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“Are you sure?”
“Anything for you, Master.”
She could read the woman’s eagerness but couldn’t read anything from the man whose voice was cool, calm…seductive. When the woman arched her neck, the man sank fangs into it. Muted sounds filled the air, emphasizing what the woman had asked for earlier.
It would be my honor to be drained by you.
Winter cursed in her head. Then she temporarily abandoned all ruminations of escape and picked up the heaviest rock she could carry, barreling her way towards the duo as quietly as she could. Perhaps the man was distracted. Perhaps she was quieter than she had anticipated. Whichever it was, he didn’t pick up on the fact that there was someone else in the vicinity until it was too late.
“Run,” she whispered to the woman, who was gaping at her and trying to get out of a dazed state. The rock still pressing the vampire’s stomach down, she kicked the head for good measure and dragged the woman with her, who protested the whole way before eventually following. Then the complaints came spurting.
“My dress is going to get torn from all this running. Why did you take me away? Why are you—”
“You are welcome, and you are delusional,” Winter shot back. “Did you think he was going to stop with your heartbeat still intact?”
The woman bristled. “I did not thank you.”
“And I didn’t have to save your life,” Winter snapped back, then tried to calm herself down. Her heart thundered in her chest as she strong-armed the woman out of harm’s way, then paused. “I can help you escape—”
Squawking ensued, that of a person who was very against the idea of escape and looking at Winter as if she had grown three heads. When the sound got louder, Winter contemplated knocking this one unconscious, too, before her conscience got the better of her, and she restarted their running. When she reached the area where most of the human servants resided, she let the woman go.
“Keep your head down. Don’t die. Find allies and get out of here if you can. Unless you want to leave with me now?”
The woman glared, outraged, and opened her mouth. Understanding a scream was coming, Winter reluctantly slapped a hand over that mouth and hit the side of the woman’s neck until the woman crumpled on top of some folded silks, where the silk seller would find her in the morning. Then Winter was back to sprinting away, aware that she had lost track of time and the guards could be on her tail at any second.
“Stupid island. Stupid system. Stupid me for getting stuck here again.” She glared at no one in particular. “Watch me get captured. Again.”
But she reached the correct shoreline with no interruption. Hope flared as she worked the coordinates in her head, then lunged for the water. The cold slapped her skin and had her stilling as it sank into her bones and made her tremble all over. Waist-deep and over the crashing of waves, she saw it: a shadow passing over her until she iced over. Winter looked up.
The flying figure peered back, bleeding from his shadowy head and dark, ominous wings straightening as he—the vampire she had just attacked—glided down towards her.
Chapter 2
The woman didn’t look terrified in the slightest, which was impressive, because she also didn’t look like she was fighting death in the hands of the cold waters surrounding Ostrov Krov. Anyone in their right mind wouldn’t dare swim here during the cold season, and Nathaniel Hendricks wasn’t looking forward to diving in there if he could help it. This woman who hit him quite heartily wasn’t right in the head—and she was going to die if he didn’t get her out of there.
Being a hero was the farthest thing from his mind, but he plucked her out of the water and braced against the ice hitting his hands. To his surprise, she came without thrashing, limp as a noodle against his grasp. If it wasn’t for the way her heart drummed loudly, he would have assumed she was already dead.
“Playing dead?” he called out against the wind, unable to resist. There was no response, so he continued flying until the castle came into view. He dropped her first and watched her scramble inside, then landed on the balcony and tucked his wings in, not missing the torn portion on his right. Nate sneered, already foul mood turning fouler as he strode into the room.
The woman was standing behind the large bed, candelabra raised in her hand and poised to aim.
“Put that down,” he said, unable to keep the frostiness off his tone. “That’s from a rare collection and irreplaceable.”
Blue eyes blazed, the color of ice. He noted that apart from her freckles, they were the only features that stood out in her otherwise ordinary form.
“If you think you can drain me to death, then rest assured that I won’t do it like the woman before me. I will kick and scream and claw at you until my very last breath—and you arenotmy master.”
The wordy declaration took him aback. He stopped walking and tilted his head, observing her. She observed him back, again lacking the terror that so many who were hurt by his kind possessed. Instead, she lifted the candelabra higher, outwardly unfazed by his presence. Recognition slithered in seconds later, and his decision was uttered before he could even ponder it.
“I won’t kill you yet, not when other Houses want you more.”
Those blue eyes widened, confirming his guess. He waited for her to speak, then continued when she didn’t.
“So, you are that wanted woman that they recently captured. And you attempted to escape, I assume, and were trying to get out of the island. I bet you are regretting your decision to meddle with my affairs now.”
She should regret making him lose information already on the tip of the woman’s tongue. Now he had nothing and the woman was probably back in House Williams, where it would take Nate an even longer time to coax her into leaving. He narrowed his gaze at the culprit, whose expression was blank.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
