She whirled around with a startled shriek and then said, hesitantly, “Cal?”
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Nadine backed from him. “I—I was shot.”
“I know. Poor darling.” He closed the distance, but slowly. The sound of the leaves beneath his boots seemed to put her on edge. “Want me to kiss it better?”
She slipped into shadow, instinctively moving closer towards one of the pines. Her bare heel caught on the root, though, and she fell back against the trunk, crying out in fright when the rough trunk slammed up against her spine.
There was blood on her clothes, dark and matted. Smeared against her pale inner arm.
He would kill Ben for every scratch, he swore to himself. His brother would pay.
Before she could run away again, he caged her in, gripping one of the branches hanging over her head. “Come to me,” he said. “You don’t need to cower. You’re my sparrow, remember?”
“But they tried to kill me anyway,” she wailed.
“Yes, and I’ll take care of that later. Nowcome here.”
She wanted to obey, to trust him. She even started to, before freezing. “Please—d-don’t—”
“Oh, Nadine. You know I can’t resist you when you beg.” He traced a path from her neck to her shoulder, before pressing her closer, from her good side. “Even if it is for your life.”
“You drugged me—”
“No.” His mouth crushed against hers before he bent to kiss the mark at her throat. “I just made you a little sick so my brother and sister wouldn’t take you out before I was ready for you.” He ran his hand down her side, cradling her closer still. “And I am ready for you.”
“But the tea—”
“Wasn’t from me. It seems to have worn off, though. I can feel your pulse racing.”
Nadine tilted up her head to look at him, eyes bright and watery. “Ben tried to touch me.” Tears spilled down her cheeks like quicksilver in the moonlight. “He was going to—with hisgun—” Her voice rose in fear and disgust, her grip on him tightening.
“Was he?”
The anger in his voice terrified her. She tried again to move away.
Cal tugged again, and she fell against his bare chest, warm and alive.So alive. He grabbed her hand, placing it over his straining fly, even as his other hand wrapped around her to keep her in his protective embrace. “This is what you do to me,” he said. “You’re mine, little sparrow. Not his.Mine.”
“I thought you were going to kill me,” she wept. “I thought youlied.”
“But you’re my sweet little sparrow-bride.” Gently, he flattened her fingers until her trembling hand cradled the full length of him through the denim. He ground his hips, addingwith a growl, “Why would I kill you, Nadine? Why would I destroythis?”
“That’s what your family does,” she said brokenly. “They kill all their sparrows.”
“Not you.”Never you. Never, ever you.
Remembering his shirt, he stepped back and untied the sleeves from his waist and carefully fitted her hands into them. She looked a sorry sight in that blood-stained dress, with leaves in her hair, wearing his shirt like a shroud. A pagan sacrifice ripped from the altar by a violent, selectively merciful god. Guilt ripped at him with its talons.
“Not you,” he said again, gently. “No—I’m going to make you soar.” Taking her face in his hands, he brushed the smears of mud and tears away from her dirtied cheeks, leaning forward until his forehead was resting against hers and they were nearly nose-to-nose. “Those birds at the wedding were a sign, Nadine. Ravens mate for life.”
“She—is—not—a—fucking—raven!”
Nadine gasped in fright. Cal shoved her behind him and felt her hands gripping his bare shoulders, fingers biting in hard enough to leave bruises as Ben appeared through the trees.
His brother looked terrible. Cal felt a savage rush of pride when he saw what his sparrow had done to defend herself before taking off into the night. One of his eyes was red and leaking blood as if she’d clawed at him or gouged him with something sharp.
“Oh,” he said mockingly, “did she try to scratch your eyes out? What did you do to provoke her, I wonder?”
