Page 55 of Burn for Her

“Agreed and yes, I am.”

Lena grew flustered and tried to walk away. Her feet wouldn’t budge. What the hell!

“You will move when I dismiss you, girl.”

“How are you doing this?” She tried jerking her feet, but they might as well have been bolted to the floor.

“Vampires as old and powerful as I am are capable of many terrible things, including compelling the soul to do my bidding. This is me… playing with you.”

Her hips rotated in a circle, big and slow. Oh my God. Ohmygod, OHMYGOD! “Was I hypnotized or something? Is that how—"

Another roar ripped through the air. Lena gulped. Dorian.

The king chuckled.

Okay, these guys really took this vamp thing to a whole new level. As he took another sip from his glass, Lena really didn’t like the fact that it looked exactly like blood. Between that, her inability to move, and the noises coming from outside, her fight or flight response kicked into high gear.

“You must stay.” Malachi ordered. “My house is your home for however long it is necessary.”

“And if I want to go to my home?”

“That’s not possible right now. Our enemies would eat you alive and leave your corpse as a gift for Dorian if you do.”

“Who’s your enemy?”

“Creatures who are just as cursed as we are.”

“And… what lifts the curse?”

“Our alakhai,” Malachi said, keeping his gaze locked on hers in the mirror. “A mate makes life more tolerable than torturous.”

“What about this ticking time clock thing? How’s that work?”

“It ends when either the vampire burns to ash, or their mate binds to them and is turned.”

She hated herself for the way her body immediately reacted to that statement. “Why are you telling me all this and not Dorian?”

“He’d likely think you’d pity him, and he’d rather die than have one more person feel sorry for him. He’s… complicated.”

“How so?”

Malachi smiled, and it was big, broad, and predatory. “I like that you want to know more about him.”

Lena bit her lip.

“Dorian’s past haunts him. It shaped him into who he is today. Our kind looks down on him for it.”

“Same could be said for anyone. We’re all shaped by our past.”

“Dorian was carved from it, Lena. I won’t say more. That’s up to him to share if he dares to have the balls to open up to you.”

She arched her brow. “And if he doesn’t?”

“Then he dies, and it will no longer matter.”

She didn’t want him to die. This seemed entirely too theatrical, not to mention, overkill. “What’s the cusp of transition?” Dorian used that phrase with her earlier, and she latched on to it because it struck a chord.

“As an alakhai, you’re matched perfectly for one of us. It means things you didn’t crave before you’ll now desire with a longing so fierce it could make you shatter with want. There are…” his gaze narrowed, “personality changes sometimes. A docile person could become increasingly aggressive. Someone patient may turn into a hair-trigger. A vegetarian could suddenly crave raw steak.”

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