He flipped the knife up, losing hold on it but he caught it expertly by the hilt and he did this, no joke, without taking his eyes from me.
“You didn’t think, did you, that my own, damned horse was going to take you somewhere I couldn’t find you?”
Salem, a traitor.
What a disappointment.
We’d ridden the rest of the night and all the next day, stopping only to bum water and, for my part, answer the call of nature. An hour or two after night fell we came upon this hunting lodge which Salem, in his Salem way, assured me was safe. He even reached out his powerful neck and pointed with his communicative muzzle to the window ledge that held the hidden key.
I thought he was my horse in shining coat.
Totally a disappointment.
Now, clearly, as the sun was shining, it was sometime the next day.
And I was back in the clutches of the evil, black Prince Noctorno.
Foiled.
“I own this hunting cottage. It’s sacred ground. It’s safe. My horse is no fool,” Noctorno went on.
Great. Marvelous.
Or, more aptly put, phooey!
I carefully rolled to my back and just as carefully scooted up the bed until my back was pressed to the headboard. I pulled my knees up and circled my calves with my arms. I got in this protective position and held it all the while I kept wary eyes on him.
His eyes swept my truncated body and came back to mine. Then they warmed and he started to lean in, murmuring, “Cora.”
My hand shot up, palm out, and I whispered on a hiss, “Don’t touch me.”
His body stopped moving.
“Cora,” he repeated on a whisper.
“Tell me about the bones,” I demanded and watched his eyes flash. I dropped my hand and narrowed my own eyes at him. “I know you don’t believe me and yadda, yadda, yadda. Humor me. Tell me about the fucking bones.”
He studied me. Then he stated, “They have my saliva on them.”
“And?”
He studied me some more. Then he sighed and continued, “And, they can track me through my saliva. They can do it from miles away.”
“So that’s why you kept the bones in the cave,” I surmised.
He nodded. “They had no clue it existed and I use it for hunting or for war. I’m always careful, out of habit, it’s been ingrained in me since I was born. In ancient times, they could only track the females. They’ve adapted. Now they’ve learned also to track the mates. So, along with searching for you, they were searching for me. You threw out the bones, they found me or, since the remains of our rabbit meal were amongst them… us.”
Hmm.
“And say, when we, uh… relieve ourselves. Can they track that?” I asked.
“That’s acid so… no.”
Interesting.
“Just saliva?”
“That and other bodily fluids.”
“Like?”
“Blood. Semen. But not urine.”
Yuck!
Time to move on before he went on.
“Okay, that’s enough with the bodily fluids and other, um… bodily functions. Can they track scent? Hair?”
“Fluids only.”
How weird.
So weird, my brows shot up. “Seriously?”
One side of his mouth twitched. “Seriously.”
He looked hot with one side of his mouth twitching so I decided I was done.
Therefore, I stated, “Thank you for the lesson. You can go now.”
His eyes stayed glued to mine and I let them mostly because I had no choice. The guy had proven time and again he was freaking strong so I could never best him physically and wasn’t going to try.
The bummer of this was, he didn’t move.
Then he said quietly, “We must talk.”
“Welp, Prince Noctorno, sorry to disappoint you but I am way, so done talking to you.”
He shook his head. “We must talk,” he repeated.
“I have nothing to say and you have nothing to say I want to hear.”
“We need to talk about what happened in the church.”
My body went solid. “No, we absolutely, definitely, without a doubt, totally do not need to talk about what happened in the church.”
“Cora –”
“Go away.”
“Cora –”
“I said go away. I’m tired. My body’s sore from riding all day. I need sleep before I’m on my way again…” I paused then finished, “on foot.”
“Cora –”
“Don’t worry, I won’t bleed on anything. I, obviously, don’t have any semen so we’re good on that score and I promise to be careful with my saliva.”
“Gods damn it, Cora.”
“Seriously! Go!”
He didn’t go.
Nope. He didn’t.
What he did do was dart a hand out, wrap his fingers around my ankle and yank it out and straight down the bed. Unfortunately, as my body was attached to it, it too went down the bed. Then he shifted to lying and rolled right, smack on top of me.
I shoved at his shoulders, shouting, “Get off me!”
“Calm yourself,” he commanded.
“Get… off… me!”
“Calm yourself!” he barked.
“And what if I don’t!” I yelled back. “You gonna shake me so hard I see stars? Or toss me around?”
“I had another idea to get you to obey.”
“Spanking? Whipping? Wait, that might draw blood –”
“Cora –”
“Water torture?”
“No, Cora, fucking you so hard you can’t bloody breathe and you’re so damned exhausted after, you can’t move and you’re forced to shut your mouth and bloody listen.”
I snapped my mouth shut.
Shit, I should have never taught him that word.
“That did it,” he muttered.
“You want to talk, talk,” I invited, my tone surly.
He scowled down at me.
Then he sucked in a breath and started, “I hurt you –”
“Yep,” I confirmed. “I checked and I’ve got the bruises to prove it.”
