Kalin lifted a muscled shoulder. “If you’d known, you would’ve told the king, and he would’ve reached out to the demons. We couldn’t have you ganging up on us.”
“Yet you’ve aligned yourself with the demons now,” Janie said, sitting up.
Kalin stilled. “How do you know that?”
Oh. “Our Intel is pretty damn good, and you know it.” Had she just given herself away?
Kalin studied her, his face implacable. “Interesting.” Reaching out, very slowly, he pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and away from her face. He frowned as if confused by his own gentle touch. “ I suppose you’re barricaded right now behind a hundred vampire guards?”
She met his gaze and kept her expression blank. “What’s your end-game here? I mean, with the demand to study the chosen one?” As hard as she tried, she couldn’t help rolling her eyes at the last.
Kalin grinned and flashed sharp canines. “Initially, I just wanted access to you and figured we’d mate.”
She stilled. “What if I don’t want to mate?”
Regret twisted his red upper lip. “Destiny is destiny.”
She sighed. “You think we’re destined to mate?”
“I think it’s one of your possible destinies, and it’s the one that is going to come to fruition.” His gaze hardened along with his impressive jaw. “I’m meant to have your psychic powers.”
A vampire or Kurjan mate, probably even a demon mate, often shared her powers, and Janie’s psychic abilities were above par. “Is that all?” she asked softly.
“No.” He reached out to cup her jaw, his hand cool. “I’ve always been drawn to you like no other. Whatever it is between us, I would never hurt you.”
Sometimes life made no sense, but instinct whispered Kalin believed his words, even if they turned out to be impossible. The vampires had documented Kalin’s frightening history of violence, and she’d memorized every word. Although he’d saved her life once from a crazed werewolf, he still had the need to kill. Often. “You like to hurt women,” she said.
He nodded. “I truly do. You’re special, though.”
Her heart started to race and not in a good way. Nobody was special enough to banish that type of urge. Yet now she had a job to do. “So what’s the plan now that the peace talks have blown up?”
He smiled. “Things are going according to plan. Soon you’ll be where you’re destined to be.”
Janie opened her mouth to ask another question, and a sizzling pain cascaded along her scalp. She cried out as she was ripped from the dream world.
She flipped her eyes wide open. Flat on her back, helpless, she looked up into furious green eyes as Zane pinned her to the mattress, his hand clenched in her hair.
Chapter 11
Janie swallowed and tried to shove Zane off her. Embers from the fire lit the room, encasing them in a cocoon of intimacy.
His gaze narrowing, he grabbed her wrists and yanked them above her head, easily pinning them with one warm hand. She shifted against him, her breasts rubbing his bare chest, her hips cushioning his. The hard ridge of his shaft pressed against her cleft, and she bit back a moan.
Crimson spread across his daunting cheekbones, giving him the look of a furious jaguar. “I said no dream world.”
She struggled against him, fighting the raw desire rippling along her every nerve ending. “Too bad I don’t take orders from kidnappers.”
The flash of white against his now healthy looking face surprised her. His smile held an amused menace. “Did you tell Kalin I have you?” Zane asked quietly.
“Of course not.” She settled into the bed and tried not to move against his hard body. He was just too damn tempting. “Apparently Kalin thinks he and I are going to be together soon.”
Satisfaction lightened Zane’s eyes. “Good. So he thinks I’m going to infiltrate Realm headquarters, kidnap you, and deliver you to Suri, according to plan.”
“Probably.” Her eyes wanted to flutter shut and just enjoy the heaviness of the delectable body pinning her. Her brain tried to focus. “Speaking of your grand plan, you can’t just walk into Realm headquarters and try to negotiate today. They’ll shoot you in the head before you get a word out.”
“Not a chance as long as I have you.”
The double entendre whispered along her skin, yet she still felt the need to warn him. “They’ll torture you until you give up my location . . . I promise. My family is ruthless.” She shifted against him, unable to stop herself. Electrical zaps cascaded through her at the contact. “Besides. You don’thaveme.”
