Julian quirked an eyebrow. “Actually that bit was put in by your great-great-grandfather, Hamish.”
Lachlan blinked. “Okay, well, apparently he was an arse.”
“I already knew that.” It was exactly why I hadn’t taken her after she’d disclosed that little fact. “And we don’t have a problem there.” But someone who came after me might. The law needed to be changed.
“Thank God for one less hurdle to overcome,” Julian noted. “In that regard, you simply present her as your bride, marry her, complete the mating bond, and get busy providing us with a long-awaited heir.” Julian lifted his brows at me, and I knew it wasn’t a suggestion. That was as close to an order as anyone would ever give me.
“And Xavier’s claim on her?” Lachlan asked. “We’ve got the lass locked down tight, but eventually she’s going to leave the estate. He’ll be watching for her.”
He was right. Every day I felt Lyric’s impatience with her confinement grow.
Julian set that text down and walked around the edge of the table to pick up another that I recognized well. It was basically the pocket edition of the Conclave Agreement, mass-produced by the witches so each ancient family would have no excuse but to follow the law. “This says that demons have the right to determine the future of any seer, which we all know is a swift death. I’m still tracking Lyric’s records through the foster care system, but I think it’s safe to say she’s a seer.”
“Agreed.” There was no other explanation for seeing through a glamour.
“But this law also states that royalty of any house can be given immunity at the leisure of the King who sits at the head of Conclave, and if you marry her, Lyric will be vampire royalty. She has your immunity.”
A slow smile spread across my face, finally seeing a path out of this that left Lyric alive. Xavier would be pissed. He’d have to get over it.
“But Alek,” Julian’s voice softened as he used my given name. “That is not your biggest worry.”
Lachlan grunted.
“She’s human,” I said softly, finding the older vampire’s gaze locked on mine.
He nodded. “I’ve never heard of a human being turned. I can’t even explain why she didn’t die the first time you fed her.”
That was something I had already accepted. When Lyric aged, I would choose to age with her, to die at her side. But I couldn’t continue to put her in jeopardy, even if we completed our mating bond. I’d have to moderate my feedings as I had earlier today, forsaking my full powers for a permanent state of weakness, or I’d have to learn to feed from others again. But I’d already fed the woman twice in the last month. She seemed to be a magnet for danger.
“Find an explanation. I’ll be damned if I’m the reason she dies.”
8
Lyric
“Marriage, mate,” I said, pacing the length of Avianna’s giant room. The same room she’d offered up to me the night Alek had dropped the M-bomb on me. I was both terrified and exhilarated at the idea of being Alek’s…anything. “I’m not saying I don’t feel it,” I continued, eying Avianna, who waited as patiently as ever for me to speak. Sometimes I swore compassion and patience were her superpowers because she had the innate ability to listen deeply, speak with value, and offer unconditional support without batting an eye. “I do. I feel him every second of the day. I feel the pull. But…marriage?”
“Have you never considered the outcome before?” she asked, her voice free of any judgment. “Being married?”
I opened and closed my lips a few times. My blood whirled with a new sensation I couldn’t place, one just beyond the pulsing beacon with Alek’s name on it. This one—this rushing, screaming pulse was a mixture of starvation and need and uncertainty. I didn’t like it—I couldn’t tell if it was me starved for him or him starved for me or a warning for something much more sinister, but either way, I was completely unnerved.
“Of course, I’ve thought about it. The way any…human does, I guess.” I shrugged, shocked I hadn’t stumbled over the way I’d said human. “But, being handed from foster home to foster home my entire life, never knowing who my true family was, I got used to doing things on my own. Depending on no one but myself. Whenever I thought of marriage, it was because I thought about how the rest of the world would see me, not the other way around. I knew some people would breathe easier seeing me attached to another person as opposed to always being on my own.” Like the lenders who’d asked me three times if I was engaged when I applied for a loan to buy my apartment in the city outright.
