There was enough truth in her words to make him hesitate. “At the very least you’re not revealing everything you know,” he at last accused her.
“You’re a mind reader?”
“One way or another I’ll discover the truth, little witch,” he growled, turning on his heel to head out of the cell.
Briefly startled by his departure, Sally rose to her feet. Her strength was returning, but what good would it do her if she couldn’t use it to escape?
She needed someone she could manipulate.
Someone who wasn’t a powerful vampire who made her think of sweet, forbidden things.
“Does it have to be you?”
Halting, he glanced over his shoulder at her abrupt question. “Me?”
“Can I have a different guard?”
“Why?”
“I should think that was obvious.”
“Indulge me.”
Her chin tilted. “I don’t like you.”
His body went rigid, his eyes darkening with something that might have been outrage. “In case you didn’t notice, you’re in the dungeons,” he snarled, his power nearly suffocating. “You’re lucky the keys haven’t been thrown away and your luscious little body left for the wolves. Literally.”
What the hell was wrong with him? He acted as if she’d insulted him . . . Wait—did he just call her body luscious?
Dammit, Sally, concentrate.
Sucking in a deep breath, she refused to back down. “Even a condemned criminal gets a last request, Roke. And mine is that I don’t have to see you again.”
Chapter 6
Louisiana wetlands
Nefri allowed Santiago to lead her from the house, resolutely maintaining her air of detachment while deep inside she was an emotional mess.
That room . . .
It wasn’t just the blood and guts.
She was an ancient vampire who’d witnessed just about every depravity that demons and humans could imagine. It was the lingering evil that seemed to cling to the air. Like an oil slick that polluted everything it touched. Dear lord. She wanted to stand beneath a shower and scrub herself from head to toe.
And just as confusing were the violent emotions the vampire walking at her side inspired. He was infuriating, illogical, stubborn, and so typically male that she wanted to scream. He was also wickedly charming, unexpectedly intelligent, and intensely loyal to his clan.
One minute she wanted to have him muzzled, and the next she wanted to wrap herself in his raw power and kiss him senseless.
Which terrified her.
Granted, it’d been a long time since she’d last taken a lover, but she knew that this extreme awareness of Santiago had nothing to do with sexual frustration. Or even a brief bout of lust.
She wished it was.
Lust she could easily satisfy. Either with Santiago or with one of her own clansmen.
But this restless craving that was spreading through her body wasn’t going to be ended by a swift, discreet tumble. Not that Santiago would ever be swift or discreet in bed, a renegade voice whispered in the back of her mind. He would be fierce and dominant and outrageously demanding. No doubt he would leave a female feeling thoroughly ravaged . . . in the most gratifying way.