Page 13 of Blood Vows

She looked through the window again, and then realization hit. “My apartment.”

“Yes,” he said.

Her head snapped toward him. “You said we were getting the key before sunrise.”

“Changed my mind,” he said. “We’re getting the key now.”

“You changed your mind that quickly?” she asked.

“Someone just shot at you,” he reminded. “And technically, it’s before sunrise.”

“I was there,” she spat. Elena folded her arms, immediately regretting it when pain shot through the injured one.

Dante seemed to catch the way that she winced. “Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?” she asked.

“Pretending that doesn’t hurt,” he said. She hated that he could read her so well.

“It barely hurts,” she lied

“You're a terrible liar,” he breathed.

“And you’re bossy,” she hissed.

“Yes, I am,” he said. At least he admitted it.

The car slowed down a block from her building. Dante leaned forward. “Kill the lights.” The driver immediately obeyed. Elena’s amusement disappeared when Dante pulled his gun. Every muscle in his body seemed to change at once. The man sitting beside her vanished, and a soldier took his place.

“Stay in the car,” he ordered.

She shook her head. “You don’t know where the key is.”

“You’ll tell me,” he said.

“No,” she whispered.

“Elena,” he warned.

“I’m coming with you,” she insisted.

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s my apartment,” she said.

“And someone may be waiting inside it to kill you,” he reminded.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I have you to protect me,” she said. The words slipped out before she could stop them, and Dante went still—so did she. Something passed between them. Something hot and uncomfortable that had absolutely no business existing while they were parked outside her apartment looking for people who wanted her dead. His gaze dropped briefly to her mouth, or maybe she imagined that too, and then his expression hardened.

“You stay behind me,” he ordered.

Elena blinked. “That means I can come?”

“That means I know you’ll get out of the fucking car the second my back is turned, anyway. This way, I’ll know where you are at all times,” he said.

She smiled sweetly. “You’re learning.”

“I liked you better when I thought you were guilty.”