Free Twice Dead by Kalayna Price Page A

Nathanial.
    “Move,” he said, stepping into my personal bubble.
    “You made your point,” I said between gritted teeth.
    “You’ve reestablished yourself as the biggest badass around. We get it.”
    He lifted an eyebrow. “Move.”
    I didn’t.
    I wasn’t familiar with vampire society, but I knew ‘ruled by the fittest’ structure. In Firth I’d been named Dyre, destined to take my father’s place as Torin , but if I’d stepped up as Torin, my position would have been challenged, hard. I’d left before I was old enough to be opposed, but if I’d have stayed, I’d have needed a deadly reputation to survive.
    Tatius was no kitten amongst lions, but I had no doubt he had a reputation to maintain. With my issues with authority, you’d think I’d have appeasement tactics down. Instead I’d spent much of my life thankful I healed quickly. Not an option currently. If I didn’t diffuse this situation, one of us wasn’t walking out of the room alive.
    I kept my gaze locked with Tatius’s but sank to my knees.
    I was still in his path, still blocking him, but in a much more placating position. His eyes moved from my face to my neck.
    No, not just my neck, but to his bite marks in my throat. I brushed aside my hair, giving him a better view of the wound.
    “You made your point,” I said again. “There were no witnesses. There’s nothing more to prove.” Because what happened behind closed doors was always easier to forgive.
    “Are you bargaining for your master’s life?” Tatius frowned at me, but a rim of green appeared around his pupils. “What do you have to bargain with?”
    Damn. I mentally cast about, but I had nothing. Nothing to offer or trade. Whatever my face revealed made Tatius smirk, a small, self-satisfied twist of his mouth. He crouched in front of me and reached out, his hand hovering over the bite in my throat.
    I winced and my tongue dried and stuck to the roof of my mouth. I knew what I had available to trade. My lips cracked as they parted, as if they were the last defense trying to keep the words from leaving my mouth. I spoke anyway. “Me? I mean, my companion bond?”
    His smirk turned crueler. “An awful big opinion of yourself for a runt with no manners or feminine wiles. Besides, I can already take your bond. As you said, I proved my point and our sad little Hermit cannot deny me. Offer me something else.”
    I swallowed around my thick tongue. What else did I have?
    I seriously doubted he’d want the marbles or other knickknacks I’d collected. All I had was myself to offer.
    “No resistance,” I whispered.
    “What?”
    He’d heard me, I knew he had, but I cleared my throat, speaking louder anyway. “My cooperation. That’s what I have on the table.”
    His fingers, still hovering over my throat, dropped the inch to my skin. They landed ever so lightly above my pulse then trailed downward in a smooth stroke over the bite mark he’d left open. My back arched as a maddening mix of pain and pleasure shot from my throat and pooled in my center. I gasped. My vision blanked.
    Then the sensation passed.
    What the hell was that?
    I swallowed, shaking as my breath tumbled out of me.
    When my vision cleared, Tatius’s nose was less than an inch from mine, his face filling my awareness.
    “You couldn’t resist me,” he whispered, his breath passing the words over my lips.
    Every instinct in my body urged me to pull back, to run away. I was more than flirting with death, I was presenting myself to him as a cheap whore. I swallowed down the need to flee, forcing it into a bottle deep inside, knowing the next time I examined that corner of my psyche I would probably end up screaming.
    “Take it or leave it,” I said. And here I’d thought I’d exhausted my bravado.
    Tatius stood, sheathing his dagger in one smooth movement. “I do like your spirit.”
    Was that acceptance?
    I rose slowly, my knees unsteady as I pushed to my feet.
    Behind me, I heard Nathanial move as