“I’ll drop you near a cave,” was all the assurance she gave me.
A particularly violent wave slammed my back against the side of the boat. I groaned, cursing the witch in my head for being unable to heal me with magic.
“That serum won’t be in your blood forever. I suspect it’ll be gone within a day. Just get some sleep. You’re going to need it.” She gave me a sour smile. “And I could do without your voice in my ears for a few hours.”
I didn’t know how I managed to fall asleep in that cramped corner of the boat, with the ocean knocking me about. But eventually, my body gave in to slumber.
Chapter 5: Kiev
My stunning human captive stood in my bathroom, undressed from the waist up. On seeing me enter, she reached for a towel and clutched it against her chest. I walked over and stood behind her, slipping my hands beneath her towel and running them along her skin. I shivered as I drew warmth from her pregnant body.
“Please, Kiev,” she choked, flinching at my touch. “Let me go. I can’t survive this without my husband.”
On mention of Derek Novak, I stopped caressing her and settled my hands over her protruding stomach.
“I told you to forget that man.”
“I can’t. I won’t.”
I gripped her abdomen tighter, applying pressure with my fingers.
“If you want your twins to be born alive,” I whispered into her ear. “I suggest you heed my warnings.”
“Please. If you let me escape this place, I’ll do anything…willingly.”
The anguish in her voice made me take a step back. My gaze roamed the length of her body before meeting her glistening green eyes. Her beauty made me ache inside.
Anything? I began to mull over all the things I wanted to do with her at that moment. The possibilities were endless…
I was shocked when she took my hand and pulled me into the bedroom, toward the bed. She lay between the sheets and looked up at me with a determined expression on her face even while tears brimmed in her eyes.
“If this is what you want from me,” she whispered. “I’ll give it to you.”
If you don’t take her now, I thought to myself. You’re going to regret it forever.
Brushing aside her long auburn hair, I pulled myself over her and leaned toward her neck. I breathed in her intoxicating scent before running my tongue along her bite marks, licking away the dried blood. It felt like no matter how much of her blood I drank, I would never be satiated.
Standing up, I looked into her eyes again for a reaction. They looked docile. Jaded. For as long as I had known her, Sofia Claremont had never given into my demands without a fight. Now, her surrender to my darkness unnerved me.
“You don’t want me,” I muttered after several minutes. “You’re just desperate.”
She looked up at me, her eyes widening. Perhaps she believed it to be an act of mercy. If only she had known that what I had planned for her was the furthest thing from merciful.
I woke up in a sweat. Night had fallen and the boat had stopped moving. I sat up, noticing that the pain in my body had subsided. I ran my hands along my skin. It felt smooth. Mona had been right. The sleep had done my body good. How long I had been sleeping, I could only guess.
I stood up and looked around the empty deck.
“Witch?” I called.
Splashing came from the waters nearby. Over the edge of the boat, two shiny heads bobbed above the waves. And the witch. She sat with her legs on either side of one of the dolphins, her wet dress hiked up her toned thighs, blood around her lips, nimbly picking apart a fish with her bare hands.
“They needed to stop for dinner,” she said.
I was ravenous. Even the sight of fish blood made my stomach grumble. I slid into the cool waters.
“How do you catch those things without a net?” I asked, swimming toward her.
“Kai might be able to spare you one, if you ask him nicely.” She patted the dolphin on the head. It lifted its shiny face from the water, opening its mouth to reveal several squished fish.