Every single nerve ending in his body crawled with warning.
Well, this can’t be good. Terrified of what Kessar intended, Max shifted back into his human form and faced Seraphina. Gods, he’d forgotten just how beautiful she was. How much she’d once meant to him.
How much she still did, in spite of his common sense and best denials. But no time now for dawdling. It was time to do what he’d brought her here to do.
Cupping her beautiful, round cheeks in his hands, he smiled down at her. “Do you trust me?”
He saw the uncertainty in those hazel eyes as she searched his gaze warily. “Yes. Why?”
Max didn’t speak. He couldn’t. What he was about to do, she might not ever forgive. Yet it was something that had to be done. Let her hate him if she must.
At least this time, her hatred would be justified.
Seraphina knew something was wrong by the light in those golden eyes, but she didn’t know what it was. Instead of speaking, Maxis tightened his arms around her and pulled her flush to his hard, muscled chest. Leaning down, he nuzzled his face against her neck. His warm breath scorched her skin and raised chills all over her body. Worse, it made her breathless with a heated longing that wanted him inside her so badly it was almost impossible to resist.
Just as she was about to ask what he was doing, she felt the sharp sting of fangs sinking into her jugular. She cried out and started to fight, but it was useless. He had her completely subdued.
Completely at his mercy.
Weak and confused, she didn’t understand why he was doing this to her. Was he trying to hurt or kill her? To punish her for what she’d done to him? Did he intend this to be his revenge? Kill her and their children?
Her head reeling, one moment she was in his arms in the darkness. The next, she was back in his bedroom, lying on the floor behind the closed curtain. Alone.
“Maxis?”
What? Why was she here?
What was he thinking?
The curtains parted instantly to show Illarion, looking every bit as befuddled as she felt. What happened?
“I don’t know.” Feeling sick and weak, she wiped at her neck to find the smallest trace of blood there. “He drank from me?” She hadn’t even known that dragons could or would do that.
The color drained from Illarion’s features. What?
She showed him her bloodstained hand. “He bit me… bit me,” she emphasized, gesturing toward her neck, “and then I woke up here. Why?”
Blaise came rushing up behind Illarion. “What’s going on?”
Illarion let out a deep, guttural growl. Max just took her blood so that he could track their dragonets on his own, then sent her back here without him.
Cursing, Blaise ground his teeth. “Why would he do that? We had a plan! A fairly, almost decent one… That could have almost worked. Maybe, in the right light and with good timing. Why would he alter it?”
Because this was his plan, all along. To face them without putting any of us in danger. The stupid bastard plans to battle them alone. ’Cause he’s an effing idiot! I knew better than to trust him. I knew it! He shook his head. Why did I ever trust him?
Horrified, Seraphina pushed herself to her feet. “We can’t let him do that! One bite. One scratch and he’ll become a gallu!”
Illarion laughed bitterly at her concern. That’s not our worst fear.
“How in the name of the gods is that not our worst fear? Barring his death, that is.”
Illarion sobered as he faced her with a dry, cutting glare. You really, truly don’t know anything about my brother, do you?
8
Max felt the forbidden darkness that stalked him. It was the same one he’d battled the day Hadyn had died. The same evil that had been after all of his kinikoi since the hour they had taken up their sacred posts. Because of who and what they were, danger was a natural part of their existence. They’d always known of it and accepted it as an ever-present threat waiting to explode and kill them and anyone in their vicinity.
It was why they kept to themselves and did their best to let no one close to them. Because anyone they cared about could be used against them, at any time.
Given that, he should have known better than to ever try to have a family with Seraphina. But she’d been so irresistible that night when he’d been in mourning. He’d needed physical comfort to ease his grieving heart and she’d needed a male to ease her cravings.
Now…
In dragon form, he banked a hard right, skimming away from the foreign sounds he’d never heard before. In his mind, he carried Sera’s memories of their children. And the total love, devotion, and adoration she bore his dragonets warmed him deeply. If he closed his eyes, he could almost pretend that she loved him, too.
And what he hated most was how much he wished he had that part of her. But at least she loved a part of him.