She shivered and he drew her closer, glad he had fed recently, otherwise he wouldn’t have had any body heat to offer her. He adjusted his back against the tree he was leaning against, wondering how long he should wait to move her versus how long she could stay outside. He wouldn’t get physically tired holding her, even if he’d stood there all night. But the mortal was fragile. Too hot, too cold, too much pressure beneath his hands. Anything could kill her. It’d been a long time since he’d been responsible for a woman. There were things he needed to remember, and quickly, if he wanted to keep her alive.
He hadn’t drunk enough of her blood to harm her, even with what he’d withdrawn for the venom. He remembered that much, sadly. He knew exactly how much a woman her size could take without needing a transfusion. She’d be sluggish when she woke, from shock and blood loss in equal measures, but she’d recover just fine.
And if she hadn’t stopped him?
He wouldn’t have killed this one. No. Only a young vampire or a mindless Slave would. Instead, he would have had enough to satisfy the beast. Then he would have satisfied the man too.
He could never forget his own preferences, after all. But that was the old man. The old beast laid to rest over a hundred years ago.
Wasn’t it?
He’d never forget the day Brother Philip had told him that he could be made new. He’d loved that monk as a brother. He was the first man to tell him God loved him. Alessandro doubted such things were really possible for a vampire though. For all his compassion, Brother Philip was wrong. Some men really were beyond redemption.
Kendra stirred, wincing over the bruises on her face and neck. He watched as her eyes opened and she woke completely.
And then, as if on cue, she screamed.
It echoed off snowcapped trees. White dusted over them. Her plea was ineffective. Her house was nestled deep into the forest and there was no one to hear her. Alessandro had even taken the precaution of masking their scents so any curious werewolves wouldn’t trail them.
He waited patiently for her to run out of air.
“Now that you’re awake,” he said, assessing white skin, gold hair, and deep blue eyes. “I do believe it is time to go,” he finished. He’d not seen a woman like her until after he’d become a vampire. A woman of Ra, of the sun. No one like that had existed in Egypt.
“Go? Where are we? Let me go.” She struggled, but he kept hold of her easily as he walked through the forest.
“I cannot let you go,” he said simply. “The ground is covered in snow, and you have no shoes on.”
She glanced at her feet, then she touched her neck and hissed. “You...”
And there it was he thought to himself. Yes, he was a monster. He drank blood. He had drunk her blood, like to do it again, actually.
“Yes?” he asked, aware of the softened inflection of his voice, the one he’d once used when coaxing a new victim into submission.
“You kissed me,” she accused.
He halted in his tracks. “What did you say?”
“You kissed me.”
Of all things, why that? “Yes,” he said. “I did.”
“You had no right.”
He started walking again. This woman amused him. Keeping her alive would be fun.
“I had you under no compulsion,” he told her. “And you kissed me back, my lady.”
“My lady? Where are you from, the Dark Ages? Never mind, I don’t want to know. No one but Jason has ever kissed me.”
She blinked and he assumed tears would soon follow. She took a breath and controlled herself instead. Her cheeks were painted with emotion, her eyes bright, but she refused herself any quarter. She was a strong willed mortal. Good. She would need it if she was to survive vampires with both her life and her sanity intact.
“No one but my late husband has ever kissed me,” she said.
“I am sorry about your man.” He looked into her face, sincerely hoping she would believe him.
Her blue-eyed gaze met his, held for a moment, and then she looked away.
“He was a very lucky man,” he said.
“You do this stuff all the time.”
Did he detect a hint of jealousy? He’d bitten her. That tended to change a woman. Whether she realized it or not, it made her want more of him.
“All the time would be a gross exaggeration,” he told her.
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t go around kissing women all of the time.”
She refrained from comment, showing her cheek to him as she avoided all eye contact.
“I have not bitten anyone in a century,” he finished.
She looked at him again, brows drawn in skepticism. “You’re lying.”
“I am not.”
“Why did you kiss me back?” he asked.
She shrugged. “You made me.”
“I tried to make you leave your house many times to no avail. What makes you think I made you kiss me back?”
“I hit my head.”
Was that the best she could come up with? Unable to help himself he laughed. He hadn’t laughed like that in a long time and it felt good. “You intrigue me.”
“Well, good for you. Are you taking me home?”
“You can’t go home now. It’s not safe.”
“You’re taking me to the pack then.”
“I’m taking you to my car.”
“No, you’re not. Let me down.”
Another couple of seconds passed, and then he had a wildcat in his arms. The flat of her hand met his cheek. Alessandro caught her hand and held it there in mid-air while she seethed at him. She’d break herself soon trying to hurt him.
“Are you finished?” he asked her.
“Not even close.” She seemed to know there was no point in trying to fight him and gave in anyway, brow pinched like she was considering just what she might be able to do.
Not much, he knew. She was at his mercy. Better him than his son. “You have the second most powerful vampire in the world out to kidnap you,” he said. “You have no choice but to go with me.”
