Bloodbound [Alpha-series (II)]

Chapter 15

"It is well known that I despise weakness. If we want to convince everyone our mating is genuine, you need to showcase a certain amount of confidence", he reasoned.

"I thought me having no power whatsoever was the whole point of your plan."

"No political power", he specified. "But there are other kinds of power just as forceful."

With vampire speed he lifted his hand to my face and softly stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. The unexpected touch made me flinch. So cold. So powerful. So ... other.

"You don’t flinch as much as you used to."

A cool, calculated statement that stood in stark contrast to the tenderness of his touch.

"But your reaction is still too visible to be downplayed as mere surprise or a trick of the eye. We'll need to work on that as well."

He retracted his hand.

"You popped out of nowhere and surprised me!", I defended myself.

The moment the Council provokingly raised an eyebrow, I regretted my courageous claim. He took a sluggish step forward until mere centimeters separated us, his gaze daring me to move away.

"So, if I approached you slower" – he repeated the caress, his black orbs turning the color of a moonlit midnight sky – "you would react differently?"

There was a huskiness to his voice that hadn't been there before, making my skin even more sensitive to his touch. But I wasn’t going to lose this battle. Instead, I turned the tables and surprised him by reaching up and tangling my fingers with his.

"I would."

Unfortunately, the effect didn’t last long. His lips curled into a smile meant to seduce, a smile that held the promise of intimate pleasures. He dipped his head, his lips brushing against mine in the lightest of touches. Another provocation.

Maybe it was mere stubbornness, maybe anger that drove me to defy him by answering the kiss. Whatever it was, there was no going back now. And the terrifying truth was: I didn’t mind. This kiss sang to the most primitive part of me, snapped it out of the deep slumber it had been forced into and offered to satisfy its burning hunger that had silently piled up over the last months – an offering too tempting to resist.

I felt the Council pulling me closer, one hand clawed into my hair. The viciousness of his grip should have frightened me, but it did the opposite. A knot formed in my stomach as the sweetest kind of anticipation bubbled up inside of me. It had been so long since I last indulged in the pleasures of the flesh, since I last found relief. The ferociousness of my desire shocked me. I had believed myself impossible of this kind of longing, had believed it died together with my mate. A colossal misjudgment. It had always been there, lurking under the surface, waiting to break free of its chains.

His arms still tightly wrapped around my waist and back, the Council loosened his hold on me just enough to break the kiss, allowing me to catch my breath.

“I admit defeat”, he rasped, yet, I was the one who felt defeated.

“Let’s call it a draw”, I found myself suggesting, my voice barely a whisper.