She owned me. Body. Mind. Heart. Soul.
I was in love with her.
“Thank you,” I whispered, pressing a kiss against her forehead.
“Uh, thank you,” she laughed. “I’ve never felt anything like that in my life.”
“Me either.” I skimmed my tongue over my lip, craving more. But it was just that—craving. The driving, dangerous hunger had been appeased.
“Is it…” She sighed, then propped her chin on her hands, locking eyes with me. “Is it always like that?”
I brushed her hair from her face, tucking the long, auburn strands behind her ears. “Never.”
“Good.” She grinned, and my heart stopped. This was going to be a fucking disaster when it all came crashing down, and it would. “I mean, not that I have anything to compare it to.”
“And you never will,” I growled and captured her mouth in a searing kiss. “Just me.”
“Just you,” she agreed and melted into the kiss.
My chest ached as the bond flared bright between us. It didn’t matter that I loved her. She didn’t feel the same. This wasn’t the life she wanted, the one she planned once she had her cousin safe from harm.
She deserved so much more than a life of war, and bloodshed, and endless night.
She deserved everything, and I was going to be damned if I didn’t give it to her.
I shoved away the instinct to grab ahold of the bond and instead pushed even harder at it as I kissed her deeper, swirling my tongue over hers as she moaned.
There would be no bond, not permanently at least. Eventually, this would end.
But damn if I wasn’t going to take every piece of her I could get for now.
14
Valor
“Are you feeling all right, lass?” Lachlan asked from across the small table in the sitting area of his chambers.
I set down my fork, the dinner in front of me only half eaten. “I’m fine,” I said, trying like hell to smile.
“You know I don’t have to be mated to you to tell something is bothering you.” His eyes trailed to my neck, the two small puncture wounds there that were almost imperceptible now. “Is it…” His voice trailed off, and my eyes widened.
“No,” I hurried to say, shaking my head. “Lachlan, no.” Heat flushed every inch of my skin at the memory of him claiming me in every way a vampire could claim someone—his fangs sliding into my flesh with a sharp bite of pain before soothing to pure, mind-blowing pleasure. God, I’d never felt anything like it. Lachlan…he continuously took me to new heights. “I loved that,” I continued when he looked less than convinced.
He smirked but shifted in his chair and tilted his head at me. “What is it then?”
I chewed on my bottom lip, that familiar and constant guilt tearing up my insides.
“You know I’m doing everything I can to get her back, right?” he added when I hadn’t said anything. “We’re close to pinning her location. I promise you, Valor, the second we have a good lead, I’ll get her. I won’t stop until—”
“I know,” I cut him off, my voice thick with emotion. “God, I know. And that’s…that’s the problem, Lachlan.”
He arched a brow at me.
I blew out a tight breath, backing away from the table and rising. I had too much energy bubbling and twisting inside me. I couldn’t say what I needed to say while sitting. I paced the length of his sitting area, my eyes flickering toward the bed across the room. It would be so much easier if I simply hopped on it and begged him to slide between my legs. Because it had always been easy for us between the sheets.
This, here? Having a comfortable and quiet dinner with him? Talking and laughing and learning each other’s ticks and tricks? It had all become…
Effortless.
Being with Lachlan, listening to him tell me stories from his past and learning what made him laugh, what made him angry, what made him claim my mouth in a matter of blinks. It had all become so damn effortless.
“Lass,” he drug out the word, his eyes tracking my pacing like a predator.
“It’s no secret I was raised to hate and kill your kind,” I said, the words blurting from me like an explosion.
“Aye,” he said, warry as I stopped pacing and faced him.
“All kinds of supernatural creatures,” I continued, my mind a whirlwind as my chest tightened. “Every breath, every blink of my life, I was educated and lectured and trained to hate.”
“But you didn’t,” he said. “Couldn’t. You’re as strong and tough as a jungle cat, Valor, but you’ve never lived off hate.”
I swallowed hard, nodding. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to get out. Wanted to get Daphne out. She was like me—independent. After a certain point, we started questioning everything the Sons…our families, told us. But you know how hard it is for me to simply stop being what they raised me to be.”