Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(40)

“What?” I blinked rapidly three times in a row. “You’re leaving?”

“I need to attend to… some business.” He reached out again, a bit hesitantly, and touched my cheek with a featherlight brush of his fingertips. “Don’t worry—you are safe with Carina.”

I frowned. “Look, I appreciate the rescue tonight, but this is ridiculous. We both know you’re going to look into the witches who attacked me—I’m coming with. Our deal was that I’d keep my nose clean so long as I didn’t get dragged in again—and I dare say getting nearly eaten by five werewolves or skinwalkers, or whatever, classifies as ‘getting dragged in.’ You can’t just—"

“I can,” he interrupted me, his voice still soft, but with a core of steel. “And I am. Now, I must go. I will return tomorrow evening.”

And with that, he was out the door before I could so much as sputter a protest at the complete shut-down, leaving me alone with the the blonde vampire.

“Well, isn’t that just great?” I huffed at the now empty doorway. I slammed the door shut and turned to my unwanted house guest.

Carina was watching me with a small smile playing on her perfectly shaped lips. “You’ll have to excuse the lord. He’s in a bad mood.

“He’s in a bad mood? I’m the one who nearly got eaten.” I folded my arms across my midriff, shielding some of my very comfortable, very hideous bathrobe from the beautiful woman in front of me. She looked absolutely immaculate, not a hair out of place. I hadn’t felt self-conscious about my looks around Warin, but in Carina’s company, it was hard not to feel like a troll.

“Skinwalkers attacked his human—it’s a grave insult,” she said, the smile slipping off her face as she looked around my small apartment. “Would you mind if I checked the security of your home?”

I shrugged, still feeling pretty miffed that Warin had stranded me with this stranger. But I guessed she was better than being alone, if I was now a witch-slash-skinwalker target… so long as she kept her fangs to herself. “Sure, I guess. You’re the babysitter, after all.”

While Carina wandered around my apartment, I set about fixing myself a sandwich. Unwanted house guest aside, I hadn’t eaten all day and I was starving. Something about being dragged through the bushes and attacked by wolfmen really did give a girl an appetite.

Carina came out from my bedroom as I sat down by the breakfast bar with my tuna sandwich. “Your security is lacking,” she said as she sat down next to me. “Has the Lord not had any protective measures installed?”

“Uh, no. That would be wildly overstepping—and my lack of alarm system isn’t really Warin’s problem. Also, ‘the Lord’? Really? Please tell me he doesn’t make all his employees call him that.” I frowned when the uninvited thought of what it might mean if Carina actually was the only one to call him that sprung to the forefront of my mind.

Oh, goddess, don’t let this be some weird sex thing.

I wasn’t prepared for the hot stab of jealousy that thought produced.

“The lord rarely demands, but yes… all his subjects call him this.” Carina regarded me with some contemplation. “He hasn’t told you who he is, has he? What he is?”

I frowned. “Yeah, he’s… some kind of vampire cop, right?”

Carina blinked. “He is the Night Lord of Chicago. He rules the city and its surrounding territories.”

I stared at her for a second. Then a laugh bubbled out of my throat. “Get the fuck out of town, no he is not! Night Lord? What, so he’s the vampire king of Illinois?”

She nodded, her face as serious as ever.

My laugh died as I stared at her. “You’re fucking with me.”

“You and the Lord—you are lovers?” she asked.

I nearly choked on my tuna sandwich at the change of subject. “What? No! We’re just friends.”

“Hmm.” She watched me, the doubt clear as daylight on her pretty face. “Is that so?”

“Yeah.” My face flushed hotly up under her scrutiny. “He’s great and all, but it’s not like that. We just talk a lot.” An twinge of something unpleasant in my gut made me ask, “Why? You’re not… Are you his girlfriend, or something?”

Carina’s laugh pearled through the room, light and beautiful. “No. I am merely curious. He has been… different, these past few weeks. I suspect you are the cause.”

“Oh.” My face heated by several degrees, and I returned my focus to my sandwich so I didn’t have to look at the blonde’s knowing smile. “Well, we’re just friends.”

Carina chuckled, and I got the distinct impression her amusement was due to my uncomfortable squirming. “How very… unusual.” Her tone made it quite clear she thought I was a big, fat liar.

Just fabulous.

I wolfed down the rest of my sandwich as fast as I could without choking and decided to go straight to bed. I was tired and aching all over, and I so wasn’t in the mood for any more awkward conversation about my relationship with Warin.





13





I was still a little sore when my alarm woke me up just after dawn the next morning.

It wasn’t too bad, though. I took stock of my bruised body as I lay in bed, trying to find the will to push the covers aside and get up. My muscles ached, and I was pretty sure I had a couple of nasty bruises, but it could have been so much worse.