Her Dark Lord Read Online Free PDF

quiet.”
    Kia’s mind swam. She didn’t know what to think, what to feel. In just the last few minutes alone she’d experienced every emotion possible. Her eyes closed momentarily. When she next looked at him, his smile had softened.
    Her breath snagged. She wouldn’t be fooled, wouldn’t trust this man—this vampire—for even a second. He’d already let her assume he wasn’t immortal, wasn’t Sean. She’d be even more foolish to think he wouldn’t know every trick in the book and then some. He’d have practiced manipulation until it’d become a fine art.
    Her shoulders sagged. Really, it was all irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things. “Then…you must know that my…my mother needs help.”
    He didn’t reply. But once started, she couldn’t stop herself from speaking the awful truth. “She’s sick. Dying . The only possible cure is blood from the Ancient One.” Her insides raw, she linked her hands and clasped them, almost prayer-like, just beneath her breasts. “You.”
    “You seem to know so little about my race. What makes you imagine elder blood, my ancient blood in particular, would help your mother?”
    “I mightn’t know much about nightwalkers,” she admitted, “but I know a little. Even mortals have heard about the legendary healing properties of the Ancient One’s blood.”
    He stared at her for a long moment, unblinking, his expression unfathomable. Then he stood, his face still unreadable. A mask. “You are willing to do…anything, for this cure?”
    Her senses screamed warning, jangled like chimes before an approaching storm. Oh, hell . She had so easily misread him, trusted him. Right now she could see nothing yielding or kind to this vampire, nothing but pure self-interest governed by almost limitless power.
    She jerked to her feet, backing away a few steps as growing anxiety clawed within.
    Bitterness edged his voice, stopping her in her tracks as he drawled, “Your reaction is why I never told you who I was.”
    She cast him a chilling glare and his lips curled at the edges, a smile that didn’t quite make it to his eyes when he added, “I prefer your hate to your fear.”
    She didn’t fear him. Not really. Not deep down. But did she hate him? She should—perhaps she did. Yet she was drawn to him still, fascinated by him.
    Her hands clenched into fists. “Vampires fear you for good reason.”
    “Perhaps.” He shrugged, his mouth drawing tight. “I haven’t lived this many years by being soft. I’ve had to make difficult, even painful decisions. Being the Ancient One hasn’t come without a price.”
    He raked a hand through his hair, emitting a sigh. “When you mistook me as a human and chose me as your lover, I knew right away I’d do everything in my power to keep my identity secret—stop who I was from coming between us.”
    “At the expense of my mother?” she whispered, dazed, disbelieving.
    “At first, yes.”
    Her breath caught somewhere between her chest and throat. “And now?”
    His eyes glittered in all their silver glory. “That all depends on you.”
    She felt her eyes blaze in response as she lifted her chin. Her mother had made great sacrifices for her, now it was time to return the favor. Squaring her shoulders, she glided toward him. She stilled and looked up. “Then I say yes.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “Yes, I’m willing to do anything for her cure.”
    He smiled, really smiled. And in that moment she read his satisfaction, and maybe even relief. The tips of his fangs appeared, and she knew he was aroused.
    His stare possessive and steely and wise, and so very, very old, she saw the real him. The vampire who’d lived many centuries and experienced more than she could comprehend. A vampire with power and intelligence beyond anyone she’d met.
    She couldn’t help but wonder again how she could have been so blind. Even after she’d discovered he wasn’t human, she’d never once questioned that he, a vampire, could be the