Page 110 of Soul Sucker

The Fae’s tone became confiding. “Well?—”

“Nothing that concerns you, Ms. Walsh,” Vadim interrupted. “Now where do you want your tea?” He glared at Rossa. “Perhaps you might join me in the kitchen so that Ms. Walsh can get some sleep.”

“Oh no, that’s fine.” Ella sank down onto the side of the bed. “You just both carry on. Don’t mind me.”

“Is there something specific you wanted, Rossa?”

“I have a message for you.” Rossa cleared his throat importantly. “If you wish to avoid your fate, you know what to do.”

“That’s it?”

She looked at Vadim but nothing showed on the surface. She probed a little deeper and was shocked to sense the fury raging beneath his skin. Even more interesting was that he was letting her feel it. Was it becoming harder for him to shut her out too?

Rossa pouted. “That’s what I was told to say. Is there a reply?”

“No.” Vadim fixed Rossa with his stare. “Now either leave, or I’ll make you.”

“You couldn’t?—”

Before Rossa even finished the sentence, Vadim raised his hand and power flowed through him. Ella found herself adding her own and watched in fascination as Rossa shimmered and then disappeared with a startled yelp.

Vadim smiled. It wasn’t pleasant. “Luckily, he’s not as powerful in this dimension as he’d like to believe.”

Ella got into bed. “Why’s that?”

Vadim sipped his tea and sat beside her. His perfectly tucked in towel refused to slip an inch. “Because as you once noted, he’s almost completely Fae.”

“More than you?”

“Definitely.”

“But he’s also feathery.”

“We share a common ancestor.”

“That’s right, Colonel Sanders.”

He finished his tea, feathers apparently unruffled. “Are you ready to turn the lights out?”

“If you’re staying.”

He paused to look down at her. “If you’re okay with that.”

She pulled back the sheets that still bore the imprint of Rossa’s luscious naked body. “Hop in.”

She’d never been one for pillow talk. It was strange to cuddle up to a man and find that your head fitted nicely into the curve of his shoulder and that the softness of your body aligned with the hardness of his.

“Despite your initial reservations you seem to be taking to this bonded mate thing quite well—the sex part, I mean.” Ella hastened to qualify her comment.

“My earlier reservations matched yours, I think.” He hesitated. “It was something of a shock.”

“Then why did you put yourself forward to OCOS as a potential mate?”

“I didn’t.”

Ella opened her eyes and flipped over to stare into his face. “You must have.”

“I assure you, I didn’t.”

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