Chapter 36 Rune #2
“Four-ish minutes left,” I told her with a sheepish smile, watching Dad pull her and Pops away to dance. “Have fun!”
Zuko choked on a laugh. “Your parents are fun.”
“I want to mate you now. You’re chaos wrapped in a beautiful fucking dress.” Slater’s red eyes scanned over me like he wanted to tear it off.
I wanted him to.
Jesper looked at my parents with amusement. “It’s odd seeing them so relaxed.”
“They need it,” I giggled.
Brynn drifted over in a dress similar to mine but in a deep red without the sparkles. She put her hand on Dimitri’s sleeve. “You owe me a dance,” she purred.
“No. I don’t,” he said without looking at her, attention fixed on me.
Brynn’s mouth thinned. “We had something at the start of the year, Dimitri.”
“No. We didn’t,” he said, sounding absolute. He pulled his arm from her hold and wrapped it around my shoulders. “Rune, would you like to dance with me?”
“I’m next!” Slater held his hand up.
“Then me,” Zuko purred.
“And me,” Jesper rumbled.
“I’m clumsy, but if you don’t mind, I’d love a dance, too,” Koa murmured softly.
“I’ll dance with all of you,” I promised as Dimitri swept me away in a waltz I hadn’t known him capable of.
His warm hands settled on me as we moved.
I couldn’t hold back my smile as I stared at him.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You’re not fighting this anymore.”
“I only fought my feelings because I didn’t want to be broken,” he explained, dipping me down and back.
“I know,” I whispered, letting him guide us as we danced. “I won’t ever break you.”
“I know you won’t.”
Dimitri made me feel alive.
We danced for two songs before Slater stole me away.
The rest of the evening was spent in the arms of my mates, and I hadn’t had such a pleasant time in all of my life.
Tibby and his mates finally showed up in the middle of the event, but they ended up dancing like we were.
Koa’s hands were on my hips as we swayed, and his jaw ticked. Something had been on his mind tonight. I knew it because his aura was muddled, and he wasn’t as forthcoming as he usually was.
“What’s wrong, reboot?” I teased, moving closer and inhaling his firewood scent. “You can tell me.”
His ember-flaked brown eyes bore into me like he held secrets I didn’t know. “Rune, I—”
A sharp inhale came from Dimitri a few feet away as a pair of vampires cut through the crowd with entitlement.
“Something’s wrong.” I looked to Dimitri, who had an expression I’d never seen on him before.
“I think they’re his parents,” Koa whispered, tugging me behind Dimitri so we were close in case something went wrong.
It took me every piece of restraint I possessed not to make them shit themselves in front of everyone for even coming here.
The woman wore diamond jewelry and a business-casual pantsuit. The man beside her wore an expensive suit and jewelry.
“Dimitri,” his mother said, fake affection haphazardly coating her contempt. “Finally. You’ve missed two recitals and embarrassed half of Cursinia.”
He tensed. “Mother. Father. This is a closed academy event. Families aren’t permitted. How did you even get in?”
I walked closer and slid my hand in his. He squeezed my hand back, but I felt the tremble in his hold.
“Someone told us you would be here, and we wanted to remind you what was really important,” his father said.
“Told you?” Mom shifted forward with a frown, Dad and Pops flanking her.
“How did you even walk across the bridge?” Dad asked, confusion settling on his expression.
“Especially without an invitation,” Pops muttered.
“We just followed that sweet girl who told us our son would be here,” Dimitri’s mother said, voice going slick as her gaze slid to where our hands were joined. “Who is this? She’s not a vampire.”
“Don’t forget you’re to-be-mated,” his father said coldly.
Pure malice glowed in their eyes as they looked between us.
My venom glands heated so fast my tongue tingled. I smiled. “Hi. I’m Rune.”
“You’re unworthy of our son,” she said. “You will taint our bloodline.”
The Fates didn’t think so.
My parents and my mates growled low, catching the attention of the nearby students.
Dimitri shrank slightly into me, and it made anger flare in my chest, shooting down my bonds.
“Oh, you wanted a vampire to approve of?” I asked, letting my fangs lengthen, dripping with venom, slick and precise. “I have fangs just like you.” I took one step closer. “Would you like a demonstration of mine?”
“Rune,” Dimitri breathed shakily.
Pops's laugh cracked like a whip. “Say one more word about my daughter,” he told the room, “and I will burn you to ash and claim provocation with the council.”
Mom didn’t raise her voice. “You have entered a restricted ssspace, attempted to shame a ssstudent in the headmaster’sss care, and ssspoken against my child. This is your one chance to walk away.”
Dimitri’s mother looked vaguely bored. “I’m speaking to my son.”
“You’re speaking to my mate,” I hissed, and the word landed between us as if the Fates themselves boomed it.
Everything stopped.
His mother blinked.
