She leveled a narrowed glance at Brand. While she wanted Layel's secrets, she wanted the vampire to be the one to tell them to her. 'Keep speaking, and I'll tell the entire assembly something about you. Something you wish I didn't know.'
Nola, who stood at the far end, leaned forward. 'Speak louder. I want to hear this.'
Zane stared at the girl, his expression dark. Brand, too, looked over at her and tilted his head to the side thoughtfully. Nola caught his look and blushed. Actually blushed like an untried girl, though Delilah knew she had once been given a captive male as a reward for demonstrating unparalleled bravery on the battlefield. Perhaps, though, she had left the man untouched and spent the night alone. Perhaps she'd wanted something more than mere capitulation from a lover, as Delilah did.
If she kept looking between them, Delilah mused, she was going to fall. She carefully replanted her heels on the log. Heard a splash in the distance. Her back straightened, and she gazed down the line, searching.
The demon on her team had fallen. He came up sputtering. The two centaurs, who'd twisted to watch the creature swim to the beach, fell next, unable to balance their hooves any longer. Delilah shook her head—dizzy, stop!—and sighed.
'Amazon,' Brand called suddenly.
Delilah blinked at him, but he wasn't watching her. His gaze was still glued on pretty Nola.
'Stop glancing between your sister and the vampire. You'll fall,' he said.
Nola raised her fist at him before glaring straight ahead.
'Ah, look at that. An Amazon who obeys a man's command without question. A novelty indeed,' Layel said.
Delilah turned back to him, pulse jumping at the sound of his husky voice. Gods, he was beautiful. Striking and full of verve. A protector in a predator's skin. 'Are all vampires angry, snarling beasts?'
He inclined his head. 'Just me. Thank you.'
'That wasn't a compliment.'
'You're sure?'
'Look who's asking questions now,' she told him smugly. A swift survey of the contestants had her noticing the other vampire's gaze was once more on her friend. 'Your warrior watches my sister with dark intentions in his eyes, as though he wants her for dinner.'
Layel's gaze slowly perused Delilah's face. 'That displeases you, I see. Jealous?'
There was so much anger in the question, she was momentarily taken aback. And then, gods help her, she was smiling. 'Are you?'
He didn't answer. He even looked away as if dismissing her. But he didn't dismiss. He merely said, 'I am not jealous,' his tone quiet, calm. 'But I think I would kill even my own brother, if I had one, if you decided to take him as a lover.'
Water splashed. There was a vile curse.
The other demon had fallen.
'How do you feel?' Layel asked before she could respond to his angry—wondrous—announcement.
Tired, weak, shaky. Unsure. 'Fine.'
His gaze slid back to her in another lingering perusal, hot, stopping in all the places she wanted his mouth to travel. He licked his lips as if remembering the taste of her. For once—twice? A third time?—nothing around her mattered but a man. Her weakness was forgotten. The game was forgotten. Consequences were forgotten. Only Layel existed.
'You never told me the worst thing you ever did.'
A muscle ticked below his eye. 'Why do you wish to have such information? What purpose could it possibly serve?' There was genuine perplexity in his voice.
'I want to know you better. That's all.'
A warm blast of sea-kissed air blustered about them, whipping his hair around his face and causing her mouth to water. He didn't have a shirt on and his pants were ripped. Every hard rope of muscle and sinew he possessed was bared to her view. She couldn't help but marvel at the sight. I held this powerful man in my arms.
He didn't have any scars. She'd always thought she'd desire a man with scars—proof that he did not back down from a fight. Proof that he'd fight for her. Vorik had possessed many. But she wanted Layel far more than she'd ever wanted the dragon—who hadn't fought for her after all. The vampire's skin was velvet-covered steel, smooth and strong, and tempted her as nothing else ever had.
'Have you ever killed a woman?' she asked, inclining her head.
'Oh, yes.' He didn't hesitate with his answer. 'I held Marina, the former demon queen, in my arms and killed her the way I almost killed you. I drained the life out of her with my mouth. And I have never regretted it.'
'I suppose she hurt you in some way.' Had they been lovers? Delilah wondered, fists tightening. That small action upset her balance, and she swayed again.
Layel kicked out his leg, preventing her from toppling. The movement was as swift as a blink—gliding up, then back down—that no one could have noticed, but it saved her.
Her heart pounded in a staccato rhythm of gratitude and embarrassment. 'Thank you,' she muttered.
'I warned you. Pay attention. Next time, I may let you fall.'
'My sweet hero.' Feeling a hot gaze boring into her, she glanced around. Brand and Nola were staring straight ahead, Zane the vampire was watching Nola again and—Tagart. Damn. He was glaring at her.
'You have to stop helping me,' she grumbled to Layel. 'Saving me will only get you killed.'
'At least you don't deny needing aid. And before you tell me that you wouldn't have needed aid had I kept my teeth to myself, I know. You are strong and capable when your veins are fully stocked.'
He acknowledged her abilities as a warrior? Shock nearly felled her. One of the reasons the Amazons so often had to prove their abilities was that the men they fought so often lied, claiming victory they had not warranted, too embarrassed to admit they'd been defeated by mere women.
'Sometimes I feel weak around you,' she admitted quietly, lowering her voice so only he could hear, 'and it has nothing to do with blood loss. The things I want you to do to me…they shame me, and yet that never seems to matter when I'm with you. I crave them.'
He gulped. 'They should not shame you.'
'And why is that?'
'Because it has been my…pleasure to fulfill some of your needs. Because it's all right to allow another to see to your care.'
'Would you? Allow another to see to your care, I mean?' I want to be that woman. She desired him so badly. In her bed, in her life—there, she had finally admitted the second. They should have been enemies; he would probably hate the woman who made him forget his precious mate, even for a second, but…If he would look at Delilah with tenderness just once, it might just be worth any hardship.
'I—No. If I were not mated…'
But in his mind, he was. Would always be. Much as the knowledge hurt, it was the most he'd ever offered her and so she took heart. Seemed she grew more foolish with every day that passed. 'Why did you kill Marina?'
One corner of his mouth curled upward. 'She was breathing the same air as me.'
Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of that half smile. 'And?' she prompted when he failed to elaborate.
'That…offended me.'
She couldn't stop a grin of her own from forming. 'I never liked her. She was a thief and a liar.'
'And lies disgust you?'
'Of course.' Trust was a sacred thing, and lies mocked it.
'I am a liar.'
A moment passed in silence as she digested his words. Liars didn't usually admit to their sins. Which meant he must want to elicit her disgust. Why? 'You've said that before.' Had she ever sounded so shaky? So…female?
'And you did not believe me. Yet, look what happened to you.' His gaze flicked to her still-healing neck. 'I said I would stay away from you and then I stole your blood.'
Perhaps this was his way of keeping her away from him, she thought. Perhaps she was proving too much a
