Chosen: Book 1 in the Ancients of Light series (49 page)

Despite that every inch of her
attention-starved body was screaming otherwise, Ella lifted her
hand to push his and the wine glass away. Cole obliged her by
returning it to the bar and straightening, moving back to give her
space. She hadn’t remembered to release his hand though and he
pointedly looked at their locked fingers and then extracted his.
Ella might likely have kicked him over the smirk that followed if
her her vision had not lit on her friend across the room at that
same moment.

The frantic waving in her direction would
have been impossible to ignore. Hilary flashed the ‘two thumbs up’
in her direction as soon as their gazes met. Ella knew that the
other girl assumed she had landed a hot hook-up for the evening.
Hilary, whom she adored, was a bit of blonde fluff that fell in
love with a new guy every weekend.

Her friend did not realize that Ella was not
just super-secretive about her flings but that Ella had yet to rack
up a single one in her twenty six years. As an immortal, she saw no
need to rush, she literally had forever. She also had the benefit
of learning from her mother’s mistake, so she doubted that she
would ever hop into the bed of a male that was not her mate.

Cole followed her gaze towards the petite
blonde and murmured wickedly, “Mmmm…snack.” When he had the
audacity to lick his lips, Ella kicked his shin with the sharp
point of her boot in silent warning. His only response to her abuse
was the narrowing of his eyes on hers and a taunt, “Wicked little
witch.”

She looked at him as though he was daft. In a
huff, Ella tapped his chest with her forefinger, “You decide my
friend is an hors d'oeuvre and then claim that
I
am the
wicked one?”

He laughed richly at that before leaning in
and fixing her with his gaze, “I do not want an appetizer,
Princess. Why would I settle when what I want is right here? The
question is…will sacrifice yourself to the big bad vamp to save
your friend?”

Ella knew just from the look in his eyes that
he was toying with her, that there was no evil intent behind his
words. Her friend would be safe. She could also tell, however, by
the level of heat in his stare that were she to accept his terms,
her ‘sacrifice’ would entail much more than giving him a satisfying
drink of her blood. His proposition did not strike her as repulsive
as it should have.

Watching the internal debate play out over
her face, his next proposal was more outrageous, “If you do not
stay with me
all night
, how will you make certain I do not
change my mind and have blondie as a midnight snack?” He could tell
by shot of green sparkle that flashed in her eyes that his emphasis
was duly noted. Cole was enjoying this game and her reactions much
more than he had anticipated. Raking his gaze down her, taking in
every delicious curve, his eyes were full of sinful promises and a
hint of teasing laughter when he repeated meaningfully, “
All
night.”

Her next move caught him by surprise. The
witch pressed closer until only a hairbreadth separated them. The
flat of her palm met the taut plane of his lower abdomen and her
fingertips played there before sliding up, caressing along the way.
Cole wasn’t quick enough to stop the reactive tensing of his
muscles in response to her touch and she gave him a gloating look.
His eyes shimmered dark when she continued on in a slow exploration
of the breadth of his chest muscles and eventually finished by
draping her arm lazily over his shoulder.

Ella enjoyed the silken feel of his dark
hair, twirling her fingers in the strands that lay against his
collar. Finally she pressed her lips to his ear, letting them graze
lightly there, while she molded herself to him. Her whisper was
every bit as hot as the desire now burning through him, “I could
watch you roast slowly,
all night
.” She let Cole feel a bit
of warmth radiating from her fingertips at his neck.

Damn if she hadn’t been delightfully sexy
when she threatened his life. Cole couldn’t control his
appreciative chuckle. He was drawn to her because she was a
beautiful immortal, but he might actually be capable of
liking
this little being. Too bad she had chosen an
affiliation with the Light and he had purely selfish reasons for
pursuing her.

Cole thought he witnessed a bit of answering
humor lurking in the depths of green so he took advantage of it.
There were only a few inches separating their mouths and he removed
them. His lips moved over hers for a whisper of a second, but
before she could react he had already released her. When he peered
down to gauge her response, her lips were parted and her tongue was
just darting over the lower, and she was probably unaware of how
telling that action was.

Ella had given herself a bit more than she
could handle with her teasing exploration of his body. Still
reeling from her insane desire and the conflicting emotions that
came along with it, when he had given her his mouth, she had been
nearly overcome with a fiery wave of the less than magical variety.
The heated need that had come on hard and fast was appalling.

Despite them being sworn enemies, Ella was
intrigued. His dark looks had already had her thinking not the
purest of thoughts before she knew his true nature. Now that she
had an idea of what was hidden beneath his fine clothes, she wanted
to forget to remember what he was. She felt certain he would be
fully capable of making her melt from the inside…repeatedly. A
quick glance up at the vampire told her that her current state of
want was understood and she expected him to press his
advantage.

Rather than reaching for her, Cole instead
turned to top off her glass and appeared relaxed when he extended
it back to her. The heat in his stare belied that though and was
likely to be her undoing, “Fiery little witch, we can wage a battle
of insults until dawn, wasting good drink and a wonderful spring
night…or we can call a truce and enjoy this bottle of wine
together.”

He was pleasantly surprised when she appeared
to actually be weighing the offer, so this time he did press his
advantage, “We are far removed from the Realm, Princess. I will
offer you my vow not to harm you, if you will return the same. Let
us forget the war that separates our breeds, at least for
tonight.”

Ella was considering his words carefully. His
dark good looks and inviting smile were tipping the scales in his
favor, as was the memory of that sculpted body beneath that shirt.
He had only a few times straightened enough that she could
determine his height. As tall as she was, even with the additional
four inches of her heels, she estimated that Cole towered a good
three more above her.

She reasoned with herself that she was not
engaged in the conflict of the Realm and did not know that she ever
would choose to be. She felt little real connection with that
world. How much harm could there be in letting Cole entertain her?
It was not as though she would be defenseless if he turned all
blood-sucky at the stroke of midnight. If both she and Cole were
swearing off any allegiance to either Light or Dark tonight, it
really could be just two immortals passing some time together.

All those thoughts rambled around in her
brain while he patiently gazed down at her. That cocky grin tugging
at the corner of his mouth while she did made her want to nibble
him…right there. She couldn’t resist - decision made – she was in
celebratory mode tonight, not in the Realm.

Returning her eyes to his, Ella inclined her
head to indicate her acceptance and raised her glass, “I am Ella.”
Just because she could, she stepped into him again, this time
sliding her palm over the muscled bicep before it found home on his
shoulder. Raising up on her toes, she rubbed her lips against his
jawline as she spoke, “I accept your terms, Vamp.”

###

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

If you have made it this
far, thank you for your interest in the series. Thank you also for
taking the time to read my book.

God opened a window that
provided me with the opportunity to begin this journey. Thank you
God. You answered my prayers in a way I could not have imagined and
have given my family countless and amazing blessings.

D.A. Fleener is my rock
and loves me in a way I could never have imagined. Only a few times
during this whole harried journey did he look at me like I might be
a bit nuts. Truly, without him supporting me the whole way, I would
never have had the courage to see this project through to
completion.

Fleener – I love you very
much with my whole heart.

I might also not have made
it to the end if I had not had a cheerleader, pseudo-editor,
sounding board and shrink in my sister, Kiki. She kept me sane and
calmed my anxiety and read draft after draft as I revised and
edited and revised again. Amazingly, she managed to survive all of
my anxiety-ridden, middle of the night emails and did not once
threaten my life.

Kiki – This would not be
if it were not for you making me believe that it was actually
possible. Thank you for all that you did and for being the amazing
sister that you are. I love you.