Chapter 3 #2
“I can,” I said, stepping even closer. “Because I would burn this fucking world down if anyone touched you. I would kill my own blood if they came anywhere near you. You don’t understand what I am, Layla. What this is.”
Her lip trembled at my words, but she needs to understand that under all this civilization is a beast, a beast that will kill with no mercy. “But you will,” I state and when she does she’ll beg to never leave my side again.
“Why did you bite me?” she asked, arms wrapped around herself.
“I didn’t drain you,” I explain. “I took just enough to mark you. To initiate the bond and to let every male know that you are mine.” Her eyes widen in surprise.
“Bond?”
“You’re my mate, that is an unbreakable bond”
Her eyes widened. “That’s not…That’s not real. That’s just some creepy, possessive bullshit…”
“No,” I said firmly. “It’s biological, it’s sacred and eternal. No one, nothing will ever be able to break our bond”
She blinked at me, trembling. “You’re serious.”
“I don’t lie, Layla. Not to you. ”
She took a shaky breath, eyes darting toward the door. “And now what? You keep me here? In this… mansion? As your pet?”
“No,” I snap. “As my equal.”
She laughed again, a bitter sound. “Equal? Really? Because you didn’t ask me if I wanted this. You didn’t give me a choice.”
I took a slow step toward her, “Because I didn’t have a choice either.”
Her breath hitched at my answer. “This isn’t something we choose; it’s something we are. I felt it, the second you walked in. I would’ve ripped that entire club apart if anyone had touched you. I still might.”
She stiffened, “I’m not trying to hurt you,” I assure. “I’m trying to protect you. From now on, you live under my name, my blood, my shield. No one touches you, they wouldn’t dare. No one even looks at you unless I say so.”
“That sounds like a prison.”
“That sounds like survival in my world.” She didn’t answer.
So, I gave her the truth she hadn’t asked for yet. “I gave you a drop of my blood when I bit you. Just enough. You’ll start to feel it soon…your body will change, you won’t get si ck. You won’t age, not as long as I keep giving you my blood.”
Her lips parted, “You mean…”
“You’ll live as long as I do, centuries, maybe even longer.” She stared at me like I’d just ripped the sky open.
“And if I don’t want that?” she whispered.
“You already have it, that’s what the bond means. Your life is now bound to mine.” Tears welled in her eyes which has my hands fisting, I wanted to wipe them away, but I didn’t. She needed this moment, she needed the truth to burn before it became hers.
“I didn’t ask for any of this,” she whispered.
“I know.” She looked up at me not with hate, not with love but with understanding.
And that was more dangerous than either.
She was glancing around my suite like she didn’t know what world she was in anymore because the one she knew was gone.
And the one she was in now, mine, didn’t care about fairness or logic.
It only cared about instinct, blood, and power.
And right now, every inch of me was demanding I take her, not just because of the bond. Not just because her scent was seared into my lungs and her pulse was a song that I couldn’t stop hearing, but because she was fighting it, fighting me, and that made my hunger borderline savage.
I stalked toward her slowly. “You still think this is a prison?”
She turned her head slightly, “Isn’t it?”
I stopped in front of her, inches from her face. “Then open the door.”
Her brow furrowed, “What?”
I nodded toward the double doors. “You think I’m holding you here? You think you’re trapped? Go ahead, try to leave.”
She stared at me like I was bluffing.
“I won’t stop you,” I said. “But the second you step out that door, you’ll know what it feels like to be without me, and I promise you, Layla... it will hurt worse than anything you’ve ever felt.”
Her eyes flicked to the door then back to me, she didn’t move. I took her chin in my hand, tilting it up, gently but firmly.
“You’re mine, little one,” I said, voice low, nearly reverent. “You were always mine, and now that I’ve tasted you, touched you, felt you…” I trailed my thumb across her bottom lip, “...there’s no going back, not for either of us.”
Her lips parted, her breath caught. I can feel her resistance cracking, just enough.
That was all I needed. I kissed her hard, no warning, no hesitation.
Her hands pushed weakly at my chest, but they didn’t stay there.
They slid upward, gripping my jacket, pulling me closer even as she shook in my arms. Her body wanted this, even if her mind didn’t know how to admit it yet.
I broke the kiss and dragged my mouth along her jaw, down to the pulse fluttering in her neck.
“I’m going to ruin you for every other man,” I whispered.
“Because you’ll never want another, never crave another, never let another touch you.
Because if I ever scent another man on your skin, I will kill him”
She gasped at my words as my fingers slid under her shirt, lifting it over her head and tossing it aside. Her bra followed, torn clean off with a flick of my wrist. I stepped back, just long enough to look at her.
My mate. She is so soft, her skin glowing, she is beautiful in a way that made violence curl inside me, violence for anyone who’d ever ignored her, hurt her, looked at her and didn’t see what she was. Layla was a delicate masterpiece, and she was Mine.
