Chapter 6 #2
“Shh, it’s okay, it’s okay. I got you.” He pulled me closer, as though he could shield me from the realm, as if I wasn’t what the realm needed shielding from.
“Whatever you’re worried about, we’ll figure this out.
Even if they still want you to marry another, we have time.
We have plenty of time to figure out how to stop that and convince them otherwise.
I’m not going anywhere, you hear me? I’m with you.
Forever. You’re mine, and I’m yours. We’ll figure this out. ”
The tenderness of his words, the aching love in his tone . . . my sobs increased.
I wrapped my arms around him, needing to hold him, feel him, smell him.
For just this one moment, I wanted to pretend that he was still a warrior, and I was just a girl from the Coswell District, and neither of us had duty or commitments or responsibilities.
It was just me, him, and nothing else mattered.
I clung to him, and his aura pulsed with love.
“I got you, Prim. I got you,” he whispered over and over.
The feel of his strong thighs pressed beneath mine. Muscles clenched. His stomach rippled. Heat from his incredibly warm body seeped into my cool skin.
I wrapped my legs around his waist, and his cock pressed against my core.
His cock.
Something inside me unfurled, and my sobs lessened.
Kole was so hot. So hard. So . . . ready.
My tears dried completely, and the pull of his virile body called to me. I ground my core against his length.
A deep groan filled his chest. “Are you needing that, Princess?” he whispered hoarsely. “Will that help?”
Yes.
The thing in me begged me to lick him, suck him, fuck him. I rocked against him, and his length beneath me grew even more. Hardened. Warmed.
A fog descended over my mind, and my core clenched, my body tightening in anticipation of what was to come.
“Kole.” Before I knew what I was doing, I was clawing his shoulders, gripping him tightly, and then I slammed my lips to his.
A growl ripped from his throat, his arms embracing me just as fast. I rocked against him even more, rubbing myself right onto his cock, grinding myself on him.
“I want you, Kole,” I whispered into his mouth.
“Whatever you need, Princess.” His arousal flooded my senses. He wanted this as much as I did.
Surely, there was nothing wrong with this if we both wanted it.
The fog descended even more.
His lips moved with mine. He smelled of cedar, pine, and the sea.
And he tasted of spice, mint, and fire, and he was so very alive.
The thud of his heart filled my ears. Strong and fast. I inhaled as he kissed me more, and the scent of his blood flowing through his veins feathered against my senses.
I needed to taste him.
The ache in my jaw returned, burning in intensity.
He dipped his tongue into my mouth, his hands everywhere, and his cock pushed against his breeches, straining to be free.
My tongue tangled with his, and another deep groan left him. His tongue flicked forward and grazed the tips of my fangs.
Abruptly, he pulled away, but I tried to wrench him back.
Fuck him.
Now.
A snarl tore from my lips.
His eyebrows slammed together. “Primelle?” His nostrils flared, and his attention shifted over my face, my chest, my arms, everywhere.
He pushed me away, holding me at arm’s length, even though I struggled against him.
My uncle’s command not to reveal my strength was the only thing that kept me from ripping his clothes off. “What’s happened to you?”
His question was like being dipped into the Brashier Sea.
As fast as the fog had started, it disappeared.
My eyes widened, and horror washed through me that he was beginning to suspect that I wasn’t fae anymore.
Just as fast as I’d attacked him, I was off his body and striding across the room.
“Nothing. It’s fine. I’m sorry. I lost control.
It’s just that . . .” I began to pace by the fire, my body so tight with vampiric need, desire, want, that I was about to scream, but I pushed down my new urges as hard as I could.
“I’ve missed you. That’s all. It’s been a strange few days without you, and something came over me. ”
That statement didn’t even begin to grasp all that I’d endured, but panic was filling me, because if I didn’t do something to sway him from his concern, especially if he’d felt my fangs, then I would have to manipulate him, and I didn’t want to do that. Not now. Not ever.
