“She wants to live,” I marveled, surprised by the vehemence inside her.
Most females would have fractured as a result of what had happened to her, but this one desired a second chance. She wanted to paint the world in blood. And I found that I wanted to give her that opportunity. More, I wanted to help her achieve it.
Hmm, I hummed to myself. All right, little warrior.
I nodded to Adrik. “I’ll do my best.”
“I know. That’s why I called you,” my best friend replied. “Keep her safe.”
Safe, I repeated in my mind, gazing down at her. Why did that term feel oddly appropriate?
It wasn’t unt
il later, after I’d given her several pints of my blood, that I figured out why that word had resonated so deeply within me.
It’d been issued as an edict, one I interpreted as a personal vow.
Because as I watched the female regain her coloring, her body healing beautifully in my bed, I realized… I’d just made her mine.
And some part of me wasn’t the least bit disturbed by that.
Which scared the fucking shit out of me.
Because I didn’t want to own a female or be responsible for one. I liked my life the way it was. Besides, I had other obligations to tend to. And this woman wasn’t one of them.
Yet I felt the pull even now…
My blood sang through her veins, just as her essence breathed life into mine.
We’d completed a transition of sorts, one that would allow her to thrive. Yet it tied our souls together in a way it shouldn’t, thereby linking our fates.
I might not have wanted to claim her, but on some level, I had.
And now I’d spend an eternity fighting it.
Eighteen Months Later
That skirt was a fucking sin. If it inched up any higher on Zaya’s thighs, I’d have to kill every male she passed on the street. As it was, they were all thinking about fucking her.
And she didn’t have a damn clue.
She’d forgotten pretty much everything I’d spent the last year and a half training her to do. Case in point—she hadn’t even sensed my presence behind her yet.
I knew the woman was up to something when she snuck into my mother’s quarters and took one of her portal charms. I just never expected her to teleport here, to the human realm, of all places. Nor had I anticipated her cutting off all her hair and dying it blue. It looked good—pretty much everything on Zaya did—but it also made her incredibly noticeable in this little town in the southern United States.
Seriously, of all the locations for her to venture off to, she had to pick Alabama.
As if the Underworld wasn’t hot enough, this place burned like hell in the summer.
I shook my head. What are you up to, little warrior? I wondered, tracing her steps.
She paused as if she could hear me, but I knew she couldn’t. The link between us was locked down tight, except when she slept. That was the only time I allowed either of us to play. But she was very awake now, which meant she was firmly off-limits.
If I even thought about touching her, Valora would have my balls. And pissing off the Queen of Nova did not appeal to me in the slightest.
Although, sometimes I thought the risk might be worth the reward. Especially when Zaya bent over to fix the strap on her shoe.
I nearly swallowed my tongue at the sight of all that creamy flesh, the bottom of her ass peeking at me from beneath that sinful skirt.