I dropped to my knees in front of her, kissing the skin just above her navel. “I should be gentle,” I murmured. “But I’m not built for gentle. I’m built to take what I want. Built to claim what is mine.”
She moaned as I pulled her jeans down, pressing my mouth to the heat between her thighs through the thin lace of her underwear.
“Roman…” she whispered, the first time she’d said my name like that, like it meant something more than fear.
I growled, my fangs dropped, my control snapped. I stood, eyes black, my chest heaving.
“You want the truth?” I asked. “This is how vampires claim their mates, with blood, with torrent sex and with all consuming possession.”
I undressed fast, my jacket, shirt, belt was all off before she could see what I really was. I am scarred from battles with the Demons, tattooed, covered in old symbols inked into my flesh from rituals older than this country. My cock stood hard, already aching for her .
I moved toward her. She didn’t run, instead her eyes were wide, but her thighs were slick with the passion I can scent.
“No more waiting,” I said. “You’re mine, and I’m going to show you exactly what that means.”
My lips crashed into hers again, but this time there was no hesitation, no control. I tasted her shock, her breathless gasp, her trembling surrender. My tongue slid past her lips, demanding, claiming. I kissed her like she belonged under me, because she did.
She moaned, the sound vibrating through my chest like a drug, and I deepened the kiss until she was gripping my shoulders, holding on like she didn’t trust her legs to stay beneath her.
I lifted her easily, her thighs sliding around my waist as I carried her across the room.
She clung to me, her breath stuttering against my neck.
Her skin was warm silk under my hands, her pulse thudding like a drum against my lips as I kissed along her jaw, down her throat.
“You smell like mine,” I growled against her skin. “You taste like mine, because you are mine.”
Her fingers threaded into my hair, tugging, desperate but unsure. Her body was torn between instinct and fear, but her scent told the truth, desire laced with confusion, heat overtaking caution. I laid her down on the bed and hovered above her, taking a moment just to look.
She was flushed a slight tremor coursing through her body, absolutely beautiful.
I kissed her again, slower this time, dragging my mouth over hers until she whimpered.
My hand slid down the curve of her waist, teasing her pebbled nipple, fingertips gliding along bare skin, mapping what was now mine.
She gasped, hands flying up to cover herself. “Don’t,” I growled. “Don’t ever hide from me.”
I caught her wrists and pinned them gently above her head, locking eyes with her as I bent low and ran my mouth over the soft swell of her breast. Her breath hitched, hips shifting beneath me.
I took her nipple between my lips, sucked softly, then bit just enough to make her arch into me with a cry.
Her fingers curled into the sheets. Her eyes were wide, dazed but there was a world of wanting. I released her hands and slid lower, dragging her panties down her legs inch by inch, my palms skimming every curve, every hidden inch. I wanted her bare. Exposed so I could claim her fully.
I kissed the inside of her thighs, slow and possessive, and she shivered as I spread her legs wider. Her scent hit me like a drug, she is so wet, so ready for me, with such a pure innocence.
“Layla,” I whispered, my voice thick with hunger, “no one’s ever tasted you before, have they?” She shook her head, cheeks flushed.
“Good,” I growled, lowering my mouth to her. “You will only ever be mine, now and forever.”
Her moans came high and sharp as I licked her slowly, deliberately, savouring every reaction.
My tongue circled, then pressed deep. She writhed beneath me, clutching the sheets, breath catching in little sobs of pleasure.
She was already close, already falling and I hadn’t even touched her with my hands.
When I rose above her again, her eyes were glassy, her lips were parted, and her body was trembling with passion.
I lined myself up, slid the head of my cock through her wetness, not entering yet just letting her feel it.
Letting her understand what was about to happen. That she was about to be owned by me.
Her hips lifted, just slightly but that was all the permission I needed. I sank into her in one slow, devastating thrust. She cried out in part pain, part shock, part something new breaking inside her.
She is so fucking tight, so hot, scorching me to my very core. She is perfect. I nearly lost it right then.
“Layla…” I groaned, teeth clenched. “You feel like fucking heaven.” Her nails scraped down my back. I moved slow at first, then harder and faster.
She met my every thrust with more heat, with more need than I could ever have expected from someone that has never had sex before. Her body gave in long before her mouth would admit it.
And when she shattered beneath me, screaming my name, I sank my fangs into her neck again and drank.
Just enough to complete our bond, but not enough to harm her.
Just enough to bind us for all eternity.
She is now protected by my blood, our bond is now sealed.
Layla is now eternally mine but what overwhelms me is that I am completely and eternally hers too .
When I came inside her, I felt her body open fully, the bond surging like fire between our souls. And when I collapsed beside her, pulling her against my chest, I knew there would never be another night, another life, another future without her.
She was bound and I was hers as much as she was mine, forever.