Bound By Darkness by Alexandra Ivy

poppet?”
    â€œSomething like that.”
    His gaze lowered to the small breasts perfectly outlined by the black spandex.
    â€œWhat do you intend to offer?”
    She growled, but amazingly she made no effort to sink her pearly fangs into his arm. In fact, her mouth curled into what he assumed was intended to be a smile, although it was remarkably closer to the onset of rigor mortis.
    â€œI’m willing to give you a few days to track down Tearloch,” she managed to choke out. “If you swear you will only capture the child and not sacrifice her.”
    Curiouser and curiouser.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œI won’t help you kill an innocent.”
    He pressed the blade back to her neck. “Don’t play stupid.”
    She snapped her fangs, barely missing his fingers. “Careful, fey.”
    â€œEarlier you refused to even discuss my need to stop Tearloch and Sergei,” he reminded her. “What changed?”
    She shifted until the blade was no longer burning her skin, her raven braid spilling across the damp pavement.
    â€œI’m no more anxious than you for the world to end. Especially if it means becoming enslaved by the minions of hell.”
    Ariyal shook his head. “You really are a terrible liar, poppet.”
    She made a sound of impatience. “Look, I’ve offered to give you the time you need to track down your tribesman. What does it matter why?”
    â€œBecause I don’t trust you.”
    She met him glare for glare. “Believe me, the feeling is entirely mutual.”
    â€œI should return you to Avalon.”
    Something that might have been panic flared through her eyes before she was crushing it beneath a layer of ice.
    â€œI’ll only escape again,” she warned in frigid tones. “And the next time I won’t hesitate to haul your ass to the Commission.”
    Ariyal silently cursed.
    He was an idiot.
    His tribe had suffered untold pain and humiliation to be rid of their ties to the Dark Lord. He couldn’t afford to be distracted now that there was a chance the brutal bastard might be returned to this world.
    The sensible solution would be to kill the perilously tempting vampire. Or at the very least to return her to Avalon and lock her in the lower harems where nothing could escape.
    Instead, he was going to keep her with him.
    What choice did he have? There wasn’t any place he could put her, not even in her grave, where she wouldn’t be nagging at his thoughts.
    â€œYou swear not to interfere?” he rasped.
    â€œNot unless you try to kill the child.”
    â€œBloody hell, I know I’m going to regret this,” he muttered, rising to his feet, although he kept the dagger handy.
    Jaelyn was upright and angrily tossing back her long braid in less than a heartbeat.
    â€œYou and me both.”
    Still fully aroused from the feel of her body beneath him and furious with his odd compulsion to have her near, Ariyal grasped her upper arm and jerked her across the road.
    â€œLet’s go.”
    â€œGo?” She scowled, but allowed herself to be led toward the back of the looming townhouses. “Where?”
    â€œIf you insist on hanging around then you can at least make yourself useful.”
    Her lips parted to offer a scathing comment, only to snap shut as they came to a halt near a servants’ entrance.
    â€œThe mage,” she said, her hand instinctively reaching for the shotgun that she usually carried strapped to her side. She glared at him when she came up empty. “And he’s brewing something.”
    He nodded, catching the sweet scent drifting through the air.
    â€œYes.”
    â€œIt smells ...” She blinked in surprise. “... good.”
    â€œFey.”
    â€œWhat?”
    Ariyal breathed in deeply. “The plants he’s using are grown only by the fey.”
    Her surprise hardened to suspicion. “Do you know what he’s concocting?”
    He shrugged.