Page 25 of Deceived By a Warrior

“You’re not useless,” Darius told her as he examined the wound.

“Yeah? What have I done since you met me? Since you saved my lifethreetimes?”

He ripped her shirt above her shoulder to get a better look at the wound. She didn’t stop him. “Well, you kicked that vampire pretty good.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, like that was any help.”

“Your commentary has been helping me get through the day. You almost made me smile on numerous occasions.”

“Ha! I don’t believe your muscles even remember how to smile,” she joked. Little did she know, she was probably right. Darius couldn’t remember the last time he smiled. He never had a reason to.

His eyes widened when he realized how deep her wound was. She’d heal perfectly fine considering she was an immortal. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the poison from seeping into her body. It would hit her at any moment. “You’ve been poisoned. It’s coursing through you now.” When he looked up at Eva’s face, he was surprised by how little fear she showed.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” It appeared that she was only annoyed about her situation. He could sense no hint of apprehension in her. Darius, flabbergasted by how she was handling this situation with so much ease, looked at her in shock. “What?” She asked, dragging a finger under her wound, wiping off the bit of blood that dripped from it. “It’s not like it’s going to hurt, is it?”

It took a lot of willpower for Darius to ignore that blood. He’d never scented anything so appetizing…

“Well, is it?” She snapped him out of his trance.

“No, but you’re going to be paralyzed.”

“For how long?” She asked as she leaned her body against the tree behind her, sliding down until she was sitting on the ground.

“A few hours, I’d assume.” He was absolutely astonished by her attitude. Any other immortal would be panicking right now.

Why wasn’t she panicking?

She may not have any useful powers, but she was far from your regular unnatural being. This spirited woman was incredible.

“Stop looking at me like I’m going to die.” She placed her elbows on her knees and dug her face into the palms of her hands. “Just promise you’ll make sure nothing happens to me for the next few hours.”

He wouldn’t let anyone or anything touch her. “I swear it.”

When her elbows slid off her knees and limply fell at her sides, he knew the poison was taking effect. “I’m trusting you…” she said, but her words began to slur.

He knelt in front of her, brushing a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “You’ll be safe with me tonight.” Tomorrow was a different story.

She slowly nodded before resting her head against the tree bark.

Darius gave a long look at her flushed face - her rosy cheeks perfectly contrasting her porcelain-like skin. She was incredibly brave. She was imperfectly perfect.She is mine,the thought briefly crossed his mind, which only had him shaking his head.

She can never be mine.

It was then, while kneeling in front of her and looking into her trusting eyes, that he realized he would never be able to rid himself of her after handing her off to Artem. The memory of her and what he was about to do to her would always plague his thoughts.

She would be his burden to carry.

Forever.

Chapter Fourteen

Eva Maas

Being useless as an unnatural being was an understatement. Eva couldn’t seem to doanything.If it wasn’t for Darius, she would’ve already died three times. Today.

She always knew she wasn’t an incredibly talented unnatural being, but she never expected to bethishelpless in trying times.

A few moments ago, when that poisoned arrow pierced her skin, she almost welcomed the pain. If she was paralyzed from poison, she at least had some sort of excuse for being so powerless.

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