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“Ifyoudon’trecall,”Kaien’s lip curled, “I’m in recoil from saving your life and my abilities are bound for the immediate future. You’re welcome.”
Regardless of his temporary incompetency, he’d have to supply her some form of clothing. The cabin wasn’t air conditioned, nor was it heated, and her semi-clothed state was challenging his well-tested indifference.
Every lean inch of her defined abdomen called to him in a way he’d never acknowledged; her lustrous curves beckoned his touch. When the bond had flared to life between them, Kaien had barely contained his astonishment at the pulsing link—and his sudden craving for her touch.
He purposefully averted his eyes.
“How convenient for you, Raeth.” Blair’s velvety voice was tinged with sarcasm. “Keep the vampire half naked for your benefit.”
Standing with a suppressed growl, Kaien stalked toward the single bedroom at the back of the cabin, leaving her without an explanation. He grabbed the handle of the dresser and hauled open a drawer where he’d kept a couple of spare shirts and sweatpants.
He selected a flannel shirt and a pair of soft sweatpants and headed back. In the close confines of the cabin, he hadn’t managed to escape the lure of her mouthwatering scent. Jasmine with a hint of spring water, Blair’s tantalizing aroma was nothing short of perfection.
Stalking back into the main room, he found the vampire peering out the north facing window. The low light of the crescent moon reflected on her flawless ivory skin and defined her sharp features. Her hair, which he knew to be a rich golden blonde, was arranged in an elegant hairstyle. Usually, it took away attention from her catlike eyes, as she allowed it to curl free and accessorized it with hair jewelry and impulsive braids she fiddled with whenever she was anxious. Nothing would manage to overshadow the luminous sapphire of her gaze tonight.
As Kaien stoically admired her from afar, he was struck once again with her loveliness.
“Looked your fill?”
Her cutting comment served to snap him out of his trance. He closed the distance between them and offered her the clothing. When she took the clothes from him, her fingers briefly flitted across his. The electricity that sparked between them was immediate and unexpected, jolting through him with inescapable desire.
Even when Blair’s eyes widened, Kaien retained his stoicism.
She recovered without fail. “Plaid flannel? What are you, a lumberjack?”
Rolling his eyes, Kaien cast a glance at the hearth. “I’m usually only here in the winter. I’ll get a fire going. We’ll be stuck here until I’m out of recoil or Nina is.”
Heavens knew that none of the other Raeths would be tempted to retrieve them. With both him and Nina out of commission in their recoils, each remaining lieutenant would be shouldering the additional burden of maintaining the clan’s psychic network. Moreover, they were down two of their most powerful members, leaving them woefully short staffed.
Without a cell phone or any form of communication device, no one would even know they were here. He’d acted on impulse when Blair had telepathed him, panicked at the thought of her being in danger and wounded. Had he been thinking clearly, he would’ve teleported them to the vampires’ council building in New York. Now, they were stranded here for days.Together.
Kaien trudged toward the door, leaving Blair to dress alone. The rusty hinges protested after months of disuse. A blast of cool humid air greeted him when he stepped through the threshold, eyes locked on the small pile of firewood leftover from his most recent incursion into the woods.
A distant howl caught his attention. His eyes speared into the untamed forest beyond the small clearing where his cabin was situated. Without his abilities, he was woefully unprotected in the wilderness he knew was littered with predators. His only weapon was the axe that was propped against the wooden siding.
Until now, rendered near-human by the recoil, he’d never had reason to think of the forest as a threat to his cabin and the injured woman inside.
His focus was still trained on the trees as he hefted several logs under his arm. Once he had enough for a fire, he retreated toward the cabin. Even though it was still late summer, the nights were chilly, and he didn’t particularly appreciate the cold.
Blair was nowhere to be seen.
Kicking the door shut behind him, he moved toward the hearth and piled the logs on the wrought iron andiron. A handful of newspapers became kindling before he snatched the matches from the block next to the raised hearth and struck one onto the crumpled paper.
The brilliant flare of light illuminated the space as the paper caught, and Kaien rocked back on his heels. He stood and watched the blaze lazily crawl over the logs. As the flames grew, he squinted, the pounding headache that pulsed in his mind taking offense to the brightness.
Thumbing his temple, he drew in a breath in an effort to alleviate the pain. As with any recoil, the psychic repercussions of the withdrawal manifested in the form of a migraine. Physically, he would heal much slower, nearly at the rate of a mortal until he returned to his normal state. In addition, he’d lose some of the strength that classified him as a supernatural being.
“What is this place?”
Blair’s voice behind him didn’t startle him, but he hadn’t registered her presence. “A hideaway for when I need solitude.”
“You don’t say.”
She came to stand beside him. His shirt dwarfed her, and the effect was oddly endearing. Something inside him stirred as he pondered her feminine curves in his clothes.
“Didn’t take you for the type to don flannel and sing hi ho.”
A gruff rumble from his throat. “I’m not as talented as my sister at remote teleports, and we were some distance from each other. This was the only location I could think of at a moment’s notice.”
