Free Poking the Vamp (Knight Protectors #3) by Celia Kyle Page B

feet. Her gaze swept the ground, probably searching for her clothing.
    The clothing he’d destroyed.
    Joce walked into his closet and grabbed a robe. “Here, you can cover up with this.”
    “Thanks,” she snapped. “So nice of you to give me a way to get the fuck away from you.”
    There was no missing the sarcasm. Or the hurt underneath it.
    “Katherine…”
    “Don’t.” She held up a hand. “Save it. Whatever else there is. Just save it.”
    Tears filled her eyes and his gut clenched at the sight of them. Because he was the cause.
    “I didn’t expect a declaration of undying love, Joce. But when I heard the word fire and it felt so right all the way into my soul. I thought you felt the same way. I thought we were in whatever this is, together. But obviously I was wrong.”
    She didn’t realize how right she was.
    Kate shook her head. “You know, usually the guy kicks the girl out after he comes, not before.”
    He didn’t want to think of her with anyone else. She should only ever be with him .
    She snatched the robe from his fingers and slipped her arms through the holes, tying it tightly around her waist. The hem dragged on the ground, but she didn’t seem to care. No, she was still telling him that he was an idiot and an asshole.
    No disputing that.
    Kate stomped to the door and paused just as she placed her hand on the knob. “I don’t know what the future holds for anyone, Joce, but after I was Changed, when I woke up and heard you claim me. When the word fire resonated in my heart, I never imagined my future without you. My whole world changed in that moment and here you are changing it again.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Fuck your ‘sorry’ and fuck you. If this is what you want, some arrangement where we live our own lives, then fine. We’ll meet, we’ll feed, and then we’ll part. Because this,” she waved her hand and gestured at the room. “I can’t do this again anytime soon. You should have let me die.” She turned the knob and pulled open the door.
    When she stepped through the portal, leaving his domain, he couldn’t help but speak to her once more.
    “Katherine…” she glared at him with dark chocolate eyes and he wished they were red and hungry for him once more. “I’m sorry.”

     
     

Chapter Eleven

    I’m sorry.
    Two words, three syllables and then she’d been alone. Oh, Kate had been the one to walk out of his room, unable to be locked in a confined space with Joce, but she was the one alone.
    She still didn’t understand how they’d gone from passion to pain, but they did. And it was pain. No, agony. It struck her heart and had her body slowly freezing from inside out, the sensations growing with every day they remained apart.
    They were up to seven now.
    Seven days since they’d nearly solidified their bonding, shared their passion, and he’d kept his distance ever since. Mostly. She was able to sense his growing, gnawing hunger and assumed he could do the same with her. So that’s when he approached, stilted conversation followed by a blood exchange and then he had to rush off, emotional turmoil covering his features.
    Each day ending with a whispered, I’m sorry.
    She wasn’t sorry. Not really. She didn’t care for the way her life had been partially destroyed with her new vampiric status, but she still got to practice medicine, albeit on vamps. She didn’t like the fact that she’d been forced to move into Carac’s mansion, though she understood it was for her own protection. Things were happening in the Other underworld of the city. Vamps and Broken along with Others battled and prepared for… something.
    Tory was still trying to hunt up any warnings in the books in the protector library.
    The protectors were busy, Wren played homemaker for the males, and Tory sought answers. Kate only had something to do when one of the protectors came stumbling in injured once more. She stitched them up, pumped them full of blood, and sent them on their way.
    All