Holiday with a Vampire 4 by Susan Krinard, Theresa Meyers, Linda Thomas-Sundstrom Read Free Book Online Page A

you.”
    The bald soldier crouched in front of Kane and withdrew a knife from a sheath at the back of his belt.
    “Talk,” Goodman said.
    “I said I have nothing to tell you,” Kane said.
    There was a brief moment of stillness, when all Kane heard was his own slow heartbeat. Then the bald man plunged the knife into Kane’s knee joint.
    Alfie roared and surged forward. “Bloody cowards,” he snarled. “If yer too scared of a fair fight—”
    The tall man reversed his rifle and knocked Alfie down. Goodman nodded, and he swung the rifle around again, aiming at Alfie’s chest.
    It was a type of weapon Kane had never seen before, heavier in the barrel and equipped with features he couldn’t identify.
    The weapon that had slaughtered a half-dozen rogue Freebloods? The one Fiona had tried to warn him about?
    “If you don’t cooperate,” Goodman said, “Johnson will shoot your friend. Rest assured that he’ll stay dead this time.”
    “Stop!”
    Fiona’s voice was as bright and clear as a bugle call on the battlefield. She strode into the room as if she’d never been ill a day in her life, fixing the bald soldier with a stare that could fell an elephant. Immediately the man dropped his knife, and the other two jumped to attention.
    “Did you think I wouldn’t find out about this?” she demanded, taut with rage. “Whatever the Nightsiders may do, we don’t torture. Not for any reason.” She strode up to the tall man and snatched the weapon out of his hands. “Now get out of here. All of you. I’ll deal with you later.”
    The three men left the room in haste and closed the door. Fiona propped the weapon against the wall, knelt before Kane and swore softly.
    “My God,” she said. “If I’d been in my right mind, this never would have happened. Are you badly hurt?”
    The mere sight of her made him forget the pain completely. “I’ll mend,” he said.
    Her eyes told him that she didn’t quite believe him. “I’ll call for the medic.”
    “The medic isn’t necessary,” Kane said. “But Alfie and I wouldn’t mind getting out of these shackles.”
    Pale with worry, she returned to the door, issued a few sharp commands and stood aside as a different pair of soldiers set Kane and Alfie free. The soldiers lingered, but she dismissed them with a sharp word.
    “I’m sorry,” she said, crouching in front of Kane again. She turned to Alfie. “Are you all right?”
    “Right as rain,” he said, still wearing his irrepressible grin.
    Kane gazed at Fiona, amazed at the strength of his own long-suppressed feelings. He could hardly avoid noticing that she was dressed only in loose-fitting pants and an undershirt that revealed taut nipples through the clinging fabric. With her hair loose around her shoulders and each strong, slender curve of her body revealed, she sent every spare ounce of Kane’s blood surging to his cock.
    If she sensed his reaction, she refused to show it. She laid her palm on his forehead. “You’re freezing,” she said.
    Her touch made his sluggish heartbeat accelerate to a dangerous speed. “Cap’n Donnelly,” Alfie began, “it ain’t good—”
    But Fiona had already drawn away. “I gave the—” She hesitated. “I told the leader of this expedition the whole story of how you saved me. He trusts my judgment of you, and he’s not a man to be easily deceived.”
    “The leader?” Kane asked, searching her face. “I thought you were the captain of this team.”
    “Of this unit, yes. What did Goodman want from you?”
    “He thought we might have controlled your mind or come to stop you from completing your mission.”
    “Our mission?” She swore. “He told you what it was?”
    “Only that there were to be talks between Opiri and humans, and that you expected some Opiri opposition.”
    “He wasn’t authorized to say anything. He’d only have done that if he thought he could get away with killing you or convince me to order it.” Her jaw set. “He’ll be broken in