Page 101 of The Firebrand
This is definitely his best side. Wide shoulders like two boulders. A broad back, narrowing to the V of his waist. A delightfully tight ass. Athletic thighs.
Then a dagger of awareness stabbed into her. She was falling in love. Did he feel something? He had come to the hospital.
Don’t be stupid. Nothing has changed.
She reviewed the list, ending with the most important reason they could never be a long-term item. He was nearly immortal; she was very mortal. Besides, he was a commitment-phobe.
Focus on today. It’s enough.
He returned to Braelyn’s bedside. After a brief scan of her body, he stiffened, quirked up one side of his mouth, and snarled.
Surprise.
Her control-freaky, vampire-mix kidnapper was angry. Studying her injuries did not turn him into a relaxed pussycat. Rather, he was a hungry tiger on the prowl. “Go straighten up the pillows on the couch or clean the floor. You get steamed just looking at me. Frankly, it’s disturbing.”
Rein paused, tilting toward something he heard.
“What is it?” Braelyn swallowed a lump in her throat, a little jumpy.
“Alarik and Castia. I’ll drop the ward.”
When the bedroom door opened, Rein’s father entered with a stunning woman clutching his arm. He patted her hand, removed it from his, and stepped alongside Braelyn’s bed.
The woman perched on the edge of the low dresser, her posture perfect. She flipped waist-long ebony hair over a shoulder. Her sapphire-blue eyes twinkled with mysterious allure, and her tongue swept sensuously over her full red lips. A sophisticated, deep crimson dress hugged her model-slim figure. The outfit covered her neck, but Braelyn caught a glimpse of a bare back. When Castia crossed a right knee over the left, a side slit opened, running up to her thigh, revealing shapely black-stockinged legs topped with red garters. She bounced a stilettoed foot.
Castia’s voice was steamy, like a sultry night in the tropics. “Hmm. This is the little human who has caused such a stir on Scath.” Through thick dark lashes, she video-camera-ed her gaze from Alarik to Rein to Braelyn and back to Rein.
“Father. Mummy Dearest.” Rein took a deep breath.
“Son, come give Mummy a kiss.” She tapped her cheek with long, blood-red nails to match her lips, which had frozen into a bored smile.
The dutiful son dropped a brief peck to her jaw.
Braelyn scrutinized the pair. Of course, Rein was much taller, far brawnier. But their eyes, the shape of their mouths, their coloring, and most importantly, their bearing were similar. Both had straight-spined confidence bordering on arrogance. Where Castia leaked sexual power, however, Rein blasted feral energy.
“Brae, my mother, Castia.” The woman was also Elisabeta’s twin, whom admittedly Braelyn had only seen dancing on a bar or slung over Rein’s shoulder.
“It’s lovely to meet you.”
She smiled with perfect white teeth but no joy. “My dear. I assume you look better under other circumstances.”
“Mother.” Rein’s muscles tensed.
Was it because of the strain between them, or because of the insult to her?
Castia shrugged, showing she was accustomed to his indifference, his disdain.
Seated on the bed, Alarik lifted Braelyn’s good arm to check for injuries. Tipping up her chin, he scanned the damage on her face. He pressed gentle fingers to several spots on her head while he peered unblinking into her eyes. “May I see under the blanket?”
Braelyn fisted the cover to her neck. “Why?” She blushed. After all, she was buck naked under the covers.
“I am a healer. I must know what to cure.”
Braelyn looked to Rein who, despite his tensed, twitching jaw muscles, nodded the go-ahead.
Groaning, she kicked the blanket off.
“Dear, you may feel minor discomfort, accompanied by tingles. How is your head?”
