Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(80)

He stepped toward her, his barely leashed anger making the torches that were set in shallow alcoves flare in reaction.

“What reason?”

She stood firm, even as her hair stirred from his swirling powers.

“You are here as my guest, Santiago,” she warned, the words coated in frost. “Do not make me regret having allowed you to travel with me.”

“Why are you avoiding my question?”

“I do not discuss our clan business with outsiders.”

“Outsider?” he hissed.

“Yes.”

Why did he find that word so insulting?

He sure the hell didn’t want to be included in a clan of vampires who cared more for their precious desire to find a higher purpose than their own brothers.

“Have you forgotten that one of your clan might be a traitor ?” he snarled. “That makes it very much my business.”

Her lips tightened, but her composure remained intact as she moved to brush past him.

“I think it is best if you wait here for me.”

His hand shot out to grasp her upper arm, the sickening foreboding making him blind to the danger.

“Nefri.”

“Not now, Santiago.”

“What are you hiding from me?”

“I have told you.” She grudgingly turned to meet his hard gaze. “It is clan business.”

“It’s Gaius, isn’t it?” he charged, knowing that if he hadn’t been watching her so closely he would have missed the slight flicker of her lashes. “He’s the missing Elder.”

Naturally she refused to admit the truth.

Most vampires were talented in the art of deception and this was one seemed more skilled than most.

“Your bitterness toward your sire has made you incapable of thinking clearly.”

Santiago refused to be bluffed. “I’m thinking clearly enough to know that I’m right. Can you deny it?”

She averted her face, her profile revealing precisely nothing.

“Remain here.”

“So you can try and hide the truth?”

“Nothing will be hidden,” she attempted to assure him.

Did she really think he would just take her word for it?

He might not be an ancient, but he hadn’t been turned yesterday.

“If you don’t have anything to hide then there’s no reason I can’t come with you.”

“By all the gods.” The ice momentarily melted as she turned to stab him with a blazing gaze. “You truly are the most stubborn vampire.”

Chapter 19

Ariyal pulled his damp hair into a long braid as he stepped out of the upstairs bathroom of the farmhouse. Despite the lack of hot water, the shower had at least washed away the dirt from the caves. Not to mention his more recent activities in the cellar.

Wicked, decadent, extraordinary activities.

A smile curved his lips at the delicious memories of the day spent in the arms of his mate.

The past few hours had been a revelation.

After centuries of being trapped in a harem he would have sworn there was nothing that could shock him when it came to sex.

There wasn’t anything he hadn’t done.

A thousand times.

But being with Jaelyn wasn’t just sex.

It was a connection so intimate that there had been moments when it felt as if they had truly discovered paradise.

Unfortunately, the day had eventually disappeared. Along with their excuse to linger in the cellar.

The wizard still held the child, and now Ariyal had to worry about the leeches that his mate had warned would be gathering for a full-out assault at midnight.

He understood, even applauded, her desire to rescue the child, but he intended to make sure that his people were protected from the approaching vampires.

Entering the bedroom, Ariyal pulled on his jeans and boots before tucking a dagger into a holster attached to his ankle. He was reaching for his sword when he sensed Jaelyn approaching the door.

She’d been oddly adamant when she’d announced she intended to search the house in hopes of finding a shirt for him to wear, muttering something about covering his bare chest. As if she wasn’t strutting around half naked.

Watching as she stepped over the threshold, Ariyal was briefly distracted by her sheer beauty.

From the top of her glossy raven hair that had been pulled in a tight ponytail, to the tips of her bare toes, she was lethal elegance that made his heart race and his knees weak.

And, of course, there were the predictable manly parts that hardened in ready approval.

Lost in his silent appreciation, it took a moment to realize that she was holding up a gaudy yellow Hawaiian shirt with huge pink orchids splashed across the silk fabric.

His smile faded as folded his arms over his chest and scowled at the amusement that shimmered in her indigo eyes.

“Are you kidding me?”

“Hey, it was that or this.” She pulled her other hand from behind her back to reveal a frilly apron with the phrase KISS THE COOK splashed across the bib. “Take your pick.”

He snorted. “You did this on purpose.”

“Do you think I actually want my mate to look like an overgrown orchid?”

His irritation melted like dew beneath the summer sun. “Mate,” he murmured, moving to wrap her slender body in his arms. “I like the sound of that.”