Holy shit.
Roke clutched Sally’s fingers in one hand and the box in the other as he headed straight for the nearby shed.
“That was quite a trick,” she muttered, her steps shaky as she struggled to keep pace.
“It won’t hold him for long,” he said in absent tones, his gaze skimming the barren landscape.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for a vehicle.” He hissed in frustration as he realized they had no easy means of escape. He hadn’t heard the approach of a car, but that was hardly surprising. It might be humiliating to admit, but when Sally was near he tended to be dangerously distracted. “How did the bastard get here?”
“On foot?” she suggested.
“Possible, but Mieras aren’t as physically strong as most demons. They rarely travel more than a few miles beyond their lair.” He muttered a curse. There were way too many questions with no answers. “We’re going to have to make a run for it.”
She staunchly squared her shoulders despite her obvious weariness.
“Okay.”
His lips twisted. He didn’t doubt she would drive herself until she collapsed into a coma. And all without once asking for help.
She’d been alone too long.
Been hurt too many times.
What she needed was a kind, patient man who could tenderly heal the wounds that life had inflicted.
Not an ill-tempered, loner of a vampire who’d made a vow to devote his life to his clan.
Unfortunately he was all she had.
“Will you trust me to keep you safe?” he abruptly demanded.
There was a predictable hesitation, but after a long pause she gave a nod.
“Yes.”
Something moved deep inside him.
A seismic shift that cracked open a vulnerable fissure he had no idea how to repair.
And no time to consider the long-term consequences.
Instead, he swept her off her feet, cradling her against his chest as he flowed silently through the night.
“Hold on,” he warned, leaping over a wide culvert.
She threw her arms around his neck, anxiously trying to glance over his shoulder.
“Do you sense we’re being followed?”
His arms tightened protectively around her slender body, his fangs fully exposed as he made a direct path toward the trees that filled the small valley below them.
Anything that tried to stop them, he’d rip out their throat.
“No, but there was something off about that demon,” he said. He wasn’t intimately familiar with Miera demons, but he knew damned well the one that attacked them wasn’t natural. “For all we know the creature might be capable of disguising his presence.”
She shivered, but her courage never faltered.