Page 33 of Taken By the Blood God

The same chill I felt yesterday crawled from my fingertips, up the back of my hand, to my wrists. I knew without looking that my hands were encased in ice.

“I’m angry because you brought me back to the hotel while I slept, all but stripped my clothes off me, and then left me here with no way to contact you or anyone else! What in the hell were you thinking? How would I have known if something happened to you or if you needed help? You could have ended up in that damned prison right next to your brother!”

I looked down to zip and button my jeans, missing the look on his face at my words.

“You were worried about me?” he asked.

I looked up. His tone was strange.

“Of course! You were out there, a few hundred feet from a place protected by magic so dark that it is fueled by human sacrifice. Not just one, but probably several. No back up, no way to contact me or anyone else, nothing. And you left me here,without my passport or a working phone. You didn’t even leave me a note telling me where you were! For all I knew, you rescued your brother while I slept and abandoned me here.”

By the time I was done ranting, I’d managed to work myself up even more because I was thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong while I was unconscious, miles away from where he was.

A brief scream escaped my lips when he lunged toward me, his hands clasping my upper arms. He jerked me into his body, knocking me off balance. I grabbed onto his waist, gripped his shirt in my fists.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked.

I wasn’t yelling anymore but whispering. His face was only inches from mine, and his eyes were a strange mix of amber and red. The heat coming from his body intensified. A light sweat broke out all over my body.

His gaze moved over my face, from my eyes down to my mouth and back again.

“No one has worried about me, or my safety, in over a thousand years, Minerva. No one cared if I still existed or not. I could have faded away into nothing beneath that mountain, and the world would have continued as though I’d never been. I thought…”

His fingers tightened on my arms, a sharp bite of pain. I knew I’d be bruised later. I gasped, flinching, and he loosened his hold on me immediately, moving his hands from my arms to my waist. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, the deep red in his irises was gone, leaving only a dark gold color behind.

“I’m sorry I worried you. You’ve only been back here at the hotel for a couple of hours. No one went into the building or came out. It’s just as quiet as it was all night long. I was perfectly safe.”

I pinched his side, which made him wince. “Fine, you were safe. You still undressed me while I was unconscious. Not cool, Tal. Not cool at all.”

His expression was perfectly sincere when he said, “I wanted you to be comfortable.”

Though he wasn’t smirking, I knew he was being a smartass and pinched him again, this time on the other side of his waist.

“Dammit, witch. Stop pinching me.”

“You’re lucky all I’m doing is pinching you, considering you took my pants off while I was passed out,” I hissed.

“Would you be less angry if I said I kept all the lights off and it was completely dark in here?” he asked.

“No, because I know damn well you can see just fine in the dark. You’re a god, not a human.”

“Okay, then I apologize for undressing you. I promise I didn’t really look until this morning.”

I rolled my eyes and lifted my hands to his chest, shoving him back. “Why don’t I believe you?”

He smirked but released me.

I walked back over to the desk and picked up my to-go cup. I wanted to drink my tea before it got cold. It was too delicious to waste. Not even for righteous anger. After a few sips, I lowered the cup and asked, “No one entered or left while you were there?”

He shook his head. “If it weren’t for the wards and the death magic hovering around the building, I would think it was completely abandoned.”

I considered that for a moment. “I think we should wait another night before we go in.”

Talant’s jaw flexed as he stared back at me, but he said, “I agree.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Something doesn’t feel right about this.”

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