Driven by curiosity, I fully faced the Dark Witch, adopting a similar stance as I leaned against the balcony railing. The thick, black turtleneck and elegant pants he wore, mixed with the shadow bands still swaying around him, as though they were part of him. His lightly tanned skin was the only interruption between his obsidian hair, outfit, and power.
It should have hidden him from view, like a cloak I suspected he enjoyed wearing, but I soon realized there was something about Dante in the midst of night.
It was as though he became alive in it.
Our Moon Goddess’s light seemed to dance within his bottomless eyes, illuminating him from the inside out until his very skin appeared to faintly glow. The more I observed him in the silent embrace of nightfall, the more his presence became all-consuming, mysterious, imposing…
Pushing against the wall, he strutted toward me without uttering a single word, extending his hands to me just like he’d done this afternoon. Notes of bright citrus, rosemary, and persimmon filtered into my nose, and just like it happened with D, I was hopeless but to scent him, breathing him deeply.
The effect was just as overpowering, rushing through my being and bringing parts of me to the surface that seemed dormant until now. Even my wolf curled with need inside me, fully enjoying him.
What was it about these men that caused such weird reactions in us? Didn’t my wolf understand I couldn’t trust any of them?
Bringing his imposing darkness over me, the Dark Witch stopped barely a couple of feet away, his captivatingly sparkling gaze falling to his hands, expecting my touch as though it belonged to him. My skin tingled with the sudden need to feel him, and before I realized why I was doing this, I slid my hands into his.
“Perfect fit,” Dante whispered, leaning into me. His warm breath fanned my lips as his head slowly tilted.
The breath caught in my throat.
9
To my unexpected disappointment, Dante bypassed my mouth, pressing his against my neck and leaving a soft, possessive kiss there instead. The gesture was too intimate, sending a delicious shudder down my spine, yet he’d done it so naturally, so comfortably, as though it was the one place his lips belonged. Like it was his birthright to kiss me, and he planned on claiming it at every turn.
As though I’d always been his.
I wasn’t exactly sure if it was his kiss that left me breathless, the rush of his esoteric magic flowing into me like it belonged with me, or the combination of both, but I welcomed it. Leaning away only enough to look at me, Dante’s eyes bored into mine, and he smirked once more, seeming pleased to indulge in my touch.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this, Natasha…” he whispered, his voice tainted by sadness. “We never wanted to seem like your…enemy.”
Blinking away the delightful haze the Dark Witch had created, I slowly pulled my hands from his, effectively cutting off his soothing flow of magic. “I’m not sureyouare…” I confessed. “But I don’t know what to think about the Vampires.”
“That’s fair…”
“You have always healed me,” I added, knowing it was his potions that erased my uncle’s torture all these years. “And though it pains me to accept it, taking me from the mountain truly saved my life… I wouldn’t have survived against the Hunters,” I admitted, hurt slashing my being with each truth. “I wouldn’t have survived Ryker.”
“Please don’t think about that anymore. You are safe here, with us.” Dante’s voice was calm, but his words failed to mask the ire coursing through his body and making every inch of him tense at the reminder of Ryker’s attack.
“Why?” I asked, unable to let it go. “Why would you help me over and over again, when I didn’t even know you existed?” Pausing, I placed a hand on his chest, hoping to help his concern for me ease, and his muscles relax before looking back up at him. “Why would you risk your life, going against an entire pack of Vampire Hunters to save me?”
Dante’s eyes briefly closed with my touch, and he captured my hand, lifting it off his chest. His soft lips pressed over my knuckles, in an almost reverent way. “Do you believe in fate, Cuore mio?”
“No,” I instantly answered, only to see that brilliant smirk of his return, making the moon itself shine through his bottomless green eyes.
“That’s a shame, Natasha. Because fate believes in you.”
Pressing my lips together, I tried to contain the pain twisting my stomach, but he immediately noticed.
“What is it? Are you unwell?” Before I could answer, his shadows rose from the floor to churn around me, and he cursed under his breath in the strange language he spoke. “You are starving.”
The Dark Witch’s words were accompanied by a sudden warmth that caused my aching to recede, but he still wrapped an arm around my waist, swiftly guiding me into the room.
“I’m fine. I ate last night and only missed breakfast?—”
Dante stopped in his tracks, facing me as his hands settled on my shoulders. “You’ve been asleep for a day and a half, Natasha.”
Shock slammed into my being while I glanced up at him, concern dulling the moonlight within his gaze.
“What?” I rasped. Had it been almost two days since the attack?
