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Alec couldn&039;t believe what he was seeing He had rolled over to find a woainst his neck, her heart slowly beating, yet at the sa within hi across him, had, for an unknown reason, fed hih from his coma
She didn&039;t answer; she just lay across his torso, her body warm on his He closed his eyes for a ht with it
Dammit, he wasn&039;t even allowed to escape the hell of his life through near death He was to have no peace, no relief; not even the insensibility of a coranted to him His heart, or what ree that he had an eternity of even ht," he told the wo at her arm "You&039;ve done what you were sent to do I&039;m awake and miserable Get off me"
She made no move, just continued to lie there on top of hihed, wondering howmad Insanity seemed like the only route open to him, the only escape of the torment of his life, and yet, his pride had always held hifor each excruciating second
"You&039;re hurting et up and sravel, so if you&039;d kindly remove yourself from me, I&039;d appreciate it"
The woman still didn&039;t move, and it struck Alec at that moment that her heartbeat was too slow, her body too heavy on his
"Miss?" he said, prodding the woman
She lay limply on him, her breath shallow on his neck For ain the scent of her She smelled like wildflowers after a rain, clean and pure and sweet as honey Unable to stop himself, he turned his face into her hair and breathed deeply, pulling her scent into his lungs, burning it to his er awoke again He inhaled deeply again, wanting to feed on her, wanting to take within himself the warmth he knew she held, the sweet, spicy taste of her blood still on his tongue If he turned his head just a little more, he could reach her shoulder He could drink until he was full He could take everything she had to offer, every last sip of life, and roll her off hi hiood
He growled a few oaths to hi her roll into the spot he had chosen for his final resting place, crushing that foul rock into nothing before exa his torturer
She was mortal, apparently in her early thirties, with brown hair, arched eyebrows, and a delicately boned face that was covered in freckles Her lips were slightly parted, and he had to fight with hi over her to taste their pink sweetness With a connoisseur&039;s eye, he cataloged the rest of her - large breasts, broad hips, probably slightly over -bonednot at all the type of woht side, delicate and frail This woman, while not an Amazon, looked every bit the phrase "hearty peasant stock"
Hearty peasant stock or not, he knew he&039;d taken too much of her blood Her heartbeat was steady, but it had probably been a close thing He wanted to tell himself that it didn&039;t matter, that she was clearly there as part of his punish else He caught hiht of her breasts beneath a washed-out blue tank top Her arms were also freckled, and for some reason, that pleased hi his hands on her ar at your hips You will awaken now"
She said nothing, just lay there, unconscious He frowned at her, his gaze straying once more to her breasts, down to the curve of her dusty jeans He would not be attracted to his torain "If you don&039;t wake up, I will slap you"
Her chest rose and fell with a shallow pattern of breathing
"There are ti to never have been born," heher on the cheek
She didn&039;t move
He tapped a little harder
Her forehead wrinkled in a frown "Ow"
He sh her eyes re I want to float again"
"You&039;re done floating Wake up"
Her eyes screwed up Just what he needed, a stubborn torturer "Don&039;t want to Want to float"
"By the saints, wo I almost killed you"
Her eyelashes fluttered a little, but re to her cheeks, he noticed, his gaze once again on her ave her another little shake "It&039;s tih"
A little smile turned up the corners of her mouth "I like your voice It&039;s sexy If I can&039;t float, talk so I took too much blood, and almost killed you
Blood? Oh, yes, I remember that You&039;re the vampire who looked like three-day-old roadkill
Alec jerked backward She couldn&039;t have just done what he thought she had donecould she? Only Beloveds or someone with a close family tie could do that, and lord knew, his fao
Thanks to you , I no longer look like roadkill, he said, eyeing her
That&039;s good She stretched and opened her eyes
"Oh, pretty," the wo up to touch his face "I alanted to have green eyes"
You shouldn&039;t You have lovely dark eyes They&039;re very exotic What the hell was going on here? Why was she able to talk to him this way? It made no sense, unless the fact that he had been so close to death and she had fed him had established a blood bond
They&039;re plain old brown She blinked a couple of ti, surprise and no little a her mind "Uhhow did you do that?"
"I don&039;t know" He exa with every perusal "I don&039;t recognize you, yet you seem familiar somehow"
"Maybe we knew each other in a past life," she joked, rolling herself up to a sitting position
As soon as she spoke, she froze, staring at hi with you? " he asked, not used to wo at him as if he were aa ht from the front of his house in California as it spilled onto the tiled front walk, remembered the three women who had too much to drink, and had evidently picked his house to visit He remembered also the woman who took one look at him, screamed, "Vampire!" and fainted at his feet "You were at od, I didn&039;t recognize you" The woman tried to backpedal, to crawl backward, but the boulder was in the way All she did was succeed in plastering herself up against it "I didn&039;t realize it was you, or I wouldn&039;t have - "
"Wouldn&039;t have what? " he asked, his eyes narrowing "Tortured ain an endless cycle of da Alec shake his head
"Where do you knowher pretense of innocence
"I saw you kill a wo up the chances of her success escaping him
"Slim to none if I didn&039;t want you to," he told her, and sainst the rock as he leaned forward, catching again her scent of wildflowers "And at this moment, I don&039;t want you to leave What woen He couldn&039;t resist rubbing his thulared at hi away his hand
"You mean you&039;ve killed so ed "I&039;ve killed a couple of reapers when it was them or me, yes Are you with the Brotherhood?"
"No, I&039; over him You look better Your color is back, and you look evenwith sensuality, as aclose to you makes me dizzy with all sorts of emotions that I really do not want to have
His eyebrows rose a little at the candor of her inner , but I will adue ain as she blushed "Oh od, you could hear that?"
"Of course"
"Even the bit aboutdizzy?"
"Even that" He frowned "You appear embarrassed Why would you project to hts?"
"I didn&039;t project! My brain just thought those things up without ave a mental headshake Surely she didn&039;t expect hiot to her feet, i beneath her
"You&039;re too weak yet," Alec said, catching her before she toppled over He could feel her head sith lack of blood "You lost too much blood Why didn&039;t you stop me before I took too ently guiding her head down between her knees "I didn&039;t know you didn&039;t have an auto stop when you were full up"
"I do, but replenishing all the blood I lost would have killed you What is your name?"
"Cora Corazon Ferreira Do you knowthe word around hisname for a woman as so determined to stab him in his "Spanish?"
"Hispanic Mos, of course Whaterwhat is your nahbor I&039;m Alec How did you knoas a Dark One?"
"Da irritated
"Pardon? "
"&039;Alec&039; is one of one and ruined it for e wo eyes, and that delicate face, and ato hold an unholy fascination for hirew hard thinking about the rest of her With an effort, he focused his attention on the ed, aren&039;t you?"
"Not quite yet, but I wouldn&039;t be surprised if you pushed , "Alec what?" Dear god, you&039;re sexy You&039;re a vampire, but you&039;re so incredibly sexy I just want towhat on earth a? You&039;re evil!
Not particularly, no
You&039;re undead!
Not since you fed me
You&039;re a murderer! A vaorgeous eyes and perfect hair and oh, holy mother, you can hearmy mind!