“Second most powerful? Who’s the most powerful?”
He widened his smile, careful not to extend his fangs. It would be too much for her right now.
“Oh,” she sounded.
“Alessandro Basra, my lady.”
She made a face. “It’s not nice to meet you.”
“I am sure it’s not.”
“Why does he want me dead?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. You’re in league with the werewolves, so that must be part of it.”
She shrugged a shoulder. He had the feeling she already knew the answer but was keeping it to herself. He decided to try and tease it out of her.
“I had thought maybe you have a werewolf lover,” he said.
Fair to white lashes narrowed around blue eyes.
“But perhaps not,” he finished.
“You’re not at all sorry that you kissed me.”
Back to that. She had a legion of vampires out for her, and this was what bothered her? He wasn’t sure why it was so important.
“I am sorry I bit you,” he said. “You are very beautiful, and I confess, it did overwhelm me.”
She waved that off like a woman who’d been told plenty of times that she was attractive and was no longer impressed by the compliment. “But you’re still not sorry you kissed me.”
He couldn’t bring himself to be sorry for that. “No, habibti. I enjoyed it.”
“Jerk.”
“Didn’t you?”
“Is that all there is? Whether or not it was fun?”
“I wouldn’t have used the word, fun.”
“Whatever.”
He glanced at the sky. It was still dark, and he figured he had a few hours before dawn. He would find them a hotel and make sure she got enough sleep. They would stay there until dark then drive through tomorrow night. He wanted his son to come for him, not make it easy for his Slaves to take
her. Kendra would just have to adjust to being nocturnal.
She blinked a few times, rested her head against his shoulder, then jerked it upright like she didn’t want him to know she was tired.
“I didn’t drink that much,” he assured her.
She felt her face carefully.
“It’s swollen and your face bruised. I cleaned up the blood.”
“Can you do that? I mean, blood.”
“I did do it, so it would appear that I can.”
“Right.” She frowned.
“I won’t do it again.”
“Whatever.”
“Kiss you, that is. Unless you ask for it.”
“Good.” She paused. “Or other things for that matter.”
“Only if you want me to.”
“Why would I want you to?” She blushed hot. He could feel her body temperature rising. Yes, she knew exactly why she may want it. “What did you do to me?”
“I told you. I did nothing. You wanted me by your own will.”
She snorted. “I wouldn’t do that.”
Ah, but she had.
Egypt, 985 B.C.E. Already a monster, he’d also been a god, handpicked by his goddess to serve her. Together, the two of them kept Slaves and human concubines. She had chosen many men that she’d desired and had them at her disposal, but Alessandro only, had been her god.
It was under her tutelage that he’d learned to keep women in various states, from life, to unlife. Most came to his chamber in fear, but some came in awe, because of what he was. They did not do what Kendra had when she’d pulled his face to her neck, her scent and her need pulsing, begging. He pulled away from the memory, aware that his scent had changed. Hers had too, her pheromones stronger now. She was breathing hard in response to him.
“I did nothing to you,” he told her finally, gritting out the words.
“I don’t believe you. You’re doing it now. You are not safe.”
“No,” he agreed easily. “I’m not safe, but like it or not, I’m your best chance at survival.”
“If you don’t kill me first.”
“I have the control necessary not to kill you.”
“If that’s true then you’re nothing like the others.”
“I assure you, I am the monster you fear, more so, probably. You are very strong willed for a mortal.”
“You bit me. You would have killed me.”
Seemed once she got her mind around something there was no thwarting her, but for what she knew about his kind, there was also so little she understood.
“I would not have done that,” he said. Alessandro debated on what else to tell her. Where he was from, you sheltered a lady of her quality from the harsh realities of life. He decided to try and explain it as gently as he could. “I have two natures. The beast, and the man. Both have similar needs met in different ways. The beast can only be satisfied by your blood. The man,” he looked at her, “you’re already aware of his needs. I can hardly satisfy both of my natures should I kill you.”
She swallowed hard. “Then you would…”
“Not unless you wanted me to.”
“That would explain the look I saw on your face.”
“What look?”
“Nothing.” She showed him her cheek.
“What look?” He had no idea what she was talking about.
“I’m not that kind of girl.”
He smiled. She was now. That kind of girl.
“You taste good,” he said, hoping to ease the shock of having lost her vampire virginity. Or whatever one might call it.
She eyed him. Then her brow furrowed.
“What?” he asked.
“That look. Don’t look at me like that.”
“What look? I cannot stop what I do not know.”
“Never mind.”
This woman was stubborn, and exasperating too. It was going to be an interesting night, even if only two hours remained of it.
Chapter Three
Kendra tucked her knees against her chest, hugging them for emotional support as much as warmth. A Porsche? Could he have been any more conspicuous? She tightened his brown leather jacket around herself as if it could somehow magically make her disappear inside.
“You could drive a normal car,” she said.
“Better to be fast.”
