I nibbled on my lower lip, out of breath, and slid my attention down to the thick leather band on his wrist—a bracelet I had never seen him without. Where a soul mate mark could be hidden. I mumbled quietly, “It’s not possible. You had that bracelet before you met me.”
His chuckle was deep and darkly forbidding. “As I said, you want the answers, you woman the fuck up and bite me. Then we’ll talk.”
I couldn’t look him in the eye.
I turned my face away.
King Belshazzar studied me a moment longer, quiet and grim, and then turned on his heel. He headed straight to my horse, stating grouchily over his shoulder, “I’m riding with you now. Get your bag, and get your ass over here.”
From above, Dorian directed—so quietly I barely heard it, “Get on your horses now.”
My hands were shaking. Not from the scene so horrible it even turned my vampire’s stomach. I quivered where I stood from the possibilities, the scary as fuck possibilities Bel had hinted at. I had wondered in my most private, frightened moments…
Except one thing didn’t add up.
Even if everything else did.
He had not fainted when drinking my blood. He was notthatdifferent. He would have dropped to the ground if we were soul mates.
I shook my head hard. Too many men had fucked me over. I wanted nothing to do with alifetime commitment, especially to a man as powerful as Bel.
Men only hurt me in the long run.
It was inevitable. I was the Black Widow.
“I know you heard me, little one.” King Belshazzar sat upon the horse, contemplating me from under his eyelashes. Still no emotion showing. “If you need to puke, go do it. But get back here quickly.”
I sucked in a lungful of oxygen. “I am fine.”
Bel snorted quietly.
I bent and grabbed my bag. I handed it up to him, keeping my gaze averted while he managed to tie it to the horse’s saddle on the back. I took the hand he held down and allowed him to lift me in front of him, sitting my body sideways. I didn’t bother to move from that position.
I just rested my head against his chest.
He sighed quietly and wrapped his arms around me, prodding the horse forward. Bel whispered gently, “I also said before that if I am too much for you, I will wait. And I will. It is all right, Gwen. I know I am a lot.”
“You are aman.” I stared at the trees, unseeing, speaking truthfully, not holding back in my numbed state. “That is the real problem.”
King Belshazzar dipped his face down and pressed his lips to the top of my blood-covered head. He left his kiss there for a long moment, soothing me gently, before leaning back and firmly placing my limp form on top of his lap. He held me close and—finally—admitted on a whisper, “I amtheman who killed every man who has ever wronged you. I have no plans ever to treat you as they did. Know that well, little one.”
I whimpered on the inside, even as my heart swelled with adoration. I was truly one fucked up individual to find that romantic, but I absolutely did.
We rode in silence, my nerves calming inside his hold, as the day turned to night, the gentle rocking of the horse slowly lulling me to sleep. Only when Bel shook my shoulder softly did I wake.
I stared with sleepy eyes at a quaint inn right from the olden centuries. “Will you sleep with me tonight?”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else but with you.” He cleared his throat softly. “I’ll even let you on my half of the bed tonight.”
“How very kind.” My smile was small, content. But my eyes snagged on a vampire who was astride Bel’s previous horse. I stared in confusion. “Who the fuck is that?”
Bel snickered softly and leaned down to speak directly against my ear. “He was the lone vampire the gem did not kill. His name is Aiko. He followed us from afar until our horses met up. He is another friend of Kimber’s. My brother isn’t happy with this. I believe this vampire took him by surprise—and not the way you would think.”
I blinked, stunned. “Damn. I slept well.”
Mischievous blue eyes looked down into mine, a scrumptious smirk lifting his lips. “Maybe you won’t sleep tonight, then?”
“Oh, yes. I willsleeptonight.All night long.” I raised my black eyebrows on my disgusting, blood-covered face. “You are still in the doghouse. Do not think you are not.”