His father’s fingers tightened on his cufflink.
Dimitri made a sound I had never heard from him before. It was a sigh of relief sharpened by terror.
Mom moved half a step closer to me, and the air pressed in on itself with thick tension.
“You will come home,” Dimitri’s father told him. “You will apologize to the patrons you humiliated. You will stop this farce with this stupid idea you have.”
A line inside Dimitri snapped.
“No,” he said. It wasn’t loud. It didn’t need to be. “I will not be treated like your property anymore.”
His mother’s lips went thin. “You don’t know who you are without us.”
“I do,” he said, and his eyes found mine. “I do now.”
“How long did you practice that?” His father scowled. “You’re coming with us.”
“You don’t get to talk to him like that,” I told them, my rose gold scales forming and scattering on my skin. “He’s not your pianist. He is a damned good agent, and he’s made something of himself that a normal parent would be proud of.”
The vampires stared at me like I was a disgrace.
“Why are you still speaking?” his mother asked.
My eye twitched. “You know, I was wondering the same thing about you. I have a particular brand of venom that can make you mute.” I gasped as if it was a great idea that I’d just thought of, stepping forward. “Let’s give you some.”
I launched myself at her, hearing Slater whoop in the background, but Dimitri’s arms circled around my stomach.
He sped us out of the auditorium and into the corridor in the next second.
Dimitri had me caged against the wall, but he didn’t touch me. He held his hands beside my head, keeping his small distance. His face hovered close enough to fog my thoughts.
Back in the auditorium, voices rose of both my mates and my parents standing up for Dimitri and I both.
Cinnamon and nutmeg filled my nose as I inhaled, and I found that I quite liked this predicament he’d put us in.
“You shouldn’t have to defend me,” he said quietly. “Not from them.”
“You’re mine,” I blurted. “So, I do. We might as well make it official and bite each other.”
His laugh was fractured. “Biting you is a bad idea.”
“The worst,” I agreed.
“I shouldn’t do it.”
“You shouldn’t.”
He stared at my mouth, then slid his gaze to my throat. His jaw tightened.
“Unless you’ll stay to ease the effects of your venom this time,” I added, voice raw.
“I will,” he croaked. “I’m done hiding from you. I want you so badly I feel my soul aching.”
“Bite me.” My hands slid up his chest before my arms moved around his neck.
He lifted one hand to my throat, tracing my heartbeat. The other cupped my jaw and gently turned my head to the side. He leaned in, and his mouth ghosted over the pulse on my throat, on the side opposite to where Zuko had marked me.
I made a sound I couldn’t hold back, and it was raw pleasure.
His fangs slid through my flesh, and pleasure detonated through me in a clean, white flare that made my knees slacken.
“Dimitri!” His name tore through me like a storm.
Our magic arced around each other teasingly before it finally caught, searing my soul to his.
Primal magic hammered through my bones in a pulse that found its echo inside of him.
I moaned. My knees buckled, but he caught me, drinking a few more gulps of my blood and pouring his venom into my system.
“Dimitri,” I breathed.
He pulled back with visible effort, breath ragged, lips red with my blood. “Rune.”
I grabbed the back of his neck and sank my fangs into the center of his throat, over the scar the siren had left on him.
My magic poured through me, marking him as mine.
He moaned my name, his hips grinding against me.
Pulling back, I admired my mark. Two deep puncture holes over the much-less noticeable scar over his throat.
“Perfect.” I licked my lips.
He laughed as if he’d finally broken free of chains. “You’re perfect, Rune. You’re my mate.”
“And you’re mine,” I whispered just as the door at the far end of the corridor slammed back open.
Aura burst through breathlessly. “Dimitri, your parents, they’re making a bigger scene. Threatening the headmaster. Can you get them out?”
I pushed against Dimitri’s chest, dizzy, drunk on him, and furious at the fact that we’d been interrupted. “Go,” I said, voice wrecked. “I’ll be waiting right here, and then, you’re taking me back to your room.”
“We could just go now. I know what my venom does to you, but I have never been the one to reap the benefits.” He searched my face with a clear expression. He didn’t want to go. He wanted them to handle it, but Aura wouldn’t have come out if it were that easy.
“It won’t take long, right?” I rasped, heat licking at my core as his venom surged through me. “I’ll wait for you.”
“One minute,” he growled and vanished into motion toward the auditorium.
Aura strolled closer with a smile on her lips. “So, Dimitri’s giving in finally?”
I giggled deliriously. “He did. He’s bitten me twice, but I’ve always been with Slater after. It was perfect, but I’ve always wondered what Dimitri would be like.”
Aura’s blue eyes widened on a spot behind me. “Rune, watch—”
A prick hit at the base of my skull precisely, and the floor slid sideways.
The last thing I heard before everything went dark was Aura’s piercing scream.