That had to count for something.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AMARI
This man was going to be the death of me. A woman had never made me chase this much. I thought that getting Val on board with what I had to offer would be easy.
I was wrong.
I’d always been an equal-opportunity lover. No strings attached was the only way for me. There was something about Val, though, that made me have flutters in my stomach.
He was in his pool. Naked. I knew it was wrong to watch when he thought I wasn’t, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. His body was long and lean, and I wanted to bury myself inside him.
I’d kissed him twice already, and his eyes had sparkled with life again. But apparently, that wasn’t enough for him to let me further my advances.
He put his arms over the side of the pool and looked right at me. A smile played at the corners of his lips. “I know you’re watching me.”
I pretended not to hear him.
“Fine.” He lifted himself out of the pool, the red-tinted water dripping off his skin.
My eyes moved down his body, where his cock stood erect. Apurr rumbled in my chest, and I wanted to hide. I wasn’t the purring type.
A smirk spread across his face as he walked toward me. What game was he playing?
He stood in front of me, my face close enough that my whiskers nearly brushed his cock. I couldn’t help the purr this time.
“I think I’m ready to play, kitty.”
He turned, and I nearly pounced on him as he walked into his house.
But when I tried to take a step forward, my left front leg gave way, pain ripping through every bone, tendon, and muscle.
My chest vibratedas a gentle hand stroked my head. My entire body ached, but it was the sharp pains running down my arm that woke me.
I sat up, panting, and reached for my arm.
Nothing.
It all came back to me. The look of fear in Val’s eyes. The glint of the sword. The pain.
“My arm.” I gasped for breath, and a hand found my back, rubbing in small circles. I turned my head to meet Nico’s red-rimmed eyes.
Where did he come from?
I was in a cell again, but so were a few others. One man didn’t look like he was doing too well, and the other was watching us. He looked vaguely familiar.
I looked down at what was left of my arm. It was gone below the elbow, and the wound had already closed. I put my fingers to it, feeling the smooth edges of stone as if the cut had been artfully prepared, then sealed by a sculptor rather than violently severed by a guard’s blade. The flesh-to-stone transition was jarring both visually and to my senses. I couldstill feel phantom pains shooting down to fingers that no longer existed.
“It was already healed like that when they brought you in here.” His voice was raspy, and he ran a hand over his face.
He looked rough, dirt covering his face and tracks where tears had streamed down his cheeks. He had a smear of blood on his arm, but other than that, he looked unharmed.
“Where are we?” I kept my voice low, not knowing if we could trust the two men in the cells next to us.
Nico leaned his head against the wall, his eyes closed. “You don’t know? Your beloved vampire betrayed us.”
“He wouldn’t.” Even as I spoke, doubt crept into my mind. Val looked at his father with equal parts hatred and a desperate need for approval. It was a dangerous combination.
