Chapter 18
Eighteen
Mina
Pretender took my bags, and I followed him down the long hall and out to the car.
“How long will it take to get there?” I asked as he loaded my things into the trunk.
“About an hour.”
Nero had been spending several hours each day away with court-related business. Now he was prime, there was a lot he needed to deal with, but he’d promised me a few days away. We were going to one of his homes outside of the city, which sounded lovely. Nero said it was the perfect place for me to rest and recuperate, but I was one hundred percent back to full strength, if only I could make him see that.
He was meeting me at the house tonight, so Pretender had been tasked with taking me, in case his meeting ran late.
I got in the back seat, put my new headphones in, and started the playlist I’d made for the drive. Then I opened the messages and texted Nero that we were leaving the city. He’d bought me a phone a few days ago. I loved it. I loved that I could talk to him whenever I wanted to, even when he was away from the apartment.
His reply came almost instantly.
Nero: You were looking tired this morning. Drink the blood I left for you and I’ll see you later tonight
I hadn’t noticed the insulated cup in the cup holder until now. I took a sip, and my taste buds came alive. The blood was still warm. He thought of everything when it came to my well-being.
How the heck was I going to convince him that I was better? I wanted to be his mate in truth, but that would never happen when he’d convinced himself that I was still sickly and frail.
I leaned back, listening to my music, and drank the blood, while I tried to think of what I could do to help him get past his overprotectiveness. I was stronger than I’d ever been. A constant diet of his blood had ensured that.
Sleeping beside him every night, wrapped in his arms, certainly helped as well.
I was well rested, well fed, and I just wanted to put what happened to me behind us. I wanted to show him I was strong enough to be his mate.
I closed my eyes and must have drifted off, because I woke to Pretender cursing viciously. The car was stopped on a dark, tree-lined road.
I sat up straighter. “What’s going on?”
“Fucked if I know. It just stopped.” His fingers curled around the steering wheel. “Fuck,” he bit out again.
“How far from the house are we?”
He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “We’re on the property now, but it’s surrounded by close to a hundred acres of forestland.” He shoved the door open. “I’ll go get the car Nero keeps at the house.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said, because it was creepy out here.
“It’ll only take me fifteen minutes if I run. You’re not fast enough. Plus I’ll have to come back with the car for the bags anyway.” He got out.
“Hang on. I’d rather not stay here on my—”
He poked his head in the door. “You have nothing to be afraid of out here, Mina. The sooner I leave, the sooner I’ll be back.”
“No, but…”
He shut the door and took off before I could finish what I was saying, running so fast, he was a blur, and blending into the shadows moments later. He was right. I couldn’t run like that. I was fast, but nothing like him or Nero. Not yet.
The quiet darkness settled around me and nerves instantly swirled in my belly. I pulled out my phone and hit Nero’s number.
No reply.
He always answered.
I clutched the phone in my lap, startling when it chimed a moment later.
Nero: Sorry, still in a meeting. I’ll call you as soon as it’s over.
It was breezy outside and the trees swayed in a way that made it look like something was moving around out there. I studied the shadows. It’s just the trees , there’s nothing there.
Still, the antsy, nervous feeling grew.
Pretender would be back soon. He was fast. It wouldn’t take him long—
A sound, high-pitched and grating, filled the car. It was like—I spun around—something was scratching against the outside of it. A tree branch? No, I wasn’t close enough to any trees. I spun back when I caught something out of the corner of my eye, something dark. You’re seeing things. I quickly locked the doors.
Oh gods . I spun the other way. I saw it again, something dark rushed past, but this time it hit the car, making it jolt.
I shrieked.
My phone rang and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Nero’s name flashed in the darkness. I shoved myself low and quickly answered. “Nero, I’m scared. I—”
“Give me your word, Mina.”
I froze. “My word?”
He didn’t reply, just waited.
It was happening. Oh gods, it was finally happening. The car hadn’t broken down, Nero had planned it. “Pink,” I whispered for some reason.
“You have five seconds to get out of the car and run for the trees.”
My heart slammed into my throat. Nero was out there. “Or what?” I said, my voice shaking from the way my heart pounded.
“Or I will tear off the door and drag you into the forest myself.” He slammed into the car again, and I barely held in another shriek.
“Nero—”
“Five, four—”
“What are you going to do?”
“Make you scream,” he said. “Then moan.”
My pussy contracted as my fear shot higher.
“Three.”
I shoved the door open.
“Two,” he said.
“Oh gods,” I gasped and burst from the car, sprinting into the trees.
“One.” He laughed darkly. “Run, little doll.”
I knew it was Nero, and I knew he’d never hurt me, but my adrenal glands did not. Everything in me roared that I needed to run for my life.
A snarl came from somewhere behind me but still a little distance away. Thankfully, Nero had taken me shopping a couple of days ago. I was wearing yoga pants, a sweatshirt, and jogging shoes, so I didn’t feel the branches slapping at my body or the rough forest floor beneath my feet. Another sound came from behind me, to the right this time. The fear spiked with excitement, and I dug my heels in and sprinted harder, faster than I ever had in my life.
The blood pumping through my veins was hot and rich, and my lungs were full of the damp, earthy scents of the forest.
