were casual, the tone joyful. 'Do you prefer clothing on or off?'
She shook her head, positive she had misheard. 'What?'
'Clothes on or off?' He fisted the hem of his shirt, ready to lift at a moment's notice.
Dear gods. He expected to bed her. 'I don't even know your name and you expect me to welcome you into my body?'
'I am Broderick. And, yes.'
Let's see. How could she respond without insulting a teammate she might need aid from tonight? 'Gods, no.'
'No?' His brow puckered for a moment before smoothing out. 'Oh, you mean, no clothing.' Whoosh. His shirt pooled at their feet. He was grinning now.
'No bedding.' Why could she not desire him, though? Why did he fail to thrill her? He was handsome, as powerful as Vorik the dragon had been, might be able to talk her sisters into anything without having to fight them for her, hurting them. With a nymph, you will never be number one. You will be exactly what you have never wanted: a convenience.
Broderick lost his grin and blinked in surprise. 'But to maintain my strength, I need sex.'
'So go have sex.' She braced her hands on her hips.
He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in satisfaction. 'Where would you like me to take you? Here?'
Were all nymphs so dense? 'I don't think you understand what I'm saying, so I'm going to explain it a little better.' In the span of a single heartbeat, she grabbed hold of his wrist, spun behind him and twisted, flipping him onto his stomach and giving him a mouthful of sand. 'I'm not bedding you anywhere, anytime.'
Spitting out those white grains, he rolled over and frowned up at her. 'But we are teammates. If I am weak, we could lose.'
'So you've said.'
'If we lose, one of us will die.'
Her blood chilled, becoming streams of ice. He was right. One weak link could drag down an entire army. She had seen it happen, had fought to make it happen, actually, her sisters sometimes seducing a warrior and enticing him to betray his own kind.
Losing had never and would never sit well with her.
But sleep with this man? This nymph? Just to win? She had once let a formorian fondle her while her sisters sneaked inside his home and searched for the young Amazons he had stolen and locked away, hoping to train them as his personal guard. He had repulsed her, but she had allowed his ministrations with a smile. Had even patted his head as if he were a favored pet.
Once the girls had been found, Delilah had sliced his throat.
That fondling had been for a good cause. This, too, was a good cause, yet the thought of letting anyone other than Layel pleasure her was somehow…abhorrent.
Broderick stood, and he did not appear pleased. Grains of sand clung to his roped chest lovingly. Female sand? A pretty scar slashed from one of his nipples to his navel.
Women came easily, eagerly to him. That much was obvious. Delilah wondered if she was the first to ever have told him no.
'You will not find my touch distasteful, Amazon, I swear it.'
'Step away from her, Broderick.'
Both Delilah and the nymph pivoted to face their intruder. Layel. Her heart sped up, hammering so hard her ribs would surely crack. His voice had been devoid of emotion, as was his expression. Still, he was the most beautiful sight she'd ever beheld. Sensual, hard, determined. Mine.
Dangerous…Oh, yes, he was. In every way imaginable, maybe even some that weren't.
A needy whimper rose in her throat, and she barely managed to silence it.
'Layel,' the nymph said, and there was genuine affection in his tone.
They were friends, and that friendship made her own turbulent relationship with the vampire seem so much darker.
'She is mine,' Layel said firmly.
Broderick's lush lips dipped into a confused frown. 'But you—'
'Mine,' he insisted.
Hearing the vampire's claim was like being branded, the words fiery hot and reverberating all the way to her soul. She should have rebuffed him. Appearances had to be maintained. In front of others, especially her new teammates, she had to be cold, heartless. But she couldn't force the words out.
Mine, he'd said, mimicking her own thoughts. She wanted to smile.
The nymph sighed in disappointment, yet there was a sharp edge to the sound. 'I never poach another man's property, you know that. If you change your mind…'
'I will not.'
Wait. Property? Had Broderick just called her Layel's property?
Broderick shrugged and strode from the beach. His easy compliance confirmed what she had suspected. She would not have been important to the nymph. She would have been a warm body in an assuredly long line of warm bodies, forgotten when the loving was over. Not good enough for more than a few tumbles.
What would it take to be important to a man? To mean something? To mean everything?
For several seconds, neither Delilah nor Layel spoke. She didn't know what to say to him, really, too afraid to ruin this heady moment.
'Do not think I care about your welfare,' he said, looking away from her and to the water.
Moment ruined. Still determined to fight her, was he? Disappointment rocked her, but she squared her shoulders and raised her chin. Words meant nothing, she reminded herself once more. Actions, everything. 'Do not think I will deny myself a man if I want him.'
A muscle ticked in Layel's stubborn jaw.
'So tell me. If you don't want me for yourself, why did you send the beautiful Broderick away?' she said.
Several seconds passed in agonizing slowness. 'I will see you on the battlefield, Amazon,' was all he finally said. And then he, too, strode away.
CHAPTER 7
'LAYEL IS MISSING.'
Alyssa, fierce soldier of the vampire army, stared up at the nymph king, gauging his reaction to her announcement. Valerian was the only man Layel truly trusted. The only man he counted as friend. Layel respected his warriors, of course, and he was fair and generous to his people. But he kept himself distanced, always distanced.
Still, ever since the nymph sovereign had struck an alliance with the dragons to maintain peace and possession of this palace, the friendship had been strained, and so Alyssa could not be sure of Valerian's innocence.
Had Valerian hurt Layel, the vampire king responsible for hundreds of dragon deaths, to appease his new ally?
The nymph king frowned over at her, concern lighting his brilliant blue eyes. 'How long has he been gone?'
That concern appeared genuine, and Alyssa experienced a rush of relief. Layel shouldn't be made to suffer another devastating loss. He might not survive. If he even lived. 'This is the second day,' she said. 'He disappeared amidst…' she swayed, her head suddenly swimming, her knees weaker than usual. Somehow she managed to remain on her feet.
'Woman?' Valerian inquired, concern shifting now to her.
'Forgive the disruption. I'm fine.' But she wasn't. She needed blood. Blood she hadn't been able to take in months. Much longer and she would collapse, no amount of determination or fortitude able to save her. 'He
