AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry I broke—threw—your dog’s urn.” I ran my hands through my hair, my fingers getting snagged on knots.
A glint of mischief entered his eye as he smiled, his teeth perfectly straight and a brilliant white. “Better than a vampire’s mother.”
“I can’t believe you said that. It wasn’t funny.”
He raised a shoulder and laughed lightly. “Maybe not for you. I found the look on your face entertaining. Choking on your spit took it to a new level.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, he took off his boots and started to get undressed.
“Um, what are you doing?” I asked quickly, forgetting my egregious blunder and glancing at the door.
He unbuttoned his shirt, then his cuffs, shaking the shirt off and throwing it on the floor. “Going to bed. What’s it look like?”
It looked . . . incredible. That was what.
His chest and back were broad, but you’d never know how much. The clothes he wore hid it well. Both arms were sculpted and covered in full-sleeve tattoos, from wrist to shoulder, curving into his back, where the designs merged into a dragon wrapped around a Celtic cross. The intricate line work and knots were part of mesmerizing patterns. It was as though they were in motion as his muscles bunched together and he shifted his weight, leaning forward and tugging his pants off . . .
A shot of desire ran through my body, meeting between my legs, and I pressed them together. Nothing about the way he undressed was sensual, and yet it inexplicably was. Something buried deep inside me called out, wanting his hands on my body. Touching me. Doing things to me I’d only read about?—
I reached up, threading my hands through my hair as I grasped the sides of my head, shaking it back and forth. No, no, no.
“We can’t sleep in the same bed,” I stammered, my voice coming out jagged and lusty. I tried to clear my throat to cover it up, but when he chuckled softly, I wasn’t so sure it had worked.
“Why not?” he asked, standing up in nothing but his boxer briefs, then turning around.
Don’t look. Don’t look.
I looked.
My eyes shot back up, but I couldn’t look at him directly, so I stupidly looked up. Like I wasn’t a twenty-four-year-old woman. Like I’d never seen a man in his underwear before. I had. Such occasions may have been few and far between, but none of them had looked like this.
When I gave no answer, he laughed softly, pulling back the covers and getting into the bed. “It’s business, remember? Nothing is going to happen. Just get some sleep. You’ve had a long night and we wouldn’t want it to be longer yet, would we, mate?” He shot me a devilish grin, then pulled the blankets up, turning on his side, facing away from me.
I stood there for a while, my mind racing and my anxiety spiking . . . then exhaustion slammed into me. It had been an emotional roller coaster. The worst day of my life, and that was saying a lot.
Still, I had no intention of getting undressed with him in the room. I’d sleep with my clothes on, and that would be just fine. Nova got up from her spot by the fire and quietly walked toward me. I tilted my head toward the bed, telling her to get up there. With a single jump, she hopped up, dropping herself abruptly at the bottom. She was just as tired, but she didn’t sense any danger from the feared and renowned vampire king.
Oddly enough, neither did I.
I crawled up, then slipped under the covers, sticking to my side and as far away from Elias as I could get. His soft and even breathing sounded from the opposite end of the bed. Sleep quickly called to me, pulling me into its warmth and safety.
It had to be approaching dawn soon, and the curtains began automatically closing, covering the wall of windows in a thick, velvet fabric that would block out the daylight. I watched them come together on their own accord, getting one last peek at the moon. It watched me in return, mocking me; our last stare down before it disappeared from view.
I’d thought I’d known what being cursed felt like before.
Turns out, I was wrong.
CHAPTER 8
Elias
Agentle hum whirred in the background. I cracked open one eye, watching my drapes pull themselves open to give a view of the overcast sky.
It was late afternoon, but I didn’t relish the idea of getting up. It wasn’t the best sleep I’d ever had, but probably not the worst. I wasn’t accustomed to sharing a bed with a giant wolf, or any other occupant for that matter. I preferred solitude.
This was anything but.
Nova was sprawled out at the bottom of the comforter, taking up the lower half of the bed, her face toward me, ensuring I stuck to my bargain. It appeared she didn’t consider stopping her other half from making the same mistake.
Dannika had found her way across the bed at some point in the night, plastering her body against mine. She’d thrown her arm over my abdomen and wrapped her leg over me, her head resting on my chest. The warmth of her body was strangely welcoming. The apex of her thighs pressed against my skin, and I mentally tried to shake that knowledge from my mind.
