He nods, his nostrils flaring ever so slightly.
“Then you’ll tell me why you wanted this arrangement with me and about why you’ve been stalking me for what appears to be the last decade?” I ask with an arch of my brow. It’s the last piece I need to know, it’s what will tip the scales on whether I stay and see what this connection is or if I run out this door kicking and screaming.
I’m staring him down. His lips part to speak when everything goes to absolute hell.
Chapter 23
It all happens so fast. One moment I’m staring at Warin, ready for him to come clean and finally explain everything to me, and then the window shatters in front of us and Warin is manhandling me under the table.
Endorphins are rushing through me, and my heart is raging in my chest as Warin groans. It’s taking my mind a few moments to realize what’s going on.
“Samantha!” Warin’s voice roars.
His hand is on my back, and he’s arched on the floor. I can’t see his face.
Warin is hissing and panting when I finally see the stake protruding a few inches from where I was sitting. With trembling hands, I touch my face, deep-red blood drips on my fingertips and my hands tremble.
The pain finally radiates through me. There’s definitely a shard of glass from the window in my thigh and I whimper.
“Are you hurt?” Warin’s voice says, his hand on my hip, but he doesn’t look at me. His voice sounds garbled, like he’s wearing a mask.
“Some glass, and I think maybe the stake sliced my face,” I say. “What about you?”
He shakes his head, still looking toward the floor.
“Warin?” I question, grabbing his shoulder.
“Samantha will be here soon. You go with her, she’ll keep you safe.”
“Warin, what’s wrong?” I slide my hand further up his shoulder.
When he turns to face me, I gasp. He’s no longer the charming vampire I was having brunch with. His face is nearly unrecognizable. It’s almost like his face was pressed into a bonfire, and unlike the other time I saw him injured, he isn’t healing.
I swallow thickly, my first instinct to reach out for him. “Warin, what do I do?”
He pulls away from me, looking back down at the ground.
“Just go with Samantha. I can’t. I can’t be around you right now.”
“What? Warin, we have to get you somewhere safe. We need to get you healed. Is there a reason you aren’t healing?”
“Yeah, the dumb motherfucker hasn’t fed and has sustained two serious injuries,” Samantha’s voice says behind me.
She’s covered head to toe in black, not a single inch of skin in sight as the sun beams behind her.
“Leave me. I’ll figure it out. Take her to safety,” Warin says.
“Mmm, the sire bond is feeling a little weak. Just so you know, this wasn’t the Slayer,” Samantha says.
That information has him turning, and I can’t help but to wince when I see his burned face.
“Conner. That’s why the aim was so shit,” Samantha says, pointing a knife at me. “Now, are you done being difficult?”
“No,” Warin grumbles, nearly falling to the floor.
Samantha sighs.
“Here,” she says, handing me the umbrella. “I need you to guard him from the sun with this and take up his right side. I’llcarry most of his left. Achille is dealing with Conner. We just need to get him to the car.”
