Dreams of a Dark Warrior

her.
    “Face it. You are a berserker, and you are a reincarnate.”
    If I’m one of them, the Order will kill me.
His eyes darted.
No, she’s got me spooked. This isn’t real.
    When he gave a hard shake of his head, she said, “Then how do
you
explain your strength and speed?Unless you take top-secret military speed or hyper-steroids to hulk out?”
    “I do nothing to make myself stronger.” Just the opposite.
    “Then what?”
    Blood that wasn’t my own.
“Maybe I was nicked in a battle with one of your kind and was exposed to tainted immortal blood. Perhaps I’ve picked up traits of the creatures I hunt.”
    “That’s not how it works. You can’t just
pick up traits
. At least, not permanently. Not unless you die with one’s blood in your veins and get transformed into an immortal.”
    Maybe he
wasn’t
turning into a Neoptera?
    She grinned at him as she asked, “You haven’t died yet, have you?”
    I … don’t know
. Those beings could have done any manner of things to him over those days and nights.
    His heart sped up as he tried to pierce that haze.
Damn them all to hell, a man should know if he’s died or not.
    As if she’d read his mind, she said, “If you hate us this badly, then you or someone you love was hurt by immortals. Considering your scars …” She pointed to the ones on his face, the ones that were relatively invisible compared to the rest covering his body.
    “So you have me all figured out.”
    “You’re not denying it, then. I’m guessing your parents were killed?”
    Killed
was too mild a word for what the Neoptera haddone to them. Those creatures had voracious mouths that opened vertically, their lips razor-sharp for cutting flesh. Their tongues were prehensile, stretching inches long.
    Declan had felt them probe beneath his skin. Now he barely stifled a shudder.
    “Chase?”
    “You didn’t guess a wife and children,” he said absently. “Though most would, considering my age.”
    “No, you’ve never been married.”
    “And how could you know that?”
    “In all your lifetimes, you’ve never even had a relationship with another. I’ll bet you’ve never slept with the same woman twice.”
    Dead on. “Why would you say that?”
    “You hate it with others. You feel sick afterward.” In a softer tone, she said, “Because you’re missing what we had and want to stay true.”
    He clenched his jaw, recalling all the times he’d barely kept from vomiting, remembering with humiliation the times he hadn’t. …
    “Aidan—”
    His gloved hand shot up. In an instant he had her hair wrapped around his fist, yanking her head down. “Do not call me by that name again, Valkyrie. This will be your last warning.”
    “Okay, fine,” she said mildly, but her eyes had flashed.
    Silvery eyes gazing up at me, with her hair coiled around my fist as I guide her down …
    He released her with disgust.
    She was undaunted. “Let’s talk in your room. Take me there.”
    “Why would I possibly do that?”
    “Because that’s where your bed is, and that’s where I belong.”
    He imagined her in his bed as she’d been in that dream, spread out like an offering, her bared skin alight. Her thighs would be parted with blatant need, those golden curls slick with it. …
    Duty, purpose,
he repeated urgently.
    “Come on, Chase.”
    “Tell me, if I take you to my room and put you in my bed, what do you think would happen?”
    “I can draw you a diagram. Hint: I’m slot B, and you’re tab A.”
    “I meant the ultimate outcome. Do you think I’ll free you if you please me enough? You’re not the first detrus who’s tried to whore for her freedom.”
    “Whore for my freedom?” She laughed again. “What if I just wanted to whore for whoring’s sake? Maybe I miss sex with you. Maybe I crave it.”
    “Wouldn’t be surprising. Most immortal females behave like they’re in heat.”
    Her brows rose. “
You
are the one who taught me about pleasure.”
    Memories from that dream continued to arise unbidden.
—Press your lips here, Reginleit.—
    “And now in another lifetime, you ridicule me for missing it? Come on, Chase. Take me to where you live. Scared I’ll find some footy pajamas? A Fleshlight? I want a bath almost as much as you need to watch metake one. I get so much more talkative when I’m clean. Loreans are really fastidious, you know.”
    “I do know that. The sole aspect of your kind that’s positive.” He leaned back in his chair. “This subject ends