“And perhaps you’re right. Perhaps I’m sick. I’ve been very cold lately, but I feel fine, so I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about,” I added, my tone too fast to sound normal, so I forced my words to slow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you, but I’m okay. Truly.”
The warrior still sat on my bed, watching me. His blank mask fell into place, and I cringed to think of the thoughts shifting through his mind.
“How long have you been feeling this way?” he finally asked.
The question was vague enough that my uncle’s command didn’t stop my answer. “A day or two.”
“Have you seen a healer?”
“No. Like I said, I feel fine. I’m just cold.”
He pushed to a stand and walked steadily toward me. His erection still strained against his breeches, and I quickly snapped my attention away from him, but his aura was pounding, and his steps were purposeful. It was impossible not to feel him.
Cautiously, I darted a glance at his face.
As before, his expression gave away nothing. He looked so much like the Kole I’d known before he’d opened himself up to me that it felt like my heart was cracking. My dead heart. My unbeating heart. My vampire heart.
When he stood in front of me, he stopped, and his gaze traveled over my face once more. He inhaled, his nostrils flaring, and no doubt his weak scent-sensory affinity was activating too.
“You still smell like you, but you’re different.
” His tone was calm, yet a storm brewed behind his eyes.
He cocked his head, and I could practically see the wheels turning in his mind.
“That’s what it is. That’s what’s different.
You smell the same, but that’s it. I can’t scent your emotions anymore.
You only have one fragrance now. It wasn’t like that before. ”
Oh gods.
A sob tightened my chest, and I wrapped my arms around my waist. A word bubbled up inside me. I wanted to voice it. Wanted to tell him that he was detecting my uncle’s potion, which concealed everything beyond my unique essence, but even trying to say yes elicited my uncle’s magic.
Swirling away, I faced the windows and realized that Callahan was stationed at the other side of the courtyard, out of earshot, and likely there because he’d known Kole had arrived, and he was respecting our privacy now that word was out that Kole and I were mates.
“I’m fine,” I seethed, my tone wooden. “I wish you’d stop questioning it.” And I did. I desperately wanted him to stop his line of thought, because if he didn’t, he would begin reaching conclusions that I couldn’t bear to face.
He sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve been on edge lately, and it’s obviously taken a toll on me. But if you’re still like this in a few days, you should see a healer, just to be safe. It’s abnormal not to be able to scent you.”
Abnormal. I scoffed internally. What he should have said was monstrous. I closed my eyes, and the impossibility of our situation hit me like a thunderclap once more. But there was no running from this. It was only a matter of time. Sooner or later, Kole would know.
Which meant I had to find answers. I had to find a way out of this.
My throat rolled again, and venom coated my fangs anew. And maybe Kole was right too. Maybe I should go to a healer just to stall the inevitable.
And a healer would also be a source of fresh blood, blood that I can drink unsuspectingly as long as I compel the healer beforehand.
My eyes flashed wide open as that unbidden thought slammed into my consciousness. Drink from the healer? Truly, Primelle? Disgust with myself made me want to vomit.
Somehow, I replied in a steady tone, “I don’t need a healer. Not yet, at least. I’ll be okay, even if I stay this cold for . . . a while.” I couldn’t bear to voice forever.
Kole embraced me from behind again. Thankfully, he didn’t comment on my temperature a second time. “How was your visit at your uncle’s?”
“Good.” Before I could stop myself, the practiced lines that had been forced upon me spilled from my lips, a near replica of the lies I told my parents. And since my uncle’s potion controlled my scent and hid my emotional flavor, Kole had no idea that I was lying through my teeth.
Once I finished telling him about the wonderful time I’d had at Manafold Estates, he turned me in his arms and cupped my cheeks.
I stiffened, waiting for him to make a remark again about my skin, but he didn’t.
Instead, a devastating smile spread across his lips, and he leaned down to brush his mouth against mine.
