“Andre, what’s going on?” I asked, hopping onto the seat.
He swung a leg over and dragged me close to him. “The woods have gone quiet. Something’s coming our way.”
I threw a glance over my surroundings while Andre revved the engine. I got the vague sense that something lurked out there, but whatever it was, it didn’t have time to sink its talons into me before Andre yanked on the throttle and got us the hell out of there.
Chapter 7
We spent most of the night driving, only taking breaks to stretch our legs and rest for short bits of time. We stuck to back roads and rocky terrain whenever we could, making me think that while we’d been in the saddle for hours, we hadn’t moved very far.
At some point the motorcycle slowed. I peered over Andre’s shoulder at our destination. I caught sight of a wrought iron fence and tombstones.
What now?
Andre directed the bike onto the cemetery grounds, and we began to weave between grave markers. Eventually those gave way to crypts, each more ostentatious than the last.
I stared at them with no little amount of trepidation. A few turns later, Andre pulled the bike in between two of them and killed the engine.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, removing the helmet.
“We need to set up camp for the night.” Andre pushed off the bike and began circling some of the nearby tombs.
Seriously? I glanced around. “But this is a graveyard.”
“It is.” His hand dragged along the stone, his eyes honing in on details I couldn’t see.
I narrowed my gaze on him. “You suck at picking out places for us to stay.”
“On the contrary, soulmate,” he said, “I’ve had centuries to memorize those places that are tricky for seers to pinpoint. This is one of them.”
I turned my frightened eyes to the structure nearest me. Andre hadn’t parked near headstones; he’d stopped right in front of the ones with doors. “I’m going to have to get in there, aren’t I?” Despite having an undead boyfriend and being a step away from death myself, ghosts and graveyards gave me the heebie jeebies.
A wind blew through the cemetery, making the frosted grass shiver. It ruffled Andre’s hair as he straightened, returning to my side. For a moment, he was almost too much to stare at.
Andre gave me a small smile. “Don’t tell me that you’re scared of this?”
My attention turned to the crypt. Even from here I caught a whiff of desiccating bodies. I cringed at the thought of being inside the cramped quarters. The absolute darkness, the chill of stone and earth pressing in on me. That smell wrapping itself around us.
Andre brushed my hair away from my face. “I’m sorry, soulmate. I never wanted to expose you to the desperate measures vampires sometimes must take.”
I looked at him skeptically. “You mean you’ve done this before?”
His jaw tightened. “A few times.”
I tried to imagine this regal man, an international celebrity in certain circles, slinking into and out of a crypt just as we were about to do, but it was impossible.
I sighed. “I don’t get a choice, do I?”
Andre cupped my face. “You always have a choice.” His attention drifted up to the horizon. “But if I am to protect you, then I have no choice.”
Damn his good intentions. The road to hell was paved with them.
“Well isn’t this cozy?” I said, rubbing my hands together fifteen minutes later. We were inside one of those blasted crypts, and I couldn’t see for shit.
I heard the strike of a match, and then a warm orange glow lit up the room as Andre held the small flame in his hand. “The sun will be up soon, soulmate. You will only have to endure this for a few more minutes.”
“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to … Katarina,” I said, reading the placemarker and patting the woman’s stone sarcophagus next to me. A small cloud of dust billowed out beneath my hand, and I made a face as I coughed and waved it away. I really hoped I didn’t just breathe in the remains of my new friend.
Andre’s eyes crinkled with amusement as he lit a candle he’d packed. He set it atop another stone casket and began setting up our bed once more.
Once he finished, he sat down amongst the blankets and furs. The sight of them brought back the memory of last night’s intimacy.
“Come here, my little mate,” Andre said, his eyes flickering in the firelight. “I want to feel you close to me.”
I moved over to where he was, stretching my body out next to his, and he tucked me snugly into the side of his body. One of his arms arced over my head while the other draped itself over my stomach.
His presence consumed my thoughts and temporarily drove away my skittishness. But even as I calmed, I sensed his own tumultuous emotions. There was a restlessness to him, lingering just beneath his skin. Andre didn’t panic the way that most people did. Instead he became more protective, more possessive, quicker to draw blood.
“After tomorrow we should hopefully have to hide less,” he said, interrupting my thoughts.
“What’s happening tomorrow?” I asked, staring up at the darkness above me.
“I can’t tell you.”
Another one of his precautions. I blew out a breath, already tired of being kept in the dark.
“I will not endanger you again, soulmate. You never should’ve been placed in harm’s way to begin with.”
I ran a tentative hand over the one that held me close, my brows furrowing at his words. “Endangering me again? What are you talking about, Andre?” I asked. “You’re not playing some weird blame game on yourself, are you?”