by Alexa Riley
“Please,” I try again. This time I use all my powers to calm her and to seduce her into a relaxed state. “You startled me. Come in and I’ll take care of that cut. Then we can call someone to come get you.”
She glances back to the gate for a second and sees that she’s alone.
“I promise not to hurt you,” I say, running my thumb along her wrist and feeling her rapid heartbeat—something I haven’t felt in a hundred years. “I’ll protect you just like my roses.”
“Your roses?” She turns to look at me, and the smell of fear dissipates.
“Yes. I have a garden if you’d like to wait there. My sister is on her way, and she can help you if would prefer to have her.” The words taste like dirt in my mouth.
I want to rip her clothes off and feed on her breast while I fuck her. At that thought I glance down and see my cock is hard and pushing against the slacks of my suit.
“Oh fuck,” I whisper, so low she doesn’t hear it.
I’ve found my mate.
Three
Juliet
I let him lead me into the house, and my heart races. But when I walk inside, peace falls over me and my mind stops the rush of panicked thoughts. It only lasts a second when I jump at the sound of the door closing behind me. It’s then I realize that there’s no going back. I’m alone with a man I don’t know. I willingly did this without even putting up a fight. What’s wrong with me? My mind has been a whirl of emotions since he opened the door.
I try to look up him, but he turns from me a little so I can only see part of his face.
“Come this way. We’ll get you fixed up,” his deep voice commands as he pulls on my wrist gently so that I follow him.
His hand engulfs my wrist, reminding me how big he is. It’s almost surprising how gentle the hold is with how rough his hand feels against my skin. His words of protection repeat over and over in my mind as he pulls me deeper into the house and closer to him. I try to look up at him, but he turns his face away from me once again, shielding himself.
I follow a little behind him so I’m only able to see his broad back and shoulders. Not that I even come up to his shoulders. He’s big. Like, really big. It’s even more noticeable as we walk through a doorway and he takes up most of it. He’s easily double my size and could overpower me so quickly. This is how all those stupid horror movies start, and now I’m realizing there’s no one to hear my screams. Even the girls I came with are long gone by now. How did I get myself into this mess?
“Maybe I should—”
“I’ve got you,” he says, cutting me off. “Besides, the women you came with left you. You shouldn’t be out at night all alone in the dark.”
I try to swallow the knot that begins to form in my throat. He’s more right than he realizes. I’m always alone. Even when living in a home filled with people.
“I don’t know if being with a complete stranger in their house is any safer.”
His grip on my wrist tightens for a moment, then he loosens his grip.
“You’ll stay,” he commands again.
It seems like everything that comes out of his mouth is an order. The silence that falls between us makes me uncomfortable and unsteady. I run through my mind, trying to think of something to say.
“Well, they know I’m in here,” I blurt out, reminding him he can’t do something crazy.
This is the first place they’ll come looking for me. If they come looking for me. I’m sure if I don’t show up for classes, someone will know I’m missing. Right? Oh my god. It would probably take a week before someone even noticed I was gone. I swallow hard again.
He only makes a grunting sound like he doesn't care. I tug on my hand, but he doesn't let go of it.
“Be careful. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He stops in front of a set of double doors and opens them before guiding me inside. How is this man scary and tender all at the same time? That doesn’t even make sense.
When we enter the room, my mouth falls open. Every wall is covered in bookcases. Leather-bound spines fill every space. There’s even a spiral staircase leading to the second level. It’s something I’ve only ever seen in movies. It’s breathtaking.
“Wow,” I whisper. “I could live in this room.” The hand on my wrist tightens again, and he makes a sound of approval.
“You like it?” he asks, and I feel his thumb brush across my wrist. It sends a thrill up my spine.
“Like is putting it mildly.”
He releases my wrist and I feel strange about not having him hold on to me anymore. But I swear I can still feel his touch on my skin lingering like a brand. I use my other hand to rub the place where he touched me and it’s warm.
When I look back I see he’s moved all the way across the room. With a flip of a switch the room is plunged into darkness, but within seconds the fireplace comes to life. It fills the room with a warm glow and makes me feel peaceful. The man visibly relaxes after he’s done this, and it somehow calms the whole room.
“I’ll go get the first-aid kit,” he says before he bolts from the room and closes the doors behind him.
How did he move so fast? I’m left standing there, torn between wanting to explore the room and also thinking that maybe I should get the heck out of here. I close my eyes to get myself together the best I can. But before I’ve taken a step, he’s coming through the double doors with a transparent case in his hand. His head is down so I can’t see his face.
“Come sit down.” He motions me over to a seat.
My feet are rooted to the spot as I watch him move across the room. I’m unable to look away from him. I’m frozen in place because I don’t know what to do. Should I let him take care of me? Something inside of me is telling me that he’s safe, but my mind isn’t so sure.
“Now,” he commands, and this time my feet move on their own.
I go to him and sit down in the chair he motioned to. He falls to his knees beside me and finally I get a little view of his face. It’s not much, and as I try to get a better look at it he reaches out and touches my arm. I suck in a breath as his fingers glide across my skin.
