Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(38)

“Well, Darvaak proved useful after all,” he said. “I do have more clothes than the ones I burned.”

She took another bite and watched him lift a pair of jeans from the suitcase and pull them on. His movements were less stiff, and most of his wounds had closed completely. Soon. He’d said, as soon as he healed… Thrill shot through her, and she scooted up higher in the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.

He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. “Again?”

“I’m fine. I’m just thirsty.” And horny as hell after watching his reverse strip show, but she needed to get some control.

His grin revealed that he knew she was lying. “After you’ve slept, I’m going to take care of every need you have.”

She scanned him from head to toe in the dim light piercing the snow, from the top of his head to his bare feet and every hard, muscled part of him in between, and her mouth watered. “And you’ll let me touch you?”

“I’ll let you do anything your imagination can conjure.”

Amen.

“First, I’ll take care of your thirst.” He grabbed one of the metal tankards from the shelf near the stove and slid the window open. He scooped some of the snow that buried the house into the mug, then closed the window. “Even though I put the fire out, the stove should still be hot enough to melt it.” He placed the tankard on top of the stove.

The markings on his body were mesmerizing. Her own didn’t itch at all anymore. It must’ve only been an effect of them rising to the surface. “What is the prophecy you and Stefan talked about?”

He pulled a gray T-shirt from the suitcase and unbuttoned the shoulder. “It’s just an insignificant legend. Nothing more.” He stepped into the shirt and pulled it up.

“You’re lying to me again.”

Both pain and anger flared momentarily in his golden eyes as he buttoned the shirt over his shoulder, and then he picked up the tankard and swirled it. “Almost melted.” He set it back down. “Where the hell is Aleksi?”

And here she had been all cozy and practically drooling over the prospect of getting to touch him at last, and he had to bring up his lover. Perfect.

She settled back down in the bed and rolled with her back to him. When would she learn? They’d whiled the hours away talking, and she’d discovered so much about him…about herself, and here she was thinking he actually liked her. He was simply killing time until Aleksandra arrived. Perfect. Freaking cord. She needed to escape him as soon as possible before her heart followed her body and melted every time he looked at her. Hell, it might already be too late.

Eventually, pretending to be asleep transitioned into the real thing—her only way to escape him until the problem of the cord could be solved.



Voices pulled Elena from the greatest dream ever, in which Nikolai had healed fully and was making good on his promise. Making good in ways she didn’t even know were physically possible.

“What took you so long, Aleksi?” Nikolai’s voice asked. “I’ve been stuck here for over twenty-four hours.”

Stuck here? Elena didn’t move, pretending to still be asleep. Well, good-bye dream euphoria and hello, hell.

“The dagger had a bit of elf ore in it and took forever to heal. Fydor never left my side,” Aleksandra’s voice answered.

“Well, isn’t that romantic?”

“Fuck you, Niki.”

“Not me. Him. Isn’t that what you’re doing?” God. He sounded so mad.

Elena cracked her eyes open, but the room was pitch black. It was nighttime again. And cold.

Aleksandra sighed. “I’m doing what women have done from the beginning of time. I’m protecting someone I love. He’s on to you, and he wants you dead.”

His voice trembled with rage. “And giving him your body will change that?”

Footfalls came from the foot of the bed as if she were pacing. “It’s irrelevant. You can shout at me about it later. I can’t be gone long. We need to talk about your human.”

His human? Like a possession? Elena’s body rebelled against her command to remain perfectly still.

“Let’s get this straight now. I’m not killing her. No one is killing her.” The tone in his voice was deadly. Elena suppressed a shudder.

“Well, of course not. Fydor believes she’s the one, and he wants her destroyed while she’s still human. On the off chance he’s right, you need to get her to a safe house as soon as possible.”

“How would you suggest I accomplish that? I’m not welcomed by any of the vampires, and I doubt the Time Folder will take me in again.”

Exasperation tinged Aleksandra’s tone. “I’m talking about her, not you. The vampires would protect her for sure. Deliver her to them and be done with her.”

“You’re forgetting an important factor, Aleksi: we’re bound by an elven cord. We’re a package deal.”

“I have the solution. It’s another reason it took me so long to come to you. I went to the elves and found out how the cord works.”

“They told you? They wouldn’t tell me anything other than only the one who made it could cut it.”

“Of course they didn’t tell you. They think you’re an *, and they hate you.”