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The house in Newport was still held in trust for her, cared for by a private staff who looked after the grounds and the basic maintenance of the place, but it had been nearly two decades since Claire had been back Shehohter topic "So, which of your goals did you end up pursuing?" "Neither, in fact," Claire ad after I arrived in Germany, I had --a teenager athoht he wanted to stealelse He was about to bite uessed, s Claire shook her head "No, not hi, although I didn’t know it at the tiht the scent of round and I skinned ht away that I was a Breedmate, so he drove the other vampire off and took me in as his ward I didn’t meet Andreas until later" And, like her parents’ doomed relationship, she and Andre also fell instantly, impossibly, in love She’d spent the past thirty years trying to forget hi to convince herself that she wasn’t still in love with hi ti denied of the thing your heart craves thean astonished look at her "What how did you know--" The other Breedive ht her index finger up to her temple "My talent, I’hts, and to tell you the truth, most of the tione eable I haven’t taken another ular intake of Conlan’s blood, my ability seems to turn on and off at its ohim I’ht" "I don’t know that it will bring you any co alone
Andreas feels it, as well, you know He feels the saently "His thoughts were just as plain to me in the other rooe, but he’s hurting in another way, too" Claire stared at her, unable to speak Barely able to breathe "Life is precious," Danika continued "And it is so very short, even for those like us Four hundred and two years with Conlan wasn’t nearly enough tiet second chances, not in life or in love If I had just one more minute with ret Let Andreas kno you truly feel" "But he isn’t mine," Claire murmured softly "Not anyave Claire’s hand a light squeeze "Try to tell that to his"
Reichen avoided going upstairs for hours after Danika had returned to collect her son She and Connor had gone to find their own rest for the day, leaving Reichen to prowl the quiet far not to think about the fact that Claire was in bed somewhere above hiuid Her buttery light brown skin like velvet to the touch, every exquisite inch of her clean and soft and war a bath, she’d doo, hot soak He’d been tempted almost beyond reason to vault up the stairs behind her when she left with Danika, a feeling that had yet to pass There was nothing he wanted ht now, to comfort her and let her know that she was protected from Roth and his cronies
To assure her that no matter what evil was at work around thes he’d failed to provide his kin or Helene Spending tiht his attention back to that reality with scathing focus He wasn’t here to smooth over Claire’s fears, any s for her or to answer the primal call of the blood bond that would draw him to her always A blood bond he’d imposed on her, he was quick to reeance Everything else--his wants and desires, his future, his right to claim even the thinnest moment of selfish joy--had burned away in the fire that devoured his Darkhaven ho back on the night he’d last seen Claire It had been a night of stupidity and violence that had left hi in an open field under a harshof the power he’d been cursed with at birth--a power passed down to him by a Breed enough to warn him of what his fury could do He’d learned that lesson in a brutally vivid , and the horror of what he’d done had never left him So many innocent lives had cru swiftly in that same direction, but he still had time to see justice met, at least for those lives that had been lost at Wilheler and hatred were only strengthening the fire living inside him It would destroy him sooner than later, but he’d be da Roth with hih to keep Claire far away from him as he moved ever closer to that inevitable end
It was the depth of that conviction that finally gave hith to cliiven them He also didn’t know if the couple who shared the farmhouse are of him and Claire, and he wasn’t about to put Danika in the position of having to lie to cover for him should the other residents happen to coer in their midst Reichen paused in front of the closed bedroom at the far end of hallway His pulse kicked with a visceral awareness of Claire on the other side of that painted white door He prayed she was asleep, figured she had to be after the hours he’d stalled downstairs As quietly as he could, he turned the worn porcelain knob and peered inside "Hello," she said, barely above a whisper She was sitting up on one side of the king-size bed, wearing a thin baby blue T-shirt that didn’t quite conceal the dark buds of her nipples or the shapely swell of her breasts A sht playing in her ebony hair and across her lovely face
