Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Scorpio

Rose

I hold his handwritten note in my hand. How did he get it to my door? I’ll probably never know. Nor do I want to; that would take away the mystique of it all.

Meet me at dusk

~ Ash

That’s all it said. A simple phrase that has my head spinning with excitement. I made up a bullshit excuse to get out of my responsibilities for the day. We usually don’t meet at night, so I wonder how he was able to get away from Gen?

I smell something sweet as I stand on the cabin's front steps. There’s music playing, too.

I open the door, my eyes twinkling as I see the vanilla-scented candles strewn about the room and a bouquet of a few dozen red roses in a vase on the table.

My lips erupt into a smile as Asher walks into view, dressed in a smart white dress shirt and navy blue slacks. His hair is combed neatly, a little scruff on his face growing in but neatly trimmed. I like this look on him. Less clean cut. It feels more like him than before.

“Ash!” I gasp. “What’s going on?”

He pulls me into an embrace, kissing my cheek sweetly. “We have the night to ourselves, so I wanted to plan something romantic for you. Goddess knows you deserve it after everything that’s happened.”

“Honey,” I whisper, pulling away to look at the candlelit room, the mood just right and the aroma intoxicating. There’s a bottle of the same kind of wine we shared all those months ago during our second meeting. The one where we swore we’d be just friends.

How foolish to think we would’ve stuck to that.

“Do you like it?” He asks.

“Do I like it?” I reply rhetorically. “I love it.”

He beams, reaching over the couch to grab a couple of blankets. “It gets better. I heard it would be a great night for stargazing, so I got us some blankets, wine, and chocolate-covered strawberries. Not sure if you like those.”

“Of course I do!” I reply, practically bursting at the seams. “What a cute idea, Ash.”

He loads the wine, two glasses, and the box of strawberries into a basket and then throws the blankets under his arm. He reaches his other hand for me and says, “Let’s go, then.”

I take his hand, following him eagerly as we make our way out of a cabin to a clearing. There are fireflies in the sky, lighting up the air around us.

“You know why fireflies glow?” He asks.

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, they use it to ward off predators. Also, females use it to attract other species by mimicking their patterns so they can eat the males.”

“Jeez, how lovely.”

He chuckles. “But, mostly, it’s to attract mates. Males flash a fancy pattern to woo a female, and she flashes back if interested.”

“I like that,” I reply. “So much of the animal world is males doing funny dances or giving women rocks to woo them.”

“Not too dissimilar from anthropomorphic species,” he quips, shimmying his shoulders. “My dance moves are pretty sexy.”

I throw my head back, cackling as he continues to dance oafishly, half on purpose and half not, I presume.

“You’re such a dork, babe,” I tease as he sets the stuff down, laying out the bottom blanket for us to sit on.

“After you, milady,” he says, gesturing for me to sit. I lie on my back, and he joins me, draping the blanket over us. He folds his hands under his head, letting me rest my head on his bicep as we gaze at the sky.

“It is gorgeous tonight,” I marvel.

He points to the right side of the sky, “There’s the Big and Little Dipper over there. And Orion.”

“I think the one sort of above those is Cygnus.”

He squints his eyes a bit, concentrating hard. “Oh! I see it now. That’s cool. It does kinda look like a swan.”

“Some of the constellations are pretty wack,” I joke. “But they do get it right a lot of the time. I think Scorpius should be around there somewhere. I’ve always liked that one.”

“Are you a Scorpio?” He asks. “I’m a Gemini.”

“You do not act like a Gemini,” I giggle. “But, yes, I am a Scorpio.”

“That makes a ton of sense.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” I exclaim, sitting up and chuckling as he shows off his dimples.

“Nothin’,” he replies, winking.

I roll my eyes, reaching for the wine, but he beats me to it.

“I’ll open it for you.”

“I’m perfectly capable of opening wine, thank you very much.”

“I know you are,” he replies, making quick work of it. “But I still want to do it for you.”

“How sweet,” I reply, reaching into the basket to start unwrapping the box of strawberries. He sends me one of those under-the-eyebrows, joking stink-eye expressions as I smile sheepishly.

“How’d the meeting with your sister go?” I ask.

He sighs, pouring me a glass first them himself. “It was good to see her again. Bittersweet, though, since I won’t be able to see the rest of my family for a while. I want to wait until all this comes to a head because I don’t want to pull them in more than they already are. She gave me interesting information, though.”

“Like?”

“I don’t want to talk about all that tonight,” he replies. “I want to focus on us and having a romantic evening together. I’ll be happy to fill you in on all that tomorrow morning, but I want to be in the moment for now.”

I smile, resting my hand on his. I get where he’s coming from. He’s lived every moment of his life up until now, walking on eggshells, his mind filled with managing her emotions all the time. He probably hasn’t had time to think about anything else but her for years. I know why he wants tonight to be just about us, and I’m grateful for that. I want it, too.

“I can cheers to that,” I reply, clinking our glasses together.

“Thank you,” he replies, leaning in to kiss my lips softly. “You look gorgeous tonight, by the way.”

I glance down at my simple black tank top and jeans. “I would’ve dressed up nicer had I known what you had planned.”

“You look perfect, Rose.”

“Aww, shucks,” I whisper, attempting to make a joke, but I feel flushed with emotion.