“Sorry. Did that hurt?”
I shake my head and he continues. The cut doesn't hurt, but his touch is something altogether different. It’s like he’s warming me from the inside, and it tingles in a good way.
“I’m Kane, by the way.” He opens the box and gets out a small white cloth.
His fingers tremble as he wipes the blood away. Maybe he doesn’t like the sight of it?
“I’m Juliet,” I respond after a second because I’m too busy focused on the warm tingle beneath my skin. “Thank you again for this. I really am sorry for trespassing.”
Here he is trying to help me and I’m being distracted and rude. I’m so calm and happy right now that all of my emotions before this seem insane. Why was I so scared?
I lean down a bit to try and get a look at his face. But I’m beginning to think he’s hiding it from me. Which only makes me want to see it more.
“You’re welcome here anytime.”
I ignore his response because I doubt I’ll ever be back here again. Even if in this moment I don’t want to move from this spot. I feel so good that I think I might just move in. As soon as I have the thought I have to stop myself from laughing at how ridiculous it sounds.
I do my best to sit still as he tends to the scrape on my arm. He takes his time cleaning the wound gently. He’s so careful with me.
He leans down slowly, getting close to the wound. I freeze, wondering what he’s doing, and my heart begins to beat loudly.
“Kane?” I say softly, and he stops moving closer.
I feel his breath against my arm, but before he can respond, the doors fly open and I nearly jump out of my seat.
Four
Kane
“What’s going on here?” Ravana says when she walks into the room.
Her eyes narrow on the scene before her, but she’s not my concern. I can feel Juliet’s hea
rtbeat speed up, and the fear that I removed from her earlier is back. I had her calm and supple, but then Ravana came in like a bull in a china shop.
“He was just helping me,” Juliet blurts out before I can explain. “I climbed over the gate and cut myself pretty bad.”
Ravana is in a dark green cotton dress. It goes down to her feet and has sleeves so it covers her ivory skin. She’s beautiful, but she’s only ever been my sister. Her dark black hair is in waves down her back. Her anger shows on her face.
“Everything is fine. You can leave now, Ravana,” I say as gently as I can while trying to let her know she needs to go. I don’t want to scare Juliet.
Ravana takes out her phone and hits a few buttons before putting it back in her bag.
“Is this your wife?” Juliet whispers to me as her eyes dart between us.
“This is my sister, Ravana. Ravana, this is Juliet.”
“Nice to meet you,” Juliet says, and her body begins to relax again. Was she so worried that I was married?
“I don’t have a mate,” I say as I pack up the first-aid kit.
“Kane, can I speak with you privately?” Ravana says, not addressing Juliet.
“If you’ll excuse me,” I say to Juliet, grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and covering her with it. “I’ll be right back.”
Her fingers touch my hand as I tuck the blanket around her. It’s only briefly, but it feels so intimate and real. Could she possibly like the way I feel?
Ravana clears her throat and I reluctantly stand up and walk out of the room with her hot on my heels. I close the double doors and walk down the hall to make sure Juliet can’t hear what we’re saying.
“Her hearing isn’t as good as ours.” The way Ravana says it, there’s a sting to her words. Before I can ask her what the problem is, she puts her hands on her hips and stares me down. “What the hell is going on in there, Kane? You have a human in your home. Do you know how many laws you are violating right now? If Bishop were here he would lose his shit.”
“She was hurt.” My anger is boiling right now, but I can’t lose my temper. I need to remain in control.
“No shit, I could smell the blood when I drove through the gates. It scared the shit out of me.”
“Did you think suddenly after a hundred years I snapped and killed a human?”
Ravana rolls her eyes and crosses her arms. “No, of course not. I just didn’t know what happened. You know Bishop has told us stories about vampires coming to the end of their lives and going crazy. I just—I don’t know.” She shrugs.
“I may not be as young as you, but I’m not old. And our leader is the one you should be worried about. He gets closer to his two hundredth year with every rise of the moon. Bishop has also seen a lot more than I have in my time. My scars don’t allow me to explore as much as he has.”
“Here we go with the scars again.” She lets out a breath of frustration and I know this is a sore subject for the both of us. She thinks nothing is wrong with them, but I disagree. “Can we just focus on why you’ve got a human in your house and why it looked like you were about to gnaw her arm off?”
God, she’s right. I was so close to tasting her sweetness. Even now, the smell of roses pours from the library and all I want to do is go in there and lie on top of her body. I want to lick her wound as I sink my cock deep into her body.
“She’s the one,” I say simply as I hold my hands out, palms up. “She’s my mate. I’ve found her.”
Ravana blinks a few times before her eyebrows scrunch together. “What did you just say?”
“I said she’s the one. I’ve found her.” A smile pulls at my lips and the feeling is so foreign. I can’t remember the last time I did it.
“I’m calling the twins.” She pulls out her phone, and I hold out my hands to stop her.
“No, just listen to me.” She stops and waits with her phone at the ready.
