Chapter 17
Seventeen
Nero
I laid Mina on my bed, while Pretender hovered at the door.
“I’m so sorry. I tried to stop them… I failed you… I…”
I turned to my ward, and he trailed off, his gaze dropping to the floor.
He had nothing to apologize for. He’d fought with everything he had. It was there in the bruises still fading and the bones that still hadn’t properly knitted themselves back together. “You almost died in your attempts to save Mina. You fought valiantly, Pretender. You don’t owe me an apology. I owe you one. I should have seen this coming. I should have stayed.”
He flinched. I’d shocked him.
I’d never apologized to him before, and I’d probably never spared my young ward a kind word in his entire time with me. Why would I when I’d been incapable of empathy, of truly seeing him? “You need to rest, to feed and recover. I’ll need you strong for what might come next.”
He blinked several times, his eyes bright, then he nodded and limped away. Guilt swarmed me immediately. These new emotions were a lot to deal with, near overwhelming. I didn’t like knowing I’d hurt him, and I didn’t know how to make it right.
I brushed Mina’s hair back from her face. Blinded as I’d been, I’d hurt her as well. “You’re home now, Lalka. I promise you I will never leave you vulnerable like that again.”
She was unconscious, panting, her chest rising and falling fast, her cheeks flushed. My blood was working its way through her system, repairing the damage done. I had no idea how long she’d be like this, how long it would take for her to wake, but I’d be here when she did.
Taking my phone from my pocket, I scrolled to Constantine’s number. His female, his mate, now that he’d fully claimed her, had just been through hell.
For the first time, I understood what my brother was feeling.
I knew what he’d suffered and I knew what asking this of him, asking my brothers this, would mean—but I’d do anything to ensure Mina was safe, and for the first time in centuries, they would understand that as well.
Mina
My eyes were scratchy when I opened them, my throat so dry, and when I ran my tongue over my lips I could feel they were cracked. It felt as if I’d been picked up by a giant and squeezed, as if every last ounce of moisture had been wrung from my body. My hand shook as I reached for the glass of water beside the bed, and as soon as my fingertips brushed the cool glass, memories flooded me.
The elders, their fangs buried deep, tearing at my flesh, ravenously draining my blood…the pain—
“Lalka, you’re awake.”
I jolted. Nero . I hadn’t even seen him there. He sat by the bed, leaning forward, his fingers around the glass I’d been reaching for. He wore only a pair of dark tracksuit pants. His feet were bare, and his pale, tattooed chest and arms flexed as he moved.
I’d never seen him like this. “You own tracksuit pants?” I rasped past my dry throat.
His lips twitched. “I do.”
I realized I wasn’t in my room, that I was in his, in his big bed, surrounded by pillows, the covers pulled up around me.
He held the glass to my lips. “Sip, then you need to feed,” he said, his voice low, husky in a way I’d never heard it before.
“What happened?” The elders. That dining room.
Nero had come for me.
He’d arrived at the prime’s home and…there were screams—blood.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “You killed them. You killed all of them.”
His eyes flashed bright. “Yes.”
“You can’t…they’re the elders.” My gaze shot to the door. The court would come. They would barge in at any moment and drag us away. “We need to leave. If you stay, they’ll execute you. They’ll kill you, Nero.”
He put down the glass and gently slid the backs of his fingers along my cheek. “Would that make you sad, Mina? If they killed me? If you couldn’t see me ever again?”
I stared into his violet eyes. They were different somehow. “Yes, of course,” I said without hesitation. Because I would, despite everything.
He studied me, then moved in that controlled way of his, easing back the covers and lifting me from the bed. Then he climbed in, holding me to him, and pulled the quilt back up so it was covering me completely.
“I can sense your hunger. You need to feed,” he murmured.
I did. I was so incredibly hungry. Placing my hand on his smooth chest, I pressed my nose to his skin and breathed in his comforting scent. How was it possible that this male, who had been so cold when he first brought me here, could give me that kind of solace, could be a safe place for me. I never thought it was possible. I’d wanted it, but deep down, I didn’t believe I could have it, not with him, not really. His arms were around me, his scent so good it had distracted me. I lifted my head. “The court. Nero. We need to leave, we need to—”
“You’re safe. We’re all safe. I promise. Now feed.”
“How…how can we be safe?”