A whoop came next, closer this time and on the left.
He was closing in, toying with me.
My body’s response to being chased flooded my nervous system. I was dizzy, felt out of control, my pulse racing, my mind spinning, my heart thudding wildly. It was primal, and there was this knot of desire low in my belly, unfurling, spreading out, stealing my breath.
He tugged at my sweatshirt as he flashed past.
A low, dark laugh echoed to my left. I spun around—
He tugged my hair as he blurred past again, and my hair unraveled from the knot at the back, falling around my shoulders.
My lungs burned, the panic growing wider as my panties grew wetter.
I stumbled and caught myself, but my next few steps were unsteady, my gait thrown off. I stepped on the root of a tree the wrong way and fell. Scrambling, I tried to get up—
Nero pounced, knocking me to the ground. I screamed, my adrenaline forcing me to switch from flight to fight mode. I clawed at the earth beneath me as he tore at my clothes, shoving up my sweatshirt, then using it to secure my wrists.
“No,” I shouted, fighting hard. “Stop.”
“I can smell your cunt, and it definitely doesn’t want me to stop.” He flipped me to my back, wrenching my tights down my legs. My bare ass should have been on the damp earth, but there was something soft beneath me, something warm.
Pinning my bound hands over my head with one hand, he shoved up my shirt with the other and tugged down my bra, exposing my breasts to the cool, damp air.
Leaning in, he sunk his teeth into the side of my breast, drawing hard. I cried out and bucked, gasping for breath, fighting as my pussy clamped down hard. He lifted his head and flashed his bloody teeth and fangs as he let my blood fall from his lips, dripping it onto my nipples and down my stomach. “Scream,” he growled.
I did, I screamed and thrashed, panting, as he licked and sucked every bit of blood from my breasts and stomach, still holding me immobile, pinned beneath him.
When he finally lifted his head again, I was heaving for my next breath, feeling weak and desperate for him, to feel him inside me—for him to make me his.
Still pinning my wrists over my head with one hand, he undid his belt with the other. “You came out here looking to get claimed by a monster, didn’t you, little doll?”
I shook my head, kicking and bucking, and with each wild and failed attempt to get free, I got hotter, slicker. “No. Get off me. Stop. Stop! ”
The head of his cock brushed my pussy, and I bucked harder.
Nero’s nostrils flared. “Fuck,” he groaned. “Liar. You’re dripping. So fucking desperate for your twisted male to stuff you full.”
I snapped my fangs at him, and he laughed.
“You are mine, Lalka, and after this, you’ll be mine for eternity.” He pinned me with a dark stare as he took something from his pocket. Pink diamonds glittered in the dim light.
The choker he’d gifted me for our blood moon ceremony. He secured it around my throat, leaving his hand there, and squeezed lightly. “Mine.”
The heavy weight around my throat was like another claiming. I loved it.
He was giving me everything I’d asked for, everything I needed. This was perfect. He was perfect. “Then do it,” I bit out, panting hard, wanting this so bad I trembled. “Do it!”
He slammed his hips forward, filling me completely with one hard thrust. I threw my head back, an animalistic sound bursting from me as I came instantly around him.
Nero roared, thrusting into me with vampire speed. It was too much, he was too big, this feeling was too wild, still I arched my back, lifting my hips so I could take more, so I could welcome more of this out-of-control feeling and give every part of my mind, body, and soul to Nero, to my mate. I came and came until I was slick with sweat and shaking uncontrollably.
“Look what you do to me,” he snarled, slowing his thrusts, now slamming into me hard and deep. “Only you make me feel this way, only you can draw out the monster inside me.”
“Prove it, bite me,” I moaned helplessly. “Make me yours.”
He didn’t hesitate. He turned my head to the side, and sank his fangs deep into my throat. I came again, a raw sound that I’d never made in my life unleashing from deep within me. He drew hard, and my pussy contracted with each deep pull. I shuddered and moaned and clawed at his back.
Nero sealed his bite, then rolled so we were facing each other, and led my mouth to his throat. I knew what I had to do, and I struck, biting him as deeply as he had me, sucking hard on his vein. His cock pulsed inside me, as he gripped my ass, holding me to him, and stayed there, filling me, coming for me.
He continued to thrust until we were both utterly spent. I lazily dragged my tongue over his skin, sealing my bite, and Nero rolled me to my back again, looking down at me.
“My perfect little Lalka.” He brushed my hair back gently, in that reverent way that still managed to surprise me. “My precious mate. I will love you, Mina, protect and cherish you, until the end of existence.”
I slid my hand over his shoulder. “And I will love you right back, my beautiful, vicious mate. You are mine, and you are all I will ever need…” I slid my hand lower, over his chest, and froze.
Nero went on instant alert, searching the trees, then frowned and looked back down. “What is it?”
“Your heart.” I blinked rapidly. “Nero…can’t you feel it? Your heart’s beating.”
He stilled.
Taking his hand, I lifted it to his chest. “Do you feel it now?”
His throat worked, his Adam’s apple sliding up and down. “I feel it,” he rasped and pressed his forehead to mine. “I feel it,” he said again and swallowed thickly. “It’s beating for you, my love. Just for you.”