“But what about Jakub?” I persisted. “Do we know if he’s dead?” I felt inside me for the curse I’d cast, but I was too weak to activate it and see if it had indeed tethered me to Jakub.
“If your blast didn’t kill him, then the sea will,” Kaillen replied. “No supernatural can swim across an ocean if they’re not part siren.”
“What if he’s on this ship with us?” Fallon asked. “And is still hiding under his cloaking spell?”
I shook my head. “He’d have already taken me if he were. He tried to take me earlier with a portal key.”
“He did?” Heat poured from Kaillen as murder shone in his gaze.
The ship heaved beneath me, and I rolled, too weak to stop myself. Another terrifying-sounding growl came from my mate as he gathered me in his arms.
His warmth soaked into my cool flesh. I reveled in the feel of him, the scent of him, as a niggling sense of doom descended over my mind. We hadn’t heard Jakub speak again after my blast of foreign power. Surely, that explosion had killed him.
But what if it hadn’t? What if he’d escaped using his portal key?
That was the last thought I had before darkness claimed me.
Chapter 21
A finger caressed my cheek, and emotions strummed toward me—lust, love, tenderness. My eyes fluttered open to see Kaillen hovering over me.
My wolf rumbled in contentment as she stretched and also woke.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
Bright sunlight streamed behind him, and I lay on a soft warm bed in a small room I didn’t recognize.
My hand automatically came up to cover his as he continued making lazy movements along my skin. Those emotions continued to strum into me, and I realized they were from the bond.
Love.
My breath caught at the feeling, but I squeezed my eyes closed. Kaillen loved me. Or did he? Was that his wolf talking too?
But I shoved those questions aside. I would never know.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“An inn. We’re back in Culasberee. Barnabas sailed us here after you passed out.”
I sighed as everything from last night returned to me. The battle. Our escape. My fear that Jakub was still alive. “Is Barnabas’s ship okay?”
A wry smile lifted Kaillen’s lips. “You expelled so much magic you passed out and Jakub nearly abducted you again, yet your first question is whether or not Barnabas’s ship is okay? If Barnabas knew you’d asked that, he’d swear his loyalty to you right now.”
I muffled a laugh. “Very funny, but seriously, is his ship okay?”
He stroked my cheek again. “Yes, his ship’s fine. It has some damage, but nothing that can’t be fixed.”
I stretched. “Good, I’m sure he’d have been devastated if it wasn’t.” I gave another stretch and was amazed to find that I didn’t feel sore or more tired after that epic use of my powers. “How long was I out for this time?”
He eyed the clock on the bedside table. “Eight hours.”
I followed his gaze. It was late morning. Nibbling my lip, I leaned back onto the pillow, and the lust strumming through the bond grew.
Kaillen watched as I worried my bottom lip, heat growing in his eyes.
I smiled. “Should I be disturbed about what you’re thinking right now, given that Jakub could still be out there?”
“You should always be disturbed about what I’m thinking, even if Jakub’s not in the equation.” He leaned down to kiss my neck.
My body arched, and already that incessant pulsing need began in me. Want. Want. Want. I groaned, but it did little to quell the pooling of desire in my belly.
“What is it?” He grazed his teeth across my earlobe, and I shivered.
My fingers threaded through the hair at the nape of his neck. “This pull I have toward you. I feel like a toddler, and you’re this toy that I just have to have.”
He chuckled. “I’m okay with that. I’ve always wanted to be a boy toy.”
I snorted. “Is that how it feels for you, too?”
“Pretty much.”
“Did you feel that at all before your wolf caught my true scent?”
He paused, then looked me in the eye. “You feel really insecure about that, don’t you?” A flush stained my cheeks, but when I tried to hide under the covers, he pulled them down. “Tell me.”
I sighed. “Yes, okay, I do. I know that we’re mated now, and that what we feel is how it’s going to be from now on, but I still can’t let go of the fact that this is all manufactured by our wolves.”
“But you wanted me before your wolf did, quite desperately if I remember right.” He gave me a cocky grin.
I swatted his chest, and he nipped my lower lip.
“Yes, yes,” I said in an exaggerated tone. “The big bad hunter had a bod that I couldn’t resist. Ha, ha. So funny.”
He just grinned at me.
I ran a finger along his chest, and his muscles tightened. “So you knew I was attracted to you before my wolf was born, but how did you feel toward me before your wolf got in the equation?”
He leaned down to continue his onslaught to the sensitive area on my neck where he’d marked me. “I told you. You intrigued me.”
“But were you attracted to me?”
“Any unmated male would be attracted to you. You’re not only gorgeous, but you have a killer body.” A low growl rumbled in his chest, and that jasmine and night scent rose from him.
So he didn’t like the thought of another male wanting me. Okay, well, that I could live with.
I sighed. “Fine.”
He paused, and looked up, his amber-hued eyes studying me again. “What do I need to do to make you feel secure?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. It’s just me. I need to get over it.”
“In that case . . .” A wicked smile curved his lips. “How about I show you just how attractive I find you?” Gold flared in his eyes as he pressed his very firm, and very impressive, erection against my side.
My insides fluttered. “I suppose that would be okay,” I replied breathlessly.
∞ ∞ ∞
We got up an hour later after screwing like bunny rabbits not once, but three times, then joined Barnabas and Fallon for lunch.
Barnabas was lounging in a reclining chair at a quaint café outdoor seating area just around the corner from the inn. He sipped a hot beverage, steam rising from the top, as Fallon dug into a plate of mutton and a mashed root vegetable indigenous to the fae lands. Both nodded in acknowledgment when we passed by on the sidewalk as we headed toward the café’s front door.
Kaillen and I ordered plates of food at the counter before joining his friends in the outdoor section. Bright sunlight streamed overhead, and a warm breeze caressed my cheeks, making me not in the least sad that I’d left Chicago’s cold weather behind me.
“So what’s the story, morning glory?” Barnabas asked after we were seated. The vamp’s lounge chair sat under a shaded area, so that all portions of the his skin were concealed from direct sunlight. Even though Barnabas wouldn’t burst into flames from the sun at his age, he would have developed some level of sunlight sensitivity by now—something all vampires who were hundreds of years old suffered from. “Are we done chasing the dimwit?”
“Is he dead?” I asked, not missing a beat.
“Probably, unless he can swim across an ocean,” Fallon replied and took another huge bite of his mutton.