Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
There’s Something About an Angry Vampire.
Percy Flores
Selene was silent as she dragged me back to her private wing and room. She was so visibly furious that none of her guards greeted us as she passed.
In her room, she slammed the door shut and released my wrist, turning on me.
“Percy,” she growled low. Her eyes were still glowing, and her right cheek was a stinging red.
“Selene, I…” I stopped myself from speaking, from apologising, from mindlessly taking it all back.
I raised my hand to soothe her injured cheek, but dropped my hand before I touched her.
I couldn’t. Simply looking at her so distressed made me want to crumble to tell her everything, but her injury was proof enough that there was no line the King would not cross.
I wasn’t only risking everyone I ever loved or even knew; I was putting Selene at risk, too.
“What has happened to you?” she asked, and I couldn’t tell if she was angry or hurt or just some awful mix of pained. “I am informed of your return after all this time, and this is how you greet me?” she asked.
I looked away.
She gripped my jaw and turned my face to her.
“Look at me,” she demanded. “Do you have any idea how much I have worried for you? How much I have struggled to find you since I awoke? Of the toll your absence has had upon me?” she questioned. “Explain to me now, what has happened that you would return to me only to reject me.”
“Selene, I…” The image of Edward bleeding, dying flashed through my mind, and any words I had were killed in my throat.
Selene inhaled deeply.
“What are you so scared of?” she demanded to know.
“You,” I whispered, lying.
She released my jaw and stepped away from me, and I watched as she attempted to calm herself.
I noticed then how thin she looked; her clothing sat too loose on her frame.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to scare you. I am overwhelmed,” she said, her voice wavering as she turned away from me.
I couldn’t stop myself from walking towards her and wrapping my arms around her from behind and pressing my face against her back.
“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” I asked her quietly.
“How long has it been since you’ve eaten?” she asked in return with a dismissive laugh.
“I’m serious, Selene,” I said.
“Not since Ardens,” she said quietly.
I was shocked. We were last in Ardens two full weeks ago. Acknowledging the time that had passed was unsteadying; it felt much longer, and I had been unconscious for almost half that time.
“Why haven’t you eaten anything?” I asked.
She broke my hold of her and turned to face me.
“I could not. Every time I attempted to drink, my body rejected it. I assumed it was an effect of the bond and our separation,” she explained. “You look less impacted,” she commented, looking me over carefully.
My hand went to my chest. Still hollow, still something missing.
“Enchantments,” I said. It was the only thing that made sense as to why I was still feeling so disconnected.
Selene shook her head.
“I had my protective enchantments removed, in the hope of being able to feel you,” she told me.
“The New Foundation placed enchantments over me while I was unconscious. They claimed it was to protect me from being tracked or influenced. But I’ve had this feeling in my chest since I awoke,” I gripped the clothing of my top tighter at my chest, “this hollow, cold feeling, like something is missing. I thought it would leave me when I was back, but...” I trailed off.
Selene’s hand held mine over my heart, and she smiled sadly at me.
“My hunger,” she whispered.
“What?” I asked.
“You’ve been feeling my hunger,” she explained. “The enchantments that you received within The New Foundation must be quite powerful, maybe more so than mine had been, to block out everything but this.” She pressed her hand more firmly against my chest.
“This is what hunger feels like to you?” I asked.
“Like my chest has been ripped open and gutted, and all the warmth within me has left. It can be quite painful. Have you felt any pain?” she asked, searching my eyes.
“No,” I assured her.
“Good,” she said and dipped her head to push her nose into my hair and made a grumbling growl of a sound before tilting my head to the side and pressing her nose behind my ear.
“You’ve showered recently, within the castle. I find the scent of the toiletries in the guest rooms unpleasant, especially when they mask your scent,” she said, and the feeling of her lips moving against the column of my throat sent chills rippling down my spine.
“Selene… ugh.” I could feel myself blushing.
This was wrong. I couldn’t allow myself to feel like this, to want her. I couldn’t…
Selene hummed against my skin. “What, pet?” she asked, her lips pressing like a kiss against my neck.
“I can’t,” I begged.
Selene truly kissed my neck then, her lips parting to nip playfully at my skin.
I moaned, unable to suppress the sound.
My whole neck was on fire with the most exquisite burning sensitivity. She licked a trail from the base of my neck up and whispered against my ear. “Have you not missed me?”
