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Unless she was wrapped in his arms.
Then she was a shimmering, passionate creature who burned as hot as the sun.
“I’m not very good at waiting,” he informed her.
“No?” She arched a brow. “You shock me. ”
His fingers stroked down the line of her throat, relishing the feel of her smooth skin. “I have a way we could pass the time. ”
“You’re covered in mud,” she chided, but he didn’t miss the tiny spark of heat deep in her eyes.
He leaned down to brush his lips along the curve of her ear. “There’s a creek just over the hill,” he told her, his superior hearing able to catch the sound of shallow water as it danced over rocks. It was all too easy to imagine stripping off Nefri’s clothes so she could play mermaid. “You could wash me. ”
She shivered, the rich scent of her arousal lacing the breeze. “Maybe later. ”
He nipped the lobe of her ear, careful not to draw blood. His possessive fascination with the female was enough to deal with at the moment.
He wasn’t going to take the risk of mating her.
Not when she might disappear back behind the Veil.
He’d been abandoned by his sire and then again by this female just a few weeks ago. He wasn’t ready to take the risk again.
Instead he concentrated on the delectable taste of her jasmine-scented skin. “You promise?”
“We’ll see,” she teased, her voice a husky invitation.
He muttered low words of need as his lips stroked down the line of her jaw. His hands gripped her waist, but before he could yank her hard against his stirring body, a warning prickle brushed over his skin.
On instant alert, Santiago stepped back far enough to pull his sword free. The air felt charged with electricity, as if lightning was about to strike.
Not a vampire’s favorite sensation.
Being flammable had a few downsides.
When lightning didn’t strike him down, he began to lower his sword, his puzzled gaze searching the meadow. There was something near.
Something powerful.
With his senses on full alert, he didn’t miss the strange fog that began to form around the diamond. Still, he wasn’t prepared for the massive jewel to abruptly disappear at the same time the tree split in half.
“Meirda,” he muttered, staring at the black hole that hovered in the space between the two halves of the tree. “What’s that?”
“A doorway. ” Nefri sent him a warning glance as she moved forward. “Stay close. ”
Reluctantly he fell into step behind her. “We’re not about to tumble into some weird version of Wonderland, are we?”
She gave a soft snort. “Weird version?”
“Okay, the first version was pretty weird,” he conceded, his knuckles white as he gripped the hilt of his sword.
Like any self-respecting vampire, he detested magic. And there was no mistaking that the black hole was made by magic, not nature. But, gritting his teeth, he forced his feet to carry him forward.
Hadn’t he been the one to insist on joining Nefri? He couldn’t back down now.
Shivering as they moved through the darkness, Santiago nearly stumbled over his own feet as they stepped into what looked like a throne room in a grand palace.
Startled, his gaze skimmed over the long, highly glossed floor of inlaid wood that was framed by ivory walls inset with arched mirrors. Above his head the coved ceiling displayed an exquisite mural of Aladdin and his lamp that came to life in the blaze of light from the massive chandelier.
At the far end of the room was a gilded throne with crimson velvet padding that was set on a high dais. On each side of the dais were a matching set of ivory and gold double doors.
“Where are we?” he asked in confusion.
Nefri continued toward the throne, her air of nobility only emphasized by her elegant surroundings. Regal, a voice whispered in the back of his mind.
“It’s a small fold in dimensions,” she murmured softly.
“A fold?” He followed several steps behind Nefri, giving himself room for a full swing of his sword if they were attacked. “I’ve never heard of it. ”
She slowed her steps, perhaps considering how best to explain the strange phenomenon. “You know that Laylah found the babies hidden in what she called a ‘bubble’?”
“I’ve heard the stories. ”
She waved a slender hand. “This is basically the same, only on a larger scale. ”
He frowned as he glanced around the room, realizing the opening had closed behind them.
Trapped.
A very elegant sally port.
He shuddered, far from happy by the knowledge he had no easy exit.
“So are we in another dimension?”
She again considered her words. “We’re in a sliver of space where our worlds intersect with one another. ”
Santiago grimaced. He hadn’t considered the possibilities that dimensions overlapped one another. Hell, he hadn’t spent any time thinking about other dimensions at all. He was a warrior, not a philosopher. But now that he considered Nefri’s explanation, it made sense.
“How did you know it was here?”
She came to a halt a few steps from the empty throne, her hand absently stroking the medallion hung around her neck. It was a gesture that revealed she was more nervous than she wanted to admit.
“I devoted a number of years to studying obscure histories and forgotten languages,” she said, her tone distracted. “In one I discovered the rumors of a . . . ”
He shifted back to study his companion’s perfect profile. “A what?”
“It’s difficult to translate, but I suppose the nearest description would be hall of records. ” She shrugged, her explanation smooth. Too smooth. She was hiding something from him. “Or a library, if you prefer. ”
“I crawled through the muck to come to a library?”
She turned to meet his chiding gaze. “Where else do you go when you need information?”
“Google?”
She shook her head. “Google doesn’t have the answers we need. ”
He pointed a sword toward the mirrored walls that were markedly devoid of books. As far as he could see, it looked more like a room Paris Hilton would choose, not a scholar.
There was something she wasn’t telling him.
“And this place does?”
“The actual texts are protected by a very special guardian. We must wait for an invitation to go further. ”
“Perfect. ” He rolled his tight shoulders. He wanted out of the strange fold in space; it felt too much like a trap. “I’m still curious about how you found this place. Did one of your texts have a map?”
“Something like that. ”
Hmmm. What the hell was she hiding?
A familiar warning flared through his blood, distracting him from the suspicion that he should have asked a lot more questions before entering Wonderland.
“You do know that dawn is only an hour away?”
“We’ll be safe here. ”
“You’re sure?”
“Trust me. ”
About to remind her that she’d given up the right to trust when she’d disappeared on him without a word, he caught a faint scent wafting beneath the doors.
Tilting back his head, Santiago tested the air, his predatory senses on full alert. “Do you smell that?”
Nefri gave a calm nod. “Yes. ”
“What is it?”
“Dragon. ”
“Mierda. ” Santiago’s eyes widened in shock. “Do you have a death-wish?”
Chapter 15
Nefri was an ancient vampire of immeasurable strength and a clan chief who’d led her people for centuries with a combination of compassion and a shrewd intelligence.
Among many, she was considered almost a god.
But she was also a woma
n. And she wasn’t above taking pleasure in the sight of Santiago’s stunned disbelief. He was always so damned arrogantly confident.
Not that she blamed him for his reaction. Dragons would make any demon run in the opposite direction.
Even the mighty vampires.
Not only were dragons capable of destroying their enemies by breathing fires that reached nuclear-level status, but they possessed magic as old and powerful as the universe.
The only good thing was that the rare, reclusive creatures had little interest in the mortal world, and often disappeared for several millennia at a time.
“There’s no need to get excited,” she murmured.
He stared at her as if she was demented. A legitimate hypothesis, she wryly accepted, shivering as icy prickles teased over her skin.
Any female would have to be insane to be more distracted by a sexy vampire who was arousing her with nothing more than the brush of his power, than the approaching dragon who could roast her with an accidental burp.
“You bring me to a dragon’s hoard and you tell me not to get excited?”
“You will never find a larger collection of ancient texts,” she explained.
“Yeah, guarded by a lethal, bat-crazy lizard who can charbroil us with a yawn. ”
Nefri stilled, abruptly puzzled by Santiago’s reaction. “I’m surprised. ”