woman while we move deeper into the Darklands.”
Torrin stood, handing me the vial before he started removing his clothing. My eyes slid over the bronzed flesh as I pulled the stopper from the vial. Sniffing it, I recoiled from the pungent scent while turning up my lip. I groaned, scrunching up my nose before I placed it against my lips, taking a drink. I gagged and was grateful when Torrin handed me the whiskey. I gulped it down, frowning when I noticed he had stripped down to nothing.
“I have to pee,” I exclaimed.
He grunted softly, shaking his dark head before his eyes lifted to lock with mine. He grabbed a pair of lounge pants that hugged his powerful thighs tightly and nodded at the flap. I followed him to the far side of camp, where dead logs covered the ground.
I waited for him to turn around and away from me, and he smirked. “I’ve seen you naked, woman.” His arms crossed over his chest like he intended to continue watching me.
“So you have, but it’s the gentlemanly thing to do, turning around for a woman to relieve her needs in private.” I watched the challenge burning in his eyes before he allowed my request, giving me his back.
I squatted, quickly relieving my bladder that had been complaining for hours. Rising, I pulled my pants up and started toward Torrin, only to stop dead in my tracks. Chills raced up my spine, and my body stilled completely.
Torrin still faced away from me, not feeling the danger near to us. Tears gathered in my eyes, and everything within me screamed. My blood chilled to ice, and my heartbeat pounded in my ears as mist covered my skin, immediately freezing where it gathered. My eyes no longer blinked, and my hair hardened with the icy grasp of death.
“Bloody hell, woman,” Torrin snapped, turning to look at me where I was slowly freezing to death. “Wraiths,” he whispered, clucking his tongue loudly while his eyes slid over my shoulders, and he launched himself at me.
He took me to the ground, hard. My body rebelled from the pain his heat created against my frozen flesh. His mouth brushed against mine while he peered into my eyes, which continued to freeze. I was going to freeze to death! I couldn’t even scream or speak with the ice that filled my throat while my lips turned blue.
I could hear the feet and blades that drug across the ground as the dead moved toward us. Wraiths were one of the few creatures we couldn’t stand against to protect ourselves. They were newly dead beings, killed by nightwalkers, and raised from their graves by dark magic to hunt the living. They spread ice through the air in the form of a fine mist that clings to the skin of their victims. The wraiths freeze their prey in place, easily reaching them during their painfully slow death march, unhindered by their sightless eyes.
Their inhuman moans and howls filled the air while hundreds of feet barely lifted while they made their way toward our camp, driven by their sense of smell and our living scent.
Torrin covered every inch of me with his body. His hand lifted, enveloping my mouth, and I realized I was moaning softly. My consciousness was slipping, fading to nothing as my blood thickened to frozen sludge in my veins. Torrin’s eyes filled with worry, and his dark head lifted before he pulled me up with him, rushing toward the tent.
The moment we entered, he stripped me down to my skin, shucking his lounge pants to fold us into the blankets. His enormous hands rubbed my body down as he studied my face with worry burning in his eyes. I whispered no words as the hissing of the monsters outside the tent grew closer to us. His hands warmed me, rubbing life back into my body.
It wasn’t enough. My eyes wouldn’t close, which meant I was going to die, staring at the hottest man I’d ever encountered. I wanted to laugh hysterically at the irony of it, knowing that upon death, I’d embarrass myself as all bodily fluids released. Thank the gods I’d just peed.
Torrin’s mouth lowered to mine, claiming it even though I wasn’t kissing him back. His fingers slid through my sex, and I almost groaned, but the air wasn’t filling my lungs. He pushed into my sex, and I blinked, frowning as my body started pumping blood while pleasure rushed through me. His eyes smiled,