Free Scarlet Heat (Born to Darkness) by Evangeline Anderson

white t-shirt while he was bare
chested and only wearing sweats. We didn’t need to bring anything else into our
weird little pseudo-marriage to complicate it.
    “Are you feeling better now?” he asked, looking
at me seriously. “I mean really better?”
    “Yes, I am.” I nodded and gave him a grateful
smile.
    Victor smiled back. Our eyes met for a minute and
I looked away quickly, my cheeks heating. Damn it, why did he have to look so
good, sitting there with his broad, muscular chest and those dark, intense
eyes? They had gone back to brown, I noticed—maybe they only turned gold when
his wolf wanted out.
    “And the burn is all healed?” he reached for my
hand and extended my arm, searching for the angry red blisters that had popped
up during my brief exposure to the sun—there were none.
    My cheeks got even hotter and I pulled back my
hand.
    “I’m fine,” I murmured, nodding. “Your blood is
amazing—it even healed the marks I had left from this morning.”
    “This morning?” He frowned.
    “You know—when I was trying to coax you into the
house? Your wolf, I mean.”
    “That’s right.” He frowned at me. “I remember
what happened—you actually risked going out into the sunlight to bring me in, didn’t you?”
    “I had to
go out,” I protested. “You seemed so afraid of me.”
    “Goddamn it, Taylor!” he growled and I flinched
at the deep, angry sound. “You shouldn’t have done that—you could have been killed .”
    I lifted my chin and glared up into his eyes.
    “What was I supposed to do? Leave you outside
with that awful trap clamped on your poor paw? Besides, the sun was just coming
up—it wasn’t even really over the horizon yet. It wasn’t nearly as strong as it
is right now.”
    “It was strong enough to give you blisters,” he
pointed out. “Listen, I don’t want you doing that—don’t want you risking
yourself for me ever again, do you understand?”
    “Why not?” I demanded. “You risked yourself for
me.”
    “What?” He shook his head. “What are you talking
about?”
    “Back on the night we were married, uh,
blood-bonded. When Roderick…when he wanted to…to take me…” I swallowed hard and
I heard a little click in my throat. Remembering made me feel sick but I made myself
go on anyway. “You…you wouldn’t let him. You claimed me, saved me—”
    “I just did what any decent guy would do,” he
protested, shifting uncomfortably. “I couldn’t just stand by and watch while he
hurt you.”
    “That’s really nice of you to say,” I said
softly. “But you could have been killed. Roderick…he was really strong and
cruel and…and…” I shook her head, unable to go on.
    “Hey…” He took my hand gently again and this time
I didn’t pull it away. The touch of his warm, callused palm was comforting. “That
Roderick asshole—the one Corbin killed with the weird magic stake—is he the one
who hurt you? Who made you so afraid?”
    I hunched my shoulders and looked down at our
joined hands.
    “He…he was one of them,” I whispered.
    “Who else?” he demanded, his eyes flashing a
dangerous deep gold. “Who else hurt you?”
    I bit my lip. “Mainly Celeste—my old mistress.
The one who brought me over to start with. I don’t really want to talk about
it. Okay?” I looked up at him pleadingly.
    Victor searched my eyes with his own for a long
moment and finally nodded.
    “Okay,” he said roughly. “But if you ever want me
to teach that bitch Celeste a lesson—”
    “I just want to forget about it,” I said quickly.
Which was true, except some things you can’t forget, no matter how hard you
try.
    “All right,” he said, letting it drop. “But I
really don’t want you going out in the sunlight again—you scared the hell out
of me just now.”
    “I was pretty scared myself,” I admitted. “I
never would have gone out of the house in direct sunlight, though—I only went
out this morning because the sun wasn’t really all the