Page 103 of Crimson Oath
Her voice was breezy and unconcerned, a sure tell that she was upset. “I was enjoying the play but not the company. How did you find us so quickly?”
“Tatyana, I can smell your fear,” he growled. “Who shall I kill?”
“No one.” She sighed and sat on the sofa. “So domestic. The vampire lord of the Kievan Rus waiting for me after a night out with my friends.”
She probably thought that would offend him, but Oleg frankly liked the image she put into his mind. He wanted to take her to plays and ballets and watch her enjoy them with her vampire vision, hear the music with new ears.
He liked the idea of waiting for her to return to a place they shared, knowing she would tell him about her evening and make him laugh with her sardonic humor.
“I smell adrenaline and cortisol,” he said. “The same scent I have smelled on you when someone has frightened you. Tell me who itwas unless you want me to walk to that gathering and start lighting vampires on fire.”
“Will you calm down?” She stood and walked in front of him. “You are ridiculous,” she hissed. “You cannot follow me through the world, killing anyone who makes me angry or afraid.”
“Why not?” he snarled.
“Because you…” She let out a huff of breath. “Because it’s ridiculous.”
“You do not overreact to threats—I should correct myself—you do not overreact to threats from vampires other than myself.”
“Overreact? You think I overreact to you?”
He looked down. “What do you call running from my house a few hours before dawn when you were only a few months immortal?”
“Survival?”
He growled. “And who was threatening you?”
“You!” Her mouth dropped open. “Not…” She let out a breath, stepped away from him, and walked to the far side of the trailer. “Not the way you are thinking.”
He felt the loss, but he was frozen in confusion, which was not an emotion he experienced often. She was picking a fight with him, and he couldn’t remember the last time someone had done that.
Centuries?
Maybe longer. Not even Mika was willing to go toe-to-toe with him, but this little girl thought she was a match for him?
Fine. They’d been dancing around this fight for months, and he had reached the limit of his patience.
Oleg walked over slowly, keeping his voice deliberately soft. “And how was I threatening you, Tatyana? How? By protecting you? By killing Zara?”
She said nothing, staring at his feet with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Perhaps I threatened you by pulling the pain of Zara’s death into my own body so you wouldn’t die from the loss of your sire when you were only a few months immortal?”
That got a reaction. She dropped her arms and took a step toward him. “You did not.”
“Of course I did. I’m stronger than you. I knew you could survive her death as long as I had enough of your blood, and I was right.”
Her eyes went wide. “That’s why you took my blood? That’s why you bit me?”
“No.” Oleg walked over, leaned down, and growled in the back of his throat. “I took your blood becauseI wanted it.”
And he wanted more of it. The scent of fear was gone—the scent of her arousal had taken over. He wanted her blood, her kiss, her sex, her laughter. He wanted to see her dance, and he wanted her to be safe.
Fuck him, Lazlo was right.
“Who was threatening you?” he whispered.
She was frozen in place. “You felt your painandmine when she died.”
