Free Handsome Bastard by Kate Hill

means?” he snapped. “I have shown mercy to hunters by allowing them to join me in immortality.”
     
    “And those who didn’t, you’ve killed. I know. You think I didn’t study everything about you before coming here?”
     
    “Damn you, Leotine.” He glared. One moment he was standing across the room, the next he pinned her to the bed. Holding her wrists on either side of her head, he drew his lips back over his fangs.
     
    “Please don’t,” she said quietly, her heart pounding. Though her body cried out for his bite, her soul was not prepared. “If you feel anything for me at all you’ll kill me rather than make me something I’ve despised all my life.”
     
    Slowly he closed his mouth. His jaw taut and eyes gleaming with anger, lust and regret, he shook his head.
     
    “I’m prepared to die,” she said.
     
    “I’d rather you live,” he whispered against her lips and kissed her, his tongue stroking hers aggressively, yet with each warm, wet thrust she felt the depth of his affection for her. Finally the kiss broke, leaving her with a feeling of utter sadness. How could she endure the rest of her life without ever feeling his kiss again? His lips brushed her temple and he murmured, “Damn you, beautiful bitch.”
     
    He rolled off her and stood, his arms folded across his chest.
     
    “Cyprian—”
     
    “Go, Leotine. You may take a horse from my stable. Don’t bother returning it.”
     
    “You’ll let me leave?”
     
    “Get out,” he snarled, turning on her like a rabid animal, his eyes gleaming and fangs exposed. “Or I might change my mind.”
     
    She opened her mouth and drew a sharp breath, wanting to say something but unsure of which words to choose. A bestial growl from him changed her mind. She reached for her tunic and pulled it on as she hurried out of the room.
     
    * * * * *
     
     
    Shortly after Leotine left, Sextus entered Cyprian’s chamber.
     
    “You let her go,” the servant said.
     
    “Yes,” Cyprian replied from where he lay on the bed, naked and staring at the ceiling.
     
    “You’ve never done that before.”
     
    “No. I haven’t. You were right, my friend. My arrogance has destroyed me after all.”
     
    Sextus approached, his brow furrowed. “Cyprian?”
     
    “Leotine said I had won our battle of wills but she was wrong.”
     
    “I don’t understand.”
     
    “I know that for the remainder of my life, no matter how long it might be, not a night will pass that I won’t want her beside me.”
     
    “Eventually you will forget her.”
     
    With a savage growl Cyprian rose from the bed. His hand clamped around Sextus’ throat and he pinned him to the wall. “Never! You and I have lived our lives as gluttons, using our power to take everything we want. But we’ve never loved . Don’t you ever long for something more? I don’t mean wealth or power. Or even blood. It’s something I can’t…” Cyprian sighed and released Sextus. “I’m sorry, my friend. The fault lies with me.”
     
    Rubbing his neck, Sextus glared at Cyprian with a combination of anger and sympathy. “I loved once. Long ago and it was an incomparable feeling, but I was mortal. So was she. It didn’t last forever. After she died, I missed her greatly. Sometimes I miss her still, yet I wonder, could our love have survived centuries? It is different among blood-drinkers.”
     
    Cyprian walked slowly across the room. Through the open door he could see rain falling into the pool in the atrium, heard it pelt against the rooftop. It had been raining on the night he’d found Leotine, or rather on the night she’d come to him with plans to kill him.
     
    They had been such fools. In their attempt to outsmart one another, they had fallen in love. Cyprian knew he must flee Rome, at least for a time. As soon as she reported back to her superiors that he was still alive, they’d send others for him. This time there would probably be no deception. They wouldn’t assign one