“That’s understandable,” she said, nodding as she lounged casually on the chaise tucked into the corner of her room. It was positioned next to a faux window, backed with some sort of light system that portrayed the sunrise over a white-sand beach, a turquoise ocean touching the horizon. Beautiful, but also tragic—that she had to depend on these things to remind her of life in the sun.
If I accepted my fate as Alek’s mate, accepted his world, and my role in it, I would lose all those things. Despite being human or whatever I was, despite having the ability to walk in the sun—which somehow made me more powerful than the incredible creatures surrounding me—I would have to give it up. Because even being away from him these past days had been nearly unbearable. Every second of the day, I’d wanted to run to him, even if he was in the war room with his assassins. I’d wanted to kick the door in and claim him as mine. And I knew it in the marrow of my bones, I’d give up everything—even the sun—to be with him. I’d always preferred the night anyway.
But my doctorate. The book I wanted to write. Everything I’d worked my entire life for. That meant something to me. And Valor, the only real friend I’d ever had before meeting Avianna. I needed to see her, to show her that I was okay. These two things…I could not budge on these. Sunlight? Fruity drinks on a faraway beach? Those would not be as hard to sacrifice.
“Call him,” I asked, my voice almost a whisper. “Would you? Please, Avi?” I sank onto the end of the chaise, my thighs nearly grazing the pointed tips of her lavender pumps.
She arched a brow at me, sitting up to swing her feet to the ground. “You could, you know,” she said, her eyes pure mischief. “It’s a perk among mates.”
My lips parted on a gasp. “How?”
She tilted her head back and forth, her smooth black hair cascading over her bare shoulders. “I attended an all-female academy, so I’ve only ever read about mates or heard stories relayed, but you should be able to focus and draw him to you. Think of it like meditation. Close your eyes, and let everything else fall away except the pieces of Alek that are in your blood. Draw those pieces up to you.”
I blew out a breath, highly doubting I’d be able to do any such thing, but closed my eyes just the same. Slowly, as I breathed deeply, Avianna’s room faded, the sound of her steady presence next to mine faded, until nothing but blackness filled the backs of my eyes, my mind.
I sank deeper and deeper into my mind, my body. There, pulsing and flickering like the tips of flames, silver orbs of glowing light burst in the most brilliant array of colors and movement.
Alek.
His essence, his blood, our connection, I didn’t know. I just knew these bursts of light inside me were made up entirely of him. I imagined delicately plucking an orb and drawing it near me—
A hurried knock sounded on Avianna’s door, the sound jarring me out of my concentration. “See,” I said, sighing as I opened my eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I told you it wouldn’t—”
“That is both creepy and convenient,” Avi said as she swung open her door. I hadn’t even felt her move from her spot beside me.
The world shifted beneath my feet as I set eyes on the man beyond her door, the one now blinking into the space before me. I jolted at his sudden nearness. Jolted and sighed a breath I felt all the way in the dregs of my soul.
“Alek,” I said, breathless.
“You called me,” he said, almost as if he were speaking only to himself. His bl
ue-gray eyes scanned every inch of my face, then my body, as if he were searching for some ailment or injury. “Are you all right?”
I wanted to cry. Legit, I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes at just the sight of him. Who had I become to need someone this much? To connect and hunger for someone on levels I didn’t even know I possessed?
Alek’s. That’s who I’ve become.
And I knew this but…
“No,” I finally said, pushing off the chaise and standing to my full height. My body ached to melt into his, to feel his strong touch, his possessive bite, but I held firm. “No. I’m not okay.”
He stood too, his head tilting as his eyes darted from me to his sister who leaned against the opened doorway. She waved at him with one gloved hand as if to say you know what you have to do.
“What troubles you?”
There was such genuine concern in his eyes—and a threat to anyone who was causing me this invisible harm—it almost made me forget everything I was about to say.
