Forever Claimed. Rachel Lee

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      Chloe looked at Dani. “What are we going to do for you?”

      “Most especially if they somehow find out that she survived the attack.”

      Dani’s mouth dried. Her palms grew damp and she wiped them on the too-tight borrowed jeans. “How would they learn that?”

      Luc shrugged. “Perhaps they will find the one I killed before dawn removes his carcass. Perhaps because your body is gone? Because you are not listed among the victims of tonight’s mayhem in tomorrow night’s news?”

      “Why would they care?”

      “The entire point of this little war they want to start is that none of them likes to be thwarted.”

      Dani’s heart skipped at least two beats, then settled into an edgy rhythm. From the way Luc’s eyes narrowed, she suspected he could hear it. Hell, he could probably smell the fear clinging to her. She would have been able to had it not been her own.

      “You’re getting a lot of shocks tonight, aren’t you?” Chloe said. “First the attack, then being rescued by a vampire and learning that not all of them are vicious killers. Well, it would set anyone back on their heels. And I’m afraid, too, though not as afraid as you because I haven’t been attacked.”

      “We need to find a safe place for her,” Luc said. “Daylight hours take care of themselves, but then there’s the rest of the time.”

      “I often leave work after dark,” Dani said. Because it was winter, she now left her office at dusk or later. Even thinking about stepping out into the night made her mouth go dry now.

      “Then we have to find a way to protect you”.

      “We?” Chloe said. “When did you become we?”

      “I think I have joined the fight.”

      “Oh, great. Can you promise not to go haywire again?”

      “Most certainly.” His eyes narrowed and a faint smile came to his mouth. And all of a sudden he appeared more attractive than Dani would have believed possible. His blond hair gleamed, his face relaxed, and she wished he were not a vampire. “I think,” he said, “that I have found reason to live again.”

      “Great,” Chloe said. “I’m sure the world will rejoice. And I just love those odds. Two vampires against a horde.”

      Dani giggled again, maybe because she was nervous. “It does sound like the Alamo.”

      “Perhaps,” Luc agreed. “But sometimes we have no choice. They will be maddened by their blood lust. So, it seems, we will be smarter, yes?” His gaze settled on Dani. “But first we must protect our little wolf.”

      “Please don’t call me that.”

      Luc’s brow lifted. “Why not?”

      “Because I’m not … because I can’t …” She looked down and covered her face with a corner of the comforter.

      “Je suis désolé,” Luc said, actually sounding sincere. “I’m sorry. I did not know I touched on a nerve.”

      Chloe spoke. “So you didn’t leave entirely of your own volition?”

      Dani’s head shot up and she looked at Chloe. “I did. It was my choice. I didn’t fit and I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

      “I know that feeling well,” Luc said quietly.

      “All too well.”

      Dani searched his face and for the first time in her life it occurred to her that bloodsuckers might have real feelings beyond satisfying their blood lusts. That they might actually think and feel like the humans they had once been. Some of them, anyway.

      She told herself she didn’t want his sympathy, certainly not the sympathy of one of his kind. Yet her throat tightened, anyway. She had no one anymore, no one. She had left her family behind and had barely started to make friends. Certainly not friends with whom she could trust her true story. So she skimmed the surface, pretending to be just like everyone else when she was not.

      Now her story had come out in the unlikeliest company possible, and she found sympathy in the gaze of one her pack would call their mortal enemy.

      How was she supposed to deal with this?

      From earliest childhood she had been taught to use her nose above every other sense. She had been trained to identify things as good or bad by those scents, and the scent of vampire had been drilled into her as a threat. Even a whiff of it could cause her to shudder.

      Tonight she had been attacked by bloodsuckers, their stench overpowering. Because she could not change, she hadn’t been able to outrun them or fight them off.

      But now she had to deal with the fact that one of that kind had saved her, and another was keeping her safe in his office … and the smell was all around her, and it was not bad.

      Linked to terrors she had been taught, but not at all repugnant in and of itself. Separated from her childhood training, the smell was actually pleasant. Even enticing.

      Perhaps that was why she had been trained to avoid it. Because it might draw her in. By itself, there was nothing to cause repulsion.

      God, she felt like she was losing her mind. The echoes of the attack still reverberated through her, and yet she was drawn to one of their kind. But that was how they operated, she reminded herself. Not by repelling, but by attracting. Like spiders weaving sparkling webs that looked like a safe place to land.

      However alluring, there was nothing safe about a vampire. Hadn’t Luc said so himself?

      Chloe excused herself to go make tea. She disappeared around a corner, and soon there were sounds of cupboards opening and closing, of water running.

      Luc spoke, his voice pitched low. “Your eyes reveal too much, Dani Makar. As do your scents. You want me and you do not like it.”

      She drew a shocked breath, horrified that he could tell so much.

      He gave her a half smile. “You have few secrets when it comes to your feelings. I can smell them. Too bad you cannot smell mine.”

      Her voice came out a broken whisper. “Why?”

      “Because then you would know I want you, too.”

      She couldn’t breathe. Her heart hammered so loudly it filled her ears. “I don’t …”

      He shrugged. “It makes no difference. I have no interest in my wants or yours. Mine can be satisfied elsewhere, and yours … well, your reluctance hardly appeals to me.”

      “I thought your kind liked that.”

      “Some do. They are the ones we will have to fight. It’s never been much to my taste.”

      She felt he was omitting information, but she was fairly certain she didn’t want to know what it was. Bad enough he’d been so blunt and exposed СКАЧАТЬ