9. Corvinus
Chapter 9
Corvinus
T hat flare of purple in her eyes is a very strong tell. I don’t even know if she is aware of the light that flames from her beautiful orbs every time something sets off her ire. She finishes cooking in silence and almost drops the plate filled with freshly cooked bacon and eggs on the table in front of me, doesn’t say a word, and then returns with a plate of buttered toast and a quart of blood.
The beauty stands by the counter trying to give me the cold shoulder, gently nibbling on a piece of bacon while the creaminess of her delicate hand rests against the darkness of the quart of blood. The storm flowing from the young vampiress is real, but I am willing to take risking her ire. If I can get her to come home, it will be the best for all.
But she’s made up her mind about something, perhaps what I said, perhaps what she plans to do. It’s not clear what, but it’s clear that all of a sudden, she has a plan. She gulps down the full quart of blood, letting the blood flow down the back of her throat while I watch the tender muscles below her throat constrict with every swallow.
My cock shifts, hardening against my pants while I watch the vampiress in this state. She may be my job, my charge for the moment, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to bend her over that counter and give her blood while relieving us of this desire we both want to ignore.
Damn that arrogant and handsome devil to hell.
My ears perk up, and it’s hard not to smirk. I do try, although the minute she thinks it and I smirk, she knows I heard her thoughts. She knows the connection is there and her cheeks turn a lovely shade of crimson that is not from drinking the prepared blood at all.
She points to me and then to her and then back to me again. “This thing, the one where we can communicate. Annoying as fuck!”
I laugh out loud. Not much surprises me these days, but she sure as hell does. “I don’t disagree with you at all. Although at times, it can be rather enlightening, no?”
Her eyes narrow at my sarcasm. “Don’t flatter yourself, Vampire. I haven’t been with anyone since Lucas. The itch was bound to surface. Consider yourself a passing fancy.”
“Ouch, a sexy vampiress with a mean bite. You’d do well to hold that tongue, Embry before you find yourself in a position you did not intend.”
She rolls her eyes and gives me a dramatic little glare, but I don’t think the vampiress is as impervious to my charms as she wants me to believe. And I, like her, have an itch of my own. Damnable fact that she’s friends with the new queen, and my boss’s wife.
I smirk. “Pun intended. Now bring your breakfast and coffee over here, eat and finish drinking your coffee while we talk like two civilized vampires in modern day. Leave that sharp-edged tongue at the counter, understand?”
She makes her way over, padding across the wood floors with purple painted toenails with a white little design. Her jeans make a whooshing sound as her thighs rub against each other and the material chafes.
Embry’s blood races as I watch her. Our connection, no matter the reason, is undeniable and her tight little pants do nothing to curb my unrest.
She places her plate across from me, as far as she can sit while still being at the table. When she slides into her seat, she puts her coffee down to pick up and munch on another piece of bacon.
She eyes me with rueful disdain. “This is what I think. Lucianna read my letter, went to Overmaster Descallia to have someone find me and he sent his trusty right-hand man?”
“That sums it up.”
Her eyes roll in a fashion I find amusing. “What I don’t understand is why? I was clear. I need time. And it didn’t take you long to take the place of Lucas as right-hand man for Overmaster Descallia.”
Embry is not quite the open book as I thought her to be. Of course, she would still have feelings for the man. No matter that the bloodthirsty killer wanted to hunt and bury all the purebloods in the ground. “It was not well known, but I’ve been working with Overmaster Descallia for years as the liaison to the lords.”
She pushes a piece of flyaway hair from her face. “I didn’t realize that.”
“While we certainly were not sorry to see Lucas stopped, I am sorry that you mourn his loss. No matter what he did, he was a friend to you for years, and lover after that. I’m sure his demise was not an easy thing to bear.”
Her eyebrows raise. “A beast with a heart? Who would have known?”
I smirk. “From time to time, but don’t let the word out.”
Embry runs a piece of toast around the plate, soaking up the melted butter and remnants of bacon before placing it into her mouth and chewing. Still, she doesn’t say a word until after she’s swallowed and taken another sip of coffee.
