Free Cleopatra's Return: A Paranormal/Vampire Romance by Eve Langlais

chest.
    “ You can’t leave,” he ordered, softened with a, “please.”
    He blocked her way, so she stood still with her arms crossed over her chest and the new outfit she wore. A black cocktail dress that hugged her lush curves and dipped low over her cleavage. She’d bought it and then worn it home to please him. To his credit, his eyes stayed locked to her face.
    “Let me go ,” she said, having a hard time keeping her voice steady.
    “No.”
    Pissed at him and the whole male population in general, she tried to go around him. He easily sidled sideways blocking her path. She shoved at him. He didn’t budge.
    Frustrated, the tears she’d worked so hard to hold in flow ed down her cheeks, and suddenly it was just too much. She lost it.  Cleo pummeled and kicked at Michael, crying and cursing incoherently. He didn’t move to shield himself from any of her shots, nor did he retaliate. He simply stood and let her vent until, sobbing, she collapsed against him.
    Weak. I’m so damned weak. And because of a man. Yet it was a man right now, a different man, a better one, who without speaking just wrapped his arms around her tightly and held her. They stood there for a long moment before she felt her feet leave the ground. The kiss of the night air on her skin announced they’d left the house. She opened her eyes to see they were high up in the air. But she didn’t fear, not when held so securely in Michael’s arms. The sun had set, yet she could still see the pinks and purples of the sunset as it stained the sky before nightfall. It was beautiful and calming.
    C ontrol over her emotions was hers once again, and almost physically she cringed at her earlier weakness. Talk about a major temper tantrum. One Michael had weathered.
    He flew them through the sky as the colors streaking the horizon faded and the cold brilliance of the night sky with all its starry glory appeared. He didn’t speak, and Cleo was thankful. She wasn’t sure what to say. Her mind , her thoughts, they tumbled and whirled. She didn’t know where to start—or what to feel.
    Eventually they landed , not on a rooftop with a city view, but by the edge of a lake. In the midst of wilderness, the water and its shore were unsullied.
    Michael stamped down a bower for them in the tall grass and sat cross -legged. He beckoned her to sit, and when she hesitated, he dragged her down, settling her in his lap, facing outward, his arms wrapped around her in a loose hug.
    Cleo gazed at the lake with the fat three-quarter moon reflecting in its surface. Around them, silence reigned as the forest recognized the predators come among them. Beware for I am here and not in a good mood.
    As Cleo fiddled with the hem of her dress, she waited for him to say something. The silence grew. “I’m sorry I hit you.” It was the best opener she could think of.
    “I deserved it. I am so sorry I did not tell you of my houseguest. I never wanted to do anything that would hurt you , and one day later, I’ve already failed miserably.”
    A sigh deflated her. “It’s not your fault. I thought Julius was dead. And even with everything that happened to me after his supposed death, I never expected he’d hate me so much.”
    “I never knew either. He never spoke of you or his time in Egypt. He’s not to o keen on remembering the past.”
    She couldn’t help her curiosity. “What happened to him?
    It was Michael’s turn to sigh. “I’m not sure if it’s my place to say. But perhaps the knowledge will help you understand why he is so bitter now.” Michael paused as if collecting his thoughts. “Julius didn’t quite die as everyone believed, obviously. He was changed into a vampire by a sadistic vampiress. She changed him then drugged him so he wouldn’t wake. She allowed his family to entomb him. But she didn’t fetch him right away. She let him wake, alone in his tomb, crazed with blood lust. When she eventually came for him, he was a beast with the instincts of a