Claimed by the Immortal (The Claiming)

Author:Lee, Rachel [Lee, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-07-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

“You did what?”

Caro faced Damien, her feet firmly planted, and thrust out her chin. “We went for a walk. I can’t stand being caged. Besides, I wanted to try out my so-called powers.”

“Something may have attacked her,” Chloe said unhelpfully. “But she fought it off.”

Damien unleashed a string of what sounded like German, and it certainly sounded like a bunch of curse words. One or two of them, Caro thought she almost recognized. Like Scheisse or something close to it.

“Relax,” Jude said, sounding amused. “She’s still with us, isn’t she?”

“Relax?” Damien thundered. “After what happened to the Pritchetts, how am I supposed to relax? She could have died while I was dead!”

The statement struck Caro as absurd. Died while he was dead? It sounded so ludicrous that she couldn’t quite stifle a giggle. He glared at her.

But even as part of her recognized the absurd in his statement, another part of her realized why he was so frustrated. He’d devoted himself, willingly or not, to protecting her, and during the hours when he’d been unable to do so, she’d taken a huge risk. Of course he was angry. But she suspected the anger was self-directed at his own helplessness during daylight hours.

That understanding made her feel bad because it was something she could easily identify with. One of her biggest frustrations as a cop was being unable to prevent things from happening. She spent her life dealing with the aftermath of events that shouldn’t have happened.

She stared at Damien, taking in his explosive frustration, and offered all she could. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“You’d better not. Damn it, I’ll handcuff you to me while I sleep if I have to.”

She believed him. But instead of getting angry at the threat, she felt an entirely unexpected shiver of pleasure, as if some part of her responded sensually to the idea of being cuffed to him.

Where had that come from? Never before had she felt the least inclination toward kinkiness. Except now she seemed to be involved in the kinkiest relationship possible, one where the drinking of her blood caused her extraordinary pleasure. What was a handcuff in the face of that?

Damien took a few steps, moving almost too fast to see, then he stopped and faced her. His expression had softened a bit, and he no longer looked furious. “My life has limitations. I’m sorry they cause you so much difficulty.”

“No!” She was horrified that she had made him feel that way. So what if he needed to sleep during the daylight? She needed to sleep herself. Nobody could be there all day every day. “You’re not causing me difficulty. Damien...everybody needs to sleep sometime.”

At that a harsh laugh escaped him. “You needn’t be kind to me. But please understand. If something had happened and you were here, in this office, we could have wakened to help you, however difficult it would have been. Just as you can wake if you’re needed. For you to be out on the street alone.

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