Seduced by the Beast by Jaide Fox Read Free Book Online

home.  “I expect to return before the waning of the red moon.”
                “That does not
give you much time.”
                “No.  And the
vampires have awakened.”  He’d sensed their presence before.  It explained the
unexpected bloodlust he had experienced during the kharez , and the
sudden unruliness of the hunters.  Once the vampires had sought to rule their
creation, the hunters, but they had been gone many decades and the hunters had
adapted to freedom.  Still, their ties to their creators were strong and
difficult to resist.  He wondered how long it would take for the vampires to
find them.  They had never recognized any law but their own--for that they
would be eradicated eventually.
                Arion tensed
beside him, surprised at the news.  “Ill portent.  Will you not take guard?”
                Taking his men
into human lands would only provoke a war.  It was the last thing they needed
now.  He liked not the thought of traveling Shadowmere with a woman so tempting
to predators, but he had little choice.  He could not fight their own great
numbers and still protect her from outside forces.  The woman had nearly been
killed by trusting his hunters before when he should not have.  “No.  If fate
chooses our deaths, so be it.  But I will not knowingly bring trouble.  The
bloodlust has risen with the rise of the vampires.  I dare not trust our own
with her.”

 
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
                After he’d called
the hunters and announced that Arion would oversee the pack while he was away,
Raphael returned to Swan.  Silently, he set the tray of food he bore on a table
just inside the door, watching her.
                She sat looking
out the window, the glow of the moon limning her form.  She’d not noticed his
return, and he stopped in the shadow of the doorway to study her.  Dressed in
the loose flowing gown he’d appropriated, she appeared far lusher and exotic
and at the same time more innocent than he remembered.  The deep red light
pouring through the window limned her dark face, highlighting her breasts that
caught his gaze even at the distance.  Leisurely, he traced her profile with
his gaze, settling on her full lips--a tight mouth he ached to feel wrapped
around his engorged member.  His groin tightened painfully at the thought, and
he angrily tempered the burgeoning lust.
                Now was not the
time.
                He crossed the
threshold, stepping from the cloaking shadows and catching her notice.  She
gasped in surprise at his entrance, a hand flying to her chest.  Holding her brown
gaze with his own, he moved forward and helped her rise from the low seat.  She
ducked her head under his scrutiny but grudgingly accepted his help.  Once on
her feet, however, she snatched her hand from his grasp as though bitten.
                She looked him
over, frowning.  “You removed much of your silver.  Why?”
                He’d kept only
the arm braces and the circlet of his rank.  “I won’t need them for the
journey.”  They could only be a hindrance.
                “My own garment
is hardly suitable for everyday wear, let alone travel.  Have you nothing more
I might wear that would be less….”  She hesitated, pulling the edges of the
neckline closer, nudging the deep armholes wide and exposing the sides of her
breasts to his view.  “Revealing?”
                “I’m afraid not. 
Many here do not wear garments at all.  Those of us that do must be able to
strip it loose quickly for shifting.  You are fortunate I was able to procure
you a gown at all.”  It was only a slight fabrication, he mused.  The women
always enjoyed adorning their bodies with fabric, jewels, and metals--none went
completely nude as the men wished.
                “I thank you,
then, my lord.”  Nervous, she smoothed her