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“I can see that, brother. It’s good to see you enjoying yourself. I guess this lover of yours is good for something.”
Violent rage made itself known, but the nails grazing his chest pushed desire out all over again. Then he looked at her face and realized Winter was sending a warning, pleading at him not to give in to the former. He watched his brother go, sauntering with bouncy steps away from House Rue’s castle area. He counted the seconds until his brother was truly gone and felt her body go slack when that moment came.
“Oh, God. We did it. A stupid ploy that could have failed brilliantly, but….”
There was nothing else to say to that except a grunt of agreement. She was right. It had been stupid, yet effective. Stephanie was gone, no longer stalked by her potential killer.
They had just saved the day, but Nate felt like he had lost his sanity just a little bit because now he knew what her blood smelled like. Knew what she tasted like.
And he didn’t think he was going to forget either anytime soon.
Chapter 7
Arousal pounded in her blood, dancing to a rhythm that teetered at the edge of control. Winter wanted to turn back time, wanted to experience it all over again. She also wanted to turn back time and make a different decision altogether, only because Nate was gone now and she was left alone in the room again—his room, where every bit of object inside reminded her of him and what they had done earlier.
No, don’t lie to yourself.
Correction: what she had put themselves in out of pure dumbness and recklessness, not thinking for a second of the consequences. It could have gone as badly as any dumb plan, but once again, Nate proved to be the bigger man, his resistance like steel that refused to break, even when he gave in to one other thing.
“Dumb. Dumb, dumb plan,” she mumbled, even while her fingers touched her lips and felt them still tingling. “But a plan regardless, and you are one lucky human for landing on the lap of the most controlled vampire in the Otherworld.”
And now she was thinking of his lap and climbing into it. Winter stood up in frustration and stomped around the room, wriggling her body in the frustration vibrating in every nerve ending. When that didn’t do anything, she went to the shower, glad that this was one feature they hadn’t left out in her world. She made do with the cold water from the showerhead directly connected to a river, her breath heaving when she rubbed the soap suds over her body. A curse lit inside her when she finally gave in and soaped in between her legs, and she had to grip the shower stand hard to stop herself from going through with the rest—and that was when the stand chose to break.
“Oh, for the love of—”
Hissing water sprayed everywhere and had her slipping repeatedly before she managed to push the stand back into place. She wrapped a towel around herself and hurried out to call Hilda, but the sliver of vibe that skimmed down her senses had her freezing instead. A second later, she was pressed against the wall by the doorway, a lampshade in hand and a mantra in her head.
Stay calm. You know how to deal with this. Bash them hard and repeatedly.
When the figure crossed the doorway, the lampshade came down. But the hand was faster, blocking it out of the way and terrifying her with the knowledge that she was doomed as nails descended. They stopped just across her chest and a gasp filled the space.
“Oh, my goodness. I was just about to kill you!”
The voice was female, dumbfounded, and glittering with excitement, an emotion that hadn’t been there earlier. Winter gaped at the woman—obviously a vampire—with retreating fangs and the most brilliant set of even, white teeth replacing them. Dark blonde hair framed a heart-shaped face with a button nose and the smokiest green eyes that looked like they were caught in a storm. Then a smile so beautiful blinded Winter before hands were patting her up and down.
“I didn’t wound you, did I? My brother would kill me if I did. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was just going to surprise him, but I didn’t expect to walk in on one of his sexcapades—”
“We weren’t having sex,” Winter blurted out, then paused. “One of? He has many of them?”
The streak of jealousy was unexpected but also expected with her recent bombardment of feelings.
“I’m sure this isn’t the first, considering you are his only declared mistress and all. It must be really special—and gosh, here I am blabbering like a madwoman.” The woman beamed and thrust out a hand, nails perfectly manicured and sharp like talons. “Nicola Hendricks. Youngest of House Hendricks, and perhaps the most normal, too. You can call me Nic, which is reminiscent of Nick, who is always in the spotlight, so people tend to forget I exist—which I don’t mind, honestly, because it frees me up to do whatever I please.”
There was a flush to the woman’s cheeks and a vibrancy that was contagious, but Winter was wary as she accepted the handshake.
“Winter. Winter Willow. I don’t have a nickname. Your brother isn’t in the shower. I broke it.”
Nicola’s eyes widened before she marched in, and the loudest tinkering sounds began. Curiosity had Winter peeking a head in, astonished when she found the vampire had permanently fixed the shower stand, screws and all.
“It’s not broken, just loose. It’s a good thing I came here before you guys decided to have a happy time in there.”
“It’s a good thing because heaven forbid you walked in on us, you little freak.”
There was an astonished squeal, then two blurry figures hugging each other. The warm vibe that seeped from them had her studying the connection and noting that Nate had never treated Nicholas like this.
“How was your trip to wherever the hell you decided to travel?”
“It was a scholar’s retreat so they could have something more to write about and fill the library up with. We visited a lot of islands—from afar, of course—and I have so much information that we would never have discovered otherwise. Can you believe it?”