I could have burned up, melted, and evaporated on the spot. I lost my balance, but her hands at my waist held me steady, and she hummed mockingly, knowingly.
“My little pet,” she said as one of her hands moved from my waist to my buttocks and she pulled me against her.
“I’ve been lost without you, not myself.
” She nipped at my throat with steady increasing pressure, and I moaned so loudly and embarrassingly as I tilted my head to give her more space, my hands fisting in her top to try and steady myself, “I need you,” she whispered like a confession, the plea causing my pussy to clench.
Her lips travelled along my jaw and to my lips. A gentle kiss, and then a nip from her teeth, demanding entrance.
I was so consumed by my desire, hers, a combination of us both, that all sense left me, and I allowed her entrance.
Her kiss was life-giving, life-taking, everything.
I had forgotten the taste of her, the feel of her against me, the way it felt to give myself to her.
She hummed into the kiss, a sound that travelled deliciously through me to my core.
I whined when she pulled away from me.
She inhaled deeply.
Her hand, not gripping me from behind, slipped around from my waist to the front of my jeans, and she teasingly allowed her fingers to dip beneath my waistband.
“Selene,” I begged.
“Hmm?” she asked, as she watched me, and I was painfully aware of how easily she had me begging in her hands.
“I, ugh,” I groaned as she squeezed my buttocks and jolted me forward until our hips were touching.
“If you want to be touched more, pet, let me hear you beg,” she instructed, her hand infuriatingly refusing to truly push deeper.
“Please, I need you closer,” I said, pulling at her top.
Her hand in my waistband left, and I whined in disappointment.
“Don’t —” I began to protest until her hand on my buttocks spanked me.
“I said to beg, darling, not complain,” she admonished.
I swallowed my protests and nodded in understanding, unable to look away from her hungry gaze.
“Good girl,” she praised. “Try again.”
“I need to feel you.” I tugged at her top. “There are too many clothes,” I managed to explain.
I wanted to be closer to her. I could feel her heat everywhere we touched, and it was like experiencing the warmth of the sun after an endless darkness. I needed it. Everywhere. I wanted to feel her heat fill and consume every part of me, until there was nothing in this world but her.
“My shirt or yours?” she asked.
It was an impossible choice.
“Both,” I answered.
Another spank to my backside, and I groaned at the sting.
“Choose,” she instructed.
I whined so pathetically and then imagined the feeling of laying my face against her chest, splaying my hands against her abdomen.
“Yours,” I said.
I instinctively tried to follow her, leaning forward as she released me and made the smallest of space between us.
She smiled down at me when I looked up pleadingly, and her hands went to the hem of the light brown jumper she wore as she proceeded to remove the item in one smooth motion.
I was excited until I saw the white vest top she wore beneath it.
“Selene,” I complained.
“Whining won’t get you far,” she said, but her smirk told me how much she enjoyed my disappointment at her state of full dress.
“Please,” I begged and took hold of the hem of her vest top, stretching the thin satin fabric as I pulled her closer to me again.
I pushed my hands under the vest to feel her abdomen against the palms of my hands.
She took hold of both my wrists, pulling my hands away from her, and turned me around before I had any chance to protest. All I could do was make a shocked sound as she pushed me up against the closed bedroom door.
“Are you having difficulty controlling yourself?” she asked, and her breath cascaded across the shell of my ear, sparking a trail of sensitivity through me like fireworks down my neck and the entire right side of my body.
“It wasn’t fair,” I said and groaned in pleasure as she nibbled on my earlobe.
She released my wrists, and her hands gripped my hips before pushing up my top and holding my waist in her palms. She held me still with one hand while the other travelled around to the front of my jeans and easily popped the button open before sliding down the front of my panties.
I braced myself against the door.
“You’ve soaked through,” she observed casually as she cupped me tightly. I pressed myself against her palm. She pulled me tighter to her and pressed her front against my back.
“Please,” I pleaded, trying and failing to grind against her. I was so frustrated.
“Mine or yours?” she asked, and we were back to playing the terribly slow game.
“Mine,” I chose this time, and her hand left my jeans, causing me to whine pathetically.
She gently turned me around to face her and leaned down to kiss me softly as she began to pull my top up and over my head.
I wore no bra.