Chapter 31
FRANK N. STEIN
Power begins to churn in my sternum as I lock gazes with Bernadette. I can’t let her do this. If she were to get hurt…
A profound sense of emptiness stretches before me at the thought of being left to this existence without her.
If I were to lose her, the city would never recover from the explosion of my power.
I’m already far more attached to her than I've ever been to another, and her loss brings to mind a yawning pit of despair like that of a volcano, erupting and spewing destruction.
“Calm down, big guy. This’ll be fun,” Bernadette says.
My brows shoot up as the corners of my mouth twist in contempt. “Nothing about this is fun, and you’re not going. You could become overwhelmed easily because these society events are intense.”
Her red brows come together on her forehead and her face flushes. “Did you forget that I’ve had social and etiquette training since I learned to walk? Just because I don't like wearing heels doesn’t mean I don't know how.”
“We know Charles keeps the list of those administered with the formula on his personal phone. He’s notorious for doing business at odd hours and only his secretary has access to the computer database.
It's doubtful they're stored via the usual means, which is why we need you to somehow gain entry to his phone,” Mikael states.
“I can do that,” I bite out. If we need someone to do such a thing, anyone else can do it. It doesn't have to be her.
Bernadette raises a brow at me from down the table. “Oh so you know how to bug mobile software and install the spyware necessary to get the list without the user needing to click anything?”
My jaw grinds in my mouth. “Someone else then,” I mutter.
“You can run code on the device through proximity alone?” Mikael asks her.
“Of course I can,” she scoffs, as if what he speaks of is simple.
Pride fills me along with a hefty dose of respect as the pair go back and forth using words and abbreviations for things I know nothing about, and a quick glance around the room tells me it’s obvious the team has a new respect for Bernadette.
“It’s at the Pierre,” Mikael announces.
Orange begins to cloud my vision as a twisting, hot sensation coils in my stomach. The desire to touch her, to claim her and force the mating bond to go faster, courses through my being.
“Wait, The Pierre? Oh my gosh, are we going on the red carpet?” Bernadette gasps.
My eye begins to twitch at the idea of being forced to stay stationary while she performs some clandestine operation to get the formula back from the humans.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve got to tell Aubrey. She’d never forgive me if I didn’t. I’m going to need my phone back. I can use a malware tag along with all the execute codes needed to crack inside without anyone noticing,” she says, excitement bleeding into her tone.
The table erupts in chatter about what they want to implement, and a pulse beats at my temple as my hands tighten to fists.
The longer they speak, the more obvious it becomes that she may be right in that she's the only one who can do the job, and we don't have the time to outsource someone else.
She has to go.
The realization means I’ve no choice.
I get to my feet. “Lock up on your way out,” I tell them, over their presence entirely.
Once I reach Bernadette’s side I pull her from her chair, ignoring her protests while possessiveness explodes within me.
“Hey!” she shouts.
I toss her over my shoulder, smirking inwardly at how her complaints drown out Mikael’s grumblings about planning accordingly. It can wait.
They all can. There will be more than enough time to go over the plan again come morning if Mikael is that worried about it. For now, there are other more important matters at hand.
“Fine, I guess we’re leaving,” Bernadette mutters above my shoulder as I march her from the room.
Bruno whistles, and I can hear Mikael’s soft chuckle, but I pay them no mind.
I make my way upstairs as she chatters about meaningless things happening tomorrow, while my mind whirs with how to increase the bond quickly.
The most obvious course of action is for me to fuck her senseless. Need batters my control as the urge to bend her to my will surges forward, but more than that, a protectiveness that seeks to give her what I can of myself to make her stronger rears its head.
Mating bonds can become stronger the longer two parties are near each other and are usually accompanied with an overwhelming craving to copulate and strengthen the bond, but not all couples are the same.
It is no matter. I’ll do whatever necessary to increase her chances at immortality.
Perhaps given time, Jekyll can come up with something to help amplify the condition, completely opposite of what I asked him for initially.
“Are you listening to me?” she asks when we’re halfway up the stairs.
“Of course I am,” I lie, adjusting my grip where I hold the back of her leg and coasting my fingers dangerously close to the apex of her thighs.
She squeals, but a sense of wanting flows through the bond.
Hastily making it to our room, I shut the door behind us and glance around the walls, forcing the lights on as I move to drop her gently onto the bed.
“It’s so cool how you do that,” she murmurs, her gaze firmly on the simple lamp on the nightstand.
She means turning the lights on telepathically. “You'll be able to do it too, perhaps.”
Her hair is a coppery red, shifting like a river of lava tracking across the blue sheets.
Instead of one shade of red, it's a medley of colors, with strands that catch the light like polished brass.
Her expressive green gaze locks on me, and I glance over her plush, voluptuous figure, noticing how the light kisses the soft swells of her body.
I remove the blue spectacles from her face and set them near the lamp as the need to touch her borders on obsession, while I grab the jar of ointment for her body to receive me. Every inch of my being thrums with the burning, urgent need to possess her.
Her gaze drinks me in from where she lies on the bed, her pupils dilating when I whip off my shirt and approach her bare-chested.
I reach out to touch her, coasting my hands over every inch of her I can from the edge of the bed, and swiftly divest her of clothes while my cock hardens.
Suddenly, her hand comes atop mine, stopping my descent toward the most womanly part of her. “You know, I’ve never felt this way about anyone, and my experience with men hasn't been the greatest.”
