Page 32 of Eternally Yours

When the door clicked closed behind me, I turned and locked gazes with Nic. He looked unsure of this place, perhaps wondering how he was going to survive staying in such a tiny cabin compared to the comforts of his East Side apartment.

The real question was, how was I going to survive this—being cooped up in the mountains with an infuriating and dangerously sexy vampire I barely knew? The guy was impossible to read, and not-having his nifty bloodbond trick of reading or feeling thoughts, I was on my own trying to figure him out.

What was I to make of him? One minute he was allI’m your protector and nothing is going to happen to you, the next he’s snapping at me in the car, making me feel like he regretted saving my life—as if that was some big favor he did me. I mean, if saving my life translated into turning me into some type of monster, I wasn’t sure which was worse, being clawed to death by a lab experiment or becoming the lab experiment.

Then there was the incident in the woods. First, he made me feel like some unappreciative brat, then he pinned me against a tree and…

Christ. The thought of his muscled body pressed against mine as he towered above me made my lady parts clench. As I watched him amble through the doorway of the cabin, carrying a few more things he’d brought in from the car, I remembered the heat that had radiated off him when he’d been inches from me. The feel of his thumb on my lips as he smeared the blood I’d drawn with my claws had left a scorching scar of desire branded on my mouth.

I wondered if he realized how cruel his tease had been. How it had taken every ounce of female pride I possessed not to lick the rest of the blood off his fingers. How the mere thought of drinking from him again could turn me to putty in his hands.

He had to have known. Why else would he have tortured me with the taste of his blood and the deep rumble of his voice? A voice I could still feel vibrating through me. The words he’d said to me, they’d been maddening, but more so because when I challenged him to kiss me, deep inside there was nothing I wanted more. But he chose to toy with me. To treat me like I had been the one to seduce him. Bastard said he wanted me to beg for it.

He’d wounded me in a way he could never imagine. And I would never let him know.

“You mind helping me out with these bags, or you just gonna stare at me like I’m a juicy steak all night?” Nic asked from the doorway.

As I snapped out of my thoughts, his lips stretched into a crooked grin meant to melt the panties right off me. I hated his gorgeous smile and the jump my heart made when he looked at me like that. And I hated that he could sense my feelings. What an outright violation of my privacy.

I took one of the duffle bags and threw it beside the couch. The thing was heavy as hell and made a metal clanking sound when it landed. I glanced at him, confused. “What the heck did you pack, lead pipes?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” he said.

I unzipped the bag to find an array of different weapons. Shotguns, handguns, curved swords, daggers…

I scrambled backward, dread creeping up my throat.

What the heck did he need all that for?

“Not for you,” he said sharply, reading me.

“What for then?”

“We’re being hunted, remember?”

Well, I was, but the fact he’d lumped himself into it meant something, right? Maybe it was a nagging responsibility he felt, or maybe he just wanted to get into my pants. Who knew?

“Those wolves have your scent,” he continued as he zipped the bag back up and hoisted it over his shoulder. He’d taken off his leather jacket, and the thin black t-shirt he wore did little to hide the way his muscles flexed when he lifted all that weaponry. He climbed up the ladder to the loft. “I’ll be staying up here and will keep watch. You can sleep in the bedroom.”

I nodded, even though I had no intention of sleeping yet. First thing I was going to do was shower.

Without saying a word, I walked into the bathroom, stripped off my clothes, stepped inside, and set to work turning on the shower’s tap. Icy cold water pierced my skin. Normally, I’d be squealing from the sting, but after our recent rendezvous in the forest, I needed any help I could get to squelch the heat threatening to reduce me to ash.

Teeth chattering, I stepped out and wrapped the scratchy towel around me. Then my chest deflated. I’d forgotten to bring in the change of clothes Cat had given me. Drat. Parading through the living room to get to the bedroom to have Twilight make snarky comments about my nakedness was not an option. But it was either that or ask him to bring me my clothes. At least I could hide behind the door.

As I was about to call for him, a knock sounded. “I think you might need these,” he rasped.

I pried the door open a crack to reach my arm out and found him dangling a black, lacy thong on his finger.

Really? My cheeks flamed with embarrassment. Snatching it off him with a huff, I said, “And where are the rest of my clothes?”

He smirked. “In your room.”

I growled. “Nic. This isn’t funny. Give me the clothes.”

He said nothing as he pretended to sneak a glance into the bathroom.

“Stop it,” I said.

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