I started pacing because I couldn’t stand still and not reach out for him. “I understand you have rules. Laws. Ancient covenants.” I ticked off the items on my fingers. “I understand you are the king, and you have…obligations.” I sighed, finally locking eyes with him. “I understand that you are vampire and I am human and somehow, something happened where fate selected us as…mates.” I swallowed hard, telling my racing heart to settle. Yes, I understood these facts, maybe even I’d accepted them, but there was one barrier in my way. One wall I couldn’t see around, and it would be up to him if he helped me or not.
“But…” His voice was dark, menacing even as he slid his hands into his pockets, almost as if he too feared what he would do the longer he let them be free.
I tipped my chin up, willing trembling fingers to steady. Not trembling from fear or the feel of his power radiating off every inch of him, but the incredible need I felt to touch him. Feel him. Consume him.
“I had a life before you literally crashed into mine,” I said, and my heart clenched at the disappointment and regret and fear that flickered in his eyes. It was gone in a blink, replaced by that smooth, icy-calm I’d seen plenty of. But I knew him, whether he wanted to admit it or not, I knew him like I knew my own soul. I’d seen his eyes, his face, his heart when no one was looking, for my mate could not mask anything from me. “I’m not saying I regret it,” I hurried to continue. “I don’t. The one thing I do regret is not finishing my work. Years of it. I’m so close to earning this doctorate, Alek.”
His eyes narrowed. “It means that much to you?”
“It means everything to me,” I said. It’s what defined my life, each day, for as long as I could remember. Beyond being an unwanted orphan, being someone who was tossed near a dumpster…for what? Being different? Looking different? I didn’t know. But my history obsession? The feelings and dreams and nightmares that hit close to the truth I couldn’t explain? The satisfaction and release that only came from burying myself in research and theory? That had been my lifeblood every day before Alek came into my world. “And Valor,” I said, stepping toward him. Pleading up at him with my eyes. “I need to see my friend. She’s the only one I had before…” I glanced to Avi, who smiled at me, then returned my focus to Alek. “Please. I won’t run. You have to feel that, know that.”
Elation bubbled in my chest the second I felt the shift in him.
“You have to go at night,” he said, and I clapped and bounced on my shoes. “And under heavy guard.” I nodded, throwing my arms around his neck. He caught me easily, his nose at the seam of my neck, sending warm shivers along the edges of my skin. “I’m expected with the nobles tonight, so Hawke—”
“Yes!” I said, nodding against his cheek before drawing back enough to meet his eyes. “I’ll follow all the rules.”
His eyes bored into mine, his nose grazing the tip of my own. “If anything happened to you…” His voice trailed off, and I swallowed hard. I understood his protectiveness over me.
It was the same reason I’d nearly went toe-to-toe with a female vampire. Why I’d snapped at Cassandra, someone who could easily dismember me. Because he deserved better. He didn’t deserve to be pawed at like a piece of meat, a prize to be won, a crown to take. He deserved love and compassion and challenge and…
Me.
He deserved me.
His mate. And I knew he only kept me here because the very thought of harm coming to me was so horrendous it made his blood curdle.
I brushed a soft kiss over his lips, innocent and not nearly the carnal passion I’d been fantasizing about, but this was Avi’s room, and I wasn’t about to disrespect her graciousness like that.
“Come back to me,” he whispered against my lips, and I felt his words caress every inch of my soul. He set me gently on my feet, his hands warm and strong as he released me and walked toward the door. He spared me one more longing look before he disappeared into the hallway, and I had to remind myself to breathe.
With someone like Alek waiting for me?
How could I possibly not come back?
“You’re lucky I love you so much, bitch,” Valor hissed over the phone I held to my ear. I laughed, the motion clearing all the tension from my chest. The meeting with my advisor had gone perfectly. Thanks to my “illness”, she’d totally understood my absence these past three weeks. The added research I’d compiled at Alek’s estate had been a cherry on top of my apologies, and I was finally back on track to finish out my academic career.