He scowled and stepped into the roo the door behind hi" She lifted her shoulder "I thought the bath would relax me, but I can’t seenore the bolt of lust that shot through hi naked in a tub full of steahtfall will coot to be ready to catch our ride back to the States at sundown You’d better douse that laet soesture to the empty side "I took one of the softer pillows, but if you’d rather have it you can" He glowered at her,erection than her offer of his choice of pillow Her shift on the mattress had stretched her T-shirt into a second skin And with the dislodging of the quilt coverlet as she aze fixated on the tiny scrap of her panties Crimson red panties, for the love of God He froze where he stood, every nerve ending in his body going nuclear with arousal "You ht remember that I’ what she was saying "Don’t worry about wakingthe covers over there I probably won’t even notice" He shook himself back to consciousness when he realized she expected hiht beside her, when the only thing preventing hi on his unholy desire for her was a paltry slip of cotton and a le of red satin "The bed is yours," he said, his voice a rough scrape in his throat "This isn’t a slumber party, for fuck’s sake You can’t actually expect me to sleep with you, Claire" Her expression faltered "I didn’t mean" "Jesus Christ," he muttered His skin prickled with a sudden wash of heat and hunger thatin bed with you is the bloody last thing I need to do right now" He must have sounded even lanced away froh "The bed is big enough for both of us That’s all I was trying to say" He stared at her for a long e to move, to propel him over to where she was on the mattress and ease her down beneath him He wanted that so badly it was all he could see All he could taste as the points of his eue "Get soht of her and took his own place on the floor nearby The hand-loo that covered the old wood planks was luuely of lemon wax He tossed onto his side on the hard floor, the only position that didn’tbetween his thighs like a column of stone Had he actually tried to caution her a few htfall would co wait till sundown
Chapter Twelve
Claire lay on the huge bed, wide awake, staring into the shuttered darkness of the room She hadn’t ed, and for quite a while she was certain he’d been just as awake and alert as she was--and just as determined to lie there in silence and pretend he didn’t notice But soed fro she could barely discern, to the deep, rhyth of sleep Claire listened to the slow sounds of his slumber, while Danika’s words about the rarity of second chances and not wasting precious ti over and over in her et out of her head There was so s she needed him to hear Not that he would listen He didn’t seeh to reach him at all And she needed to be close to hi she thought she knew about her world was cru at her feet
She’d felt a wall corow taller and less scalable the longer they were at the farmhouse Darkhaven Claire wasn’t sure what she’d done to upset him, or maybe it was simply the fact that he’d been forced to look after her now that Wilhel for theifted with Danika’s talent so that Andreas’s mind, and his cryptic eht now Her own ability could help her there, too Everyone wassaid or seen was truth, of course, but the surreal nature of drea back inhibitions Claire ventured a look over the expanse of the wide bed to the large bulk of Andreas’s body where he slept on the floor She tucked her ar hi where his dreaht about hi her mind to calm and prepare for sleep She let her talent stretch, tendrils of awareness reaching searching It usually took incredible focus to find the dreamer, but with Andreas, she’d no sooner slipped under the veil of consciousness and slumber than there he was
It had always been like that with him, as if their connection had been there from the instant they firstafter Andreas was gone from her life, that Claire had been tempted to seek him out, if only in the drea more of his rejection, and too ashaht, she could not find for Wilhele for Andreas After all that had happened the past couple of nights, what she felt now for Wilhelm and the blood bond that shackled her to hi she was learning about hih with Andreas in these harrowing, intense long hours together, she had to admit to somewith that fear had come a rush of ely she still felt for him For how deeply she still wanted hi back in love with himif she’d ever truly stopped As she walked into his dreaht of a clear evening, seated shirtless and barefoot in the crisp, cool grass of the parkland sanctuary she had designed for his vacant Darkhaven property All the details were just as she had them on the architect’s model, down to the very last bench and flower bed Good lord He had memorized the entire plan "It’s beautiful," he said, his deep voice a vibration she felt all the way into her bones "You knew exactly what needed to be here Somehow, you knew" He didn’t turn to face her as she cautiously approached hi in his sleep hugged the glittering lake beyond
Andreas’s golden skin was lu by the flourish of twisting, twining glyphs that rode his muscular back like the masterwork of an artist’s paintbrush Claire reue; if she closed her eyes, she could still picture every unique arc and flourish that tracked over his smooth, firm skin "You know you shouldn’t be here," he said once her feet stoppedbeside him Now he did look at her, and his expression wasn’t what she considered friendly His irises were throwing off piercing aht When he curled his lip back to speak, the tips of his fangs glea here, Claire Not with me Not like this You shouldn’t have come in here when you weren’t invited" "I had to find you" "What for?" "I needed to see you I wanted to talk" "Talk" He spat the word on a huffed exhalation Before Claire knehat he was doing, he was up on his feet, towering over her His eyes were blazing, so hot it was a wonder her T-shirt and panties didn’t aze roamed over her from the top of her head to her bare toes "What do you want to talk about, Frau Roth?" "Don’t do that," she said, wincing at his biting tone "Don’t use hie between us, Claire We both put hi it now, that’s notto feel the scrape of his words when she came there out of affection for hi this, Andre?" "What ale" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">