Pausing, I tell her the first truth I learned about myself. “I’m not a man, Bernadette.”
A sensation of vulnerability crests from her, along with a swift sense of desire and affection. Relief spreads with the knowledge she does have some care for me already. I want to conquer every part of her.
“I know that, and this is all so very crazy and sudden. But I trust you,” she says, flashing me a knowing smile, but there's a hint of tenderness to it.
The words to tell her she’s my mate, that our lives are now irrevocably forged together whether she wants me by her side or not, lodge in my throat.
I know without a doubt Bernadette will eventually allow me in and open up because we are the same in that it's difficult for us to let anyone inside. I trust in fate’s pick of my perfect true mate.
I watch as she outstretches her hand, hungry fingers sliding past the denim of my jeans, forcing me to grit my teeth to keep from losing control completely at the soft touch.
“Now touch me,” she orders.
I dip my hand into the ointment and touch her pussy, groaning when my fingers come back slick with her desire, and I quickly push down my jeans and underwear before toeing out of my shoes.
“You’re so beautiful,” Bernadette says, laid out on the mattress as if she’s a feast waiting for my hunger.
Like an arrow through my chest, I realize this small woman has become my entire world and tamed me in a matter of days. Mine.
She’s my obsession, and I will never let her go.
I climb onto the bed with her and trace the delicate softness of her lower lip with one finger before bending to kiss her. I ravish her mouth with kisses until she’s a panting, squirming mess beneath me, and move to brush her lips once more before bending lower.
Every inch of her will be mine before the night is over.
Her hands are hot, demanding more and more from me as they squeeze, knead, and pull at my hair as the bonfire of lust consumes us both.
“You’re the beautiful one,” I tell her, gazing at her blown pupils and flushed cheeks.
Pleasure pulsing in my veins, I nuzzle her breasts, fiercely licking and sucking at the tips, enjoying the way her breath hitches when I scrape them with my teeth.
I grip her ass, squeezing, caressing, loving the soft weight of her in my palms before my fingers move to find her slippery, throbbing nub and work it.
Her back arches off the bed with a cry, and she moans my name as I tease and work her folds, grinning to myself when her hands seize and try to grip me to her.
Electrical current rises through me and the sound from her lips turns to a wail while she loses herself in my stroking and petting.
Finally, I drop down her body, and her thighs clench around my head as my tongue lashes at her opening.
“Oh fuck,” she cries out.
I tease her clit with one thumb and swirl the moisture there, strumming and toying with her until her skin is coated with a sheen of sweat and incoherent sounds break from her lips. I eat, suck, lick, and fuck her with my mouth until she’s a quivering, babbling mess.
With every lash of my tongue I force my desire for her through the bond, shoving every bit of possessiveness I can at her to ensure she understands clearly that she’s fucking mine.
Through the bond, I tell her what she means to me, and how I intend to keep her. I’ll write up the contract of ownership on her skin with my lips.
I inscribe my name into her pussy with my mouth as my gaze coasts up her delectably curvy body writhing and gripping the sheets.
You.
Are.
Mine.
Wetness pours from her as her toes curl, and her body bows in sensation as she comes on my face, screaming with it. I lap at her gently and work at her cunt, tonguing her with quick strokes when her legs begin to quiver around my head as she orgasms again.
Before she comes back down, I lift her into my arms and settle back onto the bed with her in my lap, pushing the strands of her hair from her face as she lies on my chest.
My cock teases at her entrance, rubbing without entering as I wait for her to come down.
She does slowly, but I can tell she wants more when her voluptuous hips cant, sliding wetly along the head of my dick, trembling when my piercing grazes her.
She reaches and takes my cock in her hand before rubbing it through her juices again, easing herself down slowly, taking me in.
I grip her hips as her sweet cunt quakes and trembles at my entry, until finally our bodies join as one.
She slips even further on my length, unable to take all of me, stretched full. We groan together when she rotates her hips in slow circles around my cock.
My gaze goes heavy with orange light as she melts around me, and I start meeting the twist of her hips with thrusts of my own.
I sit up and pull her face to mine as she rides my shaft, bucking my hips, forcing her to take harder strokes as keening wails begin to pour from her lips.
Her tight pussy clenches in the best way, and her mouth opens on a cry.
The dim light glints on the shining barbell in her mouth as I hold her to me and plunge up into her wet heat, driving into her with an animal fierceness that surprises even me.
Reaching down between us, I work at her clit as I pound into her, thrusting in and out as she bears down on me with her orgasm. She screams her release, legs clamping on my hips, her body convulsing.
She’s wet, she’s wild, and she’s mine.
“Look at me,” I tell her, slowing my assault on her body as she comes on my dick.
Those vivid green eyes that have wrapped around something inside of me open, and I fight my own release, my strained body and mind fighting the rush that builds within me.
I pull back on the mental reins, only for satisfaction to spread when I notice how an orange light shines behind her green gaze. It's faint, but it's there.
The sight sends relief and something more pulsating through me as I give over to the tide of pleasure, bursting in a bone-deep growl.
I pull her to my chest and kiss at her forehead before cuddling her to me as she quivers. I hold her as her breathing quiets from her orgasm and smooth circles across her skin, even as the chilling realization spreads.
For all my ambitions and conquests, it's in her gaze that I find true weakness, because every victory I've claimed, everything I’ve ever gained, I'd give up and surrender to her.