Her white hair spilled out over the sheets, blending in until only her dark lashes and pink lips were visible in the dim light of his bedroom. The pale nightgown she wore fell nearly to her ankles and hid the bony contours of her wasted body.
Madoc didn’t like scrawny chicks. Nika shouldn’t have done anything for him, but his dick thought otherwise. Not that he could listen to it for advice—the thing had a mind of its own.
Before he could stop himself, he looked at the ring on his finger, hoping for a sign that she could save him. As always, he saw nothing in the pale depths of the band—no pulse of color or glimmer of hope.
Madoc couldn’t even find the strength to mourn what could have been. He was empty. Hollow. Void of everything but pain and anger.
But those faithful companions had served him well last night as he’d hunted. Sixteen more sgath had fallen by his blade. He didn’t know if any of them had stolen pieces of Nika’s mind, but if they had, she would be that much more restored when she woke today.
Killing was all he had to offer her, no matter how much he wished it were otherwise.
With a final glance at her, Madoc eased himself from his bed to dress for a few hours of pumping iron in the training yard. After that, he’d go find a whore or three to fuck, then head out to kill some more sgath at nightfall. Same ol’, same ol’. At least now that they’d found out what was plaguing Nika, he had a reason to get out of bed each day.
“Madoc.” Nika’s faint voice drifted up from the bed.
He froze, knowing that if he turned around right now, he might change his mind about those whores and use her instead. She was here, and he hurt like hell. He could find some ease inside her body—scrawny or not—even if it was only for a while.
“I saw you last night,” she said. “Hunting.”
If she’d seen him, then a sliver of her mind had been in the beasts he’d killed. At least he was finding the right sgath. That was something.
“How was my technique?” he asked without turning around.
He heard a shift of fabric, the slight creak of the bed as it moved under her meager weight. She was getting closer to him. He could feel it in the tightening of his muscles, the awareness of the heat of her skin.
The soulless part of him dared her to touch him. Reach for him. It was all the excuse he needed to throw her down and use her. If she touched him, then she must want him to take her. He’d have no more reason to hold back. He could give into that baser part of him that wanted the release that only came from coming inside a woman. All she had to do was lay a single finger on his body and she’d be his.
Madoc stepped away, out of reach of the bed.
“You’re afraid of me?” she asked.
She hadn’t meant it to be a taunt, but Madoc’s blood was running hot, and he heard it as one, anyway. He spun around, not even bothering to hide his thick erection from her sight like he might have before he’d lost his soul. His honor.
She looked almost ethereal, all pale and glowing in the darkness. She was kneeling on the bed, and her white gown pooled around her knees, hiding her body from his sight.
Madoc wanted to strip it from her and see her naked. Keep her that way. He didn’t even care anymore if she was bony and weak. He’d find a way to fix her and make her healthy enough for the kind of treatment he had to offer.
When he spoke, his voice was rough with arousal. “No, but you should be afraid of me. What the hell were you thinking coming into my room? Into my bed?”
Nika frowned in confusion. “I’ve slept here every day and you haven’t complained.”
“Like hell you have,” spat Madoc. “I think I would have remembered having a woman in my bed.” Although, he’d slept like the dead for a few days now, so maybe he was wrong. Wouldn’t that be just great to learn that he’d slipped so far he couldn’t even keep himself safe anymore from whoever wanted to walk in?
She looked down, making her white hair slide out from behind her shoulder. “Oh. Right. I’m wearing my body today. That’s what’s different.”
Madoc didn’t have a fucking clue what that meant. “And you weren’t before?”
“No. It was too weak to come with me. It must be better now.” She closed her eyes and ran her hands over her body. She was obviously checking herself for something, and hadn’t meant to give Madoc a sexy show by feeling herself up, but she had anyway.
The sight made him shake with need. He wanted those to be his hands, or at least for her to do that while she was naked. She was teasing him and he didn’t like it one bit. He was going to show her what happened to women who teased.
His cock twitched against the confines of his boxers, and he barely caught himself in time to keep from reaching for her. It took every bit of his strength to lock his feet in place. If he touched her now, he knew how it would end. She would be naked, under him, and he wouldn’t give a shit about whether or not she wanted it. Whether she liked it or not.
He closed his eyes, and it helped him regain enough willpower to speak. “Don’t come here again,” he ordered.
“But I need you, Madoc.”
Her words hit him like a fist in his gut. They drove the air from his lungs and left him floundering for control. He’d spent centuries hoping to hear those words from a female Theronai, but it was too late. She couldn’t save him.
Confusion fogged her blue eyes. She wasn’t sane. She didn’t understand what Madoc wanted to do to her—what she did to him—and he had to stop expecting her to be able to.