`“I love you too,” I said, sinking further into the leather seats of the sedan. Hawke drove us silently back toward the estate, and I wondered what he thought of Valor’s candor with me. Surely, he could hear every word she spoke despite the phone being to my ear. “And I’m sorry,” I said for the hundredth time. “I could barely move, let alone call you back. Plus the whole phone breaking thing,” I added. Even to me, the excuses sounded lame. But she breathed a sigh of relief, and her tone had lightened. I’d wanted to meet up with her, but the advisor appointment had taken longer than I’d thought.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I would’ve busted your apartment door down if I hadn’t been across the country attending boring as hell board meetings.” She blew out a long breath. “When do I get to see you again?”
I chewed on my bottom lip, my eyes flashing to the pair staring at me in the rearview mirror. I had half a mind to tell him to watch the road, but I kept my mouth shut. He was duty-bound to keep me safe, but that didn’t mean I needed to test the line that kept him from removing me as a complication in Alek’s life. A giant one, seeing that vampires and humans didn’t mate. Ever.
“I’m not sure, Val,” I said, hating to lie. But what was I supposed to do? Tell her the truth? Not only would she not believe me, it would put her in danger. I wouldn’t be so selfish to put her life at risk just so I didn’t have to feel guilty. “I’m almost done with my thesis. And I’m still recovering. Once all that is settled, we’ll be able to get together.”
“I’m going to hold you to that, Lyric,” she said, and the seriousness in her tone sent a chill down my spine.
“You do that,” I said, trying to lighten the tone.
“I’ve got to go,” she said, sighing. “Daddy, dearest, has called a family meeting.”
“Don’t have too much fun,” I said.
“Never do,” she said, then hung up.
I sat the phone down on the seat next to me, wondering if I’d be allowed to keep the new device now that I’d proved I wouldn’t do or say anything to jeopardize Alek’s safety. When I looked up at the rearview mirror again, Hawke’s eyes were firmly on the road.
Three hours later, I awoke with a start. Heart pounding, chest aching, sweat beading across my skin. I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to remember the nightmare that had chased me through sleep, but came up empty. The thesis meeting must’ve exhausted me because I’d barely made it into the adjoining room to Avianna’s before crashing. But now?
/>
Now I was wide awake.
And something strong and terrifying and delicious tugged on the very center of me. An insatiable hunger, pulsing and screaming and gnawing on the insides of my soul.
Alek.
God, he was starving. Stubborn asshole. It had been over a week since he’d fed from me.
I hurried out of the bed, slipping on a silver silk robe and cinching it around my waist. Avi had not only loaned me half of her wardrobe, she’d sent out for a massive amount of things in my size. Enough to fill three of my closets back home. I had grumbled at first, but seeing as how I didn’t want to traipse around the estate in my shorts and tank combo, I was currently grateful for the robe.
I hesitated for only a breath outside of Alek’s door, glancing around the corridor for any of his guards. Eyeing the security pad—the same as the war room—I assumed he had no guards because of the secureness of his chambers. I placed a trembling palm against the pad, sighing as I heard the lock to his door unlatch.
I padded barefoot into the room, my eyes adjusting quickly in the shift from the light outside in the hallway to the darkness of his chamber. The scent of him filled every inch of the room, and my soul uncoiled at the sight of him sprawled across his bed.
A black silk sheet covered his lower half, exposing the sharp muscles in his back and one large muscular thigh. Face down, only his profile was visible, but he was just as devastatingly handsome in sleep. Softer, somehow, not as menacing, but still powerful.
I reached out a fingertip, unable to resist the urge to run it down the ridge of his back—
A low growl broke the silence in the room. One second I stood at the side of his bed, the next my spine hit the mattress in a whirl of movement that sent my head spinning.
Alek’s fingers were firm around my throat, his muscular body covering every inch of my own, those eyes glowing and fierce and hungry.
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