“You know, now that your parents and the Council know that we’re mates, they’ve lifted the restrictions on their magic. ”
It suddenly hit me that not once had the Council’s magic flared around his wrist since he’d arrived. “Truly?”
“Indeed.” His voice turned husky. “Which means we can enjoy each other all we want, without having to trick the Council’s magic to do so.”
A spark of my old self ignited, and I replied in a teasing tone, “How unfortunate. I quite enjoyed commanding my warrior to pleasure me.”
He chuckled. “Oh, you can still command me, Princess. I still live to serve you.”
“You do?” Desperation filled my words, and for a split second, he cocked his head, but then he returned to his easy comments.
“Always. Now, tell me, Princess . . . is there anything you’re needing your warrior to do?” Heat filled his eyes, and he brushed his lips over mine. “Any areas that haven’t been tended to properly in the past few days? Or areas needing particular attention?”
A low moan left me. Desire, both mine and that of my new nature, filled me. “Yes.” I parted my thighs as his hands left my cheeks to wander down my body.
“Such as?” he asked suggestively, then leaned down to kiss my throat.
I arched against him, need burning inside me. I tried to hold on to the desire I’d always felt for Kole, tried not to give in to the consuming lust that my new nature provoked in me, but it was impossible.
Before I could stop it, the need to drink his blood while fucking him began to overtake me.
I kept my lips pressed firmly closed, forcing my fangs not to lengthen.
I concentrated on my love for Kole. He wasn’t just a male to satisfy my demanding body.
He was so much more than that, and I’d be damned if I treated him like a blood bag.
“Touch me,” I whispered, the sound slurred since my fangs had slightly emerged despite trying to stop them.
“Gladly.” In a flash of speed, he had the curtains drawn, and I flung out my telekinetic magic to lock all the doors.
In my next blink, Kole had me on the bed, my dress off, and only my underthings covering me. A flash of worry hit me that my glamour wouldn’t hide my paleness completely, but Kole was either too gone in his desire, or my glamour still held, because he never commented.
Instead, he spread me out before him and slowly began to remove his clothing.
A flash of trepidation filled me that now that my parents knew of our relationship, we had no reason not to complete our bond .
. . other than my distant nuptials . . .
but something told me Kole wouldn’t let that dissuade him.
“Are you going to . . . I mean, are we going to . . .”
A sly smile lifted his lips. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Princess. I can’t wait until my scent marks you, and yours marks me.”
My jaw dropped, and panic roared through my veins, because I had no idea what a mating bond would do to him or me since I was now a vampire.
For all I knew, Kole would begin to carry the stench of the dead, and the thought of that made me want to gag.
But the other part of me burned, needed, wanted.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and I desperately shoved my vampire urges down. This was Kole. He was my mate. He wasn’t a male simply to fuck and drink from.
Slowly, my fangs receded completely, but it took all of my concentration and the love for my warrior to do so.
“Prim?” Kole said quietly, my name soft on his lips. “We don’t have to do this now if you don’t want to.”
My eyes flashed open. Kole was watching me, concern on his face. Gratitude filled me that he cared more about me than sex.
“Can we wait?” I blurted, blinking rapidly to fight back the tears that wanted to come. “I want to, but not here. Not in the palace or where your fellow warriors are right outside the room. It should be special. Somewhere private. To complete a mating bond is such a sacred event.”
Tenderness filled his eyes, and I wanted to cry anew that I would never be able to have a true mate bond with him, not really.
Since I wasn’t a fairy anymore, and instead something other, I could never experience what we’d once been promised.
Forever, my new nature would try to take hold of me.
Somehow, I knew that to the deepest part of my core.
But I didn’t want to think about that now. Those worries could be dealt with another day.
“I’m willing to wait as long as you need, Princess.” Kole knelt between my thighs, his eyes darkening once more. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t pleasure you.”
He leaned down and began to kiss me right where I was throbbing, and my head tilted back, the urges rising inside me again, but I pushed them down as hard as they would go and forced myself to enjoy it even though all I wanted to do was weep.