And her voice... gods, her voice was calming, soothing.
“Do you have family here? Do they live with you?”
My chest swelled with pleasure that my female wanted to learn about me. I cleared my throat and glanced away, wanting to tell her everything. I wanted her to know about me and my life, that for the last three centuries she’d been the only focus of mine. I wanted my mate to know everything I had was here, that I created my life with the sole reason to please her.
“It’s just my older brother and me now. He lives with me.” Slowly losing his mind in the pits of the manor. “Our parents passed some time ago.” My mother died in a tragic accident, and my father couldn’t live without his mate. He passed just a week after of a broken heart.
“How much older is your brother?”
He’s nearly four centuries old, sweetling. “He’s a good bit older than I am.” We walked for a while more, the silence not uncomfortable, but I wanted to hear more of her voice. It calmed me in more ways than I could ever describe. “My brother isn’t… well.” I didn’t know why I told her that; maybe because I wanted her to know all there was about me.
She stopped and looked at me, her eyes conveying her sympathy. “I’m sorry your brother is sick.”
Although I didn’t want to talk about Luca, and didn’t want to bring a shadow of darkness to this moment I had with Mikalina, connecting with her on this level had me feeling even closer with her. But I would never keep anything from her, never lie. So, I exhaled slowly and thought about how I would broach the subject. I couldn’t very well tell her the whole truth at the moment, about why Luca lost his mind, but she would know in due time.
“He lost someone," I responded. “The most important person to him.” It wasn’t a lie, but not the whole truth. He had lost someone... his mate, in retrospect to him, because he hadn’t found her yet. “And he’s not handling it well, as can be expected.”
She looked at me then, and her blue eyes could have brought me down to my knees for the empathy that shone in them. “I’m really sorry to hear that.” She held my focus for a moment and then looked forward again, her throat working as she swallowed, her expression and the tone of her voice so damn genuine and sincere that I wanted to pull her in and kiss her until this darkness was gone.
The fact that she showed sympathy toward my brother—a total stranger to her—made me fall in love with her instantly.
“I’ve never experienced that kind of loss—the kind that sucks the very life out of you, but I can imagine it’s very crippling.” Her voice was so low, so meaningful.
She had no idea how debilitating it truly was to lose hope that you’d never find your mate.
“I hope he finds peace soon.”
And once again, I wanted to pull her in close and just hold her, whisper words of endearment in my native tongue against the shell of her ear. I wanted to thank whoever was listening that I had this extraordinary female as my mate.
And I nearly did reach out for her and do just that, but then she lost her footing and started to fall over from a large root that erupted from the ground. I had her in my arms just seconds later, her body pressed to mine, every part of me humming and singing in pleasure at how good this felt.
She stared up at me with wide eyes, her shock one of adrenaline that she’d almost fallen, or maybe it was because I’d caught her so swiftly and still held her close.
Maybe it was a little bit of both.
“Thank you... for that. For not letting me fall on my face.”
I’ll always catch you. I was born to be strong so I could protect and provide for you.
She pulled away far too soon—to my disappointment—and the sheepish look she gave me told me she was embarrassed that she’d clung to me. And she most definitely had, her little hands gripping my shirt as if she were afraid to fall once more.
Did she realize she clung to me? Pulled me closer?
She cleared her throat and started walking again but stayed silent. I didn’t press for conversation, just enjoyed being in her presence, having her scent surrounding me, slipping into my body. I’d never felt so complete in my life, and I hadn’t even claimed her yet. I could only imagine the monumental change within me once I finally had her and was buried deep between her sweet thighs, my fangs gripping her shoulder as I gave her my mark.
All too soon, we were entering the town of Lankalinov. But I had no intentions of letting her be alone. Listening to her talk, feeling complete for the first time in my life, had me greedy for more time with her. So I gestured for her to go before me and let my gaze linger on the perfect roundness of her ass. My heart thundered, my cock punched forward, and I tried to discreetly adjust myself so she couldn’t see my raging hard-on pressing against my slacks.