards, only in her mid-forties. To some extent she had plenty of time to make her mark, if that was her desire.
When she thought about Devyn, she realized one of the things she admired was his dedication as a Guardsmen. He frequently worked double shifts unlike Kyle.
Kyle liked to party. So had she, when she’d first met him. Kyle was fun.
Yet it was Devyn, with his chosen rise to mastyr power, his work ethic, and his more serious demeanor that had stolen her soul.
