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When Danii woke to the dru full blast, she found herself alone - and naked

As she blinked in the shade-darkened rooan to surface She reht She recalled hi down at her in the bathtub with his brows drawn, his face pale froedly he&039;d kept watch over her

But after that, nothing Once the poison had begun working its way from her system, she&039;d blanked

So naked? She was certain he&039;d put her in the tub with her panties on Now he&039;d seen her completely unclothed

Had he liked what he&039;d seen? No, as an unblooded vampire, he&039;d have no interest

A cursory survey of her body revealed a es, but her wounds hadtear just below her collarbone Her teradually drop each day

She inspected her wrist where he&039;d grabbed her The burn had healed as well

Even after all these centuries, she was surprised by the degree of pain involved with skin to skin contact For some reason, it was always the worst She could skirt a car exhaust and only suffer a lingering sting

But another&039;s skin against hers was like fire

She gazed around the spartan roo and sparse furnishings - a lounge chair, a desk, and the mattress - this definitely wasn&039;t a permanent home Danii knew the Forbearers lived in the sinister Mount Oblak castle So as he doing here?

Over the drone of the air conditioner, she heard the shower going The vampire hadn&039;t left her? She recalled the injuries he&039;d sustained taking out eight of those Icere bastards, re that he&039;d been hurt ht She didn&039;t kno he&039;d still been standing, much less how he&039;d cared for her

If not for him, she would have died The poison would have taken hold until even her immortality couldn&039;t have saved her He had saved her

She grinned No longer did she think him skeevy

When blood had been everywhere and Danii helpless before him, Murdoch hadn&039;t even tried to drink from her And Valkyrie blood was supposed to be irresistible to vaiven a drop to Nikolai the Overlord five years ago, and he&039;d been wild for it

Oh, Myst What should Danii do about her sister&039;s abduction? Myst, who&039;d once done her a favor so great that she could never repay it

The answer seemed obvious Call Nix and tell her to launch a search and a war if need be Murdoch had a satellite phone on his desk

But earlier, he&039;d said he could take Danii to her sister - because Myst would be with Nikolai So the two of theether

Likely only the two of the up for lost time

If Danii called the coven about this, she&039;d unleash a shrieking battle contingent to bust down the door of the vampire&039;s love nest

What would her sister want her to do? The facts: Myst was a masterShe could handle Nikolai

Another fact: At the news that Forbearer vareen eyes alight Before setting out to hunt them, she&039;d checked and rechecked her hair

Myst, it seemed, was already half in love with Nikolai And if Nikolai was a fraction as thoughtful and gentle as his brother

I&039;ll get more information from Murdoch before I make a move

With that decided, Danii rose from theto sleep as low to the ground as possible - and crossed to his closet

Contrary to popular belief, she wasn&039;t shy, but she still rooted through his duffel bag for sos to discuss, their siblings&039; situation, for one, and she didn&039;t want to do it naked

Even if he would have no interest in her that way

She grabbed a black T-shirt and dragged it on, though it sed her, then explored his roos, she found his wallet She&039;d knoho he was, but it was still a shock to see credit cards in the name of a warlord who&039;d "perished" in the Great Northern War three hundred years ago

Likewise, seeing his sword belt lying next to his satellite phone was a jolt

Danii knew much about him and his three brothers; most of the Lore did The Valkyrie had had a correspondent in the field to cover the war, and she&039;d reported back on all the Wroths&039; heroic - and ruthless - deeds as they&039;d defended Estonia against the Russians The four had been so merciless that even the creatures of the Lore had started paying attention

She recalled that the Wroths all differed drastically in personality Nikolai was the self-sacrificing general, Sebastian the quiet warrior-scholar, Conrad the mysterious one

And Murdoch? Well, he was the ladies&039; man, a practiced seducer

Or he had been, but no longer, now that he was an unblooded vah broad-shouldered seducers with piercing gray eyes

She sighed, predicting that this male would star in all her future fantasies Yes, Danii had a rich and complex fantasy life While all her sisters were preoccupied with their latest lovers or intrigues, she listened and watched Daniela the Watcher, observing and iht She finally had a secret She thought she thought she h her kind had a bitter history with his

Wars, deceptions, atrocities

Aside from Myst, the only other Valkyrie who&039;d been with a vampire had borne him a child - then died of sorrow shortly after

Danii could lie to herself and say that Murdoch et he was a vampire Yet in truth, she are of that every second with hiive a damn what he was For two thousand years, the Icere had tried to destroy her, either outright with atte themselves into her life She&039;d never h to be with

TwoValkyrie make

The broken doll wanted to be fixed And somehow, she knew Murdoch was part of her journey Even the fact that he was a vampire wouldn&039;t sway her

What he is can&039;t compete with the possibility of what he could be -

She heard a stifled groan froods, he&039;s still hurt She dropped the wallet, racing for him

Just inside the bathroom, she stopped short There was no steaht into the tiled shower stall above the half wall screening it - could see cold water sluicing over his broad chest, drops trickling over the indentations of his rock-hard torso

Her lips parted, and her claws curled with desire Her half sister Regin liked her , as she put it Danii no her type: vampire with an Adonis physique And she didn&039;t say that lightly She knew Adonis well

Murdoch was leaning back, staring up at the ceiling, one brawny ar as he washed himself Stubble shadowed his lean cheeks

She could see the trail of hair descending from his navel, but not where it ended because of the half wall

Her ears were twitching A warning? But why? "Murdoch, are you hurt?"

His arm stilled When hewith soaze dipped