Page 75 of Smoke and Blood

It took all his strength to drag himself away and stand beside the bed, but he did.

She wasn’t close to being fully healed, but her swollen skin appeared less red and angry.Thedeatach glan heylwould do the rest over the next few hours.

Taking in a breath that filled his lungs and stretched them to capacity, Liekki released the thick, dense gray smoke and saturated the room.Because his bedroom was bigger than the healing chamber, it took him four deep breaths to fog up the room properly.

Now that she was on the path to mending, he needed to put space between them.Right now, no answers were coming his way about who she was and why she was in the territory.

Was she a plant by the human government?Liekki didn’t know, but he didn’t need to see the design on her inner thigh to prove she’d been marked.The heady spice in her scent was a dragon.

Kai was an anomaly, but even her sister had been marked, not for their kind but for lupine.

With a clear vision, he snatched the ragged material from the floor and the lonely slipper then marched from the room, closing the door firmly behind him.The only thing he could do right now was radio the security leader.

His mind was at war with itself and his dragon.But until Liekki got answers to his questions, he’d have to resist his beast's urgings.

Chapter Twelve

Knock.Knock.

Amaros exhaled.He’d been enjoying the room's quiet and soaking in his angel’s presence and hadn’t been ready for any disturbance.It had been why he hadn’t announced his return but kept his thoughts to himself.However, vampires had an innate sense of their personal space and particularly their connection to each other.

Even if he had lived in this cathedral for centuries all on his own and one day another of his kind had crossed the boundaries of his territory, he’d know it, feel it in his bones.Vampires were similar to Lupine in that they liked to mark their territory; however, vampires were more elegant in their manner—just a simple touch and claiming spell worked on things and people.

All in his coven had claimed St.Joseph and the great lands surrounding it.So, he was only passably shocked that one of the leaders hadn’t been so caught up in their fucking or feeding and not felt his return.

Resigned, he rose from his seat on the side of the bed where he’d sat for over an hour, staring at his beauty.Michaela.She was stunning even in her stillness, and he knew he’d never tire of gazing at her.This was a good thing since once they were claimed mates, they would be together for centuries, and if he were lucky, they would spend the remainder of eternity beside each other as ancients.

He strolled across the polished floor of his massive chamber toward his door.He could have sent a wave of his power toward the entrance and forced the person on the other side away, but the person there would serve his purpose and keep him from mentally calling someone to take care of what he’d need.

Amaros drew the heavy door open just enough to meet the bright-blue eyes of the round-faced, redheaded prime on the other side.His tall frame filled the space and blocked any view of anything behind him.Michaela was his; for now, he wanted to keep her all to himself.

The male part of him took some appreciation of what stood before him.Maeve, as intoxicating as her name, had been dressed in a way that he would find titillating and seductive.She wore a white corset cinched tight enough that her waist was smaller than the span of his hand, and if she were to draw in a large breath, she’d risk snapping her lower ribs.The firm snow-white fabric did more than narrow her waist; its real job was at the bodice, where it pushed her breasts into mounds so high and round that when he bit her, her crimson blood would run down and pool into the bowl of her cleavage.

Marceline, his second who knew him so well, had lifted each globe out just enough to artfully display the redhead’s cherry nipples at the edge, a teasing, delectable treat that he usually would not hesitate to pinch, bite, and suckle as he drank from her there.Or perhaps he would sup from the thick pulsing vein at the crease of her slim thighs right by the wisp of thin, white lace that covered her sex.

Amaros didn’t need to ask the prime woman to turn around for him to know that her ass would be bare and on display, ready for his hand to paint with his prints and fuck.

---