Lustre of Twilight (Love Bitten)

I scrambled out of the car, hoping the cold air would shock the outlandish thoughts out of my brain. Something was very wrong with me. I’d somehow gone from being a virgin with a libido that had never switched on to a woman who couldn’t stop thinking about sex. Maybe I was suffering from a disorder where a kidnap victim falls for their rescuer. Kind of like Stockholm syndrome but with one of the good guys instead.

When I rounded my car, my eyes widened when I saw a hand-shaped dent in the hood. Whirling around to gape at Jareth, I asked, “Psychedelic tea is a real thing, right?”

“Shit,” Jareth bit out, his bright blue eyes searching my face before scanning down my body. “Did you hit your head when I stopped the car?”

“No.” I batted his hands away when he pushed my hair off my forehead. “I don’t have a concussion or anything like that. I’m asking a perfectly reasonable question, considering the circumstances. Nothing that’s happened to me since I left my parents’ house makes any sense. I went into a convenience store and was carried into a back room, tied up, and my captors were talking about asking their master if they could taste my blood. Then they took another woman who got them to back off by flicking water at them, as if that makes any sense. When they chased us into the alley, you guys showed up out of nowhere, fought them, and the bad guys literally burst into flames and turned to ash. And to top that all off, you appeared out of thin air in the middle of the road and stopped my car by putting your hand on the hood. I have to either be dreaming because I’m still asleep on my parents’ couch, or I’m hallucinating because someone drugged me.”

“Master?” he echoed.

“That’s seriously what you took away from everything I just said?” I rolled my eyes when his only response was to nod and quirk a brow. “Yeah, they also spouted some mumbo-jumbo about him being happy that they captured two consorts in one night.”

“Capture, not kill. How odd,” he murmured.

“Gee, try not to be so happy I’m still alive,” I huffed, balling my hands into fists and planting them on my hips.

His gaze dropped to my hands, and his lips curved into a grin. “You have no idea how thrilled I am that they didn’t kill you, sweetheart. Even if it meant getting my jaw broken.”

I squinted at him through the snow, which was starting to get heavier. I felt a little guilty for punching him, but I wasn’t going to apologize for doing what was necessary to get away from him and all his crazy talk about my destiny as a vampire’s consort. I hadn’t bowed to my mother’s pressure to find some wealthy guy to marry like my sister had when she’d accepted Charles’s proposal. I’d been holding out for love, but if Jareth was right, then the choice was going to be taken away from me. I’d be stuck with whatever vampire fate had paired me with. “It doesn’t look broken.”

“Luckily, I’m a fast healer.” His grin made it obvious that he wasn’t mad about the punch, which only made me wonder more about his sanity because it had been one heck of a hit.

The wind picked up, and I wrapped my arms around my body and shivered.

“You’re cold?” he asked, his deep voice full of concern.

“Um, yeah.” I circled my hand in the air, more than a few big flakes of snow clinging to my skin as I brought my index finger and thumb close together. “The storm is this close to becoming a blizzard. Maybe if I was an immortal, cold-blooded creature like you, I’d be impervious to the weather. But I’m not. I’m just human. Of course, I’m cold.”

He wrapped his fingers around my wrists, and goose bumps spread up my arms. “C’mon, let me get you somewhere warm.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” I jerked my chin toward my car. “Except my Audi doesn’t look like it’s safe to drive without getting some repairs first. Unless you got here in an invisible automobile, we’re going to need to call someone or request a rideshare. And it’s the middle of the night during a snowstorm, which means finding someone willing to come out here isn’t going to be easy.”

“No need to call anyone or try for a rideshare. I have our transportation covered.”

I doubted that the amused gleam in his blue eyes boded well for me. “But what about my car? I can’t just leave it here, in the middle of the road.”

He flashed me a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. One of my brothers said he will take care of your car.”

“But how?” I asked, my brow wrinkling in confusion as I scanned the area and didn’t see any signs of another person nearby.