“Not at all. I would much rather have my freedom. I’ve been avoiding him as best as I can, but...” He releases a sigh. “Sometimes it’s hard.”
“You can’t break this bond between the two of you?”
He shakes his head. “No. Not until one of us dies.”
So it won’t be enough to run from Kayn. Someday, I will have to face him. His power over Donatello is too much of a liability.
“And you still want to help me?”
His face grows even softer, if possible. Even if he doesn’t say a thing, I can read affection across his features, even in the semi-darkness, his face clear as day. “I do. More than anything. My feelings for you haven’t changed.”
And it reminds me. It reminds me of what Trevor said, about vampires having a beating heart when they found their mates. Does Donatello want to help me because of that? Because, like the others, he has no option but to stay?
“Feelings,” I say with an accidental snicker. “You have feelings for me? Or is it because I make your heart beat?”
Donatello’s brows raise. “Did Alicia tell you something?”
“Trevor.”
“Oh.” He looks at his feet for a moment, then up at me. Donatello takes one step closer. “What did he say?”
“That vampires have a beating heart when they find their mates.” My words come out as a whisper, for some reason. It’s not like anyone can hear us. It’s not like anyone cares.
Donatello is so close now. I take a step back, but my shoulder blades hit the mirror behind me. He raises his hands slowly, pressing each of his palms to the surface behind me. Because my brain has turned to mush, I don’t feel caged. My insides warm up, and I grind my jaw to pretend I don’t feel lust racing through my veins.
“Soulbound,” he whispers back, his breath scattering across my cheeks.
“What?” My brain has shut down. I miss the words, and I can only stare and stare at his eyes, swirling red. I arch my back off the mirror, searching for his body. Hoping he will touch me.
“It’s called soulbound. Vampires don’t have mates. Those are shifters. We have people who call for our souls.”
I lick along my lower lip. He follows the motion with rapture attention. “That doesn’t change it,” I sputter out. “It doesn’t change that you’re probably in this because Destiny is forcing you, not because you have feelings for me.”
“I don’t want to leave.”
“You could die.”
“Then I’ll die keeping you safe.”
“Why?” I plead, my voice rasping. “Why would you do that?”
One of his hands bury in my hair, gripping at the roots. A sharp jolt of pain and pleasure races down my body, pooling lust in my lower belly. Donatello cranes my neck, nearing his mouth from mine. I can almost feel my pussy throbbing with need.
“Oh, Cassandra.” He smiles. “I’m so madly in love with you. I can’t believe you haven’t noticed.”
Shivers gallop down my arms. “You are?”
“Inamorata... You have bewitched me. Utterly. From the first moment I put my eyes on you.”
He presses his body to mine, every inch of his hard chest, his defined legs, the hard length of his cock. I gasp, nails digging into the back of his shirt, pulling him closer, wanting his body and mine to become one. One touch, and my mind goes blank.
“Oh, Don,” I murmur, a mix of whisper and needy moan.
“Can you feel my truth? I am in love with you,” he says, brushing his lips against mine, speaking slowly as if to make sure I can see through each word.
And they all feel like truth. “I’m doomed,” I stutter as his hand massages my scalp, the other coming down my face to my neck and collarbones.
Donatello traces his fingertips over the mound of my breast and down to my nipple, teasing, torturing. “And why is that?”