Page 66 of The Vampire's Bride

I’m walking along the garden path toward me and Valaric’s bench. A frisson of worry moves down my spine. Someone else is here with me.

I glance over my shoulder, and a hulking shadow with glowing red eyes stares back at me. It has the vague outline of a man, but it’s so much larger. There’s something strange about the way he moves as it starts toward me.

Fear trips my heart, and I break into a run.

A strong arm catches me around my waist, pulling me back against a broad chest. I open my mouth to scream but sharp fangs sink into my neck.

The pain fades immediately, replaced by a strange heat that spreads through my body.

I know I should be afraid, but I’m not.

He spins me around and then lowers me onto the bench. Before I can protest, he covers me with his powerful form. Desire pulses through me and I twine my arms around his neck as he drinks from me.

The pull between us feels so familiar and yet not. My pulse quickens as pleasure washes over me like a giant wave.

A loud roar echoes through the air, ripping me out of my dream. My eyes fly open, and I realize I’m in my room in my bed. I’m groggy, caught in the place between sleep and waking, wondering if I’m still dreaming.

Another roar echoes along the castle walls, distant and muted. I sense the same desperation—the clawing need to reach someone—that I felt the last time.

Only now, I know that it’s reaching forme.

I try to sit up, but my limbs feel heavy, my head foggy. Thismustbe a dream. It has to be.

But even as sleep drags me back down into its depths, one thought lingers in my mind.

The monster is trying to get to me.

When I wake, the sheets are tangled around my legs, twisted as though I’d been thrashing in my sleep. My neck aches faintly, and when I touch the skin there, I find no mark, but the memory of those fangs… of that shadowy presence… lingers.

A soft sigh escapes me.It was all just a dream.

CHAPTER 25

VALARIC

Iwake to the cold bite of iron against my wrists, the weight of chains pulling me down, even as I blink against the dim light filtering into my cell. My head throbs, a dull, relentless ache that makes me grit my teeth.

I drag a hand through my hair, tugging on the strands as if it could pull the night’s events back into clarity, but the memories blur together—flashes of intense desire and hunger, of her lips on mine, darkness, chasing her through the gardens, and—

The door creaks open, and I tense instinctively before I realize it’s Eben.

Relief crosses his face as he kneels beside me to remove my chains. “You feel all right?”

I sit up, rubbing at my wrists and then my head, trying to shake off the lingering fog. “Feels like I had a difficult night.”

“You could say that.” Eben chuckles under his breath, but I note the edge of worry in his tone.

I rest a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

His eyes flick to mine, and he nods, but there’s something else there, something unsettled. “Yeah, well... you had a rough night at first, but you settled down after I gave you some of Juliet’s blood. I mixed it with a bit of elyrian root, like we talked about, and it worked. As soon as it took effect, you went straight to sleep.”

I go still. “How did you manage to get her blood?” Concern tightens my chest as a flash of memory flits through my mind of drinking from her on the bench. “Please, tell me I didn’t—”

“You didn’t drink from her,” he reassures me. “I asked her to give me some in a goblet and then Cole and I poured it down your throat.” He shakes his head, huffing out a laugh. “Did I ever tell you how ridiculously strong you are in that form?”

Ignoring his question, I ask, “What did you tell her?”

“That you were just being cautious because you were really thirsty. It made sense.”

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