“My brothers and I spoke with the court, they…decided to see things our way. The prime and the other elders broke their own laws when they took you from my home, when they…did what they did to you. And after some coaxing, the court acknowledged that truth and admitted the elders had been taking advantage of their power for some time.”
“They didn’t know how to stop them?”
He shook his head. “Turns out, I did them a favor.”
Relief flooded me. “Thank you,” I whispered, and not just for the blood. “If you hadn’t come for me—”
“You don’t need to thank me, Lalka.” His gaze caught and held mine. “I will always come for you, no matter what.”
This was a new version of Nero, as if the male he’d buried deep had finally reached the surface. “What happens now? Who will be prime?”
He carefully slid his fingers into my hair and gently held the back of my head. “Enough talking,” he said, encouraging me to bite.
I felt warm and safe and cared for. So I nuzzled his tattooed throat, sliding my tongue along the pulsing vein there, taking in more of his reassuring scent, tasting him.
“Mina,” he said roughly, impatiently.
I realized I was tormenting us both for some reason. I sucked on his skin gently, and his fingers dug in where they rested on my hip, a low growl rolling from deep in his chest.
I bit down slowly, and he hissed, then cursed.
His cock grew hard beneath me.
“No one will ever hurt you again, my precious Lalka,” he said, his deep voice vibrating through me in a way that lifted pleasurable goose bumps all over my skin.
Everything about this moment—the taste of his blood, his arms around me, the proof that he desired me—was perfect. Even after the horror of what happened, I felt content, because I was with Nero. I knew with everything in me that he meant what he said. He would never let anyone hurt me, not ever again.
I fed while Nero murmured low, encouraging me to drink until I was full. I did, drinking until the thirst subsided and I was drowsy and warm. I slid my tongue over the bite I’d made, sealing it, and rested my head against his chest.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Still a little weak, but I can feel my strength coming back, especially now.” I pressed my hand to his chest, sliding it higher, my fingers drifting over the spot I’d just fed from. “You said no one will ever hurt me again.”
“And I meant it,” he said, and I felt a tremor move through him.
“You can’t lock me away to do that. Not again, Nero. You have to promise me, you won’t ever do that again.” I held his gaze. “I’m not Dorotha. You won’t lose me as well.”
He jolted under me, making it clear what I’d just said had reached him, had gotten through, that I’d been right. Losing his sister had affected him deeply, and still did, even if he hadn’t realized it. “I almost did, Lalka. I almost lost you.”
“But you saved me. Promise me,” I said again.
He nodded, swallowing audibly. “I promise,” he said roughly.
“Thank you,” I said, keeping my hand on his chest, his cool skin against my palm, needing that contact, that connection with him even though I was literally in his lap.
He stared down at me with a look in his eyes I’d never seen before. That stare wasn’t cold, it was anything but.
“Nero?”
He slid the backs of his fingers down the side of my face again, then turned his hand to cup my cheek. “Do you think you could ever truly care for me, Lalka? Do you think…” He swallowed thickly. “Do you think you could love someone like me?”
His question shocked me, but not as much as the longing I now recognized in that unwavering stare. He wanted me to love him. He’d said it, the night of the blood moon ceremony. He’d wanted my love even then, even when he’d been devoid of emotion, even when he wasn’t capable of feeling it or returning it himself.
My love.
He’d called me that, hadn’t he? When he’d rescued me. His broken voice echoed through my head, the way he’d stared down at me while I’d been strapped to that table. “And do you love me, Nero?”
He blinked down at me. “Do I love you?” He swiped his thumb over the apple of my cheek. “I have this…constant ache in my chest, and the thought of you being hurt fills me with rage, but seeing you hurt, seeing you being hurt—it cracked me wide open. I would destroy anyone who dared lay a finger on you, and I’d enjoy their screams while I did it. I would kill the elders all over again without a moment’s thought if I could, but I’d make it slower this time. Your comfort, your happiness, your pleasure and safety, they’re all I care about now, Mina.” There was another gentle slide of his thumb across my cheek as his gaze brightened. “Do I love you? Yes, I think… No.” He shook his head. “No, I’m sure of it, my precious Lalka. I love you. I am in love with you.”
