I didn't bother to knock.
Throwing open the door I stalked inside the well lit and rather cozy townhouse. The thud of my boots seemed to echo throughout the entire, eerily silent house.
The silence struck me as lonely.
"Wolfric!" I called, not bothering to hide the irritation laced through my words. "Come out from whatever slimy, vermin infested crevice you're hiding in!"
As I stepped into the foyer, that smug all too familiar voice came from above, "I take it that Mitchell wasn't as stealthy as I believed him to be?"
Fisting my hands, I took one step back, turned and glared up at Wolfric. He stood on the second floor, one hand on the banister, the other in the pocket of a pair of worn jeans (I don't think I've ever seen him in jeans now that I think about it). The white t-shirt fit snugly across his chest and seemed to bring out the gold in his hair. While his voice might've sounded smug, maybe even amused, the look in his eyes was cold, guarded even, but I could see the anger smoldering there in those emerald depths.
"No," I replied, "he wasn't. Obviously, tailing isn't his best attribute, despite being the dog that he is." When he didn't respond, I gritted my teeth so hard I could hear my jaw creak from the pressure, "I don't need your protection, Wolfric. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, I've done it for years without your prissy ass!" I didn't really mean to yell that last bit, but hell I'm pissed.
Keeping one hand on the rail, Wolfric started towards the stairs, never taking his eyes off me in the process. "Hm. Tell me, RJ. Have you ever been up against a vampire that's over a thousand years old?"
He's never called me RJ, and the fact that he did so now told me just how angry he was. Though I'm not sure why he's mad, I'm the one that was being followed and spied upon.
"No."
Nodding thoughtfully, he descended the stairs, "As I suspected. Now, I on the other hand have faced an ancient, will be one myself in a few hundred years, and quite powerful in my own right."
His gazed pierced me, still vacant of any humor, but his mouth turned up at the corner in a small smirk of contempt. "You, on the other hand are child compared to me. And compared to our advisory, you're even less than that. To him you are like a tiny rabbit that he intends to gorge himself on."
I could feel the fury rising in my cheeks, "Now just hold on a damn minute!"
Ignoring me as if I wasn't even present, he padded past me to the wet bar in his living room and calmly poured himself a glass of scotch. "If you are to have any chance of surviving a battle with Sebastian, you will need my help. Plain and simple, lass. Refusing my help because of your pride is just stupid, and you don't strike me as the stupid sort."
Lifting the glass to his lips, those eyes cut to me and the rage that bubbled below those depths almost had me taking a step back from the sheer intimidation of that gaze.
"You refused my protection. Foolish, but knowing how stubborn you are, I expected it from you. But, do you know what really enrages me, Rowena? Why the blood in my veins is boiling?"
I blinked, and suddenly he was in front of me. I started to take a step back in surprise, but his large hands came up to securely grab at my upper arms, keeping me locked in place. Yanking me to my toes, Wolfric brought his face down so that it was mere inches from my own. I could feel his hot breath against my face, could see every one of his long dark lashes and every fleck of gold in his eyes.
His lips parted and my eyes were immediately drawn to them. I noticed that his fangs had lengthened with his heightened emotions, they were peeking out between his parted lips.
I swallowed hard and immediately looked away from that all too familiar mouth.
Wolfric shook me a little, making sure my eyes came back to meet his so that he could look me in the eyes as he prodded, "Well?"
It took me a minute to remember what he'd been talking about, I'd gotten a bit distracted. I managed to find my voice again, "I think you're just throwing a temper tantrum."
His eyes narrowed dangerously, "Oh, aye. You could say I'm throwing a temper tantrum, lass." Shaking me a little, he hissed, "The source of my rage, however, is the fact that you've refused me over and over again, despite the fire that burns between us. And yet, where do you turn mere hours after I offered myself to you? To a bar, to find another man."
I blinked up at him at that. "That's what this is all about? You're just jealous?!"
A snarl rumbled through his throat and burst from his mouth just before he crushed it down on mine. I let out a startled squeak as his mouth took mine in an angry kiss, filled with so much I could practically taste it. His fingers were grasping my arms so tight, I was sure that I would have bruises tomorrow.
When Wolfric finally came up for air, he was breathing heavily (as was I), but the anger had not dimmed in the slightest. "Aye, I'm bloody jealous, ye daft woman! For reasons that I'm really, really starting to question, I want ye so bad that I cannae seem to think rationally. And the thought of another mon touching you makes me see red and my hands itch to tear him limb from limb!"
My head snapped back and I studied the highland vampire, "Why me? Why not just give up on me and get someone else? I know you have to practically beat off girls with a stick."
Tilting his head, he grew quiet and analyzed me, like I was a specimen under his microscope. Those eyes might as well have had X-Ray vision, because it felt like he could see deep inside me, where I'd never dared to let anyone glimpse. I wasn't comfortable with that at all, I keep my walls up for a reason.
"Why indeed? Why do I chase this small creature who makes my blood burn like lava through my veins, only to turn me away due to her stubbornness. This woman - a girl really, compared to myself - treats me with little respect a Master such as myself expects. Such as insulting me and those I command, daring to waltz in my home without an invitation, and even throwing food in my face."
The pressure was removed from my arms, and I inwardly sighed with relief that he seemed to be calming down a little.
But then my eyes flew open and I let out a screech as Wolfric crouched and slung me over his shoulder as if I were a damn bag of flour!
"Put me down! Or I swear I'll gut you like a fish!!!!" I pummeled his back with my fists and started to feel the blood rush to my head as he turned towards the stairs.
Ignoring me, he began climbing the stairs.
After trying to kick my feet in protest and getting nowhere, I levered myself up and glared at the back of his head. "I am going to put something disgusting in your desk if you don't put me down this instant! You thought I was insulting you before? Well, let me tell ya, buster, I can and will get much, much worse. By the time I'm done with you, you'll think I was treating you like a prince before!!"
"Despite her saucy mouth," he said as if I hadn't even spoken, "that is quick to lash out. I find myself drawn to this woman. She intrigues me like no one else I've ever met in my many years on this earth. Laughter, something that I do not indulge in often, comes easily when she's around."
I was listening so intently, I didn't noticed that he'd stopped walking until I heard the creak of a door hinge. Looking up, I noticed a humongous California King bed with a dark green comforter, placed in the center of the room before us.
Gulping with nerves, I realized that he was taking me to his bedroom.
Oh, damn…