movement and gently turns my face back to his as he rumbles, “I really like hearing about you being aroused for me, ma belle fleur . And to answer your question, they turn when I’m about to either feed or fight, and although sex and drinking blood are both intense actions they are quite different in the reactions they cause. My eyes stayed blue because I had recently fed. Speaking of which, we need to feed you now. Here, let’s get these cuffs off you and get you dressed. I’ll make you something to eat. You must be famished.”
“Oh, I am … and around you that seems to be a constant feeling.”
His eyes watch me closely for a long moment before his arms wrap me tight and his forehead presses against mine.
His accented voice cuts softly through the space as he says, “Calla, my angel.”
I languish in the safety of his comforting hold. For in this flawless moment in time all the exterior worries of outside threats and stress seem both trivial and meaningless. Here, together, we are powerful and untouchable.
For now, that’s enough. It has to be.
Chapter Eleven
April 4 th 1756, Pre-Dawn
The Woods near Beauvais Plantation
“K aterina, we must move him, right now . The sun will be coming up any moment and the humans are moving this way. If that’s not enough, I just detected Valdon’s presence. It’s not safe. I’ll carry him if I must, but we are leaving.”
“Give him just another minute, Ambrose. He has lost a lot of blood from the gash to his leg. Let him drink. I don’t want to lose him. You know that he’s special.”
I listen to the large man and the intriguing woman above me disagree, but their voices seem distant, nearly dreamlike, as I languish in the delicious fluid that is taking all my earlier pain away.
The man hisses in agitation, “His eyes are changing. He’s beginning to turn. We go now. No more lingering.”
The woman sighs and brushes my cheek before pulling her ivory wrist from my eager lips.
“You’ll have more in a while, warrior. Just hold on and be strong.”
I’m still alive?
I struggle to push up onto my elbows, feeling strange and foreign in my own skin. My heart is pounding so loudly in my ears but it sounds different, booming. In fact, everything around me is too much … too loud.
I clasp my head to stop the spinning motion that rivals the time I drank a half a cask of spiced rum from Barbados with two of my mates.
“Ambrose, he’s too disoriented. You’ll have to trace him. We don’t have a choice. We’re cutting it close. The sun is about to filter down through the trees. Let me help you get him over your shoulder.”
My world tilts on end as I’m slung over the shoulder of a man my size. I struggle to focus on him but see only what’s right next to me; blond hair pulled into a leather tie at his thick neck.
I’m struggling to stay conscious when I hear him say, “I hope that he proves to be worth the risk, Katerina.”
“I’ve watched him for years now, Ambrose. He is well worth it. I could never let such a magnificent individual perish.”
“So be it. Are we tracing to Seville?”
“Yes, there he’ll be safe and have a chance to recover. Keep a tight hold on him. Go now, and I’ll follow directly behind you.”
* * *
I open my eyes to see an intricately patterned crimson-red carpet that I’m … staring down at?
That familiar chiming voice calls out, “Let’s see if he can stand. Place him onto his feet but keep a hold of him.”
My feet touch the ground, and though my body is pulsing strangely, I forget everything else as I stare into the face of the most stunning women I’ve ever seen in my life.
She touches the back of my hand and asks, “Severin, can you hear me?”
I nod once, not even certain if I can find my voice, much less my balance. I pitch forward and grasp at one of the posts of a massive canopy bed.
“Ambrose, let’s get him seated in the chair close to the fire.”
My arm is slung over the
“Oh, I am … and around you that seems to be a constant feeling.”
His eyes watch me closely for a long moment before his arms wrap me tight and his forehead presses against mine.
His accented voice cuts softly through the space as he says, “Calla, my angel.”
I languish in the safety of his comforting hold. For in this flawless moment in time all the exterior worries of outside threats and stress seem both trivial and meaningless. Here, together, we are powerful and untouchable.
For now, that’s enough. It has to be.
Chapter Eleven
April 4 th 1756, Pre-Dawn
The Woods near Beauvais Plantation
“K aterina, we must move him, right now . The sun will be coming up any moment and the humans are moving this way. If that’s not enough, I just detected Valdon’s presence. It’s not safe. I’ll carry him if I must, but we are leaving.”
“Give him just another minute, Ambrose. He has lost a lot of blood from the gash to his leg. Let him drink. I don’t want to lose him. You know that he’s special.”
I listen to the large man and the intriguing woman above me disagree, but their voices seem distant, nearly dreamlike, as I languish in the delicious fluid that is taking all my earlier pain away.
The man hisses in agitation, “His eyes are changing. He’s beginning to turn. We go now. No more lingering.”
The woman sighs and brushes my cheek before pulling her ivory wrist from my eager lips.
“You’ll have more in a while, warrior. Just hold on and be strong.”
I’m still alive?
I struggle to push up onto my elbows, feeling strange and foreign in my own skin. My heart is pounding so loudly in my ears but it sounds different, booming. In fact, everything around me is too much … too loud.
I clasp my head to stop the spinning motion that rivals the time I drank a half a cask of spiced rum from Barbados with two of my mates.
“Ambrose, he’s too disoriented. You’ll have to trace him. We don’t have a choice. We’re cutting it close. The sun is about to filter down through the trees. Let me help you get him over your shoulder.”
My world tilts on end as I’m slung over the shoulder of a man my size. I struggle to focus on him but see only what’s right next to me; blond hair pulled into a leather tie at his thick neck.
I’m struggling to stay conscious when I hear him say, “I hope that he proves to be worth the risk, Katerina.”
“I’ve watched him for years now, Ambrose. He is well worth it. I could never let such a magnificent individual perish.”
“So be it. Are we tracing to Seville?”
“Yes, there he’ll be safe and have a chance to recover. Keep a tight hold on him. Go now, and I’ll follow directly behind you.”
* * *
I open my eyes to see an intricately patterned crimson-red carpet that I’m … staring down at?
That familiar chiming voice calls out, “Let’s see if he can stand. Place him onto his feet but keep a hold of him.”
My feet touch the ground, and though my body is pulsing strangely, I forget everything else as I stare into the face of the most stunning women I’ve ever seen in my life.
She touches the back of my hand and asks, “Severin, can you hear me?”
I nod once, not even certain if I can find my voice, much less my balance. I pitch forward and grasp at one of the posts of a massive canopy bed.
“Ambrose, let’s get him seated in the chair close to the fire.”
My arm is slung over the
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