Crimson Warrior (Onyx Assassins 3)

“Invasive?” I guessed.

“I was going to say hedonistic.” Her cheeks pinkened.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I couldn’t stop a grin from flashing across my face.

She rolled her eyes. “You don’t get it. The young who are conceived during the festival are seen as blessed.”

The blood drained from my face at the mention of young. They were rare in our species—which was yet another reason that Olivia’s large family was remarkable, but that didn’t mean I was anywhere near ready to even think about the possibility of fatherhood.

“The mated couples will be all over each other, and not just in their bedrooms.” Olivia started pacing again, wearing a path between the foot of the bed and the closet. “They’re going to take one sniff at us and they’ll know we’re not exactly partaking in the evenings.”

I stilled, ice creeping through my veins. Vampires were masters at scent detection. It’s how we discerned moods, needs, and…connections. Any female with a male’s scent all over her was already taken, even if they weren’t mated, and though my scent sealed the mark at Olivia’s wrist, she wasn’t exactly walking around drenched in my scent like Lyric was with Alek’s or Valor with Lachlan’s. It was a chink in our armor, and she was right—it could get us busted.

“And the first time they ring the bell for mates to kiss,” she continued, her hands balling into fists, “which they do all night, and I mean all night, they’ll know we’ve never kissed before, and our game is up. Forget waking the Hunters and getting back to Edgemont City, my parents will imprison me for lying to them, and since I’m an unmated female, they can lock me up in this chamber for years if they want!”

“Olivia.” I took hold of her wrist as she made another pass by, forcing her to stop her relentless pacing. “You know Alek and Avianna would never allow that to happen to you.”

“And you know that Alek doesn’t make every single law in the territories.” Her mouth pursed as panic welled in her eyes. “We’re going to get caught, especially if you sleep on that couch again!”

“Breathe.” My thumb stroked over her pulse point rhythmically as I held her gaze with mine. It wasn’t like Olivia to panic. Ever. That meant if she was this worried, there was reason to be. “My guess is that these walls aren’t soundproof, so we’ll get caught if they hear us panicking about getting caught.”

She swallowed and nodded.

“I’ll sleep in the bed. It’s not like we don’t have a little self-control. Besides, we’re friends, right?” Was Olivia one of the most beautiful vampires I’ve ever seen? Yes. But it wasn’t like I didn’t have any self-control, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to make a move on a woman who never saw me as anything more than a friend. I wasn’t a monster.

“Right,” she said slowly, drawing her bottom lip between her teeth. “We can absolutely sleep in one bed.”

“Right,” I repeated. “And for the other concern…” My gaze dropped to her lips. The plump curves were bare of any lipstick but had the subtle sheen of gloss. My blood thickened. “We do a trial run.”

“A trial run?” Her brow puckered, and she drew her tongue over her bottom lip.

My gut clenched, and I ripped my gaze away from her mouth and brought it back to her eyes. I’d always admired her eyes. They were deep brown with little flecks of gold that seemed to grow brighter when she was pissed. Right now, they were dark and fathomless, the type of eyes a male could drown himself in.

“Ransom?”

Pay attention, asshole.

“Sure. We could do a practice run at…you know…kissing. That way if they ring the bell—”

“Trust me. They’re going to ring the bell. They ring the bell every five fucking minutes, I swear.” She grimaced. “You’re eating? Too bad, here’s the bell. Standing on the other side of the room from your mate? Too bad, you’d better get over there, because the bell is ringing. Headed to the bathroom? Hold it, there’s kissing to be done. By the end of the night, half of the mated couples have disappeared because the kissing leads to—”

“Got it,” I interrupted, needing the imagery to stop bouncing around my head like a ping-pong ball. With every sentence she spoke, I saw us in that situation, kissing at the banquet tables or being drawn to each other from across the room. Picturing the sex all that kissing led to was only going to get me hard, which would make everything about ten times more awkward than it already was. “So, let’s just get the first one out of the way. No pressure. No spectators. No bell.”

Her pulse leaped under my thumb. “Okay. That’s a good plan.”

“Agreed.” My chest went tight as I dropped my focus to her lips.