“No.”
“So arrogant.”
He shrugged. “You wouldn’t want me if I were a doormat.”
“I don’t want you, period.”
Salvatore arched a brow at her blatant lie. “You’ve never been around another pureblood, have you?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because if you had, you would know I can smell your physical response.” He breathed in deeply, his body tingling in response. “It fills the air.”
An astonishing blush touched her cheeks before she was roughly pushing away from the door and pacing toward the cage.
“Why doesn’t Caine just kill you?”
He paused, struck by her pertinent question. “I don’t know.”
“I thought the King of Weres knew everything?”
He cast a disgusted glance toward the locked door of his cage.
“Obviously not.”
She unconsciously rubbed her arms, as if trying to rid herself of the tangible electricity that pulsed between. His lips twisted.
Ah, if only it were that simple.
“You said that my sisters and I were stolen from a nursery?” she demanded.
“Si.” Salvatore grimaced. Far too late he realized he’d been played the fool. “At first I assumed it was traditional baby snatchers who were out to make a quick buck on the black market. Now I suspect it’s a calculated plot intended to destroy the Weres.”
“And you think Caine’s involved?”
“Without a doubt.”
She nodded, as if not particularly surprised by Caine’s treachery.
“What happened in Hannibal?”
“Short or long version?”
“Short.”
“After years of searching, I tracked your sister Regan to a psychotic imp named Culligan who’d been torturing her for the past thirty years.” He shrugged. “Not surprisingly, she went a bit homicidal when I released her, and she tracked Culligan to Hannibal where Caine’s minions first tried to capture her, and then tried to kill her.”
“Which minions?”
She was testing him. Whether it was to discover if Caine was lying or he was, it was impossible to say.
“Sadie was the leader. Regan killed her. Then there was Duncan, who intended to lead me to this lair.” His jaw tightened. “Unfortunately, Caine and his pet jinn got there first.”
Her lips parted, no doubt with yet another question, then there was the sound of a click and abruptly she was spinning on her heel and rushing back to the door.
She grasped the door handle and futilely attempted to pull it open.
“Shit,” she muttered.