Page 24 of Death Comes for Her
I hadn’t crossed paths with him outside of my room. Swallowing hard, I tentatively crossed the hall to the door he pushed open.
“You weren’t in your room,” he said over his shoulder. A light flicked on, illuminating a spacious room. His bulk blocked the room, but at first glance it seemed like an office.
“I often walk the halls, as you permitted,” my voice slipped out, low and demure.
Dante had a vibrantly loud personality, but also a quick temperament. With our limited interactions, uncertainty about how to handle him swayed my responses. He seemed jovial and smiling on the outside, but there was an undercurrent of danger in his body language that reflected in the sharp glint of his eyes.
“Ah, right.” He swaggered to a sturdy desk across the room that sat under the light from the windows. My feet froze to the floor, inches from the closed door at my back. I watched as he tore off his tie and vest, tossing them carelessly on the desk.
The vampire angled back to me, leaning on the edge of the desk. Dante assessed me, unspeaking for so long that the silence weighed on my ears. That hazel gaze roamed over me as if he could flay me open with his eyes alone. I felt bare under his scrutiny.
“Did you need me?” the words crawled up my throat before I could swallow them.
His head tipped to the side. A dark curl fell over his forehead and the corner of his lips twitched up. The low hum in his chest turned into a rumbling laugh.
“Eager to offer, are you?”
“No.” I bit my tongue for replying too quickly. He noted my wince and smiled wider.
“Well, you’re in luck. I didn’t feed while I was away, and I’m starving.”
“You were away?” I ground my teeth together. Why couldn’t I stop talking?
Dante’s brows arched, watching me curiously. “I was called to deal with a werewolf insurgence near the capital.”
“Oh.” I blinked, begging my lips to remain sealed. “Is that something you do often?”
Fucking hell.
His barking laugh echoed off the office walls. He kicked away from the desk, hands going to his cufflinks. My eyes dropped to his arms as he rolled up his sleeves, revealing well-toned forearms with a dusting of dark hairs. And veiny hands with thick, strong fingers.
“Werewolves are my responsibility.” His low, rasping voice pulled my attention back to his face. When we locked eyes, he skimmed one finger over the intense scars across his eye and nose. “They have been my entire life.”
That statement latched onto my attention and pulled more questions to the forefront. They spilled over my tongue.
“Even before you turned? An injury like that would have healed as a vampire. So, you dealt with the wolves before turning?”
And I told myself weeks ago I’d never ask. I mentally slapped myself.
His lips quirked, and he hid it by swiping a hand over his face. “I was a werewolf hunter in my human life.”
“That’s why you manage the wolves on the property.”
“Smart girl,” he intoned. The low notes of his voice curled through my belly, hooking behind my navel.
“Just observant.” My face flushed with heat. “Your experience before turning put you in charge of werewolves, then?”
“Something like that.” He crossed his arms over his wide chest, observing me instead of crossing the room as he’d previously intended. “I hunted them as a human, yes, but it wasn’t the safest profession. As you can see, they got the best of me.”
“What happened?”
“Stumbled upon a whole den of werewolves instead of the lone wolf the nearby village reported. After they attacked me, they left me torn to shreds.” His expression closed off, eyes goingdistant. “A passing vampire heard the fight and had watched the whole thing without my knowing. As I laid there, drowning in my own blood, he told me that my fighting skills and fury were magnificent, and it’d be a waste of a warrior if I died.”
His voice trailed off, so I spoke up. “And that was your Maker? Craven Ambrose?”
Dante blinked, the light returning to his eyes as he climbed from his memories. “It was. He turned me and I woke up the next night as a vampire. Craven used my skills and knowledge to bring the wolves to heel. He stationed me as one of his generals to train other vampires to fight wolves, and I’ve done that ever since.”
“How long?”
