“I am already at your mercy.” He smiled as he brushed the curls from my face. “Ask away.”
“Did it hurt watching me as I went on dates and spent time with other men?” I asked because it came to my mind that he knew he wasn’t my first. That he must have also known when it happened, that he’d seen everything about me from a distance.
He was quiet, a pained grimace on his face, and then nodded. “Yes. I nearly went mad with jealously.”
“One of my ex-boyfriends accused me of setting his house on fire. Was that you?”
“He was a shitty boyfriend,” was all he said as he glanced to my shoulders, where he once again began to run his finger on my skin.
I laughed then winced because I did hurt. “He was a shitty boyfriend.”
“All of them were.”
“No, some of them were sw—”
“All of them were,” he cut me off to repeat and grinned.
“Why, because they were not you?”
“Exactly.”
“In all honesty, I was a shitty girlfriend, too,” I said, tracing over his bare abs. “Relationships require effort and time, but I gave almost all of mine to my coven, and what was left went to my work.”
“You shall not be a shitty girlfriend to me.”
I smirked at his confidence. “How are you so sure?”
“Because vampires do not have girlfriends,” he replied, kissing my shoulder. “You are either mated or not.”
“We are not mated. So, what am I then?”
“Mine,” he declared, playing with one of my curls. “Not a girlfriend—that word is too fickle. Mine, and even if we are not yet mated, you are my mate.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he kissed me so gently that all the words on my lips fell to ash. I held my finger up in his face to warn him. “Just you wait. Right now, my mind goes a little blank when you do that, but I’m going to get used to you and all your charms, so it will no longer work on me. Then I will have the perfect comebacks!”
He kissed my lips again. “I look forward to it.”
My face bunched up as I tried not to smile and give him the satisfaction, but he laughed at me, which only intensified when my stomach grumbled—of all the times.
“I’ll go get you food—”
“I can go—ah.” I winced as a sharp pain went through my waist in protest as I tried to get up.
“Your body does not agree,” he said as he rose out of bed and glanced down at me with a frown on his lips. “I should have been—”
“Sorry, I can’t hear you. I’m sort of gawking at your body right now.” I beamed, resting my head on my pillow, my eyes glued to the deep V cut at his waist, which led to my gaze following the path and the grin on my face widening.
He chuckled, not at all hiding himself. “What a dirty little mind you have, witch.”
“What a big…tool you have, vampire,” I shot back and then giggled at myself.
“I shall get you food before you distract us both,” he said and left in a blink of my eye, giving me time to shift onto my back and sit up slightly on the pillow.
Taking a deep breath and closing my eyes, I concentrated on my magic and let it flow through me. I did my best…well, I was taught never to use my magic for mundane things. If you needed to light a fire, get a match, Druella. Don’t be lazy. It’s only a cut, Druella. Let your body heal on its own. Get used to pain. It will make you stronger. My uncle would always lecture me if I used my magic for anything and everything I could when I was a kid. I hated that he and the elders kept telling me when and how to use my magic. But somewhere along the way, I just did as they ordered me.
If I were going to break the most crucial rule and be with a vampire, what was the point of keeping all the little rules here?
There was none.