Page 41 of Trapped for Her Blood
Axe steps forward, and I’m struck at the difference between the two men: one tall and lean, the other even taller, but massive and bulky; one formal and fully dressed, and the other rugged and…naked, not to mention unbelievably erect.
Zuben turns back toward me, beckoning for Axe to follow, and I notice that my tall Egyptian is still erect too. At least there’s something these men have in common.
He picks up his suit jacket from where it was discarded on the furs and holds it toward me.
Shaking my head, I instead pick up the wool blanket and wrap it around my now cooling shoulders as my temperature regulates and sweat chills my body after the sex.
I certainly can’t use the wordslove makingto describe what just happened. At the start, it felt like it might go that way—his kissing and touching were both so tender—but it turned into something that…even the wordfuckingsounds too intimate to describe what Zuben just did to me. We certainly didn’t do it together.
Glancing over, I catch Zuben looking at me, but he quickly turns away.
“This is your cave,” he says to Axe. “How did you come to have private quarters in this dungeon?”
Axe strides forward, clearly not the least bit embarrassed by his naked body or obvious arousal. I mean, why would he be. He’s magnificent.
“You’re the vampire to blame for her capture?” Axel asks gruffly, his brows drawing together, his voice fierce.
“No,” I answer, just as Zuben answers, “Yes.”
“Which is it?” Axel positions himself between me and Zuben, legs spread, hands fisted at his sides. He glares at Zuben. “Do not lie to me!”
My body tenses. I need to do something or Axe will tear Zuben limb from limb.
“It’s complicated.” I reach forward to touch Axe’s fist and he turns toward me.
“Both Zuben and another vampire were with me when I was captured,” I tell Axe. “The other vampire is named Ryker, and he was the target of the arrest that night—all three of us were taken.” I decide not to divulge Zuben’s involvement in Ryker’s arrest. I can’t have these guys trying to kill each other.
Mercifully, Axe doesn’t press further, and his fist unfurls under my touch. I take hold of his index finger, letting my thumb slide over his palm. His expression softens and the deep sadness and wistfulness I’ve seen before returns to his eyes, as if my touching him this way, trusting him, trying to calm him, reminds him of something, someone—probably his late wife.
A frisson of unexpected longing races through me. How would it feel to have someone love me as much as Axe loved his wife?
I look toward Zuben, and he’s staring at our joined hands, but then lifts his chin to look directly at Axe.
“You are a vampire-shifter hybrid.”
Axel nods.
“I told him.” I stroke Axe’s palm. “I hope you don’t mind.”
He nods.
“I would have known in any case,” Zuben says. “Now that the bear is in human form, I can see that he is a vampire.” Zuben studies Axel with interest, as if he’s some rare animal in a zoo. “In my research, I have come across accounts of such hybrid creatures, but you are the first I have encountered in the flesh.”
Axel shrugs.
“You were a shifter first,” Zuben says.
Axe nods.
“Who was your Maker? How did this come to be?”
“Not by choice, that’s for fucking sure.” Axe’s voice is low and gravelly, and I wonder if the hoarseness is a result of all the roaring while he chased the other vampires away. He coughs to clear his throat.
“You need to drink.” Going to the pool, I fill the tin cup and bring it to Axe.
“I do not believe it is water that this shifter-hybrid thirsts for,” Zuben says.
Axel grunts and then offers me a soft smile as he takes the cup and drains it. He wipes a few drips of water off his lips with the back of his huge hand and the action is unbelievably sexy. The raw power in this man, this shifter-vampire hybrid as Zuben called him is intoxicating.
