Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 32307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 162(@200wpm)___ 129(@250wpm)___ 108(@300wpm)
“Already on it. Take care of you and yours, Henrik.”
“I will. I appreciate the call, Kael. I just wish it brought better news.”
“Me, too, old friend. Me, too.”
They said their goodbyes and Henrik returned the receiver to its cradle. He cut his gaze to Jakob, who’d no doubt heard enough. “Yingjie Fēi’s dead,” he said as he scrubbed his hands over his face. “Sonofabitch.”
His brother braced his hands on the edge of the desk, his head hanging. And among his grief for their fallen brethren, Henrik knew without question what else Jakob was thinking, what else weighed so heavily on his shoulders.
Now there were six. Just six vampire kings and warrior forces to fight a worldwide battle against a reckless enemy in an ancient and escalating war. Who knew how long it would take China to reestablish order and authority?
Six.
And, if Henrik died—which was a total certainty except for the when—there would be five, at least temporarily.
An absolutely impossible situation—for the vampires and the humans, too.
At least Henrik’s kingdom had a succession plan. And Jakob had been at his side all these decades, so he was well prepared to do his duty from the start.
Anger and regret flooded through him. Because he knew what he had to do, and he wouldn’t make Jakob be the one to say it. “Gather the warriors in the council room. They need to be briefed and we need to formulate some plans.”
He made for the door and battened down all his emotional hatches for the conversation he needed to have. He couldn’t die right now. He couldn’t be weak right now. He couldn’t be a liability right when he was needed the most. Not in the midst of this kind of crisis.
Henrik knew what he had to do. Now this was bigger than either of them. “I’ll meet you there in a few moments. First I need to inform Miss Sorensen that I can’t let her go.”
Chapter 9
Kaira sat in the chair, chin resting on her knees, and stared at the huge iron bed that dominated the center of the chamber to which Henrik had earlier moved her.
Right after he’d finished informing her she wasn’t free to go after all.
That he would be feeding from her, and that, for a vampire, feeding usually entailed sex. So Jakob would remain in the room with them to keep it just about the blood.
Unless she desired the sex, too.
Oh, if she wanted, she could drink from his vein in return. It could possibly cure her leukemia.
He’d been precisely that dry and mechanical about it, barely evincing an emotion on his face or looking her in the eye.
Afterward she’d had the chance to shower and change, though she’d put on an old, familiar outfit from the bag Jakob had retrieved from her hotel, not the white silk robe that had been laid out on the bed.
Hours later, there she sat, butterflies keeping her stomach in a constant state of flip-flop and anticipation of his return unleashing alternating waves of fear and desire. At least her fever and aches had abated.
“He is going to feed from me,” she said out loud. Just to see if those words sounded as crazy as they did inside her head.
His mouth against her skin, his hard chest against her breasts, his hands holding her tight. Twice before, he’d drunk from her. Both times, she’d become aroused. And the memory of the incredible orgasm she’d had—just from kissing and touching, no less—made her core clench and tingle.
Overwhelmed didn’t begin to cover it.
If it was just his feeding or just curing her leukemia or just losing her virginity that was up for discussion here, she might be able to deal. Okay, that probably wasn’t true either. Any of those, on their own, would still be a lot to consider.
All together? She dropped her forehead against her knees.
How in the world did she find herself in this situation?
Sadness pricked at her eyes. Looked like she wasn’t going to be allowed to have that dream of being a professional photographer fulfilled after all.
A flash flood of anger flowed in behind the sadness. And confusion, too. Because while she was pissed at how unfair it was to have her life stolen out from underneath her, a part of her she didn’t understand felt like she was right where she was supposed to be.
How strange was that?
Across the room, a door clicked open. Kaira lifted her head as Henrik entered wearing a floor-length dark blue robe, so dark it was almost black, and the trim and sleeves were edged in a bold silver knotted pattern. He wore the hood drawn over his head, casting his face in shadow and preventing Kaira from seeing his expression or his eyes.
Didn’t keep her heart from leaping into her throat, though.
Bare feet emerged from under the bottom of the robe as he crossed toward her, making her wonder if the rest of him was equally bare…