Page 174 of Collared by the Vampire Prince

“Why were you watching me?”

His gaze holds mine. “I wanted to see you.”

“That is not an explanation.”

“It is, though.” The faintest curve touches his mouth. “I was curious. For a time, I was watching every member of the Resistance.”

“Did the others pick wildflowers too?” I ask sarcastically, hoping it disguises my alarm.

How much had he seen? How many of us had been exposed? Did Nathaniel have something to do with my last mission failing?

“Perhaps I was taken by what I saw,” Nathaniel continues, his expression pensive as he strokes my wing. “The truth is, I did not mean to stay in that field as long as I did. But I think it is fortunate that I did.”

“Fortunate for who?” I ask dryly. Do I even want to know?

He licks his lips slowly, hesitating. “Kira…it was not you who broke that hawthorn branch.”

I stare at him, the words refusing to make sense. Then I remember bark tearing beneath my claws. The violent crack. The branch giving way beneath me after I had struggled against it for what felt like hours.

“You…?”

“I climbed the tree and broke it.”

My brow furrows. “No. You could not have. I never saw you.”

“You were somewhat preoccupied.”

“I would have smelled you.”

“Would you, indeed?” His brow lifts. “You were injured, panicking and caught halfway up a hawthorn tree.”

“Enjoying my failure, were you?”

“No, actually. I could not bear your cries of pain.”

“That can’t be true,” I whisper.

“Why can’t it?”

His fingers leave my wing and move into my wet hair, combing it back from my face with unbearable tenderness.

The pain dissolves beneath a rush of warmth, my scalp tingling to his touch. I forget the storm. The lethal drop beyond the parapet. The collar looped around his arm. And I forget who he was born to be. I see only him.

A mystery of cruelty, restraint, and truths he yields only reluctantly. Yet each fragment draws me closer, offering glimpses of the man who saved my life.

His gaze drops to my mouth.

Mine falls to his. I lick the rain from my lips, and his own part slightly.

Neither of us moves closer.

Neither of us moves away.

Then he leans in, tilting his jaw a fraction until our mouths nearly touch.

Panic shoots through me.

“How did you know I was gone?” I blurt.