Lord of the Vampires (Royal House of Shadows #1)(96)
Author: Gena Showalter

“Enough,” he growled, cutting her off. “I don’t want your apology. I never did.”

Rejection. Even though she had not professed her new feelings. As she’d suspected, her heart stopped. Literally stopped. Tears burned her eyes. She had not cried in years. Not since she was a little girl, huddled in bed, dreading the monsters who would visit her.

“I’ve always wanted you…your body,” he added in a croak. “Still do.”

“Wh-what?”

“I want you.”

Shocking. Need trembled through her. Welcome need. Beloved need. “Yes.” Yes. “I would rather give myself to you than give the apology, for I want you, too.” There. Admission. Not as scary as she had thought. Freeing, actually. “But you can’t touch me, and I cannot touch you. How…” Hated need, she thought next. A craving that could never be satisfied.

“We will figure it out.” Huskily said, softening expression.

How? she wanted to ask again, but didn’t. No telling when Amelia would return. Their privacy was limited, and she did not want to spend it grasping for solutions they would never find.

Apparently, Zane did not either.

“Climb on top of me,” he beseeched. “I want to see you there. Want to imagine.”

To her surprise, she obeyed without hesitation, eager, straddling his waist. His eyes closed, and he arched up. Imagine, he’d said. He was imagining sinking inside her.

Yes, she thought. Yes. She would like that. Wanted that. She imagined his hard shaft entering inch by inch and moaned. A few times, the act had felt pleasurable rather than painful, but those times had left her wallowing in shame. How could she have liked being bedded by those disgusting males, even for a moment?

This time, however, there was no shame. Only acceptance. More.

“Zane, I—”

“Feel good?”

“Yes.”

“I’m glad. Would you like me to—”

The entrance to the tent flapped, and Amelia strode inside. “Well, vampire. I have decided—” Her eyes widened, and she stopped. “Nola? What are you doing here?”

Nola jumped up as though burned. She wanted to scream in frustration, but held her tongue. One question had been answered, at least. Others could see her. “Hello, Amelia.” Did she sound as breathless to the warrioress as she did to herself?

“We thought you were dead.”

“You thought wrong.”

Amelia’s dark gaze swung to Zane, then back to Nola. “Either way, you will move away from my slave. If you wanted him for yourself, you should have been brave enough to return and fight for him.”

“I do want him for myself.”

“Too late.”

No. It wasn’t. She refused to believe that.

“Nola,” Zane said, and there was a warning in his tone.

A warning of what? Nola didn’t face him, but squared her shoulders and forced her expression to harden. “Well, I am here now. Amelia, I challenge you for the vampire.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“HURRY! SHE’LL RETURN any moment, and she’ll have others with her. Perhaps the entire army.”

Zane watched as Nola tried and failed to jerk the head of his chains from the iron pole they were attached to, a pole that was anchored deep in the earth. As before, her fingers merely passed through the object.

His shock had yet to diminish. Nola was here; Nola wanted him; Nola thought to help him. After her announcement—I challenge you for the vampire—his captor had stormed out of the tent with every intention of speaking to the Amazon queen. And having Nola imprisoned.

No. He would not allow that.

She was his.

Earlier when she’d apologized to him, it had not been remorse thickening her voice. It had been desire. Then she’d climbed on top of him without any uncertainty, had moaned when he’d arched into her. He hadn’t been able to feel her, but oh, just the thought of doing so had been enough for him. He’d never craved a female more.

“How do you propose to fight her?” he demanded. “You cannot hurt her, and she cannot hurt you.” Thank the gods. He would rather endure an eternity of slavery than watch this woman bleed.

“I didn’t want to fight her. Well, I did, do, but know I can’t. I just wanted time. And why are you just lying there?” She peered down at him, hands on her hips, dark hair streaming wildly around her delicate face. “Fight free!”

So lovely. Everything he’d craved these many months of his captivity—Nola, freedom, a chance to be together—was now being offered to him. No longer did he feel cursed. Never had he been so blessed.

He couldn’t feel her? So what. Being with her was more important.

“You will come with me? If I escape?” he asked.

“If I can, yes. I want that more than anything,” she added in a fierce whisper.

Again, there was no uncertainty. There was even a flicker of hope in her magnificent eyes. She truly did not hate him.

What had brought about this change in her?

Would she change her mind if she knew of his past?

Demon whore.

He squeezed his eyes closed, wishing once again that he could cover his ears.

“Zane, darling. What’s wrong?”

Don’t tell her. Don’t ever tell her. “Nothing.” She would run from him as Cassandra had.

“You’re hurting,” Nola said. She tapped on his chest, just above his heart. “Here. Tell me why.”

“I will escape,” he said instead. “You will come with me.”

He was suddenly fueled with a fervor he had never experienced before. He wanted this. Would have this. Just as…soon as…he broke…free. For what seemed an eternity, he pulled hard at his wrists and ankles, straining so forcefully his bones eventually gave way.

Out came both his ankles; out came both his wrists. The pain of it nearly bowled him over as he sat up, then stood to trembling legs. He didn’t care about the pain, though. He was free at last.

Together. They could be together.

“I hear them,” Nola gasped. “Come on.” She made to grab him, but her hand misted through his body. “Damn this!”

There was no sensation, no chill, but the knowledge that she had tried to touch him caused him to shiver rather than shudder. From the very first, it had been that way. Others he ran from. Others he abhorred. Her, he only yearned for more of. Why? he wondered again.

“This way.” She raced to the far end of the tent. “Raise the flap.”