“Ah, yes. Apparently creating immortals isn’t that easy.” While he smiled at what appeared to be an understatement, concern filled his amazing eyes.
“But you have four brothers.” How hard could it be?
Dage shrugged. “I know. It took three centuries of attempts and miscarriages for my parents to have me. Then my brothers came along quickly. I can’t explain it.”
She needed a lab and blood samples from all of them. There was a rational explanation for the scenario—the right research method was all that was needed. Science could explain anything, regardless of the species and genetics involved.
He reached out and grasped her hand. “Being a mate carries danger, Emma. You need to know that right now.” Loping into a jog, he tugged her into a run.
She had no intention of being mated with a vampire, regardless of her dreams. “What’s up with the primitive language? I mean, assuming the legends of vampires are true and you’re fairly immortal, shouldn’t you have progressed past the whole possessive ‘my mate’ language?”
He rasped out a chuckle. “Fairly immortal? We can be killed by beheading, as can the Kurjans.” His hand tightened on hers and trees rushed past. “Don’t for a second think the possessive ‘my mate’ language is archaic terminology. It fits.”
A warning tickled the back of her neck even as warmth spread through her limbs. A glance at the sky jerked her out of her thoughts. The sun angled lower toward the mountains. They were running out of time.
Chapter 2
Dust tickled Emma’s nose and powdered her knees as she knelt next to Dage while the last rays of the day filtered inside the dank cave. They’d run for nearly two hours until reaching the hills and myriad of caves. A dripping somewhere down a small tunnel caused a shiver to run up her back, and she pushed away thoughts of bats. And spiders. She had real monsters to worry about.
She shifted her attention to Dage, who sat against the wall, blood running in rivulets down his broad chest to stain his jeans. He’d been sitting for nearly fifteen minutes attempting to close the holes in his body without success.
The sound of her throat clearing echoed around the rock walls of the cave. “You’re hurt, you need to feed.”
He raised an eyebrow, arrogant even in pain. “Feed? You watch too much television, love.”
“You don’t drink blood?”
“Sure. During extreme situations like battle or sex. But for dinner I prefer a nice steak with a vintage cabernet.” His grin slid into a grimace.
“I’d say this is an extreme situation.” The scent of his blood sent her instincts reeling. She may not have her sister’s empathic abilities, but even Emma could feel vibrations from the king’s pain. “You need blood.”
His chin lifted, a challenge sparking though those dangerous eyes. “Do I?”
Frustration whispered through her. “Yes.” Although she needed saving because of his people’s war, he had mounted a battle against several monsters to save her, and she couldn’t do less for him.
“Sure you can. You don’t owe me anything.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the rough rock wall. “And while the Kurjans dragged you into this mess by using your lab for research, you’ll soon learn this is where you belong.”
Damn it. “Listen vampire, you’ll show me the respect of staying the hell out of my head.” Great. That’s all she needed. The guy who’d starred in her kinkiest fantasies since her teenage years reading her thoughts.
His full lips quirked up. “My apologies. I’m not at one hundred percent here—blocking takes effort.”
“Try.”
“I promise I’ll try.” He kept his eyes closed.
She fought to concentrate on anything but the king’s pain. “How old are you, anyway?”
“Three and a half centuries or so.”
Wow. “How long have you been king?”
“All but twenty-five of those years. Our parents were killed by the Kurjans and I had to step up.” His breath hissed out on a note of pain. “We went to war for too long, and then we brokered peace. Until last month.”
“When the Kurjans discovered me.” Guilt slid down Emma’s spine. She’d led the devils right to Cara and Janie, Cara’s young daughter. Two more gifted females.
“Yes.” Dage stretched the long column of his neck, sucking in air. “They discovered you when using your lab to conduct some of their research.” A pained grin lifted his lips. “You must be very good at your job.”
“Good enough to figure out I wasn’t working on a cure for cancer.” She’d never forget returning to the lab one night to discover two Kurjans meeting with her old boss. “I saw the Kurjans and ran away.” She’d mailed her flash drive to a friend, and she’d been on the run since.
“We’re going to need you to recount what you remember from your research.” Dage paled further.
“I know.” She leaned forward, willing his bleeding to stop. Coppery fresh blood flowed down the hard planes of his chest. That tattoo whispered secrets and flared nerves to life along her skin. The Kayrs Marking. A quick glance at his collarbone and neck revealed bullet holes oozing blood. Smaller than before, but still bleeding.
These were the first actual bullet holes she’d ever seen. Her father had shot toward her with a shotgun during his drunken rages, but he’d always missed. “The green flash from the Kurjan’s gun looked like lasers. Why are there bullet holes in your neck?”
“The burst of light is a laser which hardens into bullets when meeting flesh.”
Weapons to injure immortals. God knows what damage such devices would inflict upon humans. She sighed. “Do you think the Kurjans are near?”
He shook his head without opening his eyes. “No. I don’t sense evil anywhere near us. We’re probably safe for a couple hours, then we should move again.”
A couple hours? Damn. She needed him in fighting shape. “Will drinking my blood help heal you?”
His lids flipped open, revealing those silver eyes that had haunted her dreams for fifteen years. Hunger, raw and pure, filled them. “Yes.”
Emma gulped in air. The husky timber of his voice caressed nerves she didn’t want to own. “I won’t become a vampire?”
His dimples winked at her. “No. Vampires are born, not made.”
Fear and her damn curiosity blended until she could only whisper. “Okay.” She held out her wrist and shut her eyes. And waited. The breeze picked up outside the cave, rustling pine needles and leaves inside the small entrance, and she shivered. Finally, she opened her eyes in exasperation. “What?”
Reaching out with his good arm, he lifted her chin with one knuckle, waiting until her gaze met his. “I want your neck.”
Low and rough, his voice skittered need through her midriff. Talk about direct. “Um, well, why?” Her mind reeled and she fought the urge to drop her gaze to his mouth. She lost the fight. He ran a tongue along those full lips. Need rippled through her. How did he do that?
He waited again until she focused on him, her eyes widening on the pure confidence shining in his. “I’ve been waiting to taste you for centuries—I don’t want you extending your wrist to me and looking the other way.”
“What do you want?” She shouldn’t have asked that.
For answer, he reached out with his healthy arm and lifted her until she straddled his lap. She should’ve protested, but the easy strength and warm hand on her hip caught the breath in her throat. Fascinating. Such true, raw power. She pressed both hands against the undamaged muscles of his chest, balancing herself. His erection lay thick and hard beneath her, and she fought the urge to clench her thighs against his legs.
He stared at her through half-lidded eyes, his hands going to unbutton her cotton shirt.