"Sex is not a taboo topic among our race," Jean Luc reminded his brother, "and it would be foolish to act otherwise where wards of Caros are concerned."
"It's just not fucking right."
Jean Luc gazed at the other man contemplatively. "Why are you so protective towards her, Gaël?"
"She's human."
"Is that truly the only reason?" Jean Luc asked quietly. "Could it not perhaps have something to do with Laura?"
Severin stiffened at the sudden mention of Gaël's old flame. While he took pleasure in ruffling Gaël's feathers once in a while, even he would never dare remind his brother of that part of his life. If Severin himself could not help but feel pain when recalling those days, what more Gaël, who had lost everything because of that bitch's unforgivably cruel act of selfishness?
"Laura is the complete opposite of Juliette," Gaël bit out.
"Indeed," Jean Luc acknowledged. "But Laura, like Juliette, was someone you once considered as your responsibility. And although we have taken pains to convince you that it isn't the case, we know that you still blame yourself for what happened in the past. Perhaps that's the reason you are doing everything you can to keep any harm from befalling your ward?"
Jean Luc's words persisted in poisoning Gaël's thoughts even as he left the Hive over two hours later, and he was already en route to Juliette's university. It was true that he did blame himself for what happened in the past, but could that be why he was so damn protective towards Juliette?
Gaël still vividly remembered the first day he had met his ward. It was on the day the whole world had changed, and vampires had orchestrated an ambitious plan of attack. It had targeted a detention facility in hopes of creating a new army of vampires, and it was at that very place Gaël had found a young girl standing silent and still while staring straight into the eyes of a vampire.
When the creature had lunged towards Juliette, she would have died then and there if Gaël hadn't leapt mid-air to throw the creature away. And when he finally approached Juliette, he could still remember to this day how it felt when Juliette finally opened her eyes.
He had felt like he had been struck by lighting, with the way Juliette lifted her big, doe eyes to his and looked at him like he was her everything.
Maybe that was the only reason why he wanted to still see her as a child, Gaël thought broodingly. Maybe it was just him being selfish, and wanting Juliette to keep looking at him like he was her everything.
Since Juliette came to his life, her safety and happiness had given him something to look forward to. Her smiles had made him forget the past and enjoy the present, and he had convinced himself that things would never change between them.
But of course, that was a lie. He had been lying to himself all this time, and the realization reminded him of Jean Luc's parting words from earlier.
"Juliette is not the type to rebel, but there will assuredly come a time when she is going to ask you for something - or even someone - that you are unwilling to give. If you insist on your present ways, your ward may come to see you as inflexible and overbearing, and another man will be able to pluck her out of your possession...just by treating her like the woman she already is."
Do the unexpected. Really.
Juliette was in pain.
Just as her guardian predicted, Juliette's monthly flux had begun, and already the pain had become so unbearable she ended up skipping lunch in favor of taking a nap at the school's clinic.
Since she was allergic to painkillers, Juliette could only rely on non-medicated treatments and remedies such as heat pads and teas. Those usually worked, after a tortuous hour or two, but today was just one of those days when nothing proved effective.
Well, okay, not exactly.
There was one other remedy she had read about in a Caro-authored science book for high school students. Young Caro females were apparently encouraged to touch themselves when experiencing pain from their monthly flux, and while Juliette wasn't certain such advice would apply to humans as well...
Maybe, it was worth a try?
It wasn't that she was looking for an excuse to touch herself, but she just wanted it to stop hurting. That was all, Juliette insisted in her mind. Really!
And yet, the moment she closed her eyes, her body had already started to tremble under the covers, and she could feel the pain actually ebbing away as her fingers started drifting down her body.
Am I really doing this?
Was she really going to pretend that it was Gaël's fingers drifting over her skin and slipping under the waistband of her school skirt—-
Oh, oh, OH!
Just the thought of it had Juliette's breath catching, and her heart rapidly beating. But most of all, the pain was nearly gone, and oh, oh, oh, when her fingers were finally brushing over her panties, which were stretched taut over an ultra-thin sanitary pad—-