Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(41)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

Obviously Ariyal had managed to find the blood he needed to restore his strength. But instead of returning to her, he was moving even farther away.

At a pace that assured her he wasn’t just pouting.

He was truly trying to leave her behind.

Annoying fairy.

Jumping over a fence that marked the edge of a cow pasture, she at last caught sight of Ariyal as he crossed through the overgrown yard of a farmhouse.

She briefly surveyed the white, two-story home with black shutters and peeling paint before shifting her attention to the nearby chicken coop that lurched to a drunken angle and the more distant sheds and a tin-roofed barn that held the lingering scent of hay.

The place was deserted of humans, although the stale stench of beer cans warned they occasionally used the isolated property to party in private. And she couldn’t detect any nearby demons.

This seemed as good a spot as any to confront the angry Sylvermyst.

With a graceful motion, Jaelyn was leaping on top of the screened-in porch attached to the house and then dropping directly in front of Ariyal.

The Sylvermyst came to a grudging halt, his unbearably beautiful face set in lines of leashed fury.

He was so different from the male vampires who had sought to become her lover, she recognized.

There was no cold calculation. No aloof expertise that offered a clinical pleasure without the messy involvement of emotions.

No.

Ariyal was fierce and temperamental and so passionate he nearly set the air on fire with the force of his emotions.

He was dominating, but he was no bully.

And while he had more than his fair share of male arrogance, there was an inner vulnerability to him that touched her in places she didn’t know she could be touched.

He was exactly what she didn’t need, at exactly the wrong time.

The bronze eyes blazed with breathtaking power. “Get out of my path, vamp.”

She ignored the sudden heat that swirled through the air. She was relatively safe. At least until he called for that damned wooden bow and arrows he could conjure from thin air.

Then things might get dicey.

“Where the hell are you going?”

“I don’t discuss my plans with my foes.”

“Are you pouting because I wouldn’t share my blood?”

“You’re the one who insists on treating me like the enemy,” he snarled. “So either do whatever it is you were sent here to do, or get out of the way.”

Foe? Enemy?

Ah, if only.

That she understood.

This messy, confused muddle that plagued her …

“You need me,” she said abruptly.

He snorted, folding his arms over his chest. The picture of a male at his most stubborn.

“And you call me arrogant?”

She tilted her chin. “Do you know where the babe is?”

“I will.”

“And you can battle your tribesmen as well as the spirit on steroids without me?”

The muscle in his jaw knotted, his pride once again threatened.

“Yes.”

“What about Sergei?”

He shrugged. “What about him?”

“Enough,” she hissed in exasperation. “I’m not going to let you waltz into a trap just because you’re pissed off at me.”

He arched a mocking brow. “And just how do you intend to stop me, Hunter?”

Later Jaelyn would question whether she was overly stressed—it had, after all, been a crazy few days and any vampire was bound to feel a little on edge—or whether it had been temporary insanity.

In that moment, however, there was no thought.

Just mindless, primitive instinct.

Grasping his face in her hands, she leaned forward to kiss him with all the raw hunger that refused to leave her in peace.

“Like this.”

Chapter 12

Ariyal reeled beneath the impact of Jaelyn’s sudden kiss.

He couldn’t have been more shocked if she’d pulled out her gun and shot him directly in the heart.

What else could you expect from a cold-blooded leech?

Death and mayhem were her specialty.

But this …

This was white-hot, all-consuming pleasure that bypassed his brain and sent his body up in flames.

Without giving himself time to question what the hell she was playing at, he grasped her around the waist and with one motion had her tossed over his shoulder. Ignoring her startled squeak, he headed directly toward the nearby house, entering through the screened-in porch.

A few long strides led him into the kitchen with its worn linoleum and white-painted cabinets. There was a forgotten china cabinet pushed against one wall and a matching table in the center of the floor.

A nice, sturdy walnut table.

With a flare of anticipation he kicked aside the chair blocking his path; then, leaning forward, he rolled Jaelyn off his shoulder and seated her on the edge of the table, tugging her legs apart so he could step between them.

His hands remained on her slender hips as he at last allowed his gaze to shift to the pale beauty of her face.

He’d half expected to find her fangs exposed and her eyes flashing with the cold promise of death.

Jaelyn was not the sort of woman a man went all caveman on.

Not if he wanted to keep his heart beating in his chest.

But while her expression was cold and diamond hard, she couldn’t disguise the hunger that smoldered in the depths of her indigo eyes.

He might not know why she insisted on being near him, but he did know she wanted him.

Even if the stubborn female would rather slice out her own tongue rather than admit it.

As if to prove his point she gave a toss of her head, placing her hands flat on the table so she could lean back to meet his heated gaze with a pretense of indifference.

“Do you feel better now you got to play macho man?” she demanded.

A slow, wicked smile curved his lips as he reached to grasp the stretchy fabric of her barely there top. With one ruthless tug he had it over her head and lying on the floor.

“Not yet, but I intend to feel much, much better.”

“Careful, fairy,” she hissed, her fangs suddenly visible. “I’ve killed men for less.”

He didn’t doubt the threat, but he was filled with a strange sense of reckless need.

In the distance he knew that Tearloch waited along with who knew how many of the Dark Lord’s minions to protect the child. There seemed a damned good chance he was going to die before the night was over.

For now he wanted to drown in his aching need for this woman.

“You started this, poppet,” he reminded her, his voice thick as his gaze lowered to the proud thrust of her br**sts. “Are you just a tease or do you have the balls to finish it?”