Page 68 of A Hunt Bound in Blood
No more books, no more Ashara.
Yet the reminders of home—the parts I loved—faded under the kaleidoscope of colours and sounds and smells. The atmosphere in this cavern ensnared me, dragging me deeper until my thoughts were nothing but a swirling blend of sensory stimuli, and I followed Kalla through the room without any awareness of where I was going.
My only anchor was the sensation of Cammon’s gaze on me through the crowd. It prickled between my shoulder blades, made the hair on my arms dance and my nipples tighten.
You tempt me more than anything else ever has.
This from a demon.
This without the temporary bond between us.
Who was I that I could have this much influence over a prince? A demon prince who was a master of temptation?
The thought was ludicrous and more than a little exhilarating. I felt powerful. More so than I ever had in my life.
Was that such a surprise? A tempest mage who couldn’t access her magic without demolishing a city, a vampire who couldn’t reveal herself lest she be torn to pieces—I’d only ever known how to hide. Under Cammon’s gaze, I stood bare. Exposed.
A shiver ran through me, and I didn’t know if it came from fear or arousal. A combination of both? To run or to give in. I had time to make up my mind.
Kalla pressed a cup into my hand, and when I took a sip, a mix of blood and brandy spilled over my tongue. Delicious, reviving, but not the elixir that was Cammon’s lifeblood. A second rate offering that promised survival but not the heights of perfection the demon prince had given me.
My beautiful, exiled prince. As lost as I was. So determined to find a place for himself.
Kalla led me to the cushions on the far side of the fire and shoved me into them. She was talking to me, laughing about something, but I didn’t hear a word, my attention fixed on where Cammon stood on the other side of the room. He’d retracted his wings, but the space around him remained as empty as if they were extended. His eyes were clearing, the crimson shining through, but enough black lingered to tell me that if I were to go to him right now, he would carry me back to our nook to pick up where we’d left off.
Was that what I wanted?
I was caught up in the magic of this unique place, where I could be open about who I was without fear of repercussions. Had that freedom gone to my head? I didn’t want to make decisions I would regret when we left. Cammon and I still had a little over two weeks to travel together—through dragon territory, at that—and we needed to work as a team to reach our goal. Sex could complicate things, and Olodin forbid emotions became involved. If anything got messy, the entire mission could be at risk.
But maybe a single night wouldn’t hurt?
A shudder ran through me as reality fought against the siren’s call of bliss. I was trapped somewhere in the middle, not sure which road to take: the responsible route I always followed, or the sweet reprieve that would allow me to experience something I’d never in my life enjoyed.
Someone pressed something else into my hands, and I looked down to find a plate of food. Meats and vegetables flavoured with spices. My stomach grumbled, and I accepted that I needed energy to face whichever path I took.
“Eat,” Kalla whispered.
I took a bite and the flavours exploded in my mouth, as much a sensual experience as everything else I’d encountered in this place. Before I realized it, my plate was empty, and then it was gone, whisked away by someone moving through the crowd.
The beat of a hand drum, like a slow rush of blood, wove through the dozens of conversations flowing through the room. I tore my gaze from Cammon—who still lounged against the wall, the image of casual, though I knew he was on constant guard—to look around and spotted a group of musicians set up to the right of the fire. A woman with a set of pipes and a man with a tambourine carried a melody that was barely audible over the din, but that drum—there was no escaping the steady rhythm. It reverberated through my veins and into my heart until the beat of both aligned and awoke.
“The music is something else, isn’t it?” Kalla murmured close enough to my ear that I had no trouble hearing her. “A whole other kind of magic.”
At her emphasis on magic, I cast a closer eye at the trio, and this time, I noticed the faint points of their ears, the almost pearlescent sheen to their flawless skin, the depth of their bright eyes.
My eyebrows shot up. “They’re fae?”
Kalla grinned and nodded. “They are indeed.”
Her gaze was fixed on the handsome white-blond man at the drum, who stared right back at her with an intensity that made me blush.
I looked between the two of them and smiled. “Yours?”
She sighed. “All mine.” A shadow of pain—healed but not forgotten—flickered across her happy expression. “At a cost, but one neither Jael nor I regret paying.” She blinked, and the sorrow was gone, her smile once again in force. “Which is why you should believe me when I tell you that wherever the beat guides you? Follow.”
Her hand settled on my back, and she shoved me off balance towards the centre of the room, to where the bodies of dozens of vampires moved to the music as though enthralled by that driving, sensual rhythm.
I rose to my feet and stilled, searching for a way out of the crowd. But as though the fury were conspiring against me, they drew me deeper into it. Fingers butterflied across my skin, fangs flashed, voices murmured a tone of encouragement in my ears, and before I knew what was happening, the mob spat me out on the other side of the fire. Right in front of Cammon.