Read Crouching Tiger, Forbidden Vampire (Love at Stake) for Free Online Page B

beautiful woman attractive. Big deal. It just proved he wasn’t completely dead. Only fifty percent dead.
    He snorted. How could a were-tiger princess ever be interested in a vampire vagabond who lived in a cave down by the river?
    Perhaps the oddest thing about the dream was that it hadn’t ended as usual with Han’s death. For the past few years, Russell had been so intent on reaching his goal that he had never thought past it. What would he do once the villain was dead?
    His chest tightened as an insidious, dark cloud crept over him, threatening to overwhelm him with despair. There was nothing for him to do. No family, no home to return to. Nothing.
    Was that why he’d let this mission drag on for so long? Because it was the only reason he had to live?
    For a moment, he recalled the way Jia had talked to him in the cave. So alive and animated as she’d tried to convince him to team up with her. Even now, the memory of her excitement made him feel lighter inside. What was she doing now? Was she planning her escape? Did she still have those knives strapped to her calf and thigh? He’d been tempted to remove them just as an excuse to touch her soft skin.
    He shoved that thought aside and teleported to the last camp. High on a bluff, he studied the soldiers. They looked bored. Disinterested. If Han was here, they’d be on their toes, for he had a nasty habit of murdering any soldier he was displeased with.
    No Han in sight. Another night down the drain.
    Russell teleported back to his underground lair. The bat cave, he liked to call it. After lighting a few lamps, his gaze drifted to the spot by the river where Jia had stood the night before. She was the only one who had ever seen his secret hideout. Our secret hideout .
    He shook away the memory of her voice as he unloaded the pockets of his coat. He adjusted his watch and caught a glimpse of the tattoo on the inside of his right wrist. Slave, it said. Whenever he needed a reminder of how much he hated Han, he only had to look at the damned mark.
    “Why, you bastard?” Russell muttered. Why had Han picked him? And why leave him in a coma for thirty-nine years?
    With a sigh, Russell wandered over to the bookcase to plug the sat phone in to recharge it. Life had improved since he’d acquired the new solar-powered generator. The wires from the generator ran through the thin ceiling and up the nearby massive tree to the panels he’d installed on top of the oak tree’s sturdy branches. He popped a bottle of synthetic blood into his new microwave, then levitated to hang up his crossbow and quiver.
    His gaze returned to that spot. Don’t think about her . He dropped to the ground, retrieved the warm bottle from the microwave, and paced about the cave as he drank.
    He would do some laundry. That would keep him busy. He set his bottle on the table, then grabbed a bucket and went to the river to fill it up. There he spotted the imprint in the sand from where she’d stepped into the river and back onto the shore. There had been a cat woman in his bat cave. The thought made him smile.
    What the hell was he doing, grinning like an idiot? He tossed the bucket down and strode away. “She’s not my problem.”
    He dragged a stool up to the table and went to work cleaning his handguns. The ritual was always the same, and it relaxed him, helped him focus. Not my problem, he repeated to himself as he went through the motions.
    He had only one problem. Killing Han. And what then? His gaze slid back to where Jia had stood the night before. Not my problem. But didn’t she have the same problem he did? Would it hurt to keep her informed? What if he went to Tiger Town to give her an update?
    With an abrupt move, he stood, knocking over his stool. He paced about the cave, but it seemed like the walls were closing in on him. He finished his bottle of blood, then checked on his stash of synthetic blood. One ice chest was empty; the other still had six bottles. The ice had melted,