“Tasked?”
“Pledged. That’s how some of the older generations operate. I gave him an out, a reason for living beyond death.”
“An interesting story,” Khent said as he joined them, sounding breathless, which told her he’d worked hard fighting Rolf.
Spotting the grinning draugr, she didn’t worry about hurt feelings.
He saw her looking at him, clenched his hands together, and held them up, giving a victory shake. “I won! I won!”
Khent shot him a lethal glare. “You did not, jackass. Ignore him, Valentine.” He took her under his arm and led her away.
“Where are we going?”
At that moment, Mormo appeared on the lawn wearing jeans and a tee-shirt, his white hair cropped short and spiked on top. To Val’s surprise, he looked fairly normal except for the red eyes and shockingly good looks.
Khent steered her around him, but Mormo’s eyes remained on the scarred and denuded bits of lawn, in addition to the crater in the middle of it. “What in the name of Chaos is this?”
She felt a swell of magic as they hurried into the house and to Khent’s room.
When he locked the door behind her, she felt a stirring of trepidation.
Then he was in front of her, his presence large, threatening.
Tension ratcheted between them.
Neither spoke.
She swallowed her nerves, and his gaze settled on the racing pulse point at her neck. When she opened her mouth to break the silence, his gaze moved to her mouth.
And stayed there.
She couldn’t help her nipples beading, her entire body fizzling with a sexual attraction that seemed to swell from out of nowhere.
Oh hell, who was she kidding? She’d been hot for the deadly predator since she’d first seen him.
What did that make her? Some kind of freak for sure.
Except he was staring back at her with the same intensity. For all that the fanger insisted she was so much less than him, that look in his eyes said otherwise.
“You owe me a forfeit, human,” he said in a low, seductive voice. His eyes turned red, and when he smiled, she watched his fangs grow.
To her astonishment, that wasn’t the only thing growing as he watched her.
So why did she find herself moving closer to him when the smart thing would be to run far, far away?
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Val didn’t knowwhat had taken over her, but Khent didn’t move when she stepped closer. His eyes burned, a bright red that seemed to glow.
She tentatively moved her hands to his chest. The feel of him, so solid and real, snapped their connection into place. Her energy slid over his, moving with him and merging in such a way she felt helpless to do anything but touch himeverywhere.
His eyes narrowed, but he remained still, waiting for what, she didn’t know.
“My forfeit,” he said, his voice impossibly deep. “You owe me, female.”
Passion flared hot, and she didn’t care about danger or revenge or anything except quenching her thirst for a taste of him.
