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“Because I care about you, Rae—” she caught herself, “—Kaien. You’ve injured yourself twice now and we’ve been here only a handful of days!”
“That’s rich coming from someone who went into the belly of the beastalone,” Kaien emphasized the word with a snarl. “You got shot with a sunlight bullet and then fought me when I tried to heal you. You’re one to talk,vampire.”
“I went because nobody else volunteered!”
“I volunteered!” he snarled. “Ivolunteered to take your place and you laughed at me. You were reckless, foolish, and you damn near got yourself killed in the process. And what’s worse is that my sister supported it.”
Blair flashed a feral smile. “Nina supported it because it was a good plan.”
“It was a ridiculous plan, and Nina only supported it because she’s too preoccupied with her own pain to see the danger it’d place you in—just like she can’t see what her absence is doing to her own clansmen.”Her own brother. “If you think Nina’s looking out for your best interests right now, you’re even more insane than I thought.”
“Oh, and you are?” Blair’s hands fisted on her hips. “How convenient that we now have a bond that requires you to ‘look out for me.’”
“You think the only reason I care about you is because we share a mating bond?!” He scoffed, infuriated that they were having this conversation. “Hell, Blair, I check on you almost daily through your bond to Nina because I know she won’t.”
Blair startled. “You—what?”
Admitting as much to Blair was like exposing the beating heart inside of him: making himself vulnerable in a way he couldn’t take back. Breathing deeply, he spoke the truth. “Nina isn’t the only one who can check in on you, Blair. I do. Often.”
“Why?”
The question, spoken so plainly but with so much suspicion, made Kaien still. How could he admit that he’d always felt somethingmorefor her without eliciting her anger. Admitting that might very well indicate—to her, anyway—that he suspected they were mates.
He never had, not up until the very moment the bond had arisen.
His silence spoke for him.
“You’re the most aggravating man I’ve ever met,” she growled, her hands fisting on her hips.
Kaien had had enough. Dispassionate, he sidestepped around her, aiming for the open doorway that partially separated the kitchen from the living area. Before he could complete the action, her hand snatched his, preventing his escape.
In recoil, he was no match for her strength, nor her speed, and they both knew it. Right now, he was as good as human compared to her. He was wholly and irrevocably at her mercy.
But her grip wasn’t bruising, it was a question—a request for him to remain here.
It didn’t matter. In a voice as menacing as the look on his face, he turned to her and managed to sputter, “Let. Me. Go.”
Slowly, her fingers uncurled from around his forearm. “You’re a fool, you know that?”
“So you keep telling me.”
“No, Kaien, you don’t get it.” A heated gaze from his vampire, followed by a bashful glance to her feet. “I don’t do romance. I don’t do relationships. I don’t do fluff and dates and flowers. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.”
Scathing laughter escaped from between his lips. “Right, Blair. Yeah. Forgive me if I call your bluff.”
As he pivoted to make his escape, an irate noise sounded behind him. A second later, she flashed in front of him, preventing him from leaving. Hands on her hips, her glare was deadly.
He sidestepped around her, but she copied his movement, remaining in front of him.
“Really, Blair? What are you, five?”
Indignant, he stepped the other way, and she slid with him. Determined to halt his escape, she placed a hand gently on his sternum. “Kaien. Why did you check on me?”
“Forget I mentioned it.”
Blair’s lips split in a sneer that revealed her lengthening fangs. For a hot second, all Kaien could think about was them embedding in his flesh again and the pleasure that bloomed in his blood with the crimson kiss.
“No, Kaien,” she reiterated, “I want to know why you check in on me. Am I unique in that regard? Or do you check on all of Nina’s fledglings like that?”
