Nightwalker
Page 64

“Are you sure you can do this?” he asked a little skeptically.
Viève’s expression became grim. “I’m not saying it won’t be hard. And maybe I might get a little beaten up in the process. But all I have to do is think of you or Marissa or Jackson and the way you treat me like I’m worth something and that will help me to pull through.”
“Good,” he said, tipping her chin up and placing a warm kiss on her lips.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
The booming, acidic statement was followed up by an iron hand wrapping around her arm and jerking her away from Kamen. Startled, they both automatically tried to remain connected, their hands catching.
Felix jerked harder, trying to pull her away from him completely.
“Get away from him you, little mongrel!” he spat. “Bad enough your mother polluted this earth with you! I won’t have you compounding the mistake by allowing you to mate with this…this…human!”
“He’s not human! He’s a Bodywalker!” she spluttered, the response the first thing she could think of as she tried to jerk free of him.
“His soul is a Bodywalker, his body is human. I’ll not have you spawn any more diluted mongrels!”
“Enough! Take your hands off her or so help me I will cast a rending spell that will sever your spine into two parts!” Kamen growled out.
The threat didn’t seem to faze Felix in the least. He pulled harder.
Unable to bear his blistering disapproval and rude behavior a second longer, she lifted up the arm he held captive until his hand was at her lips then she bit down on him as hard as she could.
Felix yowled in pain, finally letting go of her, rearing back from her as if she’d suddenly turned into a venomous creature.
“You bit me!”
“You deserved it!” she shot back. “Never ever touch me again. If you do I’ll bite off more than just your finger.”
Kamen drew her close, holding her protectively.
“The Doyen will hear of this. He will command you to—”
“The Doyen can’t command me to do anything!” she spat. “I am a free being, with the right to do anything I choose. And if I choose to mate with a Bodywalker, then that is what I am going to do. And anyway, you’re too late. I’ve been fucking him for two days now,” she said crudely.
She heard a snort and realized Kamen had just kept himself from laughing. She looked up into his eyes and saw pride and delight dancing in them.
“You mean you’re pregnant?” Felix said, horrified.
“So what if I am?” she said, even though she knew she wasn’t. “There’s nothing you can do about it now. Wraiths can’t get abortions.”
“That may be true, but don’t expect your child to ever be accepted by decent Wraiths.”
“I wouldn’t want it to be accepted by Wraiths. And I have yet to meet a decent one!” she shot back.
“You are an ungrateful female. Your mother gave you life. Your cell tolerated you. And this is what you give us in return? Do not ever think you can come back to your cell. We will see to it you are never allowed back.”
Tears stung at Viève’s eyes as she thought of losing the only home she had ever known. But she realized she didn’t care. These were tears of liberation, of finally feeling of value. Kamen had given her that. He had shown up in her garden and changed her life.
“I don’t want to go back. I’d rather live life as a human than ever go back.”
“You’ll have no haven. No funds.” Felix was growing shrill as he realized she wasn’t at all fazed by his threats.
“No derision. No scorn,” she retaliated.
“It’s what you deserve.”
“No one deserves that. Not me, not anyone,” she said. “Come on, Kamen. Let’s go back to the house and fuck like bunnies.”
She tugged his hand and pulled him forward and this time Kamen didn’t hold back his laugh. It belted out into the air and made her smile. He fell into step beside her and dropped his arm around her shoulders. He hugged her so tight she couldn’t walk straight.
“I’m so proud of you,” he whispered fiercely into her hair.
She laughed shakily. “Yeah. Except now I have nowhere to go.”
“You’ll stay here. With me. You’ll always have somewhere to go as long as I am alive on this earth.”
The words pleased her so much she could hardly contain the feeling. “But you hardly know me. I wouldn’t want to saddle you with me the rest of your life.”
“Saddle me? Viève, you breathe life into me!” He stopped and turned her toward him so she could look into his eyes. “Before all of this…before Apep…all I wanted to do was figure out a way to die. Not just die so I could come back again, but to end it all once and for all. I was trying to figure out how I could remove my soul from this endless cycle of life and death. I remember every life I’ve had, every death I’ve had. After all of this time it weighs on me like a thousand elephants on my chest. Or at least it did. I had purpose in trying to rectify the mistake I made with Apep, but when I met you…you gave me life. Joy. Pleasure I haven’t known for many lifetimes now. In two short days you’ve changed me in such a fundamental way. There’s nothing I can ever do to pay you back for that.”
Tears threatened her eyes, but they were good tears. He made her sound so wonderful. Made all of this sound so wonderful. Of course, he wasn’t promising her his heart or anything like that, and she shouldn’t expect it after only two days, but perhaps one day…
It gave her a hope she had never known before.
Kamen had never been one to wax poetic, but he had been unable to help himself. It was important to him that she know what changes she had wrought in him. He didn’t know how—didn’t know why—he just knew it in the depths of his soul. He had found something special in her. He wasn’t going to let go of that feeling any time soon.
“Come. Let’s go fuck like bunnies,” he said to her, amusement tickling every part of him. She laughed, a beautiful sound to his ears. She seemed so much lighter than she had when she had first come there. She was learning her true value in the world. Learning to measure herself by her own yardstick and not that of the Wraiths. He truly was proud of her.