I’d never heard him speak like that. How could I doubt it? How could I doubt that look in his eyes? “I love you too.” The words slipped from me easily, because I did. It was new and fragile, and it stood on a foundation that others might not believe in. But I believed in it, in what we were building together, I believed in us.
Nero was cold, calculated, terrifying…to everyone but me. For me he burned. For me he would kill. For me he would do anything to make sure I was safe and cared for.
He was everything I didn’t know I wanted.
“You truly love me, Lalka?” he rasped.
“Yes,” I whispered and reached up to hold the side of his face like he often did mine. His cool skin was no longer a shock, it was perfect, as comforting as his scent. “I want to be your mate, Nero, in truth. Now. Tonight.”
He smiled, flashing his fangs, and the beauty of it, of a smile he felt deeply, stole my breath. “I want to make you my mate more than anything, Mina. But taking you slowly, tenderly, in this bed tonight, isn’t our way, is it, my precious little doll? When I make you mine in truth for the first time, when I claim you, when I make you my mate, it should be primal and raw. I want that for us, and I think you do too?”
He wanted to chase me, catch me, hold me down. My body heated, my heart instantly picking up speed. I nodded, my throat tight.
“Yes,” he said, and he brushed my hair back, so gently, with so much reverence my heart ached. “I thought you’d feel that way, my perfect little Lalka.”
I didn’t want to wait, I wanted everything he said, now. “When?” I asked, my voice husky with need.
He smiled again. “When you’re fully recovered?”
“When will that be?”
He chuckled low, and my stomach fluttered. “After I’ve fed you several more times and you don’t look so pale.” As he ran his fingers through my hair, I caught a glimpse of something and grabbed his hand.
There was a gold ring on his finger—old, no, ancient, the top of it was a square with a swirling design stamped into it. My gaze shot up to his. “The court made you prime?”
The muscle in his jaw pulsed. “Yes. My brothers and I are the new elders.”
He wouldn’t want that. He’d done it for me. “But…”
“All will be well, Mina. There is nothing for you to worry about except getting better, yes?” Then he kissed me gently and laid my head against his chest. “Now rest. You look exhausted.”
I wanted to argue, to ask what this meant for him, for us, but my eyes were heavy and he was right, I’d never been more tired.
I woke with my fangs buried in Nero’s throat, my skin hot and prickled with sweat and a deep throb that made me whimper. I’d been dreaming of Nero, he’d chased me, he’d—I quivered.
He was stroking my face, and I took his hand in mine and pushed it down between my thighs, spreading them to make room.
He growled, the rough sound making me shiver.
“Tell me what you were dreaming about?” he said in the quiet darkness.
He spread my pussy with his fingers, sliding them through my slickness. “You.”
“What was I doing? Tell me,” he demanded as he pushed a long, thick finger inside me.
I cried out, fisting his shirt. “You…you were chasing me. You… Oh gods ,” I groaned when he pushed in a second finger, stretching me.
“I was what? Tell me, Mina.”
He thrust into me faster, deeper. If it was anyone but him, I’d be too scared to say, to share my deepest darkest desires. “It was dark, I was…scared. There were noises, then you were there, and you…you chased me, you chased me down, and you were wild, uncontrollable…you—” I cried out when he used his thumb against my clit while he continued to thrust inside me. “You threw me down and tore off my clothes… You shoved my legs apart and…and rammed your cock inside me…” As I said it, he snarled and added another finger, filling me ruthlessly.
I screamed, and my inner muscles clamped down on him.
He pressed his forehead to the side of mine. “You want me to hold you down, little doll? You want me to let go of my control and fuck you, claim you like the monster I truly am?”
“Yes,” I sobbed, rocking against his fingers, soaking them.
He didn’t stop until I collapsed against him, panting and quivering. Then slowly, carefully, he slid his fingers from me and kissed my temple. “You please me so much, Mina. That was so incredibly beautiful.”
I clung to his shirt, trying to catch my breath. When I finally had myself under control, Nero tilted my head back and looked into my eyes. “If you truly want that, Lalka, I’ll give it to you,” he rasped.
“I want it,” I said, voice shaking. “Please.”
I felt a tremble move through him. “Oh, you’ll get it, little doll, you just won’t know when.”
I shivered again, and he chuckled. “Now go back to sleep. I’m right here if you need to come again.”
“I love you,” I said, pressing close.
He purred deep in his chest. “I love you more.”