Chapter 19
FRANK N. STEIN
“Someone is definitely fucking with me,” I mutter, and the sound echoes, distorting inside the large oval-shaped metal cocoon.
My own body is betraying me, unlike anything I can remember in my long years, and it’s taking constant effort to keep my energy levels at a stable level.
This is ridiculous, and I’m willing to bet it has something to do with the human currently living above.
Luckily, the hellion won’t be up for hours surely with all of the excitement from yesterday, and she seemed exhausted yesterday after leaving the stable, barely speaking a word the way back.
I even made sure she hadn’t moved from her room before I headed downstairs to let off some of my power source.
It can be no accident that Odette shows her face in the village yesterday, and now I’m being coerced by my own body to shed energy yet again, when I usually can go months without doing so.
Odette has been trying to wedge her way back into my good graces for centuries, as she knows together with our considerable power and influence, our alliance would be unmatched in the supernatural world.
Why would she come here when she knows she’s unwanted is the question. What did she hope to find when she’s never dared step foot within these walls? And for good reason.
After accidentally turning more than a hundred ghoul in a magical experiment gone wrong, most of the ghoul population barely tolerates her.
They all may have been created by accident, but when she shunned them from New Orleans more than two hundred years ago, she didn’t do herself any favors with her creations.
Part of why most of them choose to follow me instead.
Odette burns bridges everywhere she goes.
I cross my hands behind my head and attempt to force myself to relax, shoving thoughts of the witch queen from my mind.
I assume my power malfunctioning the last few days was because of my anger over being thwarted by imbecilic humans toying with magical properties they can’t understand, but now I realize, it’s something to do with her.
Bernadette. At just the thought of her name, the machine’s pressure valves hiss again with exertion.
I sigh and roll to my side inside the cushioned contraption, waiting for it to deplete my energy sources so I can be on my way this morning and ensure the human isn’t getting into any more trouble.
Mikael assured me that with the biometric clearance in place and with how outdated the mansion is, that here would be the best place to hold her until his team resecured the office suite and needed further use of her.
It would make the perfect cell is what he said, not that she has shown any inclination to leave, but now after yesterday’s theatrics, I’m not so sure.
When I’d noticed her location move towards Brom’s paddock, it sent me into a panic, scrambling to stop her before the horse burned her to a crisp, no doubt because of how crucial she is to the success of recovering the moonflower.
If she were to die too soon, I’d never hear the end of it, but I hadn’t accounted for Brom actually liking the girl either.
Brom is a pretentious prick and barely tolerates my presence, I can’t imagine him interacting with a human at all, and yet I witnessed it myself. He let her ride him.
When she mentioned her shoe, I fully suspected her to rail at me and accuse me of invading her privacy, which is true, but turnabout is fair play.
Once in the stable, I hoped to distract her from the tracker, thinking it had somehow dislodged itself and was irritating her, but nothing could have prepared me for the feeling that overtook me once she pressed her lips to mine.
Orange clouds my brain even now, causing the metal contraption beneath me to hum and hiss with exertion as the energy coursing beneath my skin pushes it to its highest capacity.
Problems and issues fall like a house of cards around me. Not only do I have this newfound desire for a human to contend, if my power levels remain unstable, I could inadvertently cause a thunderstorm or even worse, a blackout, which serves no one.
If I cannot rely on myself, who can I rely on?
If not the human, then something is clearly clouding my judgment. The moment Odette appeared in the village, I should have known. One of the most powerful beings in my domain and I had no inkling, which makes me a liability.
Too caught up in the doings of a human to pay attention when an old adversary makes an appearance. It’s absolutely absurd…
Bernadette has proved to be far more trouble than I anticipated but is proving useful in other ways.
Brom’s daily ride has never been an enjoyable task for either of us, until yesterday.
She also doesn’t have a bad seat, other than her slouching for attention.
It would be interesting to force her to be his stablehand for the week.
My lips curl at the thought of making her earn back every dime, at how it may have only taken an hour to almost stall business operations, but it means years of servitude of her doing anything and everything I ask.
