Diana's Hound: Bloodhounds, Book 4 by Moira Rogers Read Free Book Online Page A

“If I didn’t think I could do this, I would’ve told Emmett to find someone else. I’m not reckless, Nate. It’s only that…this is what I am.”
    “This is what you are,” he agreed. “And so I’ll be what I’ve always been—an inventor following a bloodhound into battle, even if the battlefield will be somewhat unusual.”
    “This will be as much your fight as mine,” Diana reminded him. “You have to play your part, whatever you decide that should be. You could claim boredom with me, though the opposite might serve you better. Tell them I’m too much trouble, and you can’t wait to be rid of me?”
    He looked at his hands, flexing them several times before spreading his fingers wide. “They don’t look as weak as they did a few months ago, but perhaps I can still play the incompetent scholar. My vampire powers have faded somewhat since I replaced fresh blood with the substitute we discovered.”
    She couldn’t help staring at his hands, solid and strong but graceful. Skilled. “You’ll have to feed from me, if only for the show of the marks.” The thought should have scared her—it needed to scare her—but instead she tingled with curiosity.
    “I’d considered it,” he muttered under his breath.
    “The—” Let it go, Diana. “Some of the humans who submit willingly… It’s said they do it for the pleasure. That it’s unspeakable. Addictive.”
    He cleared his throat loudly. “I can control the pleasure. Hunter wasn’t interested in experiencing it, for so very many reasons. Though I don’t worry so much about having to prove your marks. You’re a bloodhound, so of course they’d heal. I worry about when someone asks me to drink from you to prove you’re not toxic to vampires, as a typical bloodhound would be.”
    A dark flash outside the window saved her from casting about for a reply. “We’re here. Did Wilder send word we’d be arriving today?”
    Nate straightened. “He told me he would. Archer should be expecting us.”
    The coach rattled to a stop in front of the stable, and the door opened. But the man who reached inside for her hand wasn’t Archer. “Jesse.”
    The man who’d spent most of the new moons with her tugged her from the steam coach. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Diana.”
    She stood there, dumbstruck, her hand still in his. “What are you doing here?”
    Jesse smiled, slow and warm. “I was in town picking up supplies and heard you were on your way. Couldn’t miss a chance to see an old friend.”
    Not long ago, he’d been more than a friend, though not quite a lover. “My manners are lacking. Nate, this is Jesse Samuels. Jesse, this is Nathaniel Powell, a friend from Iron Creek.”
    Nate’s gaze took in Jesse’s grip on her hand, his too-friendly manner and the way he straightened in borderline challenge under the cool assessment. When the half-vampire smiled, it was chilly. “A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Samuels.”
    Archer swooped in, a wide grin on his face. “Samuels, go get your woman a drink. Nate, how the hell have you been?”
    As Jesse dragged her away, Diana looked over her shoulder and caught sight of Nate’s stunned expression. As awkward as things had been between them, she found herself wishing she could stay and explain, but what would she say?
    No, better to let it lie.
     
     
    Nate felt a right proper fool.
    Diana had vanished with the too-handsome farmer, leaving Nate to the less-than-tender mercies of what passed for civilized conversation in Archer’s mind. “It’s nice to see you again, Archer. You look well.”
    “I feel it.” Archer frowned in confusion, then glanced in the direction Diana had gone. “Why do I think I might have stuck my foot in it just now?”
    Feeling as tired as a man twice his years, Nate sighed. “Because I’ve developed your knack for aggravating women.”
    “Oh, you poor bastard.” Archer looped an arm around his shoulders. “Come on. I don’t have the answers myself, but I’ve got