Chapter 4 Aurora #3
I couldn’t change the past. Not his family’s murder, not decades of Republic lies. But here, now, in his arms—this was real. This was mine. The rest of the world could burn; I just wanted to lose myself in him until the horror stopped clawing at my mind.
Radu’s blood still rushed through my veins and mixed with my essence. I’d experienced Blood Pacts before. They were clinical, perfunctory exchanges with other purebloods. Nothing like this consuming fire. Forget the volcano. This was a supernova, catastrophic for the mind and soul.
I felt like I’d been reborn.
Radu’s fangs slipped from my neck with exquisite care. His tongue traced the punctures and soothed the sting before blazing a scorching path up to that spot just below my ear.
He turned my face toward him, and what I saw in those gold-rimmed eyes nearly stopped my heart.
The same eyes I’d just seen in his terrified brother as they watched his parents’ be sentenced to death.
He gazed at me through heavy lids, as if I were his salvation in the endless damnation.
As if I were his entire universe condensed into flesh and blood.
His lips found my mouth, and I kissed him fiercely, letting our mental link carry the weight of my rage for his murdered family, my shame for my Republic, my need to give him something beautiful to replace those memories.
Before I could catch my breath, he’d shifted our positions, and I found myself astride him, my thighs—and what was left of my ruined leather suit—bracketing his narrow hips as he filled me once more. I would never have enough of him.
We moved together in perfect rhythm, our bodies and souls devouring each other, lost in a dance as old as time yet somehow entirely new between us.
I braced my hands on his large shoulders, dug my nails into the hard planes of muscle, and drew him closer. I feathered light kisses along his jaw, working my way toward that tantalizing pulse at the side of his neck. My fangs ached with need, saliva pooling in anticipation of tasting him again.
Then, I hesitated, waiting for him to deny me this pleasure, but he tilted his head, exposing the golden column of his throat.
The gesture, so vulnerable, so trusting from a man who trusted no one, sent warmth spreading through my chest. I needed no further encouragement and sank my teeth into his waiting flesh.
His gruff moan vibrated against my lips as the universe contracted to a single point of sensation—his blood flooding my mouth. Blinding lights exploded behind my eyes, stealing my breath. When awareness returned, he still moved inside me, and my body trembled, caught between agony and need.
My fingers tingled where his hand hovered over mine. I couldn’t resist the pull. When he finally cradled my wrist and lifted it to his mouth, the piercing of his fangs was both a claim and a caress.
We became one.
The mental barriers Radu had maintained crumbled to dust, and his thoughts crashed into my mind like a cloudburst. The desperate need for release contended with the desire to extend our pleasure.
Beneath that roared his unexpected addiction to my blood, the sweetness of it overwhelming his iron self-control.
But deeper than all of this lay the terror he’d felt earlier tonight—fear for his guild, fear for me.
This need to protect me stunned me. I was immortal; I didn’t need protecting. Then I saw myself through his beautiful, unique eyes, and it nearly broke me.
Powerful. Fearless. Beautiful.
Not a princess, not a pureblood, just… Aurora.
Complete.
My climax broke like the earth’s crust finally giving way to the magma that had been fighting its way to the surface.
I pulled back from his neck with a gasp. Lines of scarlet trickled from the corners of my mouth and down my chin and neck. Shuddering, I felt him pulse inside me, and cool air misted from my lips into the night as I moaned my satisfaction.
At the same time, a deep, masculine growl rumbled through my wrist. Radu tightened his arms around me and emptied himself, his own release as vocal as mine.
Spent and euphoric, I collapsed against his chest. Blood—his and mine—smeared between us and mingled with the scent of rain.
Never in my one century of existence had such complete contentment flooded my veins.
We remained like that, clinging to each other as our racing hearts slowed to a steady rhythm.
The storm had passed unnoticed, silver moonlight bathing the glade through scattering clouds. An owl called from somewhere above, announcing its presence while remaining hidden from view.
Slowly, Radu lowered me to my feet and tucked himself away before helping me remove what remained of my tattered suit.
His touch was unexpectedly gentle as he tilted my chin up with a knuckle, forcing me to meet his burning gaze.
The anger that had driven him earlier had vanished, replaced by an expression of such stark vulnerability it stole my breath.
His eyes, normally so guarded, now revealed every emotion raging within him.
Like an uncut gem, Radu was rough, natural, devastatingly beautiful.
Something clenched in my chest.
“I’ve never lost control like that before,” he whispered, voice scraped low in his throat.
The worry threading through his voice pulled me back to reality. Was he apologizing for what we’d shared?
“I haven’t either,” I whispered back.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” His thumb brushed the delicate skin beneath my eye, then traced along my lower lip, collecting droplets of blood. “I shouldn’t have crossed the line between us.”
