Highlander Reborn Read Free

way, not bothering to watch it splinter, and resumed his pacing. When he reached the kitchen, he turned around and stopped cold. Amalia was leaning against his door looking as if she wouldn’t mind staking him in the heart with one of the broken chair pieces. He growled low in his throat , Let her try .
    “Alright, running off the first time, I allowed. You needed time to adapt. But tonight?” She shook her head, her dark hair settling about her shoulders. “Tonight I came to you because I need you, and this time you don’t get to run.”
    He stalked towards her, not caring that he stepped on pieces of the splintered chair. Amalia didn’t move from her position of negligent ease against the door, but he noticed she tensed up slightly. Good. She should be nervous. He was furious, and when he was angry, no one naysayed him. He stopped within inches of her body, leaned down until his nose brushed the tip of hers.
    “I. Don’t. Run,” he gritted out.
    “Oh, of course not,” her sugary-sweet tone grated on his nerves. “You’ve only run from me every chance you’ve gotten,” she stepped closer to him, leaving behind the guise of indifference. Her tense body nearly vibrated with fury. “Obviously you don’t run.” Amalia’s eyes flashed, and Nevin did not find that sexy. At all. His cock disagreed.
    “Don’t push me, princess.”
    “Don’t call me that,” she snapped.
    “What? Princess? Why not?”
    “Because I’m your damn queen, you arrogant jerk.”
    That gave him pause. He shook his head. “I should have guessed.”
    “I could have called you to me any time during the past centuries, yet I didn’t. I wanted to give you time. I knew you wouldn’t take to this new life with ease, but I never thought you’d hate me,” she ended in an agonized whisper.
    “I don’t hate you. And what do you mean you could have called me to you?”
    Amalia ignored his question, instead focusing on the part she cared about. “You don’t hate me?” She wasn’t sure she completely hid the hope from her voice. She didn’t want him to hate her. She’d had a crush on him since before the word was invented. Honestly from the first time she realized he was brave enough to hunt one such as she. The foolish mortal had thought to hunt a vampire queen. She still remembered that night in the Highlands of Scotland from so long ago.
    Shaking off the old memories, Amalia waited for Nevin to explain. He didn’t. Instead, he pressed his body against hers, forcing her to back up a step and flattening her against the door. His unforgiving strength wouldn’t let her move. Interesting. She was stronger than most vampires, and definitely stronger than any youngling. Not that he was really a youngling anymore at over seven centuries old. Her gaze tracked over his face, down his neck without lingering on his scar, and lowered to his chest. His muscles bunched at her gaze causing the soft cotton of his shirt to tighten. Not for the first time, Amalia’s body responded to the sheer male presence he exuded. She’d been attracted to him from the start, but fate had stepped in forcing her to make that desperate decision before she could let him see that she wasn’t a monster.
    “What do you mean you could call me to you at any time, Amalia?” His deep gravelly voice was quiet, and she sensed that was just the calm before the storm. He wouldn’t be one to yell, oh no, not this male.
    His voice was deceptively soft, while his hands gripped her by the upper arm and he shook her slightly. “Amalia?”
    “I can compel you to me,” she blurted. Where was the cool, calm, royal composure she normally had? This man had always thrown her off kilter, meeting him again hadn’t changed anything.
    “Explain.”
    “Most vampires can compel humans.” His head dipped in acknowledgement of that talent. “But because I’m royalty, my blood is of the oldest and purest line, I can compel any under my command.”
    “I am not yours to