Page 79 of Hunted

‘I do not mean bite you. There will need to be infinitely more pleading and yielding before I grant you that gift.’

My breath lodges somewhere near my solar plexus, caught between relief and something horrifyingly close to disappointment.

Selphine was right. I’m a fucking disgrace. ‘In your bloody vampire dreams.’

‘We will see.’

Another beat passes. Then three.

‘If you don’t intend to bite me, then… what?’

His thumb lifts, tracing my lower lip with devastating restraint. ‘A simple kiss,’ he murmurs, ‘is all I require.’

I almost laugh. ‘A kiss,’ I repeat carefully.

‘For one answer,’ he counters, as though negotiating stock options instead of my sanity.

My mind screams no. My body, inconveniently, opens a ballot box.

‘You’re assuming you’ll win,’ I say.

His smile deepens. ‘I do not assume. I conclude.’

The air between us tightens, charged and restless. It would be smarter to refuse. Infinitely more strategic. One thousand per cent safer.

And yet my chin lifts. ‘One question,’ I say, meeting his gaze head-on. ‘One honest answer.’

‘And one kiss,’ he agrees.

‘Simple?’ I mutter.

His gaze darkens, heat sharpening into something far less patient.

‘Reckless,’ he corrects softly. ‘But, it seems, inevitable.’

And I realise, with a flicker of anticipation that borders on insanity, I just agreed to play.

16

EIRA

My swallow is disgraceful and gulpy when his head starts to descend.

‘Wait.’

The silver in his eyes whirls.

I’m beginning to read him, not because I’ve developed a sudden talent for the occult, but because he’s too old and controlled and used to being obeyed to bother hiding what he feels in the one place he can’t fully lock down.

His eyes are truly the window to his soul.

Do vampires have souls? His emotions, then.

Right now, that silver is expanding, his nostrils flaring a touch, his attention so intent it feels like a hand at the back of my neck, steadying my head so I can’t look away.

This is insane.

I’m insane.