I could still feel the delicious soreness between my thighs, and the pulsing ache there for more.
More of his touch, his kiss, him. The growing need for him was undiluted and strong, the sensation so much like what I’d felt these past nine days whenever I’d felt Alek’s accelerating hunger. Is this what it felt like to be starved for someone? Like my skin was too tight for my body, for all the feelings and desires stretching out across the vast distance that separated us?
Intense, consuming, and just this side of terrifying. I’d never felt a need like this, never been so lost in someone before.
Not until Alek.
Not until he’d crashed into my life and threw my world into a spiral I wasn’t ever sure I wanted to stop.
Excitement and anticipation made my head fuzzy, and I bit my lip to stop my smile as I waited for him. As I couldn’t wait for him to get back to our room and finish what we’d started.
An hour passed.
Then two.
So many ticking minutes that I trailed my fingers over my skin, pretending they were his. Traced the delicate lines of that tattoo. Closed my eyes and felt his teeth sinking into my neck, exhilarating and powerful and devouring. Touched and explored and fantasized until exhaustion and need claimed me.
“Can you explain something to me,” I said after finally working up the courage to tear my eyes from the tome in front of me and look up at Avianna.
She leisurely flipped through the text before her—a first edition from the twenties. “I’ve already told you, you can ask me anything,” she said, her voice soft, understanding.
I chewed on my lip and scanned the grand library in which we sat. Tomes and ancient scrolls were scattered across the wide wooden table between us. The stack before me was focused on an ancient society that had dubbed themselves the Sons of Honor, their political ties dating back to the revolution. The more research I did, the more their name, in one variation or another, popped up. I’d never seen as many ties and connections in all my studies before. They fancied themselves the savior of our great nation, but their history? It was drenched in blood and money and greed. The information would prove invaluable for my thesis paper, which I had tirelessly been working on these last few days. My attempt to distract myself from the fact that it had been days and Alek had not returned.
To me.
He’d returned to the estate—I’d felt that the second he’d come home. I could feel him even now, locked up in what Avianna called his war room.
“Are mates a common thing among vampires?” I finally forced out the question that had been haunting me since the night he’d left.
Avianna’s crushing blue eyes instantly fell to the tattoo on my wrist. “Common?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah,” I said, exasperated. I hated feeling…needy. Like I was starved for attention from one individual, and only that would set my world right again. “Like so common that they can be brushed aside?”
Pity flashed in her eyes, and my frustration mounted.
“It’s been days.”
I didn’t whine. I didn’t.
Avianna shut the book. Her silk gloves were a beautiful dark purple today. The jewels she wore in her ears matched the color, and once again I was struck with how incredibly beautiful everyone was here. Even Olivia, who stood before the library door, was breathtaking. Long waves of chocolate brown hair billowed around her shoulders, hiding the delicate fabric of her white blouse. Truly, she looked more like a maiden than a warrior, but my instincts trembled whenever she was near. She was a trained warrior, all right, and a damn good one if they’d positioned her with the princess. Still, her gorgeous exterior was likely one more weapon.
A sinking weight hit my chest—of course, Alek wouldn’t come back. Why would he? I was human, plain, dull—
“Alek is…” she interrupted my thoughts, “infuriating at the best of times. I’ve told you before he’s like a vault.” She pursed her lips, and I nodded. “But no,” she continued. “Mates are not so common that they can be ignored.” There was a hint of anger in her tone, and my heart expanded in my chest for the female who had befriended me with no questions. No hesitation because I was a human. A human with some malfunctions apparently, since I couldn’t be glamoured and I could see things others could not. The same cold fear swirled in the depths of my soul, the one that I’d tried to bury since Alek had told me I was something...different. Something the demons felt they had claim to. But surely, they were mistaken. Right? I was normal. Ordinary, except for some enhanced perceptiveness.
“What does it mean?” I asked, shutting the tome before me too. Research was clearly done for the day, and if Alek didn’t let me out of this dark palace soon, all my work wouldn’t matter anyway. I’d missed so many appointments with my thesis advisor. I'm shocked she hadn’t sent out a search party. Valor too. But apparently my emails claiming to be sick had been enough to hold their worries, but I knew it wouldn’t last much longer. “To be someone’s mate,” I clarified.