"No. But he did seem to make a decision about me."
"I thought I'd only been out for a day. You've been out here for two days without me?" He squeezed her hands.
"Ow!"
He peered down in horror to see he'd hurt her hands worse. They met eyes before they both lowered their gazes to her legs. Her pants were sliced through, her skin bitten and bloodied. She was injured worse than he'd ever seen. The sand around her was dark. It was blood... everywhere.
"My God, why didn't you say something?" he roared, furious again.
"Oh, pardon me for bleeding," she muttered when she saw his eyes glued to her legs. "Don't want to whet your appetite."
"You can be so coarse sometimes, wife."
"Not your sodding wife."
"Yet." Against her weak struggles, he scooped her up against his chest and pulled her tightly to him. In a gentler tone, he said, "I'll bring you home, and we'll bandage you."
The other Lore beings stopped in mid-stride to stare at the Valkyrie being held by a vampire. Cindey gaped at them in astonishment.
Kaderin didn't seem to care. She glanced at him and back at the horizon, biting her bottom lip, brows drawn. "The prize... "
Even after what she'd been through, her mind had seized again on the prize. He curled his finger under her chin, turning her to face him. Her eyes were luminous in her elfin face as she stared up at him. He wanted to give her anything she desired.
And he couldn't.
"Katja, I cannot retrieve it for you. I would. But I cannot see the destination."
"You figured out how to find me."
"If you can help me determine how to find a moving, living whirlpool and have it open for me, I will risk the sharks."
Her eyelids were getting heavy, and alarm rioted within him.
"I'm sorry, kena. I'll find another way." He traced her back to the flat, setting her on the bed. In a businesslike manner, he slipped her shirt off and set about cleaning and bandaging her hands and arms. But he was sweating, dreading hurting her any worse than she was.
When he ripped the remains of her pants from her, they both grew quiet at the damage. "Can you... you will not die from this?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
"No, not at all," she said in a sleepy tone. "Which is why I need you to trace me back to the beach at once."
Her words were ridiculous in the face of her injuries. "What truly drives you to do this? Why won't you tell me?"
She studied his face, gazing up into his eyes, as if searching his soul.
"You can trust me," he said.
She looked like she wanted to trust him, but couldn't will herself to. "I've known you less than a month, but I've... I've learned harsh lessons over the last two thousand years."
"I know. I've seen them in my dreams." He could admit to himself that in her place, he'd have a hard time trusting a vampire, too. But Sebastian knew his word was good - he just needed to persuade her. "I vow I will never be like those red-eyed fiends. There's no reason not to tell me."
"There's also no reason to tell you," she countered.
"I could help you."
"Won't you anyway?" she asked.
He scowled. "Of course. But there's got to be something that would make you trust me."
"Yes, my absolute belief that you would never use my trust against me."
"You know I would never hurt you!"
"I didn't say hurt me. I said use it against me." Her eyelids were getting heavy. "You do so love your leverage, vampire."
When she was safe with him, bandaged and sleeping soundly, he showered, his worry and fury finally beginning to dim. But he also became filled with a new resolve. He knew she couldn't die. But she could f**king hurt. And he was done allowing her to get strangled and stabbed and beaten each night. He wouldn't have it anymore.
After dressing, he slipped away, returning to the beach to see if he could do anything to help her finish this infernal competition. After her two days of competing without Sebastian, she was thirteen points away from the finals.
The exact number of points she'd sacrificed for him.
He still couldn't believe she'd given up that box. He'd checked his pockets for it but he'd lost it. Which was understandable, considering his fall and then his crawl across the riverbank.
At the beach, he spied an opportunity, and acted on it. If he couldn't remove the prize from the competition, he could remove the competition from the prize. He returned to Kaderin within fifteen minutes, shaking snow out of his hair.
When he joined her in bed, she nestled into the pillow and murmured, "You smell nice."
He carefully tucked her against him, reminded that she fit him so perfectly.
Her breaths grew light and quick, but they always did when she slept. She twitched and gave a soft moan. He petted her hair, soothing her.
When he finally slept, he dreamed her memories again. It was expected now. Yet these weren't memories from antiquity. Kaderin was clutching the phone with both hands, eyes watering, as one of her half-sisters delivered a death sentence.
36
Kaderin opened her eyes, confused to find herself still snuggled in her sheets that hinted at his sexy scent.
He sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands, much as he had the first time she'd found him. She knew he'd gone from sorrow to elation that morning. She also knew that since then, he'd been disillusioned by her and hurt.
"How long have I been out?" she asked, her voice scratchy.
"Two days."
"What?" she shrieked, shooting upright.
He caught her shoulder when she swayed. "Easy, kena. You were injured worse than either of us thought. You lost a lot of blood. Let me check your bandages." He unwrapped her leg. "My God, you heal fast." By now, the gashes on her legs resembled old scars - pink and raised but seeming to fade right before their eyes.
"It's lost," she said, the words breaking. "Over." A tear slipped down her cheek, and she angrily swiped it away.
"Katja, it is not."
"With me out of the picture, Cindey has had all the time in the world. She could've gotten a stick of dy***ite and stunned the sharks, or used diving equipment - "
He reached forward to tuck a curl behind her ear. "I don't believe there is much diving equipment in Siberia."
"Siberia?"
"I couldn't get the prize for you. But I could incapacitate your only real competition. I traced the siren to an abandoned coal mine in the Russian north."
Hope shot through her, warm and good. Had he protected her position in the contest? "Sh-she didn't sing to you?"