Chapter 20 Felicity
CHAPTER TWENTY
felicity
Connor apparently knows someone who’s good with technology. So, once he’s satisfied that my injuries have been tended to, he disappears with a promise that he’ll be back soon.
Vaelor goes into the bathroom, putting the poultice away, the tap coming on as he washes his hands. I struggle back into the borrowed shirt, unwilling to sit here half naked, already feeling too vulnerable and unsure around them.
Mates. I scoff, disbelief still clutching at me, even with the ache still lingering on my chest and the pungent aroma of the poultice wafting up into my nose.
“You okay?”
I look up, watching as Vaelor leans against the doorframe, shimmering eyes locked on me.
“What do you think?” I ask archly. “The two of you have fucked up my entire life, and now there’s sex tape just, you know…
floating around. And it’s sex I don’t even remember having because you drugged me.
” They are the right words, but they’re missing sincerity.
I just feel so removed from it all, like it happened to someone else.
Like it’s still happening to someone else.
Amusement glints back at me as Vaelor rolls his lips between his teeth, completely remorseless. “Not in the human sense,” he says. I gape at him.
“Is that seriously your defense? It was a potion, so that means it’s okay?”
“Now, that’s not what I said.” He tuts his tongue, pushing off the door and coming closer. “Could we have gone about things in a different way? Probably. Do we regret it? Absolutely not.”
I don’t know if I’m cold or if it’s him, but a chill races through me, making me shiver.
He notices, coming to sit down next to me, his hip pressed against mine.
The mattress dips with his weight, forcing me to lean against him.
I briefly consider putting some distance between us, but there’s something primal in me that craves his closeness, like I can’t breathe without him. And I’m honestly too tired to fight it.
Almost like he can sense my acquiesce, Vaelor loops his arm around my waist, tugging me more firmly against him. He’s warm, his scent—molten metal and something spicy—surrounds me.
“You don’t remember those three days?” he asks quietly, his thumb stroking my arm, leaving goose bumps in his wake.
I moisten my dry lips. “I remember some. Bits and pieces.” I hesitate, not sure if I should say anything. “I don’t feel any different.”
“Really? I somehow doubt that.” A low noise of amusement leaves him. The sound has my belly going tight, a throbbing ache settling between my legs. I tighten my thighs, trying to hide the reaction, but I catch his mouth twitching from the corner of my eye.
My cheeks heat as his meaning finally lands, and I shake my head. “No, it’s just…Mates, right? You said you claimed me”—I gesture to my covered chest—“so, shouldn’t there be a bond? I don’t know how it all works, but I don’t feel different.” I’m fretting, and I have no idea why, except…
What if they’re wrong?
A cool sweat covers my skin, my heart skipping several beats. I can feel his eyes on me, but I don’t look at him, my cheeks hot and my skin itching like thousands of little insects are crawling all over me.
“Maybe humans can’t be mates,” I mumble into the quiet. “Maybe you made a mistake.”
“No mistake, Princess.”
I ignore him. “Anyway, now that I’m on the outs with the Hamiltons”—my tone is bitter, and I hate myself for it—“my value has obviously decreased. Connor’s family will never accept me. You’d both be better off with someone else.”
“That’s not how mates work,” he reminds me, right before his tone hardens. “And it pisses me off, you talking about your worth like that. Don’t do it again.”
I shoot him a mutinous look. “There’s no bond, Vaelor!” My mouth is open, ready to say more, but I’m distracted by the way his eyes glitter back at me, his mouth curling in a pleased smile.
“Why do you look like that?” I demand. “You look insane.”
He lifts a shoulder. “I like the way you say my name.” He grips my chin in his fingers, holding me still as he closes the distance between us, his lips glancing over mine.
I drag in a startled breath, blinking up at him. “What are you doing?” My voice is breathless, and his smile widens just before he presses another kiss to my lips.
It’s short, sweet, and not enough.
“You are worth more than your name,” he says softly. “And Connor and I…We don’t give a shit about any of that. Not his family, and not the politics they’re embroiled in. The only reason we’ve been dealing with them is because of you.”
I force down a hard swallow. “I don’t understand what that means.”
He presses down on my lower lip with his thumb, the tip of it slipping into my mouth.
It’s almost an instinctive reaction to flick my tongue against it, tasting the salt of his skin, but I don’t fight it.
I graze my teeth against the digit, and his eyes go heavy-lidded, his voice filled with danger when he says, “Don’t push me, Princess. I’ll bite back.”
The room spins around me, my thoughts clouded. I jerk back from him, standing up and stumbling away. “I can’t think when you touch me,” I complain.
“That was kind of the point,” he says evenly, but doesn’t move from his spot on the bed. “This goes easier when you don’t think.” He lifts his eyebrows pointedly, and I narrow my eyes at him.
“Too soon,” I snap. “We’re not joking about that yet.”
“You can hold it against me for the rest of our life,” he vows meaningfully. “As long as you’re with us.”
“Connor would be better off with someone like Selena.” Her name tastes foul as it trips off my tongue, and I screw my face up, hating the image it conjures. “She’s from a respectable family, and she knows how to play the game. Selena is a shifter, so she would feel a bond.”
“Fated mates don’t work like that,” he grits out slowly, his mouth twisting with a scowl.
“I’m just saying—” My eyes flare as he stands up, taking a threatening step toward me. I skip back quickly, but he matches every step with one of his own, crowding me back against a wall.
“Yeah, well, I prefer you not talking,” he snarls. “You’re less likely to piss me off.”
“Well, Selena—”
Vaelor slaps his hand over my mouth, his expression dark with anger. He presses in closer, something hard grinding against the softness of my middle. I gasp against his palm.
“Warlocks don’t get mates,” he says, his voice low and dripping with silky menace.
“Fate gives us a choice, but I fucked with that when I bound Connor’s soul to mine.
I never felt him, though.” He leans in, his forehead pressing against mine, his hand still between us.
“Until you. Now, you’re both in here”—Vaelor thumps his other hand against his chest, eyes never leaving mine—“tangled and twisted, but mine.” The claim is feral, his eyes gleaming with a mad obsession that steals my breath.
“You think I’d give that up just because you don’t feel anything yet? ”
My chest starts burning as air catches in my throat. I reach up, tugging at his wrist. He drops his hand from my mouth, gently collaring my throat instead.
“This isn’t how it was supposed to go,” I whisper brokenly.
“I know.”
“It’s not what I planned,” I continue. His expression doesn’t change at all.
“I know.” He presses his thumb into my fluttering pulse. “You want freedom and choice? We’ll give it to you…as long as you always choose us.”
I stare up at him, my mouth trembling. I’m so torn, knowing I should be angry, furious. They have taken so much from me, and they’re remorseless. But at the same time…they care more than anyone else has.
If they’re right about a bond, we’re intrinsically connected.
They’ll never be able to just leave without a goodbye, either physically or emotionally.
But I shouldn’t be entertaining this, not after what they did.
Yet, my heartbeat slows, syncing into the rhythm of Vaelor’s, matching him as calm seeps into my body.
I’m still not ready to fully give in. “What if I don’t?” The question tumbles out of me. “What if I don’t choose you?”
“Try me,” he says softly, sincere and deadly, “and you’ll find out just how far I’ll go to keep you.”