My feet moved, carrying me out of the dining hall and into the night air of the courtyard, Alek at my side.
One step. A second. A third.
We were almost to the residence before my vision came back to normal, and the waves of red and blue disappeared. I heaved a sigh of relief, sucking in lungful’s of air that smelled like the night-blooming roses of the garden to the right. Again and again, I breathed, trying to exchange that scent for Valor’s.
“There was a second there where I thought you might go on a blood rampage.” Alek put his hands in his pockets as we continued our slow walk.
“There was a second there I was,” I admitted. “I think I might be losing my mind.”
“Mates do that to you,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m not going to waste my time by trying to talk you into accepting the bond. But I am going to ask you to go the fuck to bed before you take out half the aristocracy in this region.”
My jaw ticked, but I saw his logic, and had I been any other vampire, even I would have told myself to get my shit together. My position as the general of Alek’s armies meant I couldn’t allow a female to fuck with my head like this, even if she was my mate.
“Aye. I’ll go.” My stomach pitched sideways. “But as your best friend…” Was I really going to ask this? Yep. “If you see another male and sense his intentions around Valor—”
Alek snorted. “Like any other male would come close to your mate. Lachlan, your scent is all over that woman. They know they’d be courting death if they so much as looked her direction. Just because you two are ignoring the bond doesn’t mean the rest of us don’t see it.”
I grunted.
“Go. I have to get back to Lord Marcos’s baseless pleas to allow all aristocratic boys to train for the Order.” Alek flashed a sarcastic smile. “Like that’s going to fucking happen.”
“Enjoy that.” We both knew it took a specific kind of male to join the Order, and aristocracy had nothing to do with it. Were Alek, Ransom, and I from noble houses? Absolutely. But Benedict came from a middle-class family of mechanics, and Hawke was as far from nobility as fucking possible.
The Order came down to superior genetics, abilities, skill, and loyalty. Other than the genetics—we were fucking huge—none of that came from breeding.
“Always do.” He waved me off and started back to the dining hall.
I headed for my room, nodding to Owen as he opened the residence door. Once I made it to my room, I discarded my clothes and went for the shower.
The hot water beat against the tattooed lines of my back as I stood under the scalding streams, bracing my palms against the stone of the shower wall as the mirror in my bathroom fogged with steam.
I was on the kind of edge that was as sharp as a knife’s blade and just as unforgiving. It was the kind of tension I would usually fuck out of my system, but there was only one female I wanted, one female I fucking hungered for.
Just thinking of Valor had my cock tight and swollen, my fangs pulsing with need.
My head jerked at the sound of my door opening, and I cursed the heavily steamed room, which only seemed to carry her scent even more efficiently.
Valor.
“You can’t just walk out on me like that!” she snapped as she strode into the bathroom, crossing her arms under her breasts and glaring at me through the glass door of the shower. “Do you have any idea how many dresses I tried—” Her eyes widened, and her lips parted as she gazed over my body from nape to toes, her attention lingering on my ass. “Oh.”
“You were saying?” My fingers dug into the stone wall, leaving divots in their wake.
“You’re in the shower.” She ran her tongue over her lower lip.
My entire body jerked. Fuck me. I pushed off the wall and killed the water. The silence that filled the room was louder than a jet engine. “And naked, just in case we were taking turns making obvious statements. Turn around.”
She didn’t.
“Have it your way,” I muttered, pushing open the glass door and striding out of the shower.
“Holyfuckingshityourehuge,” she gushed as her breath rushed out, her eyes locked on my cock, which was more than happy to have the attention.
“What are you doing here, Valor?” I ground out, reaching for a towel and wrapping it around my hips. My dick did its best to escape. What the hell was Valor thinking? That I needed to have my lack of self-restraint tested even further?
Every cell in my body demanded I strip that dress off and fill her. Fangs. Cock. Tongue. All of it. I took another towel and dried off my hair, just to keep my hands busy.