Page 9 of Snowed in with the Vampire Prince

I used my vamp speed to block his path again, putting myself between him and the door. I moved so fast that it must have seemed like a blur to him.

“No.”

To his credit, he hardly jumped.

“I get it. You’re freakishly fast.” He glared at me yet again. “Now, get out of my way.”

He was brave. I had to give him that. In fact, he took all this in stride in a way I’d never seen before. Humans weren't usually so sensible. Or so stupid.

“Absolutely not, you foolish human.”

“If I stay here, they’re going to come back and blow your nice house down with both of us still in it. If I’m out there, that doesn’t happen. So, yeah, I’m leaving.”

“This isn’t a fairy tale. This ends with you becoming one of them. It’s a painful process. And it’s a brutal life.”

He grimaced at that. “I have a high pain tolerance. And the life I had before wasn’t so hot either,” he shot back, crossing his arms over his chest. “Stop being an ass and let me go.”

“No,” I said again.

“You’re impossible,” he told me, glaring at me with a stubborn set to his jaw. “There are six of them, vampire. Against one of you.”

“Are you…” I trailed off, cocking my head to the side and frowning at him, trying to figure out what was going on inside of his mind. My jaw dropped when it clicked. “Wait, are you trying to protect me?”

The question was ludicrous, of course. The human should have been terrified of me. Not plotting out ways to protect me from a handful of werewolves.

“Obviously. But you’re making it hard to do that, so I’d like you to move now.”

“I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

“Says who?” he demanded. “That’s nuts. I’m a total stranger to you. You healed me and put yourself at risk in the process. It would be really messed up if I let you get mauled by a pack of wolves on my account.” His jaw hardened like he was steeling himself to be brave. He went on, “Now that I know they’re not planning on killing me, this seems like a pretty simple solution to a messy problem. Either I get away, or they turn me into a wolf. Whichever way it shakes out, if I leave now, you won’t get ripped apart just because you tried to help me.”

“Their Alpha probably wants you for some reason. Maybe as a mate.”

“Great,” he said sarcastically, without missing a beat. “It’s been ages since I’ve had a good lay. You’re clearly not up for it—maybe he is. So, get out of my way.”

“They won’t attack me,” I told him, not at all sure that was true. “I’m the only son of the vampire king of Seattle. They wouldn’t dare.”

The young man paused long enough to give me a sideways sort of look at that. The corners of his lips twitched like he was fighting back a smile. “Yeah, I guess I figured you were an only child.”

I stared back at him, appalled. He was completely without any kind of sensibility—even the most basic self-preservation instinct—to be insulting a vampire like this.

I’d give him this, though. He wasn’t like any other human I had ever met. Not at all. I couldn’t help the fascination I felt—nor the annoyance that came fast on its heels. But nothing was going to make me let him go back out into the snowstorm, where anything could have killed him. We were stuck together, and I should have been infuriated by this. However, I couldn’t help feeling like…

Well, I couldn’t help but feel like I abruptly wanted to know him now. I wanted to understand what was going through his mind. I wanted to know why he was willing to protect a stranger, a vampire, even at the cost of his own humanity.

Chapter 6

James

“You’re not keeping me as a prisoner,” I said, feeling outright scandalized as I stared the vampire down. “No fucking way.”

The vampire crossed his arms and stared back at me, clearly intent on doing exactly that. He had one eyebrow arched like he was silently asking me what in the hell I planned to do about it.

I glared back at him, but I was willing to bet good money that I couldn’t overpower him. If he didn’t want me to leave, I wasn’t leaving.

The arrogant way that he looked at me was sexy as hell. And even though I tried to ignore that fact, my body seemed to have plenty of other less-than-helpful ideas. I wondered if he had any idea of the kind of effect that he was having on me.

I doubted it, but then, I’m a sucker for guys like him.

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