No Rest for the Wicked Read Free Page B

eyes went wide, her expression aghast. “It can’t be!” She backed away from
    him, moving gingerly, as if he were a snake about to strike.
    Another explosion. He traced to just in front of her, and her sword shot up in a blur. He
    snatched her wrist, but she struggled. Christ, she was strong, but he seemed to be stronger
    than usual himself, more powerful than he ever could have imagined. “I don’t want to hurt
    you.” He pried the weapon from her hand and tossed it to his low bed. “Do not fight me.

    Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer ( http://www.novapdf.com ) The roof is about to fall—”
    “No... no!” She stared at his chest—at his heart—in horror. “I am not a... Bride.”
    Bride ? His jaw slackened. He remembered his brothers explaining that when he found his
    Bride, his eternal wife, she would blood him. With his blooding, his body would come
    back to life. He’d always believed they’d lied to dull the bitter sting of what they’d made
    him.
    Yet it was true. The sound he’d heard was the rush of his own heart beating for the first
    time since he’d been turned into a vampire. He rocked on his feet as he inhaled deeply,
    breathing at last after three hundred years.
    His heartbeat grew stronger, faster, and his sudden erection was tight and throbbing,
    pulsing with each beat of his heart. Pleasure seemed to course through his veins. He’d
    found his Bride—the one woman he was meant to be with for eternity—in this hauntingly
    fine creature.
    And his body had awakened for her.
    “You know what is happening to me?” he asked.
    She swallowed, backing away farther. “You’re changing.” Her blond brows drew
    together, and in a barely audible whisper, she added, “For... for me.”
    “Yes. For you.” He crossed to her until she stared up at him. “Forgive me. If I had known
    this was true, I would have searched for you. I would have found you somehow—”
    “No... ” She swayed on her feet, and he laid one palm on her slim shoulder to steady her.
    She flinched but allowed the touch.
    He realized then that, just as he was changing, so was she. He thought he saw silver flash
    in her glinting eyes. A swift tear dropped down her cheek.
    “Why do you cry?” Women’s tears had always wrecked him as a mortal, but hers made
    him feel as if a thousand knives twisted inside him. When he brushed her hair back, he
    sucked in a ragged, unpracticed breath. Her ear was sharply pointed. Up closer, he could
    see the smallest fangs.
    Sebastian didn’t know what she was, and he didn’t care. “Please do not cry.”
    “I never cry,” she whispered. Frowning in confusion, she patted the back of her hand
    against her cheek and drew it down to see that it was wet from a single tear. Her lips
    parted, and she stared, first at the tear, and then at her sharply curling fingernails, which
    were more like elegant claws. Her gaze darted back to him, and she swallowed as if with
    fear.
    “Tell me what troubles you.” He had a purpose now: to protect her, to care for her, to
    destroy whatever threatened her. “Bid me to help you, Bride.”
    “Not a Bride to one of your kind. Never—”
    “But you’ve made my heart beat.”
    She hissed back, “You’ve made me feel.” He didn’t understand the meaning of her words
    or her reactions during the next several minutes as he gazed down at her, greedily learning
    her features—the sweep of her thick lashes when she glanced down, the full red pout of
    her lips. Waves of emotion shimmered in her eyes and seemed to pain her. Her body
    shook. As abruptly as they’d started, her tears dried.
    Then she smiled up at him, a heartrending curling of her lips. Her eyes were merry, darkly
    teasing. Nothing had ever aroused him so much as that look, and he wondered how much
    more he could take. But her smile faded far too soon. She shuddered violently, lowering

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