Page 14 of Deceived By a Warrior

“You are,” he was quick to cut her off, no hint of humor hidden within his tone. He was all seriousness. And the intensity in his eyes? It sent chills down her spine. The possessive way he looked at her began to make her believe he might actually be telling her the truth.

He’s not. I’m not his lifeblood,she thought.Maybe if she thought it enough she could will it to be untrue.

“You’re clearly unhappy about this. I’m also unhappy about this. Why don’t we pretend we never met and go our separate ways?Two miserable beings cross paths, only to never see each other again.I think it’ll make for a great story one day.”

Though the chilling intensity in his eyes remained unwavering, he managed to frown. “You’re unhappy about it?” She believed she sensed a touch of disappointment in his voice.

“Does that even matter? You clearly don’t want to be with me either, as you so kindly told me about… hmm, only a minute ago?”

“I don’t want a lifeblood because Ican’thave one. I have far too many matters to take care of than to worry about taking care of another person.”

Well that infuriated Eva. “Who says I need to betaken care of?”She took a step in his direction, fueled by anger.Him - take care of me?“I can take care ofmyselfjust fine, thank you very much. I’ve done fine enough on my own for the last century.” Granted, her life had been lonely considering she lived her lifeavoidingunnatural beings. To encounter one as a hated sorceress meant death.

Yes, her life was incredibly lonely. But she was still breathing.

“You’re saying I’m to assume you were taking care of yourself just fine when I found you?” He cocked a brow, his expression smug.

Eva bit the inside of her lip in frustration. “Your timing was impeccable, but I’ve already lived much of my life on my own bytaking care of myself.”She let out an exasperated breath. “Thanks for saving my life back there, but I can assure you I won’t be needing that help again. I can take it from here.”

His disinterested expression was unreadable, a stark comparison to how Eva must have looked. She was rattled, and he didn’t seem to care one bit about this conversation.

Infuriating.

Why was he even here?

“How about you go find some woman youareattracted to and bother them. You don’t want me to be your lifeblood? Then pretend I’m not.”

Amusement lit up his features. At least he finally showedsomesort of emotion. “Who said I’m not attracted to you?”

“Um, you did?” As the words left Eva’s mouth, she realized she wasn’t so sure how accurate they were. Maybe he never said he wasn’t attracted to her word-for-word, but hedidadmit to being unhappy about fate’s decision to make her his lifeblood. “You said you didn’t want me as your lifeblood, remember? Considering you knownothingabout me, I can only assume I’m less than average in your eyes. No sweat off my back. I just would prefer not to spend my life with someone who isn’t attracted to me.” In fact, she preferred toneverbecome entrapped by a vampire. Ever.

She was no one’s.

His pretentious expression was nauseating. “I can assure you there’snothingwrong with the way you look.” As if to prove his point, he allowed his eyes to freely roam her body, a smug smile on his face. Suddenly, Eva felt vulnerable, as if she was standing stark naked on the boardwalk. It was an unfamiliar feeling. “I’m simply too busy keeping myself alive to focus on anything, oranyone, else.”

Despite wanting to get as far away from this vampire as physically possible, she was relieved to hear that.My ego is no longer bruised, thank you very much.Still, he needed to go. “And let me guess, you’re going to tell me you showed up in my life exactly when the entire unnatural world is suddenly out to get me? Quite a coincidence.”

“There’s no coincidence. It’s simple - you’re in danger.”

She laughed. Didn’t she just explain to him that she needed no one? “And your plan is to keep me alive? No thanks, I’ll pass.”

“I’m not giving you a choice.”

Vampires never gave their lifebloods a choice. He was no different from the stories she heard. For the first time since she met this man, she felt apprehension. There was a chance she may never be able to escape this man.

I am no one’s,she reminded herself. But as he so boldly stated, she wasn’t going to be given a choice.

Desperate for an out she reminded him, “You said you wanted nothing to do with me. This pairing will make us miserable.”

He shrugged, obviously not fazed by what she said. “Then I suppose we’ll just have to be miserable together.”

Was he attractive? Absolutely.

Still, her attraction to him didn’t matter. It meant nothing if she lost her freedom, which was exceedingly important to her.

“Fuck that.”

Chapter Eight

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