Free Death's Redemption (The Eternal Lovers Series) by Marie Hall Page B

monster; her strength was nowhere near the level of his, and by the sudden widening of her eyes, she now realized it.
    Rubbing his thumb along her smooth inner wrist, he lowered his voice, easing his thigh between her legs. Not because he needed to do it to restrain her, but because he sensed that as much as she fought, she was not immune to him.
    “Are we going to speak truth now? Or will I have to return you to your sire? I got a good look at him. Blue eyes, melted face, long-ass fangs.”
    Her breathing hitched, and now instead of throbbing awareness, there was burning fear staring back at him from the depths of those exotically familiar amber eyes.
    Releasing her wrist, he splayed his large hand against the base of her spine and pulled her farther into his body.
    “You…you promised.”
    “I promised you nothing, babe.”
    “But…but you said, I tell you and you’ll give me a kn—”
    His smile was full of teeth. “But you’ve given me nothing. All you do is sit and bristle like a ruffled porcupine. So tell me, what’s it going to be?”
    Holding her so close, he felt the slight tremors coursing through her. Saw the way her big eyes held his look. She was terrified, but she wasn’t going to back down. Frenzy wondered if her panic was preventing her from really seeing the truth.
    She was terrified of being sired to a vampire. But George had already told her she wasn’t. In her fury she’d obviously failed to register his words. But if she would just stop fighting a moment, she’d realize what was right in front of her.
    Even her smell was different. Vampires smelled of traces of metal, of warm blood. Shifters smelled of warm earth, fallen leaves. Of the crisp scent of nature. She smelled of both. But maybe she wouldn’t know that, since a human’s sense of smell was pathetically limited, and though she’d obviously studied his kind, did the mortals know that each species carried their own scent? He doubted it.
    George’s bite had definitely infected her, and the way she’d been eyeing the rodent…it wasn’t just for the blood that had now congealed inside its body.
    It made him curious as to what she truly was. She was a very rare hybrid species; what were her limitations and strengths? He’d never heard of another vampire/shifter mix ever, since the two classes had a violent distaste for one another. What could she do? That was a mystery he desperately wanted to solve.
    As she closed her eyes, he knew the fight had finally left her. Slumping in his arms, she nodded slowly. “You have to understand. This isn’t easy for me. I took an oath and I took it seriously. Telling you, it breaks every promise I ever made.”
    Tucking a stray curl of hair behind her ear, he waited until her molten gaze met his before saying, “You died. That vow you made, it broke the moment it happened.”
    A loud scraping, like metal on metal, raked through his ears. George was moving a small fold-out table into the center of the room.
    “Dinner is served.” He spread his arms and, with a large smile, pointed at the charred remains of the body that no longer resembled a rodent so much as a black stick.
    Grabbing two fold-out chairs, Frenzy jerked his chin to the one sitting in front of the blackened food. “Sit.”
    Swallowing hard, Mila pulled the chair out and took a seat. She delicately toyed with the tip of the black lump in front of her.
    “Eat it,” George whispered. “It’s okay, I cooked it.” His smile was full of crooked teeth.
    “Clearly, it’s been a while since last you cooked, old friend.” Frenzy snorted.
    Shrugging, the monk covered her hand with his own, his slightly bluer than hers. There were obvious differences between the two of them. Pale as she was, she still looked more alive than him. Not like a walking corpse full of veins and riddled with damage to the flesh.
    Apart from the scars across her cheeks, she looked flawless. Frenzy’s heart raced.
    “As I’ve tried to tell you before,”