She watched the vampire’s profile, streetlights intermittently bathing golden skin and black hair. For someone who was dead, he seemed very much alive, in that way that makes a woman’s brain go numb. Then again, it was what he was designed to do. He was a predator, she his prey.
“Figures,” she said finally. “You like things fast.”
He seemed to find that amusing. His lips quirked in a hidden smile. “What gives you that impression?” he asked.
Even his voice betrayed his emotions. He was ridiculously easy to read. It surprised her. But then again, she’d only ever seen Slaves, had no prior experience with Masters. Maybe with Alessandro more of the man remained than not. Slaves were just that; slaves doing exactly as they were told.
She touched her neck, fingering the sensitive, swollen flesh from his fangs, leaving his question unanswered. She unbent her knees and flipped down the mirror to look at herself. Kendra groaned. Her forehead was turning purple-blue. Her nose was visibly swollen. She checked the cut on her palm from her poisoned knife. It was just a nick. He must have had to work hard to get enough blood out of it. Yuck. She turned away from that thought immediately.
Kendra moved her blonde hair aside to see the fang marks. Two punctures, scabbed over and rimmed pink, the surrounding skin bruised. They were a little itchy. She fingered them experimentally.
“You’ll be fine tomorrow,” he said, in that quiet way of his that reminded her of Jason in his tender moments.
She really wished he would stop that.
“I’m afraid it will scar though,” he finished.
Great. A permanent mark, to remind her of him, of this night, of the existence of bloodthirsty monsters that roamed the night looking for her.
As if she needed yet another testimony to that fact.
Jason had looked like his twin brother, Nick. Not exactly like Nick, since everyone could tell them apart, but they’d had the same muscle-man build, teal eyes, and dark brown hair, messy in a sexy kind of way, especially when he’d first gotten up in the morning. It always had a way of making her want to drag him back to bed again.
He had been the love of her life.
Until a vampire killed him. And here she was, marked by one.
“Perfect,” she muttered, dropping her hair to hide the marks. “Just perfect.”
“Does it hurt?” he asked smoothly.
“My face is worse,” she said, ignoring the surge of pleasure in her belly from the sound of his voice. “I want some shoes,” she demanded. Without shoes she couldn’t get very far away from him.
“We will take care of that, after we’ve both slept.”
Slept? By all that was holy, how was she supposed to sleep anywhere in the vicinity of a vampire? “Where exactly are we doing that? Got a coffin handy?”
His look told her he hadn’t found that amusing. Alessandro glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Then he pulled out his phone checked it quickly. He handed it to her. “Bring up a map and tell me where we are.”
“You don’t know where we are? You’re in the Adirondacks.”
“Specifically,” he said, fangs showing. “Tell me how far we are from the closest city.”
She wouldn’t be cowed so easily. He needed her alive, and she was going to take every advantage of that. Kendra glared at him until he continued.
Fangs retracted. She noted how he did that, so much like werewolves could. “I’m from Switzerland.”
She shook her head. “You don’t sound like it.”
“Yes.” His voice changed, was lower, quieter. “I was born in Egypt.”
A chill shot over her skin and she rubbed her arms to sooth herself. “When, exactl
y, because I’m getting the feeling you’re pretty…”
“Old?” he supplied, lifting his brows. “I am old. It was a long time ago. We need to find a room before sunrise.”
He would be debilitated at sunrise. And then she could leave him.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“About what?” She brought up the GPS on his phone, wondering if in his array of undead powers one of them was clairvoyance.
“Leaving. You might make it until sundown, but that is all.”
“Werewolves will come and get me wherever I am.”
“And then you will put your friends in danger too. This way, you only endanger me.” He smiled, could with ease because he was right. He had her there.
She looked at the phone to distract herself just in case he really could read her mind. “We’re still an hour from Albany.”
“And that is your largest city?”
“Yes. Don’t you want a small town?”
“People ask questions in small towns.”
That did make sense. Hide in plain sight and all.
“Find a hotel,” he said. “A large one, please.”
Please? Who was he trying to fool with politeness? She brought up a list of available rooms anyway. Wasn’t much else to do, careening down the interstate in a smoke colored Porsche.
“One room,” he clarified.
“I’m your prisoner then?”
“No.”
“No? Let’s see. Your son, that you want to kill, wants me dead.” She left out the part about her connection to Lothar, the alpha over all of the packs, since there was no point in giving the vampire any more information than was absolutely necessary. “So, you kidnaped me to keep me from him, and to get him to come after us so you can kill him? Am I wrong?”
His eyes slid in her direction, darker than honey now, more like umber, then back to the road. “He doesn’t want you dead. He will have you kidnaped, and then threaten to turn you into one of us if he does not get what he wants.”
She swallowed. It made the fang marks sting. “I really don’t want to be a Slave.”
“You might not.” He paused, fingers tightening around the wheel. “He could keep you for himself, for your essence.” He stopped then, easing off the wheel and taking a deep breath.
Kendra drew one foot back up, hugged her bent knee. “What do you mean by essence?”
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