Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,168

should have remembered how intuitive she could be, even in a torn-up emotional state. Opening her eyes, she stared up at him. “I’m going to die, Niall. I know Evan wants me to be something else, but perhaps it’s better for me to be what I’ve always been. Just like you told him in the beginning. Because when Stephen dies, and I wake on the other side and find myself . . . bound to him . . .”

Her voice started to shake, betraying the fear, the dread. She’d let it loose on the mountain that one time, when a stressful situation had pushed her to breaking, and he saw it again now. She was like that little lad with his finger in the dike, always aware of the great wall of water waiting to overcome her on the other side.

“What will help me endure it for all eternity?” she whispered. “The training that says anything he does to me, I deserve, or Evan’s world, where I have no idea what I am? Who I am?”

Closing her eyes, she turned her face away. “Please leave me alone. I just . . . let me be alone. I’m afraid . . . and so tired . . .”

Tears spilled anew over his fingers, but now the sobs were held inside, with such effort her ribs might break from it.

When he slid off of her, giving her the ability to breathe, she turned toward the wall. He didn’t leave her, though. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, bent his thighs under hers to cradle her, keep her together.

As she made a plaintive noise of pain, he merely held her closer. “I’m nae going to leave you. Cry, be afraid, whatever ye need to let it out.”

The sobs burst forth, though she turned her face to the pillow to muffle them. She couldn’t muffle the shudders, though, the jerking of her muscles. She was so reserved, so self-possessed, he’d overlooked how truly young she was. Not even out of her twenties. Her upbringing had forced great maturity on her, but she’d brought great maturity to it. A young woman facing the certainty of her death, and the terrible uncertainty of what came after.

Age didn’t offer much in the way of comfort, though. Here he was, nearly three hundred, helpless to do anything to make it better other than holding her like this and wishing like hell something could be done.

Male fingers caressed him, sliding down the bare curve of his back to rest on his arse. Glancing up into Evan’s somber eyes, Niall wasn’t surprised to see his anger was gone. Like him, the vampire’d had time to recover from the fright she’d given them both. Evan tilted his head, indicating he intended to take his place. Reluctantly, Niall slid off the bunk. Alanna, oblivious to them, caught in her own misery, remained hunched in a ball, quivering.

Go pack up the cottage. I’ll deal with things here.

Niall nodded, but as he slid past Evan in the narrow space, he gripped the male’s hip, still uncertain about leaving the lass. Evan touched Niall’s face.

All will be well, neshama.

Absurdly enough, the vampire’s words brought him comfort. It was a reminder that, even when such a reassurance was all that could be offered for an impossible situation, sometimes it was enough.

Alanna was lost in an exhausted haze, body twitching with stress. A part of her was desperately glad Niall hadn’t left her alone, but then he shifted away. She stilled as a body she well recognized slid behind her, hand settling on her hip.

“Alanna. Turn over and look at me.”

In her entire life, she’d never considered ignoring a vampire’s command, but this time, she wanted to. When his long fingers tightened on her, a warning, she let out a shaky sigh, turned over on her back. She had enough vanity to swipe at the strands of hair plastered to her cheeks by her crying, but he pushed her fingers away, did it himself. His gray eyes were so close, the sculpted mouth and jawline. He had such an interesting face, she thought tiredly. Not classically handsome, but an ironically artistic appeal, a charisma that had told her from the beginning he was a resourceful and exceptionally intelligent male.

“Yes, I am exceptionally resourceful. I wish you’d believed that an hour ago.”

Her mind was clear enough to recall Niall’s words. You didn’t trust him enough. Looking at the tightness around Evan’s mouth, the lingering disappointment and frustration