Free The Warrior Vampire by Kate Baxter Page A

his once more. “You feel this tether?”
    He responded to her dubious tone with a solemn nod. “My soul was returned to me the moment I laid eyes on you. The only thing I know with certainty right now is that you are mine.”
    Naya averted her gaze and her heart rate increased. The sound was music to Ronan’s ears as he thought of the delicious blood pumping through her veins. Thirst scratched at his throat, but he pushed the sensation aside. He wouldn’t gain any ground with her acting like an untamed beast, starved for her.
    â€œI’m not sure what to do at this point. I know what I saw last night. Magic leached from your body. You could barely contain the power. If I’d come upon you a minute later it might have been loosed. It doesn’t make any sense. There should be a corruption to it, the magic. And there is sometimes.” She shook her head as though frustrated. “But instead, it speaks to me in a way that no other has in my entire life.”
    Interesting. Maybe she felt their tether and simply didn’t know it. “Speaks to you how?”
    â€œThe song,” she said. She kept her tone completely level, her emotions masked. “It’s pure. But…” Naya paused as if trying to find the right words. “… only sometimes. Vampires don’t come by magic naturally, do you?”
    â€œThere is an inborn power that connects all of vampire- and dhampir-kind,” Ronan responded. “And I suppose that when you tethered me, it awakened a certain … magic.” His smile grew as he regarded her serious countenance. “But I’ve heard no songs.”
    A gnawing doubt scratched at the back of his mind. The presence of cold darkness that had overcome him earlier had certainly not been a side effect of his transition. Something foreign was indeed trying to manipulate him. But until Ronan had a better grasp of just what that was he thought it wiser to keep the information to himself.
    Grim passivity remained on her face and Ronan realized that he wouldn’t be able to get a good read on her. She was too damn practiced at concealing her emotions. “I can assure you, Naya, that we are tethered. Is it really so hard to believe?” She shrugged and Ronan didn’t know if he wanted to give her a nice rough shake or kiss her. Maybe both. “You’re obviously attuned to magical energy. Maybe what you’re sensing is our bond?”
    â€œWhy don’t you like to be tied up?” Naya asked, her tone showing genuine curiosity.
    She certainly knew how to deflect. “I doubt any vampire would appreciate being bound with silver,” Ronan said with a smirk. “It’s a knee-jerk reaction. Call it self-preservation. Now, about that song…”
    Naya’s eyes darted to the side, clearly to avoid meeting Ronan’s gaze. Finally, he’d managed to rattle her. Looked like he wasn’t the only person in the room who guarded their secrets. She lifted her gaze to his, her dark, almond-shaped eyes wide with worry. What didn’t she want him to know? Something had her spooked and Ronan cursed his own foolishness that he wanted nothing more than to take that fear away. Problem was, he suspected that what she feared most was him.
    â€œI think you’re forgetting just exactly who the prisoner is here,” she said, locking that passive expression back into place. “I don’t have to answer any of your questions.”
    â€œTrue,” Ronan conceded with a shrug. “But I figured, since we were having an amicable chat, that you’d be open to sharing.”
    â€œI don’t have anything to share with you.” Christ, that flat tone she used drove him bat-shit crazy.
    He’d never met anyone so fucking good at putting up a front of ambiguity. As if nothing he said interested her in the slightest. “Come on, Naya. Let’s play nice, yeah?”
    Naya took a few more