He stared at it for a long moment, then curled his hand around hers. His skin was fever-hot and his grip engulfed her fingers completely. She felt the rough scrape of his callused palm against her skin and the barely restrained strength in his hold, but she also felt something else—a tingle that ran up her arm like static electricity, making her breath catch.
His eyes flared brighter.
Then he released her, stepping back so abruptly she stumbled.
“We leave now.” His voice was rough again, the growl creeping back into it. “The journey is long and I will not slow my pace for you.”
He turned and started walking without waiting for a response, his long stride carrying him towards the far edge of the grove.She scrambled to follow, her mind spinning with what she’d just agreed to.
A nameless debt to a Vultor. An unknown favor to be claimed whenever he wished. She’d essentially signed away a piece of her future to a creature from her childhood nightmares.
For Dani,she reminded herself as she hurried after his retreating form.I’ll do anything for Dani.
Even this.
The Vultor led her out of the grove and onto a narrow trail that wound upwards through the trees. The terrain grew rougher as they climbed, the ground scattered with loose stones and twisted roots. She had to watch her footing carefully, while he moved ahead with the easy grace of someone completely at home in this environment.
“I’m Jessa,” she called after him, slightly breathless from the pace. “Jessa Allenby. Do you have a name?”
He didn’t turn around, but he suddenly stopped walking. His back was a wall of muscle and barely contained tension, his shoulders rigid.
“Names have power. You may call me Tarek,” he said finally, then set off again at the same rapid pace.
The path grew steeper, and she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, trying to focus on the prospect of finding the vines and not on the price she might eventually have to pay for them.
CHAPTER 4
The human was going to kill herself trying to keep up with him.
Tarek heard her stumble again, the third time in as many minutes, and something in his chest tightened. His beast stirred, restless and agitated, urging him to turn around. To help. Toprotect.
He ignored it. He wasn’t about to let down his carefully erected barriers just because some foolish human woman had wandered into his territory with her desperate eyes and her reckless bargains.
Why did I agree to help her?
The question had been circling in his mind since they left the grove, and he still didn’t have a satisfactory answer. He could tell himself it was because a nameless favor he could call upon whenever he wished was valuable, but that wasn’t the truth, and he’d never been good at lying to himself.
The truth was simpler and more troubling. Something about the desperation in her voice and the fierce determination in her eyesreminded him of himself. Reminded him of the choices he’d had to make, choices had led him here.
And beneath all of that, something else. Something his beast had recognized the moment he’d caught her scent on the wind.
Mine,his beast whispered, and he’d nearly choked on the word.
Ridiculous. Humans weren’t compatible with Vultor. They were fragile creatures with their blunt teeth and their soft skin, and this one in particular seemed determined to prove it by tripping over every root in the forest.
Even as he thought it, she stumbled again, and this time he heard the sharp intake of breath that meant she’d hurt herself. His beast snarled, and he slowed down before he could stop himself.
Fool,he thought, although he wasn’t sure if the insult was directed at her or himself.
“Thank you,” she gasped, catching up to him. “I was starting to think you were trying to lose me.”
“If I wanted to lose you, you would already be lost.”
She laughed, actually laughed as if he’d made a joke, and he gave her a startled glance. When was the last time anyone had laughed in his presence?
Her cheeks were flushed from exertion, and loose strands of dark hair had escaped her braid to frame her face. It was an unexpectedly appealing look, as if she’d been thoroughly?—
He cut that thought off. “The path gets rougher from here.”
