Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(7)

Instead of obeying him, she squeezed her legs tighter to her chest. Damn. He was going to have to do this by force. He yanked the sheet off her and grabbed her arm. “Listen to me. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Get out of bed, or I will drag you out. Do you have any powers?”

“I don’t understand.”

Shit. “Can you teleport or read minds or do anything unusual?”

She reached down and pulled the covers back over herself defensively; her blue eyes flashed anger as they met his. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have any powers. I’m just a regular person who had a regular life until you came along and screwed everything up.”

Her surprising defiance caused a wave of adrenaline to roll through him. “Kiss your regular life good-bye, princess.” He ripped the cover back down and grabbed her ankle. “Get out of that bed, or I’ll make you wish you had.”

She glared at him, eyes narrowed. For some reason, she didn’t seem as frightened of him as he thought she should be. Most of his victims practically soiled themselves in terror from his mere presence.

His hand was enormous on her pale, narrow ankle. The skin on her leg was smooth and soft. He was suppressing the urge to run his hand up her calf. In fact, he was suppressing the urge to do a lot of things. He cursed as he noticed her slender form was completely visible through the sheer cotton hospital gown. He raised his gaze to her face, focusing on her soft, full lips. Big mistake.

Nikolai had expected to have to fight the urge to torture the progeny of his father’s murderer, but he had never anticipated fighting the urge to f*ck her.

Maybe he should just kill her here and now. She wasn’t really human. She could see through the Veil, right?

Before he could withdraw the sword, Elena got out of bed. She slid out on the side opposite him, clutching the back of the gown. “Okay,” she whispered. “You said we needed to get out of here. I’ll go. But I don’t have any clothes. They must have cut them off me. I’ll have to wear this hospital gown.”

He ran his eyes up and down her body, amazed at how she affected him. She was not his type at all. He liked stronger women who could play rough. This creature was too breakable for his tastes, but his body didn’t seem to concur with that assessment. “You don’t need clothes. You’ll be invisible to humans,” he said.

“Where are we going?”

“To your home.”

“Why?”

“We’ll wait in private for you to embrace the Underveil, so I can kill you.”





Chapter Three


Elena almost lost her nerve when Nikolai stormed across the ER exam room. His sheer size was terrifying enough but he grabbed her with such force she was certain the bones in her wrist would break.

Pull it together, she warned herself, don’t let him see your fear. There had to be a way out of this situation. She just needed time to figure it out, and going with him would give her more time than hanging out here, as evidenced by his tendency to yank out his sword and threaten her. Digging down deep, she found the remaining vestiges of her courage and her voice, which, to her relief, didn’t squeak.

“There’s no need to bully me. I said I’d go with you.” She jerked her arm in an ineffectual attempt to loosen his grip. “You’re hurting me.”

He leaned down, putting his face on her level. “You don’t know what pain is.”

“And I don’t want to. I’ll cooperate. Please…just lighten up a little.”

To her relief, he relaxed his hold. With his free hand, he reached into his front pocket and pulled out a long silver cord. “Move and die,” he warned, releasing her wrist.

She knew without a doubt he meant it. She stood still as stone while he looped an end of the cord around her wrist and then, wearing a deep scowl, fastened the other end around his own, muttering some incantation in a bizarre language.

The thin cord shimmered as if liquid mercury undulated within. A slight current emanated from it. Energy traveled from his body to hers. Mesmerized, she marveled at the waves of color traversing from her wrist along the length of reflective surface. “What is that?” she whispered.

The deep, masculine timbre of Nikolai’s voice pulled Elena out of her stupor. “A soul bond forged by light elves, parasite. It’s a tendril of your soul you see moving through it. If it breaks, you die.”

She stared into his mirthless, golden eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

“Beats the hell out of handcuffs. Now, let’s get moving before the Underveil is exposed. We need to get to your home so I don’t have to kill you here. It would be messy. Too many humans, and since you are unconverted, your body would be visible to them.”

From the look on his face, she could tell he was absolutely serious. She was going to die. Why did it bother her so much, when she had accepted death at the convenience store?

Nikolai began chanting in an odd language. Her body felt strange, like she was lighter or buoyant, somehow. He stopped chanting and looked into her eyes. “Think of your home.” He put his large, warm hands on either side of her neck. “Close your eyes and picture it. Picture both of us there.”

She considered screaming. Maybe the detectives would hear her and help. The thought was fleeting. By the time they could react, she’d be dead. They were no match for this guy anyway. If he could pull part of her soul out of her body and hold it hostage in a silver chain, what else could he do? Her death was inevitable. Might as well do it where nobody else got hurt.