Chapter 32
Butterflies riotin my stomach at what I’m about to do. And it’s not because I’d be leaving the academy. I can take a portal there easily.
It’s because it’ll be the first time I’m in his space—and I don’t mean his office. I’ll be in the place where he lays his head down at night. Where he’s most comfortable and can be himself.
Luka and I mated last week, and I still haven’t been to his home. So this… this feels like a really big step.
Not that it’ll stop me from going, though.
After healing my busted ear drum, freshening up, and changing into something a little more date-like, I stand in the middle of my living room and clear my thoughts. Clearing it of everything except him. My vampire. The man who still doesn’t know that I’ve mated Luka but is okay with me being in a relationship with both of them.
Is that what Axel and I have? A relationship? I know Luka and I do. We claimed each other carnally. We gave each other mate marks, signifying we belonged to each other. Once Axel realizes that, will he send me packing? It’s one thing to have whatever we have going. But it’s completely different when marks and mating are involved.
Nope. I refuse to overthink it. If Axel has a problem with it, then it’ll be his loss. Not mine.
With that thought, I focus inward, eyes wide open, and my magic comes to me in an instant, no longer needing to coax it or beg it to do my bidding. It seems almost… excited to see Axel. But that can’t be possible. Or is it?
I have no time to debate the subject as the portal fully forms in all its pink glory. With a deep breath and a whole lot of prayers that Axel won’t turn on me the second he finds out, I step through, coming out on the other side into what can only be best described as a vampire’s lair.
If I thought his office fit the motif perfectly, I see now how wrong I was. So very, very wrong. On so many levels. I’m almost surprised there isn’t a coffin smack dab in the middle of the main room.
Everywhere I look, black covers every surface. And I mean every. Single. One. Candles illuminate the space, casting flickering lights against the dark walls, and there are no windows from what I can see, darkening the room even further. I swear if it weren’t for the candlelight, I wouldn’t be able to see my own damn nose. The partial lack of sight makes me wonder if there’s a possibility that I have a night-vision rune. I mean, how freaking cool would that be? I’d be able to sneak in anywhere and never have use for a light switch. Hmmm, I’ll have to ask Thaddy when he’s not dealing with a pissed-off girlfriend.
My fingers brush over the pristine surfaces as I walk around, tracing the glittery veins I didn’t notice before. Every little piece he surrounds himself with screams privilege, but the vampire himself has never acted like he’s entitled to the finer things in life.
“Cor meum, is that you?” Axel’s voice calls from another room somewhere ahead of me, down a darkened hallway.
I may not have been keen to use it to eavesdrop on the fight brewing between Thaddeus and Ronnie—bitch—but it doesn’t stop me now from flooding my rune with magic, tuning into my heightened sense of sound. It feels easier this time using it, almost like muscle memory after using it only once.
If all of my runes come to me this fluently, I may not be attending Stonewell for as long as I originally suspected. Which works for me just fine since that will put distance between Hudson and me.
My throat warms with the essence of my magic before it shifts beneath my ears, every sound coming through ten times louder. I grit my teeth as I grab hold of my power, stopping it from turning the level up too high and blowing out my eardrum. Again.
0 out of 10, would not recommend.
The clacking of a keyboard can be heard in a far-off room, and I follow the sound down the hallway I knew his voice had come from prior, releasing my magic as I find him in a less pristine office than the one in his city building. Papers are stacked high on his right and look to be ready to topple over at the slightest breeze.
Axel’s blond hair falls around his face in disheveled waves, a scowl on his handsome face as he pounds the keys before him.
“Hey, vampy,” I murmur from the doorway, leaning against the frame.
“Cor meum, you’re a sight for sore eyes.” He pushes away from the desk, crossing the distance in a flash to pull me into his arms before he dips me low, making me giggle. His lips capture the sound, replacing it with a moan as he sucks my bottom lip between his teeth. He nibbles the soft tissue for a moment, and then he rights us, leaving me gasping for much-needed breath.
Tease.
“So whatcha working on?” I ask breathily, my knees wobbly beneath me. “You looked kinda pissed, and I thought your computer was going to explode with the death glare you were giving it.”
Axel chuckles, a sexy, raspy sound I feel deep in my bones. “It’s just a stupid case that keeps getting more ridiculous by the second. But you didn’t come here to hear about my work. Let me give you a tour of the place.”
The chill of his flesh seeps through the thin material of my T-shirt as he places his hand on my lower back, guiding me back into the main room of the house. I want to ask where we are in relation to the school, but it’s not like that information matters. Getting here and leaving is the easy part with my portals.
“This house has been in my family for generations, much like Stonewell for Jasper. In our world, it’s common for children to resume living in their parents’ home when one or both of their parents pass away.”
“Your dad?” I ask, recalling him mentioning that he took over the law firm for his dad, so I would think the house would be the same.
