Page 41 of The Vampire's Hunter

Dani bristled. “I have lived in your world for more than—”

“That’s not what I mean, Dani,” he snapped. “Do not ever claim that I—”

“You left me there, Corbin,” she hurled the words at him, tears falling violently. “You left me standing alone at that godforsaken party. Or was it so insignificant to you that you can’t even be bothered to remem—”

“I did it to protect you!” he shouted, standing once more. “I did it to protect you, because I have loved you since the moment I first held you in my arms years ago. And I will continue to protect you, from this too. As I’ve done countless times before. As Icontinueto do, even in my weakest moments.” He dropped his gaze to her lips, brushing the spot where he’d first smeared her lipstick. “Even when I almost came back to you.”

Corbin could see the exact moment Dani’s breath caught. Could hear the way her heart raced as he reached just above her breasts, pulling the delicate gold chain which laid against her skin, until the skeleton key appeared. “You never once questioned who gave this to you. Who would leave you such a message?”

Dani shivered a little, practically vibrating with untold emotion. “I…I didn’t think—”

“No, you didn’t.” He released the key, allowing it to fall round her neck once more. “You didn’t once think that denying you, leaving you, could possibly hurt me too.”

She was crying again. Tears aplenty. “I didn’t know.”

“Of course,” he cupped her chin in his hand. “How could you? How could you when I worked to hide it so well?” His hand slipped around the back of her neck, pulling her to him.

He claimed her lips then, pouring every emotion he felt into it, no matter how new. Every joy, every heartache, every misguided quest for revenge. He gifted it all too her. Everything he’d once held back. Everything he’d thought he could feel no more. Save for one final confession.

By the time Corbin broke the kiss between them, they were both panting, Corbin’s cock growing hard as the claimed one another in a delicious battle of tongue, touch, and teeth.

But he wouldn’t be dissuaded from gifting his truth to her. Not this time.

“Do you know what this is a key to?” he asked, once more clutching the chain of the necklace. “This is a key to my heart, to my home. That’s why I gave it you to.”

Dani looked a little confused, causing him to smile. “To your penthouse?” she asked, as if the answer were a little anticlimactic.

Corbin chuckled. “Yes and no,” he said, drawing her to him once more. “You’ll find it works there these days, but it was originally designed for a small cabin in Yorkshire. A home that belonged to my parents.” He cleared his throat. “To me and my wife, too, before she died.” Saying these things was far harder than he’d anticipated, but he hadn’t come this far only to run at the first sign of fear. “She would have wanted it to belong to you.” He kissed her, a soft brush, gentle brush of lips. “To someone who brings me more happiness than I have any right to.”

“Then turn me, Corbin,” she pleased. “Why won’t you allow me that same happiness, too?” She smoothed a single hand over his cheek. “An eternity of it?”

“Because I cannot do that to you, Dani. I cannot bear the thought of your death being on my hands, bear the memory of you dying in my arms. It’s why I left you standing in the rain on Cillian’s porch that evening, why I threw myself over you in that ballroom, even though I thought I might still lose you, even though I knew I might lose my revenge against Lucien, too. And I’d do it all again. I’d do it all again in an instant.”

“Your revenge?” Dani’s eyes suddenly grew wide. “Lucien,” she breathed, a knowing gleam passing through her eyes. “Lucien is the vampire who sired you, only to abandon you,” she said, finally making the connection.

“Yes.” Corbin didn’t say anything further on the matter.

He didn’t have to.

“Which means…your wife, your children wouldn’t have died had Lucien not turned you, not left you unknowing of your own kind’s ways, your own weaknesses, and yet, I…I took your chance away from you. Your revenge.” Her voice trailed off.

Dani gripped him by his shirt then, suddenly desperate. “What can I do? What can I do to make it right?”

“There’s nothing you can do, darling, short of saving yourself.” He wiped one of her tears away with his thumb, where it trailed across her cheek. “I’m a broken man, Dani. No one can undo that. Not even you. So, when this is through, leave. Leave this world and never come back.”

“I can’t.” She shook her head, pulling away from him. “I can’t do that to you.”

“You can and you will, Dani.” He captured her in his arms. Dani. His love. His fearsome huntress. A sharp-eyed harpy disguised as an angel. “Go forth, darling.Liveyour life. Live it well and full of joy as I know you can do. Find a husband, ahumanhusband, one who will laugh and cry and have children with you, beautiful blue-eyed children that will make your belly and heart so full, you’ll never once long for the things you left behind you.”

“I don’t want that,” she cried. “Don’t you see? I don’t want any of that, unless it’s with you.”

“I can’t give you that life, Dani. I cannot give you any kind of life at all. I can only give you death.”

A slow clap sounded behind them, as sharp as it was sarcastic. “This has all been rather touching, truly, but there’s someone waiting for you.” Cassandra scowled, before beckoning them back into the main room.

Corbin wasn’t the least bit surprised by the new faces he found waiting there.

“Lucien,” he said.

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