Gregoravich and Gavril were already halfway down the paved road to the gate.
“Snows will be here soon, Mother,” Aleksei called. “Take care with the cold coming.” He blew her a kiss.
“You take care of yourself,” she shouted back.
Mikhail walked silently beside Mina, as alert and professional as ever. As if the intimate conversation and encounter they shared yesterday hadn’t occurred. As if the heated tension wasn’t strung taut like a bowstring between them.
“You look well enough to run and keep up,” said Mikhail, observing her with a side glance. “Are you?”
“Yes. I am feeling quite strong now. Thanks to the refreshment you gave me in my bedchamber.”
He winced. Mina smiled. She’d never been aggressive by nature, but something about this man made her beast want to come out to play. She wanted to bait him. To see what he would do. Hoping he would play with her right back.
“I am glad to hear it.” His voice remained tight and controlled.
“And I see that you and your men have fed well. There’s a ruddy flush to your cheeks, Captain.”
He narrowed his gaze but kept his aim forward as they marched on down the tree-lined road. Mina was constantly aware of this new primal need swirling inside her bosom, a desire that seemed solely focused on the captain. However, beyond that, she longed to know more of the man himself. Power emanated from his tall, broad figure as he moved with agile grace. Every step, every glance of his wary gaze appeared purposeful, deliberate. A misstep was not in this man’s nature. And yet, she knew she’d made him misstep. Hence, the grave lines drawing his face tight.
“Tell me, when you feed, is it a manner of replenishing your body, or do you gain pleasure from the experience?”
His brow pinched together. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m curious. You seem a man of, how shall I put it, efficiency.”
“That I am.”
“Then you do not experience that extraordinary sensation of pleasure when you feed?”
He pulled her to a stop with a firm but gentle grip. “What exactly are you getting on about?”
“Well, seeing as my experience with you in the cave and yesterday afternoon were my first times feeding in the traditional or, um, natural way a vampire feeds, I was wondering if you felt that with other women. When you feed.”
Envy twisted in her gut at the thought of his mouth on another woman, and yet she couldn’t help but follow this line of questioning to see what he would say. And after the way he leaned imperceptibly closer, his vibrating intensity bristling along her skin, she was glad she’d followed her instincts.
“And what exactly did you feel when you fed from me?”
She adored the way his melodious voice dropped to a rough timbre, like shallow waters scraping the river rocks across a sandy bed.
“I felt a euphoric sense of belonging in that moment,” she answered honestly and stepped closer, tipping her head back. “As if my whole life catapulted me to that sliver of time when my lips touched your skin, when my fangs sank into your flesh, when your blood rushed fast and hot into my body. It was ecstasy.”
His eyes had dilated, covering his multihued irises mostly black. His nostrils flared, but he didn’t move. Not a splinter-thin fraction.
“It’s time to run, Your Highness.”
“I think you’re running already, Captain.”
He narrowed his gaze, ignoring her gibe. She was certain he wasn’t the sort of man who retreated. Ever. And yet he seemed eager to get away from this conversation. Away from her. The pulsating ripple of desire waving against her empathic senses told her she was right in this pursuit. Whether he knew it or not. The knowledge gave her comfort, even as he bristled at her nearness.
Most her life, she’d felt out of step with the world, with other people. Sure, she could sense their emotions and therefore knew how to react toward them, how to offer them sage advice, as she once did to Prince Marius, knowing he was in love with the peasant revolutionary, Arabelle. But knowing people’s emotions and connecting to people were two entirely different things. She’d often felt isolated, because her steward kept her safe from too many visitors and because her empathic senses could be overwhelming and often made her long for solitude. But the bond between her and Captain Mikhail was as tangible as a silken thread wound about her body and encircling his, squeezing tighter every moment they were together.
It was like the cosmos had divined her to be a lone planet among fields of stars, until a dark moon finally found her, where he was meant to circle without end.
With a tilt of his square chin, he said, “Best keep up.”
“Oh, I’ll keep up.” She smiled. “Lead on.”
He flashed away, swirling the wind around her with the scent of mulled spice and wood smoke. That scent would be easy for her to follow. She ran in vampire speed, blurring past Dmitri and Aleksei, who were still bickering about Irena. Then they were all flying together, following Mikhail. Mina laughed at the rush of moving with such strength, such speed, such power. She’d never had occasion to run as the dainty princess. Not like this.
The dormant beast in her body, in her blood, yawned and stretched, sniffing the air as if for the first time. And on the wind was the scent of her prey, calling her to follow faster, to catch him if she could.
Her heartbeat throbbing in her ears, she didn’t simply follow the pack but chased the leader. The one whose beast called to her own, demanding that she take note, and that she finally awaken from her long slumber to take what was meant to be hers.
She was so focused on Mikhail, she didn’t notice the danger flanking her on her left till it was too late.
…
Mikhail smelled them the split second before they attacked. He dropped back and launched himself into the vampire flying toward Mina. Gripping him around the waist, Mikhail and the attacker went tumbling into her, knocking her to the ground. She screamed. Mikhail’s claws ripped through the attacker’s skin, his fangs long and sharp when he sprang for the hissing vampire.
Pinning him on his back, Mikhail gripped his throat for control. The creature’s eyes were full black with the blood madness. He bucked and clawed, slashing through Mikhail’s shirt and gouging his chest. Crimson sprayed the air. Mikhail felt nothing, his sole intent on watching the man die. With a swift move, he gripped both sides of his head and snapped his neck. Unsheathing the serrated, twelve-inch blade he kept at his hip, he severed the man’s head with three hacks. Vampires could self-heal from broken necks but not from decapitation.
A shriek pierced the woodlands behind him. He shot to his feet right as Gavril slashed another vampire’s carotid artery. A third lay beheaded between Dmitri and Aleksei. Gregoravich kept a defensive stance in front of Mina. Within a second, Mikhail was behind Gregory and held Mina by the shoulders, scanning her for injuries.