Page 64 of The Vampire Debt

“I hate you,” I say, but my words lack venom.

He raises a single dark brow. “Because I am a vampire?”

I nod. “Yes.”

“Yet, you stayed by my side all night, guarding me.” Alaric takes me in, suspicion darkening his expression.

“And you saved me from the demons,” I say.

I’m unsure what this thing between us is, or how I can want someone I have every reason to hate. I take a hesitant step forward. When he doesn’t retreat, I take another step, then another. I place my hands on his chest and wait for him to turn around and leave.

He stays. His hands find my waist and pull me to him. I drag my gaze up to meet his. Neither of us attempts to move for what could be seconds or hours. He leans forward and kisses me again.

The kiss is different this time, it is different than the ones I owed to him through our bargain. This one is soft and almost uncertain. After several moments, when neither of us pulls away, he deepens it. His mouth sweeps over mine. I make a breathy sound as he coaxes my lips open, and his tongue enters.

The very taste of him is intoxicating. I press myself against him, needing to be closer. My fingers fumble with his cravat until it’s undone, then I move to his vest. He responds in kind, undoing the buttons of my blouse.

The second his hands touch the bare skin of my ribs, he breaks our kiss. The hard length of him presses against my lower abdomen. His thumbs graze the undersides of my breasts, while his mouth continues trailing along my jaw and down my neck, pausing when he gets to the spot where my pulse pounds beneath my skin.

Alaric lifts me up and I wrap my legs around him as he continues to kiss every patch of skin he can get to, going lower and lower. I gasp as he takes the peak of one breast into his mouth. His fangs graze my skin without piercing, sending delicious shivers all over, and all I can think about is what it would be like to have all of him pressed down on top of me.

Slowly, he lifts his head, his gaze smolders and I almost have to look away from the sheer intensity of it. There are a million thoughts swirling behind his eyes as he remembers himself and as I remember everything I wanted to forget.

His hold on me loosens and I slide down the front of his body. I don’t want to stop, and I can feel he doesn’t either.

“Clara,” he says my name, and nothing follows, as if he’s lost for words.

I can’t blame him… I am too.

Neither of us wants to say what needs to be said, though we are both thinking it. We don’t break eye contact, but I release my hands from my efforts at removing his shirt as he redoes the buttons of mine.

There is far too much between us that we have not yet been dealt with.

As my passion dissipates, I realize all it would take from him is a single gesture or word or look and I would gladly give myself over to him.

And as messed up as it is to crave him as I do, I know this isn’t his doing. He’s not using any power on me like I wanted to think.

Whatever we have between us is fucked up. There should be nothing but animosity, but there is so, so much more.

After we have straightened ourselves, he wordlessly offers me his arm. I take it and let Alaric guide me down the hall toward the stairs.

Neither of us speaks as we walk. When we reach the door to my room, I enter and turn to face him. He remains on the other side of the threshold.

“Do you know why I gave you that particular dagger and not one incapable of harming me?” he asks, cupping my cheek with his hand.

I shake my head.

“Because I knew that you would inevitably change me before you left. And I want a reminder of it, even if it is in the shape of a scar.”

There’s something so dark and disturbing about that, but it’s touching all the same.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Clara

The wind whipsthrough the trees at the edge of the property as a late autumn storm rolls in from the west. Relaxing in the window seat of the library, I set the book I was reading to the side and wrap my arms around my legs, resting my cheek on my knee while I watch the tree boughs sway in the late evening light. Already the demons howling can be heard.

“Clara,” Alaric says my name quietly. Turning to him, I can’t help the warmth that pools in my core.