The twins, Ezra and Erik, are our enforcement. They are the vampires in this area that no one fucks with. They’re also like brothers to me. I doubt that even if Ravana called them they would ever hurt me. But I don’t want to bring them into this yet.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. She’s human, Kane. We can’t mate with humans. You’re supposed to mate with a vampire. That’s the only thing that will keep us immortal. We share our venom with our mate and that bond is what keeps both of us from dying. How can you possibly mate to a human?”
“I don’t know, but I feel it.” I place my hand on my chest and step towards her. “I’ve never felt this. Not even before I was created. But I know it just like I know the moment the sun sets every day. She is my mate.”
“You’ve lost your mind.” Ravana shakes her head and goes back to typing on her phone.
I let out a sound of frustration and turn away from her. Just then I hear a car pull up outside. “Who’s here?” I say, more to myself than to her.
“It’s a cab. I called it for the human,” Ravana says, not looking up from her phone.
“No,” I say and begin to walk towards the library. A strong arm reaches out and grabs my shoulder. Only another vampire would have the strength to stop me. “Get your hand off me or I’ll break it in half.”
“Kane, don’t do this. If you try to keep her, I’ll have to stop you.”
I turn around and get close to her. She’s tall, but not as big as me. But she’s got enough strength that it would be a fight.
“If you try to keep her from me, I won’t be sorry for what I have to do to get you out of my way.”
“I’m trying to protect you, brother,” she says softly, and I realize that I’m shaking with rage. How have I become so undone? “Can you not hear her heartbeat? She’s terrified. Let her go, Kane.”
A low sound begins to bubble up my throat and I shake my head as I close my eyes tightly. I don’t want to hear what she has to say. In the distance there’s a knock on the door—the cab driver.
“Listen to me,” Ravana says and grabs my arms. “If you keep her from leaving, you’re going to scare her even more. Be calm.”
My throat is tight just at the thought of her not being with me, and everything inside me is begging to rush back in there and hold her until she’s not afraid anymore.
I hear two sets of footsteps at the back of the house and panic hits me. “You called the twins?” I say. I’ve been betrayed by my own sister.
I struggle in her hold, and just as I break free Ezra and Erik come down the long hallway and grab me. It takes the both of them to carry me into the other room, and one of them covers my mouth so I can’t call for Juliet. I kick and fight as Ezra tries to calm me, but I’m not listening to his words. I watch as Ravana gives me a sympathetic look and walks towards the library as the twins carry me away. I stop fighting long enough to listen to Ravana tell Juliet that she’s called her a cab and that she’s free to go home.
“Oh, thank you.” I hear rustling like she’s taking the blanket off of her. “Can I tell Kane goodbye? I’d like to say thank you.”
“I’m sorry, that won’t be possible,” is all that Ravana says back to her.
Their footsteps echo down the hall and to the front of the house. I begin to struggle even more, now knowing that she’s going to leave and I might not ever be able to see her again. I punch and kick as the twins take me to the floor, and I scream out into the darkness that my mate is being ripped from me.
“Goodbye,” I hear Ravana say as the door of the cab closes, and the sound of a car driving away makes everything inside me go numb.
I give up fighting then and lie limp on the floor.
“What have you done?” I moan softly as pain like nothing I’ve ever felt before slices through me. It feels like I’m being ripped in half.
Five
Juliet
As the taxi pulls away, I look back at the big iron gate. A stone lodges deep in my stomach and I can’t explain why.
“Where to, miss?” the driver asks, and I turn t
o look at him.
I ramble off the address for the sorority house. I should probably go back there and let them know I’m okay. I sigh, dropping my head back and closing my eyes. They probably aren't even wondering where I am, but better safe than sorry on the off chance they actually do call the cops or something. The heaviness in my stomach grows into an ache as the car speeds away. The image of Kane on his knees flashes before my eyes. His breath against my arm. I still don’t know what his face fully looks like, and I guess now I’ll never know.
It was clear his sister wanted me gone. I’d been surprised when he said it was his sister because the look on her face when she saw the two of us together was deadly. She wanted me out of there and made it happen fast. How have I gone from wanting to leave that place to being disappointed that I’m leaving? God, my head is a mess.
I groan when we pull up to the sorority house and I see the party is in full swing. I fish out some money and give it to the taxi driver. I don’t want to go inside right now, but I need to get this over with.
When I enter the house I have to push my way through bodies. I look around to see if I recognize anyone so I can tell them I’m back and get the heck out of here.
I gasp when beer is spilled down the front of my shirt. “Shit, sorry.” My eyes trail up a football jersey until they reach Brock Johnson’s face. Brock’s the quarterback for our school. I only know who he is because the girls around here talk about him as if he’s a god. Don’t get me wrong, he’s handsome and all, but he’s got asshole written all over him. I’d know. When you grow up like I did, you learn to pick them out in a crowd.
He goes to wipe at the spilled beer on my shirt, but I swat his hand away before it can make contract with my breast.
“Don’t touch me,” I say through clenched teeth, not wanting to draw attention.
“You’re Juliet, aren’t you?” he asks as he drops his hand away.
I try and take a step back from him, only to run into someone else. The house is so packed I can barely move. God, I hate crowds. It makes me anxious when I don’t have a clear path of where I’m going.
