Still, his cock grew.
“Master?”
Her panicky tone amused him. If he wasn’t feeling so spent himself, he would probably have taken her, just so he could see his pet panic even more.
“Relax, pet,” he murmured finally, taking pity on her. He patted his knee, and she immediately rested her head against it. A second later, she felt her Master’s fingers threading through her hair, stroking and massaging her scalp. It was wondrously restful, and her eyes began to drift close.
He said quietly, “You didn’t go to your classes again, did you, pet?”
She didn’t want to answer.
After a beat, he murmured, “Where have you been then?”
“With Rhapsody.”
“And?”
“I was out in the forests with…Lord Erou.”
“Ah.” The hand on her hair stopped moving for the briefest moment. “If you want me to be jealous, I am.”
She looked up at him. Was he jealous? Could he be jealous when she was only his pet and another woman held his heart?
Slowly, Alexandru said, “You’ve been looking at me like you’re always on the verge of saying something.” He paused. “Is it the contract? Do you want out?”
Zari looked away. “I’ll only leave you if you tell me to, Master.”
Gazing at her, he wondered why she felt both so close and yet so far. He said flatly, “Then you must also remember that I’m selfish. I gave you a choice in the past, pet. You chose to sign the contract and be with me. I won’t ever let you go unless you ask.”
HER MASTER WAS GONE again when Zari woke up. It made her wonder where he spent his time, made her wonder if he ever thought of her when they were apart. The thoughts made Zari hate herself but even so, she was helpless against the doubts that crowded her heart.
This is not like you, Zari, she berated herself as she took a quick shower. You’re the girl who spent your whole life in the jungles, hunting for your own food, building shelter from twigs and leaves, and living right next to lions and tigers. It won’t be the end of the world if your Master leaves you.
But no matter what she said to herself, the words were all useless, her heart stubbornly beating only for her Master and no longer for herself.
Outside her dorm building, Zari was surprised to find Lord Erou waiting for her, looking like one of the Knights of the Round Table with his uniform and the hilt of his sword gleaming under the sunlight. Girls who walked past him all turned to give him second and third glances, longing in their eyes. She had a feeling they would have fainted dead away if Lord Erou had cared to return any one of those glances.
When she came to him, he said formally, “Good morning, Lady Zari.”
“Good morning, Lord Erou.” She belatedly remembered to curtsy, making him smile.
“Where to?”
She blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“Are you going to class then?”
“Umm…”
“I thought as much. So where are you heading then? I’m sure,” he said in a gentle teasing voice, “you’ve spent some time last night thinking of another way to get yourself in trouble.”
She reddened.
It was Erou’s turn to blink, the way she blushed so becomingly making him lose his train of thought for a moment.
“I was wondering if there was a place we could go where we’d be able to look up the Madonna’s background.”
“The library,” he answered readily. “There’s a section which only Masters can access, and it contains all the necessary information about the pets enrolled here.” At her questioning look, he explained, “It helps with the selection process when a Master’s looking for a pet.” Again, he smiled, and the friendliness of it had Zari wishing for one moment it was Lord Erou that she had fallen in love with instead. Foolish, stubborn heart. Why couldn’t it just beat for one whose own heart could still beat for her?
Inside the library, Erou’s presence was enough to have an assistant hurrying to serve them, scraping and bowing as he escorted Erou and her to one of the private offices at the back. He looked so nervous and intimidated. Zari was beginning to wonder if she really knew anything about the vampire beside her. He was always the perfect gentleman with her. It didn’t make sense, Zari unable to think of anything Erou could have done to inspire such fear.
Inside the office, Zari was stunned to find state-of-the-art servers spanning an entire wall. Since the school went by the old-fashioned name of La Scala Legaturia, which in English loosely translated to the “School of Bonds”, she had expected the rest of the school to be just as primitive, with dusty handwritten records rather than files encoded in a private database.
Erou headed to one of the computer stations and held out a seat for her. “Lady Zari?”