I can almost feel the storm of emotion building. Her eyes flash with emotion and the intensity of their vibrance settles on me. “Everyone thinks, poor Embry. She didn’t know, poor Embry, he only used her to get what he wanted, poor Embry, she must have been blind. Used by the traitor to get what he wanted.”
I don’t think that…
I didn’t utter a word, yet the roll of her eyes lets me know she heard every word I thought.
She puts her coffee cup down. “Maybe you’re in the burn Embry at the stake camp, she was a traitor from the start, Lucas brought her into the vampire fold to infiltrate the friend group giving her access to Lucianna and the secrets that she might reveal. How about that one?” she asks, her eyes glistening as though now fighting back a tear.
I start to say something, but she abruptly gets out of her chair. “Changed my mind. Conversation is over. You’ve saved me from myself, you’ve offered me your condolences, now Mr. vampire lord, it is way past time for you to hit the road. Fuck off.”
Oh, Embry has this so wrong. No one gives me orders. Especially a sprite of a vampiress who thinks she is in control of this situation. I stand from my chair, towering over her five-foot five frame, looking down at her as she gazes up at me with those challenging orbs. The vampiress is not afraid of me one little bit right now. Maybe I should not have shown her my soft side, given her more time to worry instead of saving her life.
The draw to this female is unlike anything I’ve ever known. I should have realized the very first time I caught her scent and wanted to inhale deeper. Destiny has left me alone for so many years. And now, when I’m perfectly comfortable in being alone, she sends a vampiress who tempts me with her sexy little body and sharp tongue at every turn.
An evil little game, destiny.
Half of me wants to turn her over my knee and give her a good paddling, and the other wants to feel those moist lips on my own and inhale her scent while sinking deep into her heat. She’s so close that I almost give in, but this game destiny is not going to win.
Instead, I point to the bathroom. “You go first. Shower up, get ready, we’re going to get out of this cave as soon as night falls.”
Her eyes narrow at me. “You are not staying.”
My jaw locks. This woman is the most confounding creature I’ve ever met. “I’m not leaving unless you are with me, and since you’re not ready to leave the Mystic Forest, I’m forced to make the most of it. At least for a while. Now go shower.”
She walks to a door on the wall between the bathroom door and the bed. The minute she opens it, she steps backward. I have no idea what’s wrong with her but her heart beats fast, pounding a mile a minute and then she starts murmuring something under her breath that even with the keenest of ears, I cannot hear.
“Embry?”
Her delicate voice gets louder and louder. “No one knew I was coming here. Not one soul except for the creatures in the forest that I ran into along the way. Even then, I was vague, not giving them the specifics of this particular cavern, but land markers like the river, the largest hill in the foothills right under the Carpathian Mountains. How is this possible? Corvinus, nobody knew.”
I close the distance fast trying to see what it is that has her so worked up but all I see is a closet full of hanging clothes and shoes in various styles on the floor. “I’m not following you?”
Her purple eyes roll. “The clothes. They are mine. Not clothes that I might wear, that are my type or style, but these are actually my clothes. They belong to me.” She pulls a short skirt from the rack and caresses a finger over the velvet material. “This was on sale at a boutique in Rome. Almost fifty percent off.”
She bends, pulling up a pair of boots. “And these boots, I always wear these boots with this particular skirt.” She stands, her face getting flushed with excitement, swiping at several hangers until finding what she wants. “This blouse, see this is what goes with it. These are mine. Someone moved all of my clothes from my apartment in the city to this cavern. But not one soul knew I was coming.”
My eyebrow raises. “The blood left in the refrigerator. That too? It was very fresh. I checked before adding to it last night.”
Embry’s eyes are glowing with pure delight and mischief. I smell trouble from the little vamp. “It would appear so. I believe we have a know-it-all visitor who has somehow prepared everything I would need to take care of myself and now has the audacity to disappear and not show her face.”
“I’m still not entirely following. You know the person?”
“I told you, my gramma was here. She is the only one who could have done this. She wasn’t a dream, or an apparition.”
“I don’t mean to be unkind, but I thought she was human and died.”
Embry’s look is more than disbelieving. “Of all people you should talk. How many centuries ago did you die? Before you became an eternal being? Why is my gramma any different?”
My head spins with this twist. “Because, Embry, that would not make your grandmother just a psychic, it would make her a witch.”