Chapter 20 #2
He stared up at the ceiling. “No. Maybe. I’m not sure.
But, a few of the males came out and tried to gut me.
Scarred up my face and thought I’d either bleed out or they’d leave me hideous so no one would want to answer my questions.
Your sister came out of nowhere.” He chuckled, a small smile curving along one side of his mouth.
“A small demon of a female. Snow white hair flying everywhere. She killed them in moments, shoved her blood down my throat, and saved my life. We’ve been best friends ever since. ”
I was thankful he wasn’t looking down at me.
The look of shock on my face would betray a great deal of feelings I didn’t wish to process right now as I buried them all over again.
“Wow. That’s… Did she not know about blood sharing?
” I realized too late how my question would be perceived, and when his gaze returned down to mine, I knew I’d asked the wrong question.
“No, Cora. Someone erased all of her memories. She didn’t even know for the longest time that she was a vampire, let alone what blood sharing meant among vampires.
Did you know about blood sharing when you worked your magic upon me?
” His tone left it apparent the amount of rage he felt when it came to my sister, and it left me wondering how she felt about me and what I’d done.
Did she understand why I had to do it? Had she recalled yet what happened before it all?
“You’re right, of course. I’m sorry,” I replied, my voice now quiet as I fiddled with a stray piece of thread from the blanket.
Wishing I felt brave enough to tell him that he took my blood too; my inner thoughts wishing to know what it meant to him when he chose to do it.
He’d done it long before my magic came into play.
But when faced with the facts, I knew why he did it.
Even with the bond that would likely erupt from such a thing, he was dying.
It was in an act of desperation and desire to survive.
The bed dipped, and due to the fact that I wasn’t looking over at him unless required of me, I wasn’t sure what his plan was. The vision of disgust and anger in his dark eyes would be staying with me long enough already.
It was sudden, even for a vampire. The blankets ripped from my body, his weight on top of me, pillows pushed from the bed, my hands pinned above my head.
I could feel his breath ghosting along my skin as his chest heaved, but all I could do was stare up at him with the knowledge that this could be it, the moment he finally snapped and ended my life for good.
“What did I tell you about the docile act you so love to put on?” he growled.
I stared up, his dark eyes inflamed with clear distaste.
“Something about me dropping it,” I whispered in return.
One of his thighs was pinned between my legs and as he dropped down, his nose running along the column of my throat, his thigh pressed against the heat between my legs—a part of myself I was doing my utmost to ignore.
I’d been pinned down, taken advantage of, held against my will more times than I could begin to count at this point. It left me unnerved, anxious, sweating, nauseous.
Yet this male, this shifter, that I had no business desiring in such a fashion? He pinned me down and smelled me as if I were his last meal of this lifetime, and I had to use all of my energy to not focus on the way he made my insides purr.
However, my body had its own plan that my mind hadn’t caught on to yet because I caught the beginning of his smirk as he looked down to watch as my hips rose and I started grinding myself against his thigh.
“Forever the docile little slut, aren’t you, Princess?
” He didn’t sound as angry now—no, it felt like something much worse.
He sounded ravenous. “If I told you to get on your knees for me, you’d do it, wouldn’t you?
” I started to open my mouth to tell him to fuck off, but he glared down at me as he shook his head.
“It wasn’t a question Cora, it was simply the truth. ”
My lips remained parted, but no words would come out as I stared up at him.
“I think you enjoy being treated like this, and who am I to deny the princess what she desires?” He pressed his thigh against me again.
Shocked by the movement, a small gasp slipped from my mouth.
“Go down to the kitchen and eat, Cora, before I decide to continue on with this lovely bit of blood magic you’ve bound us together in,” he growled as he rolled off of me.
The loss of his warmth and weight left me feeling empty in a way I wasn’t used to, and as I stared above at the stone ceiling, I took the briefest of moments to ponder how in the world I’d found myself in this situation.
“Will you be here—” I began, but he cut me off before the question could fully leave my lips.
“I’m in charge of keeping you under lock and key, Cora. Just be thankful there is no one here, aside from me, who wishes you harm.” I nodded and the quiet seemed to envelop us before he cleared his throat. “You’ll find bagged blood downstairs.”
Swallowing down the questions regarding bagged blood—Keres had humans he let wonder about the castle specifically for hungry vampires to drink from or kill. The thought of it being bagged wasn’t natural, but I wouldn’t be giving anyone problems over the fact that I didn’t have to touch anyone else.
After giving me the brief direction, I rose and made my way out of the room.
I’d never tell him, but knowing he’d be around when I returned brought me a sense of safety I hadn’t felt since I’d lost my parents, maybe even before that.
The sun was beginning to rise and Cedar said he had things to do outside of watching me, so I was alone once more.
Things were easy to find when one wasn’t a prisoner.
But my heart raced as I scribbled down the words at a speed that made my anxiety clear to anyone who may happen upon me. However, it seemed those around me didn’t mind giving me a certain amount of privacy.
Rolling up the parchment into a tight circle and sealing it, I laid it on the corner of the desk.
The animal scooped it up within its talons, and I watched as the oddly colored bird flew from my desk and out a nearby window.
Back to its master it went.