Cold Kisses

19. Let's talk

Verity

I stretched my arms above my head, sighing as a 'pop' echoed in the room. Hunter looked up from his papers, a tiny smile gracing his face. I raised an eyebrow. He just shook his head and went back to his paperwork. 

My eyes wandered over his office, trying to detect anything that would tell me something about him. He had little personal things. A desktop, a computer, a few armchairs, shelves filled with thick books about economics and other boring stuff. There was, however, a framed picture on his desktop. I peered at the picture, trying to see who or what it displayed

It was a woman. Long light brown hair. A slightly heart-shaped face, cheeks round and a bit red. I couldn't see her eye colour. A smile danced across her face, white teeth gleaming back at me. She was beautiful. Big eyes and pink lips. She had to be someone close to him. His mother perhaps?

I turned my gaze back to him, observing every breath he took. Even though I wasn't complaining, his sudden kindness and consideration was weird. And frankly, it made me suspicious. What if this was only a charade to get me to succumb to the Mate Bond and have sex with him? What if he, once we have mated, will return to be the rude asshole I had started to know? So many questions; so little answers.

"Hunter."

He hummed in response, his eyes locked on the paper in his hand.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"The trip you made a day ago–" I paused, sucking my bottom lip between my teeth to gnaw on it as I rethought my decision to ask – "where did you go? And what did you do?"

He halted in his actions, stopping to look at me properly. Then he sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I went to visit my family. Or my mother, to be more exact. I had something to discuss with her and unfortunately, she does not live close by."

"Does it have anything to do with how you are acting towards me?"

His eyes shot up as he stared at me, speechless for a minute or two. He cleared his throat, eyes going back to his paperwork. "It was about other things. None of your business actually."

"Like the upcoming heat?" I asked softly. He gritted his teeth and nodded, reluctantly if I may say so. "Don't look so angry over it, I just guessed. I figured our heats will be a bit different than regular ones."

"Our heats?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you go into heat too, remember? Only quicker since you forced me to mark you earlier."

He scrunched his nose up, nostrils flaring as he took deep breath. "That's a problem I haven't thought about."

He suddenly stood up. The chair hit the wall, windows rattling at the impact. I jumped at the sudden commotion. His eyes were glazed over, a bit dim. He looked a bit anxious, scared even if I stretched it that far. "I have to go."

x

"He just left?"

I nodded, stealing a grape from her and chewing on it in thought. "Yeah, he looked a bit spooked when I told him that he was going to enter heat too."

Celeste choked on her drink, spitting it out on the table while she let out a deep cough. I was quick to aid her, hitting her back to help her stop coughing. Once she could breathe normally again, I sat down in my chair. She dried her chin and locked her eyes on me. Her eyes were wide in shock. However, there was a hint of amusement in her look.

"Are you serious? You're not shitting me now?"

"Yep." I leaned my head in my hand. "He went through it during the first days I got here. Probably why he had sex with Regina - to ease the pain it causes."

Celeste cringed at the mention of her sister. They didn't like each other, I had been informed about that during our little chats. Apparently, they were complete opposites. Jaq, their brother thought they were similar, though he didn't like Regina either. So strange to hate one's own sister.

"So, when are you two doing it?" Celeste asked out of the blue, looking away.

I blushed. Why did people want to know about our intercourse?

"Is everyone so eager to know?" I mused, though I didn't really like that they discussed my relationship (or lack of) with Hunter. It made me feel guilty for not wanting to stay with him. 

"It's only because everyone is worried Alpha Hunter will be without an heir if you two don't do it soon. Some are talking about replacing you if you cannot produce an heir within the next year."

I snorted. Produce an heir. They sounded just like my family. Produce an heir with a respected member of the court. That's all I was good for, wasn't I? To be used as merely a broodmare to give a man his heir and then be tossed to the side once the child is born. What a life, huh? You're precious until you push out a baby from your body.

"I'm guessing you are close to your heat. Which is good - the chance of getting pregnant is higher when you're in heat. I suppose you plan to do it then." 

I shrugged. "Hunter said everything between a few hours to a few days. Apparently he can sense it coming."

Celeste hummed. "Males usually can, something about the female's slash the submissive's scent changes. Scared?"

Her question caught me off-guard. Was I scared? I furrowed my eyebrows, thinking about it. Sure, I was worried what was about to come once our heats were upon us. But was I really scared? I know that my body will yearn for Hunter the more I refuse to seal the Bond, so how long will I be able to resist the tug? The want and desire?

"I," I tried to find the words. "I do- don't really know, to be honest with you. Am I nervous? Yes. Do I worry what will happen? Definitely. But am I scared? I don't know. Though, I'm not sure if I want to have sex with him. I mean, we can hardly stand each other and we barely know each other. Everything just seems so weird."

I have been scared for so long, I don't feel anything different.

"I don't mean to frighten you," Celeste said softly. "But when werewolves go into heat, our wolves have almost taken the control of our bodies. And I suspect you know werewolves tend to lean towards the rough direction during intercourse."

"Mm." I nodded. "Figured, some vampires do it too. Especially biting."

Her eyes widened. "Do you actually feed off each other during sex?"

I chuckled at the surprise in her voice. "Yeah, it increases the pleasure. Totally logical, honestly. Makes you relax and some can actually make you fall asleep if you want them to."

At her confused look, I started to explain: "Our saliva contains chemicals that, when we bite into a being, soothes the pain and numbs it. We can also add an extra chemical, and that specific chemical makes the one we bite feel pleasure from it. Helps a lot when the being is stressed or scared. The blood is bitter if the food source is stressed - not pleasant at all, the bad taste sticks on the tongue."

I shuddered. There were a few reasons why I avoided drinking from living creatures and that was one of them. Knowing that you are hurting them is enough to make me shy away from it. 

"That's actually kind of cool," she finally said. "All this time I thought you just bit into people and they died."

I shook my head. "They only die if you either drink so much that they need blood transfusion or drain them of blood. Few of us do that, most keep a - we call them 'blood bags' - at their place so they don't have to try and hide the marks."

"Blood bags?"

"Yes." I looked away. "Most of them are humans, a few are another specie. Only because humans are the easiest to manipulate and overpower. And it makes it easier, so we don't have to sneak up on people and bite them. We're trying to stay alive after all and having people running around with bite marks on their necks is not a smart move."

"Oh, I see."