“Veilbreakers. Stay,” Dommik hissed as I thumped to the unforgiving earth.
The pounding muscle around the arrow roiled my stomach with its incessant pulse. He couldn’t be serious. He couldn’t just leave me here.
“Veilbreakers? Who—” I panted through my panic.
Dommik knelt beside me, his broad body shielding me from the danger. I sucked in a breath and trained my focus on his dark brows furrowed into a hardened line above steely, pleading eyes. “I need to deal withthisand then I’ll come back for you.”
Leave me? Alone? In the Eckwood? Absolutely not.
I huffed in protest.
Dommik sighed before lowering his face dangerously close to mine. The rough bark of the tree scratched through my cloak as I pressed further into its base, searching for a nonexistent escape. I held my breath, suddenly all too aware that no one could see us here, alone in the looming dark forest.
Delight flickered across his gaze as he came closer and closer, until the tip of his nose hovered above mine.
Horror sunk its claws into me—he could do anything here. Take my body. End my life. Tell the Hive and the Crown I tried to escape and had to be struck down. Go back to Illica and steal Cova or Lydia next.
“Please,” I gasped, fear written on my face. “Don’t hurt me.”
“Hurt you?” His attention shifted from my lips and carved a path tomy neck. Slowly, his gaze slid back to my wide eyes as he purred, “Hold still.”
With an unnatural swiftness, he broke off the shaft of the arrow and I shrieked, more from fear than actual pain. The frayed shaft still lodged in my flesh throbbed angrily at the disruption.
“You fucking—” His gloved hand muffled my curses and knocked my head against the tree.
The nerve of this man. I scowled in fury and disbelief, huffing heated breaths beneath the scent of leather and pine.
“Such language.” He clicked his tongue as he tossed the broken wood over his shoulder. “You’re lucky. Went clean through and looks to only have hit muscle. Do not take this out before I return.” He slapped my hand away from prodding at the arrow. “Stop that! I’ll bandage you up when I’m back.”
A single rivulet of hot blood trickled from the wound. The wooden shaft did little to block my life force from escaping.
Beyond the shrub, a loud thud preceded a squelching gurgle. The tell-tale sound of someone’s luck running out. I winced as they drowned in their own blood. Dommik’s fierce eyes fixed to the lazy, red river traveling down my arm, the attack momentarily forgotten. He removed his glove and traced the trail of blood, collecting the crimson liquid on his thick, bare finger. My breath hitched as he wrapped his lips around it, closing his eyes at the taste like he was savoring a well-seasoned meal.
“On the other hand, your blood is…” His words disappeared into a sigh as unmistakable, deadly fangs emerged among his already hypnotizing smile.
Vampire.
A cold rush plunged through me at the sight of the protruding canines. I wanted to shrink into the moss and mold to the forest floor, but all I could do was stare. The skirmish battle cries finally drew close enough to steal his attention.
His features struck me harder now that I knew what he was—which was not a Traveler at all. Because Travelers were mortals. Servants to Illica and its human realm.
“You’re a—” I gasped, my words failing as the cold, harsh truth slammed into me.
Dommik tapped his canine with a newly unsheathed dagger. “Afraid so.” He forced the blade into my hand and closed my fingers around thehilt. “Stay hidden. If you’re found by one ofthem, call for me. Fight. Aim for the neck, ribs, or groin. Do not let them take you, do you understand?”
No.My thoughts spun in a violent tornado.Who were they? Who was he if not a Traveler? What would happen if they found me? Took me? What would happen if they didn’t?
Metal sang as he drew the serrated sword from his back, its sharp blade a twin to his own deadly teeth.
“I’ll come back as quickly as I can. Wish me luck, lovely.” He winked a stormy eye and disappeared with the wind. His unnatural speed accentuated the difficult truth,he was a fucking vampire.
The clash of steel was drawing closer and I tried to make myself as small as possible.
A twig snapped nearby—too near for comfort—and I adjusted my grip on the hilt of the dagger. I didn’t know how to fight, it’s not ladylike to wield weaponry. Command a household? Nowthat, I could do. But this…this felt so wrong. So foreign.
My heart thrashed like a rabid animal caught in a snare as an assailant stepped into view. The sheer size of him made the dagger I shakily clutched seem like a sewing needle rather than a formidable blade.
“There you are.” His caramel eyes peered down at me between strips of fabric covering his hairline, nose, and mouth.