He slipped his finger into my mouth, and the hot-wet pulse between my thighs renewed with violent intensity.
I gently nipped the soft pad, watching mesmerized as the crimson rim of his irises flared. His varcolac emerged in the golden feathers swirling around his enlarged pupils. Those amber-flecked eyes would forever draw me in, keep me captive, hypnotize me.
A smile bloomed across my face before I could suppress it. Radu and I had bonded through our first Blood Pact, and it surpassed my wildest imagination. The world had shifted beneath my feet, and I had no desire to find solid ground again.
“Neither should I,” I whispered as his fingertip followed the path of my smile.
From the swift glance of his mind, I understood why he’d lied to me—to avoid frightening me, to protect me.
He wasn’t a traitor, but that didn’t excuse the lack of communication.
So much pain could have been avoided. Perhaps thousands of deaths if he’d opened up to his previous projectors and told them about the Voices.
Another failure on the Republic’s part: not fostering enough trust with the very people protecting its walls from the monsters.
“Did I—” He cleared his throat, his jaw flexing as he struggled with the words. A man who butchered Stalkers and sent them into other dimensions now wrestled with a simple question. “Are you—okay?”
The uncertainty in his voice touched something deep within me, something I’d thought long dead.
After everything that had happened tonight, I was a mess. My body still hummed with pleasure; my mind reeled with revelations. I needed somewhere quiet to process the entire night, to understand this monumental shift between us.
But first, I had to erase that concern from his features.
I studied him with new clarity. Yes, he possessed a ruthless edge, a dangerous strength that had first made me wary.
But now I saw beyond that. He wasn’t handsome; that was too tame a word to describe him.
Radu was magnificent in his rawness, in his power barely leashed.
Everything about him called to the predator in me, an equal in every way that mattered.
My smile widened as I offered him honesty in return for his vulnerability.
“No,” I said, leaning forward to press a soft kiss against his still-flushed lips.
“You’ve shattered me completely. I never imagined anyone could make me feel what you just did.
” I held his gaze, letting him see the truth in my eyes.
“And I can’t help wondering how soon we might do it again. ”
“Insatiable.” The tension around his eyes melted away, replaced by a smoldering heat. His gaze dropped to my lips and lingered there. He was looking at my mouth as if he wanted it wrapped around him. “There are many things I want to do with you. But first, I owe you some answers. Come, Projector.”
Shock held me in a chokehold, and I forgot how to fill my lungs with air.
Projector. Not Aurora. Not even princess.
He took my hand, weaved our fingers together, and stared at them. A muscle jumped in his brow and the beginnings of a frown formed.
Several paces away, the air rippled and tore open, not a sleek doorway, but a jagged tear in reality itself.
The edges pulsed with pitch-black energy that frosted nearby leaves and grass with delicate crystals.
The sound of splintering glass filled the clearing as the portal widened, releasing a rush of frigid air.
I stared at the portal, then at Radu, the joy of moments before reduced to a cold knot in my chest. Just one word—Projector—and the walls between us had risen again.
I bit my lower lip, fighting the unwelcome sting of tears.
My inexperience with matters of the heart left me unprepared for this emotional whiplash. One moment he looked at me like I was his salvation, the next he retreated behind formality and rank. His oscillation between intimacy and distance was infuriating.
I reminded myself of the truth: I was destined for a throne, and he was a varcolac, an enemy to my people. Having him as my blood source made tactical sense.
One thing became crystal clear in my mind, though.
I needed to be more careful with my heart.
I’d work with him, I’d defend his outliers, and I’d do everything in my power to hold the Stalkers at bay from the Republic, but I couldn’t let myself get swept away again; he could push and pursue until his face turned violet, but I needed to remember who we were when the passion faded.
An unwelcome thought slithered from the depths of my consciousness before I could suppress it.
The way he kisses, what he can do with his body will certainly destroy my sanity. He is the finest blood blend, rich and decadent. Just that sample has spoiled me for any lesser experience.
Clenching my fists, I mentally stabbed those traitorous thoughts and buried them where they couldn’t resurface. My pride bristled beneath the hurt. The lingering sweetness of his blood could not compensate for the confusion he stirred.
But egotistical asshole or not, I couldn’t deny that Radu had granted me a second chance at life.
He’d rescued me when he could have easily abandoned me to face dawn’s lethal rays and disintegrate into dust. In his own frustrating way, he had shown me there was more to life than struggling under the constant threat of war.
A chilled breeze from the portal lifted strands of his silver-white hair as he stepped toward the swirling darkness. But his hand remained firmly locked with mine, his thumb caressing the back of my hand, a contradiction I couldn’t reconcile.
This conversation wasn’t over. Far from it. We would either set ground rules, or I might just kill him out of exasperation. Straightening my spine, I swallowed the hurt and followed him.