Scent of Valor (Chronicles of Eorthe #2) Read Online Free Page B

frighten Benic. He used it like a blanket and insulated himself from the world.
    The fire in the hearth crackled with green uncured logs. He enjoyed the pop that sap made within the wood when heated. Benic emptied his glass and refilled it with fine Payami wine. His last bottle. He should savor it because they wouldn’t let him purchase more. Not after he had attempted to kidnap the alpha’s only daughter.
    As vampire lord of this region, he could demand both wine and female from the pack, but experience had taught him he’d enjoy neither if taken in such a manner. Kele should come to him of her own free will, but how could he woo her from a distance? Especially with Peder lurking in her shadow.
    The door to his private study slammed open. “There you are.” Inacio, his incubus pet, stormed into the room. “How many more days do you plan on hiding in here?”
    Benic ran his fingers around the rim of his glass so he wouldn’t gulp the last of it. “I’m not hiding.”
    Inacio crossed the room and tore open the thick curtains. Sunlight poured into the study like liquid fire as the incubus did the same to the other two windows.
    Benic squinted in the sudden glare. “Have you no mercy?”
    “I let you lick your wounds for months. Your castle is falling to ruins in your absence.”
    Pulling open his unlaundered shirt, Benic stared at the scar on his chest then poked it with his fingertip. “My wound appears healed. You cured me. It’s a miracle.” He laughed and kicked an empty wine bottle across the floor. “Why don’t you get us another bottle and we can share it?”
    Inacio picked it up and grimaced. “Your cellar is empty.”
    “Oh, the Payami wine. I know this.”
    “No, all the wine, you drunkard.”
    “What?” Benic set his glass down. “That’s impossible.” Had he really gone through his stock? That was quite an impressive feat.
    “You look and smell like something the shifters have pissed on.” Inacio had been with Benic for years, and with time, his talented tongue had grown loose with Benic. Maybe he should have it cut out.
    “Thank you. It took a lot of effort to achieve this state of dishevelment. Now, unless you’re here to undress me, I’d suggest you leave in the opposite manner you arrived before I get nasty.”
    “Nastier,” he corrected. “May I suggest a bath before you continue your poor attempt to seduce me?”
    His snort turned into a laugh. “Very well. Have the servants draw me a bath.”
    “When have you last fed?”
    It was Benic’s turn to grimace as he rubbed his aching head. The blasted light was giving him a headache. “I don’t know.”
    “A bath with a wench it is, then.”
    He shook his head. “No wench. I’ve had my fill of females.”
    Inacio knelt in front of him. “If I had known the white shifter meant so much to you, I would have seduced her into never leaving your side.”
    “That would have been cheating.” He couldn’t meet Inacio’s gaze. The incubus already knew too much about his weakness for Kele. A smarter vampire would have killed him as a result but after recent events, he believed he was very, very stupid. Why start doing smart things now? Benic sighed. “Have them bring me some ale while I wait for the bath. You could feed me afterwards.”
    “Very well, master.” He didn’t leave his place at Benic’s feet.
    “What else?”
    “Nothing.” He rose to leave.
    “Tell me.”
    Inacio hung his head. “The shifters are gathering around the Temple. There are whispers among the servants that it’s a sign of pending war.”
    He chuckled. “It’s not war, Inacio. It’s worse. It’s a mating.” He sneered the last word. Inali and his bitch wife, Chaska, had the gall to send him an invitation to Kele’s mating ceremony. The dark cushioned him from the world but it hadn’t blinded him. He knew very well what had been going on outside his study.
    The crops had been sown, his castle shifters had popped out seven more pups for him to