Shadowflame Read Online Free PDF Page B

New York. He had ruled a hundred years with no Queen, and five minutes after meeting him it was obvious why—but his sexual appetite was well-known, and it was rumored he kept a harem of vampire women whom he terrorized into obedience.
    He was not a friend to David. In fact David had no idea why Hart was so keenly interested in coming to Texas so soon; generally a Prime’s allies came first, and it took months for everyone to make the arrangements. Pairs were mostly anchored to their territories, and leaving even for a few days was a major undertaking. Allies made the effort as soon as possible as a show of support. Usually neutral parties or antagonistic ass-kissers waited until the rush was over. David hadn’t expected Hart to come at all, and that would have been just fine.
    Obviously Hart wanted something. That alone was enough to make David uneasy about the visit. The thought of Hart and Miranda in the same room, while wickedly amusing to Faith, set his teeth on edge.
    As he was closing his schedule—Hart was set to arrive on Tuesday—he looked over at his contact list and noticed that only one other person was online at this ungodly hour.
    “What are you doing up?” he typed.
    “Painting my nails & watching porn,” Deven answered promptly.
    David grinned and replied, “Right. What color/kind?”
    A pause, then: “Black/Midget.”
    David snorted quietly. “Couldn’t sleep?”
    “No. You know how it goes.”
    David glanced over at the bed, where Miranda was still blessedly asleep. Yes, he knew how it went. At least once a week, sometimes more, she fought her way out of night-mares, and once she’d been so inconsolable that the only thing he could do was mentally knock her unconscious.
    It bothered her that she wasn’t “over it” already. Her life was so different now, last year seeming so far away that she expected herself to have healed and moved on, and she refused to be seen as weak or needy no matter how much it hurt.
    He had tried again and again to tell her that it wasn’t that easy. Old scars persisted into immortality. She wasn’t the first person he’d had to watch cope with a traumatic past.
    “When are you coming to Austin?” he asked.
    “Still working on it. Maybe next month?”
    “Just let me know so I can stock the house with good whiskey and dancing boys.”
    David imagined Deven in his private study at the Haven in Sacramento, a cozy room with leather couches and a small part of the Prime’s impressive weapons collection on display. Even if he was in nothing but a bathrobe, Deven would have a knife on him somewhere and a sword within easy reach. He even kept a blade hanging on the back wall of his shower.
    And all of that was after seven hundred years. David thought about telling Miranda that, but he had a feeling she’d find it more depressing than reassuring.
    “Have to go,” Deven said. “Meeting.”
    David wished he could communicate “quizzical” over the Internet. “At two in the afternoon?”
    “Talk to you later. Kisses, sugarblood.”
    David chuckled. Dev signed off before he could reply, but that wasn’t unusual; the Prime of the West wasn’t much for online communication, preferring to size people up face-to-face.
    David stretched, closed his computer, and stood up, going over to put another log on the fire before he tried sleeping again. Then he returned to the bed and drew the curtains so that only the foot was exposed, allowing and keeping more heat in.
    He smiled at Miranda, who had in the space of thirty minutes managed to sprawl out so she was taking up the entire bed. One of the pillows seemed to have vanished completely and the comforter was tangled around her legs. But even with her limbs akimbo and in a rather inelegant position, with the firelight casting a golden glow over her skin and catching the jeweled highlights in her hair, she was a breathtaking creature to behold.
    A moment later she made a noise that might have been a word, then blinked