If you saw me in bloodlust, you'd think me a monster.
Conrad hadn't been exaggerating. If Néomi didn't know him, she would be terrified. But she did know him, and recognized that he'd restrained himself for her.
Here was Conrad at his most frightening, and all she felt for him was pride and tenderness -
Suddenly Cade took advantage, bashing his head against Conrad's so hard his skull had to be singing.
Then the other two demons were back, attacking him at once... .
Without her telekinesis, she was powerless to stop them. Others in the crowd had ceased their own sparring to watch this clash. They were abuzz that the fallen vampire wasn't drinking and that the rage demon hadn't turned fully.
As Rydstrom and four more rough-looking males closed in on the fight, he asked her, "You know this vampire?" Suddenly, the others with him had a sinister air, their eyes all turning black.
When they advanced, Néomi swallowed. "I... only s-socially."
"You're his Bride, aren't you?"
Am I his Bride? Whispers sounded all around her; beings scrutinized her with new interest. Why?
She retreated a few steps, and when Rydstrom's crew continued after her, she turned to Conrad. He was still contending with all three of his attackers. "Conrad!" she cried.
He was in front of her in an instant, arm shoved back to yank her into him. His body was a heated mass of muscle, his broad shoulders rising and falling with breaths -
Breaths?
She laid her ear against his back. His heart was pounding. I blooded him!
"A new liability, Wroth?" Cade asked, wiping his forearm over his bleeding face. "Introduce us to your Bride, then."
"If you think to harm her," Conrad grated, "then you invite your own end." He grasped her upper arm, pulling her beside him.
Néomi swallowed when some of the females gave her sympathetic looks. What do they know that I don't? What will he do to me?
This was an immortal assassin who'd just been denied a kill. Denied because of her. She could see a feral, possessive light to his eyes, along with a deep rage, as if not slaying those demons had taken something from him.
No one wanted to challenge him - a vampire protecting his Bride. He cupped his hand on the back of her neck in a show of possession for everyone to see. "Mine. And I protect what's mine."
Then... they disappeared.
28
When Conrad traced them to their room at Elancourt, he didn't say a word, just stared down at her. Rage mingled with desire in his expression, both so intense she shivered alternately with fear and need.
He released her, stalking around her, his gaze raking over her body. She turned as well, until they were circling each other.
"How did you come to be like this?"
"I have ways, Conrad. Maybe I'm not as friendless and pitiful as you thought me."
He gave a bitter laugh. "Pity is the last thing I'm feeling for you, koeri."
"What are you planning to do with me?" she asked.
"You're soon to see." His low voice rolled over her - she could swear she could feel it rumbling.
They continued circling, almost as if in a dance. Her long-dormant senses had already been flaring to life, and with every second, she grew more deeply aroused. "Why were some of the females regarding me with sympathy?"
"They think they know what's about to happen to you. You're the Bride of a fallen vampire denied a kill."
Things were going on in his mind that she couldn't understand. All she knew for certain was that he was more animalistic than any man she'd ever known. "What do they think will happen?" She believed Conrad would never intentionally hurt her. But he did alarm her. He was unspeakably strong, and her new body was so vulnerable.
"That I'll throw you to the ground and shove myself between your legs, taking your neck in a frenzy." He sounded as if the very idea excited him. Without warning, he seized her upper arms, dragging her to his body.
"Let me go, Conrad!" She could feel his erection growing, pressing against her belly. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to claim my Bride. You've been given to me - to me alone! It was you that I wanted." He fisted his hand in her hair, pulling her head to the side hard. Eyes riveted to her neck, he rubbed his tongue on his fang, then rasped, "I can see your beautiful pulse."
Stifling a cry, she said, "You're hurting me, Conrad." Try to sound calm. She intuitively knew she had one chance at this - one chance with him. She didn't believe he'd ever forgive himself for harming her. "Do you intend to punish me over the key? Or are you losing control again?"
Still staring at her neck, he drew his brows together. "Hurt you?" When she attempted to pry his hand from her hair, he released it. "Never hurt you." Even as he was saying this, his other hand was gripping her arm. "I was wrong about the key. Have regret for my words."
And just like that, with two simple, unmistakable sentiments, her anger dwindled. "If you want more with me, then don't proceed like this, when you're enraged and fresh from a fight." She twisted her arm from his fist. "Don't hurt the body I was just given."
He breathed in deeply, so clearly struggling for command of himself. "If I can get... can get control now" - his head jerked to the side and back - "you'll forgive me for losing it over the key. Say it!"
"Yes, if you can do this for us." Néomi dared to reach up and stroke the backs of her fingers along his jawline. She experienced a jolt of surprise - this was the first time their skin had touched.
And this vampire, so brutal and violent to others, leaned his handsome face into her touch. She laid her other hand over his thundering heart. "Conrad, je crois en toi. I believe in you. Go to the folly."