Images of her on her pretty knees dance in my head.
Pretty knees?
The machine valves hiss as my power increases again. I groan. “At this rate I’ll be here all day,” I grumble.
After a few more moments, I feel my energy levels go down to an acceptable level of calm, the usual hum beneath my skin not as irritating as it was, and I turn the chamber off.
The energy valves continue to hiss and gurgle while I wait for the pressure to stabilize and the solid titanium door to unlock.
Once I hear the audible click, I step out, fog rolling along my bare feet and concrete floor as I make my way to the large closet situated on the other side of the underground suite.
Annoyance twinges at the back of my skull as alerts ping rapidly from my mobile currently seated at the desk nearby. “What could she be doing up at this hour?” I mutter.
Quickly grabbing a gray suit, I get dressed, pairing it with a small blue pocket square but no tie, unable to stand something so constricting around my neck.
Taking my phone from the desk, I hurry to the stone vault door and press my thumb against the reader, hoping she hasn’t gotten far. I glare down at the device. I’ve been down here a while, and it could have been hours since she left.
The woman is a pain in the ass.
The hair on the nape of my neck raises when the dot on the screen finally moves. She’s outside again.
If she tries to get on the roof again, I'll murder her myself.
Opening the door to the floor lobby, I bound up the carpeted steps of the staircase two at a time trying to get to the second floor as fast as I can before she does something idiotic.
What could she be doing up this early? No female in my long existence, human or otherwise, has ever gotten up at this hour without being forced to it. From the small window, I can see that the sun isn’t even up yet.
A frown settles across my brows as I notice how grim the walls are in the darkness. I've not taken the time to decorate here, simply because technically no one has ever lived in the mansion as I prefer the city to the country.
I wonder what she thinks of the billionaire who owns more property than the gods and yet has no art on his walls.
What the fuck do I care what a human thinks of me? I fume.
I make it to her suite and frown harder when I find her door unlocked. Humans are so foolish.
What if she never locked her door to begin with and simply left herself vulnerable? Like an imbecile.
I step inside and close the door, stalking through her bedroom when I see the balcony curtains dancing with the breeze.
Relief floods me when I get a glimpse of her, fully dressed in a t shirt and leggings, through the open double doors. I take in the curve of her backside and how her hair curls at her nape, most of it gathered in a bun on top of her head.
At least she’s not on the roof.
I open my mouth to tell her if she even thinks to climb up, I’ll tan her round ass until she can’t sit on it.
I stare at her, and a sharp pang register in my chest, painful enough to make me pause as the electricity bounding through my system suddenly mounts, spreading heat to my palms. A strange vibration begins to hum beneath my skin, and the hair on my arms raises as an unfamiliar ringing begins to sound in my ears.
It muffles the world and with it, brings stark clarity.
No.
I gaze out at Bernadette bathed in the morning’s first light, the sun brilliantly cresting over the horizon, and let out a harsh grunt as my power reaches out against my will from where I stand and tugs toward her.
The current cuts through the air and wraps around her form as she bends to look down below, unaware of my presence and how I’m watching her from the open doorway.
It coats her in an energetic field, and I tremble in place, watching and unable to stop it, while her hair lifts from the static.
Understanding comes over me like waves on a cliffside.
She's my mate.
I go immobile as she senses me, and she gasps, her hand flying up to her chest, the cup in her hand sloshing wildly.
Which means I’m inescapably fucked.
“Why are you just standing there like a creep? God, you scared the shit out of me,” Bernadette scolds. She turns and holds her arm out to right her drink, shaking her head all the while, a scowl knit between her brows as she checks herself over.
I don’t respond.
Can’t.
A hand goes to one delectable hip. “Hello? Earth to Frank, stop making it weird and come out here.”
When I don’t move, she waves a hand and pouts, her expression turning ridiculous as if she’s attempting to coax a child towards her.
Wisps of the golden electrical current that bound itself to her are nowhere to be found.
I frown, realizing my energy levels appear to be normal for the first time in the last few days and understanding dawns.