“Correct, cor meum. My mother moved out when I moved in, even though I offered for her to stay. She knew I’d eventually take a mate,” I flinch at the reverence of which he murmurs the word mate, “and she didn’t want to be in the way of a growing family.”
My stomach roils with guilt over the thought of him being with me and not his mate. They’re out there somewhere, just waiting for their other half, and here I am, trying to keep him for my very own when I already have a soulmate. Two, if you count the asshole, which I don’t.
“Bailey?” My eyes come back to focus, finding us in a part of the house I don’t remember walking to and my vampire standing in front of me, concern heavy in his blood red orbs. “Where’d you go, cor meum?”
“I…” How do I explain to a man I have feelings for that he should be putting all of this effort into finding his mate? Not me. I know Luka said not to count him out, but how can I not when I know nothing about why he said that?
“Talk to me, Bailey. Let me calm any fears you have. Because I can smell them seeping from your delicate skin.” He traces his finger down the main artery in my throat, and I swallow hard, wanting so badly to cut the already minimal distance between us. “Come.” He takes my hand and leads me toward a dark couch, sitting down and pulling me into his lap.
Gods. How could something that feels so right be so damn wrong?
Those same cool fingers grip my chin, tilting my face toward his. “What part of what I said garnered this emotion? Was it the part about family? Or about mates?” My breath catches, giving my thoughts away easily. “I understand, cor meum. How about I tell you a story? Maybe it’ll dispel any fears you have.”
I swallow hard, steeling myself for wherever this conversation may lead. I’m more than afraid of what he’s going to say because this whole thing between us could be truly over before it’s even started if he admits to having a mate out there somewhere.
My head nods for him to go ahead, words no longer possible.
“One hundred years ago, Natalia flashed into my life in a whirlwind, shaking up every foundation I’d already built for myself. She was everything I’d told myself I wanted in my other half.” He shakes his head, pulling me against his chest. “Gods, I was so wrong. But I’ll get to that. At the first scent of her blood, I knew what she was to me. She was my soul bond. My soulmate. The woman destined to be the other half of my soul.”
A tear leaks down my cheek from his admission of finding her, and he tsks me before wiping it away with his thumb.
“Everything was just as magical as people claim when it comes to finding their mates. Until it wasn’t.” He smiles sadly. “What I didn’t know at the time was that she had just come from a nearby town, leaving a trail of bodies mutilated in her wake. It wasn’t until she begged me to join her out on the town one night and killed out in the open that I was able to put two and two when the reports started flooding in of a vampiric serial killer on the loose.”
“Oh shit,” I murmur, finally finding my voice.
He chuckles before continuing. “She begged me to mate her. Join her in the life she was determined to have. To live as vampires were meant to. My soul wanted to. Wanted to continue floating in her orbit. But I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t want to live a life on the run, and I valued the lives of others more than she ever had. I fought with the thought of turning her over to the council at the time, but for the very fact that she was my soul bond, I let her flee into the night without turning her over.”
“What happened?” I ask, fully aware of his use of past tense in his story.
“Her crimes caught up with her ten years later, and she was sentenced to death that very day. My value of life saved my own life. If I had joined her, I wouldn’t be here today. I’d be nothing but ash as she is.”
All my fears of him finding his mate are immediately squashed, expelling the air from my lungs. Now I understand why Luka said not to count him out. Axel’s mate is dead. And as much as it pains me to think this… Good riddance. Not for the reason that she couldn’t take him away from me, but because she was just a horrible person all around.
“Does that help, cor meum?”
In answer, I shift my position, placing my knees on either side of his hips, straddling him. A growl builds in his throat that I silence with my lips, answering his question the only way I know how.
His cool lips are a stark contrast to the heat building inside of me. And I don’t mean my flames. It’s the fire that’s building in my gut at needing this man now that all of my fears have been dashed away.
Amusement and a little arousal floods the bond between Luka and I, reminding me of the truths he deserves in return before we take this any further.
“Fuck,” I break off with a gasp, but he’s not having that. Axel takes control from me, tilting my chin up to expose my throat, scraping his fangs across the tender flesh. “Axel, I need to tell you something.”
“Mmmm, if it’s that you and Luka are mated, I already know,” he murmurs, his lips dancing across my skin with every word. “I can smell the demigod on you. Your scent has a bit of his mixed in.”
“What?”
“We predators have an excellent sense of smell. And I knew before you even stepped foot in my office.”
“And you’re not… mad?” I whimper as his thumb presses into my chin, bringing my gaze back down to him.
“He’s your soulmate, cor meum. I would be mad if you didn’t want him. He’s an amazing guy, and you both deserve each other.”
“But?”
“No buts. Not unless you like that kind of thing.” He winks, chuckling at his own joke.
I giggle, smacking his chest, but my laughter dies as I gather my bravery to ask the one question I’m dying for an answer to before this goes anything further.
“And us?”
“I’m yours. If you’ll have me.”
“You’ve been mine since you walked into my parents’ house; you just didn’t know it. Now take me to bed, vampy.”
“Gladly.”