Shades of Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #16) - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,33
How long had the male been gone while she was snoozing? And just what had he been doing? “Where did you get your information?”
He shrugged. “I bought it.”
“I thought you had only a few coins…” Her words trailed away as he instinctively reached up to touch the gold chain around his neck. Only it was missing something. “Oh no. Basq, where’s your amulet?”
He abruptly dropped his hand, his expression chagrined as he realized he’d given away more than he intended.
“I bartered it.”
His tone was clipped, his expression guarded. He didn’t want to talk about the cost.
Chaaya stepped forward, a hard lump of emotion stuck in her throat. “No. You shouldn’t have done that.”
He waved aside her protest. “We needed food and information. We have both.”
“Who gave you the amulet?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Tell me.” She pressed her hand against his chest, over the precise spot the amulet had once rested. “Please.”
There was a long, painful pause. “Tarak,” he finally admitted. “He gave it to me when I joined his clan. He said it was a promise that we would always be family.”
The simple words crushed down on Chaaya, as if she was suddenly carrying an unbearable weight.
“Why would you give it up?”
He glanced away, his features set in stoic lines. “We need to find Brigette.”
Her hand slid up his chest, wrapping around the back of his neck. “Why, Basq?”
Icy power thundered through the air as Basq’s eyes sizzled with the same awareness that zipped and zapped through her. Like an electric shock caught in a loop.
“You sacrificed your life. The least I could do was sacrifice a small bit of metal,” he reluctantly confessed.
“It was more than a small bit of metal,” she muttered. Then, without giving herself time to consider her impulsive need for more, Chaaya slid her fingers into his dark hair and yanked his head down.
Basq made a sound of surprise, but before he could demand to know what she was doing, Chaaya was on her tiptoes so she could claim his mouth in a fierce kiss.
With quicksilver speed, Basq’s arms were wrapped around her, hauling her tight against his body. As if her kiss had triggered a response so deeply ingrained inside him that he reacted on pure instinct. Chaaya parted her lips, savoring the sharp press of his fangs. She’d heard rumors that a vampire’s bite could cause an orgasm.
She twined her arms around his neck, arching her back to press against his hard muscles. Weeks ago she’d seen him leaving the spa area of the casino. He’d been wearing a loose pair of jogging shorts and nothing else. She’d nearly drooled at the sight of his broad chest and sculpted six-pack. At the time she’d been overwhelmed with the desire to know if his rich, creamy white skin was as silky smooth as it looked.
About to appease her curiosity, Chaaya was distracted when Basq lifted his head, studying her upturned face with a brooding gaze.
“You don’t owe me anything, Chaaya.”
It took her a second to realize what he was implying. “Is that why you think I kissed you?” she demanded in a dangerous voice.
“Isn’t it?”
She narrowed her gaze. “I don’t pay my debts with my body, leech,” she snapped. “If I kiss someone it’s because I want to taste their lips.” Her gaze moved to his chiseled mouth. “And feel their body. And—”
She had plenty more to say, but her words were cut short as he swooped his head down and kissed her with an earth-shattering urgency. His arms tightened until they would have crushed her if she’d still been human. She gripped his hair, hanging on tight as the maelstrom of sensations battered through her.
Heat seared through her body, clashing against the sharp chill in the air. The contrast was deliciously erotic, spreading a rash of pleasurable goose bumps over her skin. A moan rumbled in her throat, the taste of his lips as heady and addictive as any drug.
This was what she’d sensed was waiting for her. And why she’d gone to such an effort to keep him at arm’s length. She’d spent most of her life trapped in a hell dimension—did she really want to become a prisoner of her emotions? Even if this male was the most extraordinary creature she’d ever encountered.
The unnerving thought was just penetrating the desire that clouded her mind when Basq moved his mouth to nuzzle along the line of her jaw before he scraped his fangs down the curve of her neck.