He grabs the pack of strawberries and asks, “Want me to feed you one like in a romance movie?”

I glare at him. “I am the Leader of the Crimson Night Clan. I will not have a man feed me my food, thank you very much.”

“Thought so,” he chuckles with a wink as he bites into one, making a bit of a show out of it.

“What’re you doing to that strawberry?” I gasp, grabbing my own, swirling my tongue around the tip of it before sucking the chocolate off suggestively. “You’ve violated it.”

“What you just did to that strawberry was way worse,” he says, his face bright red. “Surprised something didn’t shoot out of it.”

I slap him on his chest as he grabs another one and eats it normally this time. “Sure you don’t want me to feed you one?” He wiggles his eyebrows. “It’d be pretty cute.”

I wrinkle my nose and hand him one. “Fine, if you insist.”

He takes the strawberry and leans in and I lazily part my lips.

“Choo! Choo! Here comes the train!”

I slap his hand away as he laughs maniacly, and I can’t help but laugh with him, my stomach hurting as tears form at the corner of my eyes.

“You’re such an ass!”

“Aww, I’m sorry!” He relents through laughter, barely able to spit the words out. “It was such a great opportunity that I couldn’t miss.”

“I’ve never had someone do that to me before,” I joke.

“What?” He gasps. “Your mom and dad never did the airplane or choo-choo train when you were little?”

I shake my head. “Nope. I already told you that my family life was pretty fucked.”

He bites his lip, his face contorting with guilt.

“It’s okay,” I ease. “I love hearing about the stuff you and your family did. You grew up in such a warm environment, and that feeling rubs off on me when you talk about it. I didn’t experience that in my childhood, but I feel it when I’m with you. The warmth and care. Protectiveness.”

“Me? Protective?” He asks sarcastically.

I smile, resting my hand on his knee. “I wish you would apply that spirit to yourself and not just the people you love.”

He sighs. “Yeah. I am as of recently, but unfortunately, it’s come a little too late. If I were going to stand up to Gen- Shit, sorry. We’re not supposed to talk about her tonight.”

“If you want to let something out, you should. I'm always here to listen; it's never an inconvenience or mood-killer if that's what you're worried about."

“I get it. I just don't want this to turn into a business evening, y'know? I guess this topic wouldn't apply to that, though. So, what I was going to say is that if I were going to stand up to her in a physical sense or more aggressively, that would’ve had to have happened earlier on. Now, she’s amassed too much power and has control over my family. So, I’m stuck. I have to play the weak guy with her.”

“That must be frustrating,” I empathize.

“It is,” he replies, picking at the blanket. “It’s hard not having much agency over my life when I want it so desperately now. Not just so I can be with you freely, but also so I can figure out who I am again. And be with my family freely. As you said, I grew up in a warm, loving home. I miss feeling that way and haven’t been able to for years.”

“You will soon, I believe that,” I encourage. “It’ll just take time and patience.”

“I hope so,” he replies, placing his hand on my thigh, his fingers wrapped around the top of it casually. “From my heart of hearts, I want to be with you freely. You’re my mate, and I hate that I can’t give you my one hundred percent yet.”

“I love you, Ash,” I remind him. “You can’t always give your all to your partners, and that’s okay. I’m more than willing to stick it out with you because I love you.”

“Thank you, Rose,” he whispers, pressing a sweet kiss on my lips. “Means more than you know.”

“I think I know,” I whisper, chasing his lips with mine, deepening the kiss.

He cups my cheek, the strawberries and wine forgotten. We’ve had intimate moments before, but nothing that went too far.

They couldn’t.

But now?

My dead heart skips a beat.

I gasp when I hear a low growl in his throat, a sign of dominance and arousal from wolves. I bet if his eyes were open, they’d be glowing.

My canines extend in response to his wolf rising to the surface, my body reacting in a desire for dominance. I place my hand on his shoulder and push him to the ground, straddling his waist.

His eyes are indeed glowing fiercely as I tangle my fingers in his hair, my lips dancing with his.

I’ve never wanted to suck a man’s cock so badly in my life as I do now. It’s like my mouth feels bare without him. We can’t have sex, despite how much I’d like to. I’d have to ask him to wear a condom, and that’d raise too many questions since I'm a vampire and presumably wouldn't need birth control. Questions I don’t have answers to. And I don’t know if I can tell him that secret yet. I still don’t understand it myself.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t satisfy him, and by virtue myself, in the meantime.

I rip his button-down open, revealing his sturdy, uber-defined muscles. I rake my fingernails down his skin, desperate to drink him in with my eyes.

“I wish I could give you some of my venom,” I tell him as I kiss down his chest.

“I thought vampire venom hurts?” He asks, his voice a little shaky as I approach his waist.

“There are two venom ducts in every vampire,” I explain as I undo his belt. “One that causes pain, and another that causes ecstasy. Almost like a drug. Can be addictive for some.”

I unzip his pants, and he takes a sharp breath in, sitting up and moving onto his knees.

“Someone’s eager,” I tease as I run my fingers up and down his length through his tight boxers, marveling at his size. He’s rock solid, the tip of his penis poking out through the hem of his boxers, which only goes to indicate his size. His cock is thick, too.

I guess what they say about Alphas is true.

“Are you sure?” He asks. “I want to make you feel good, too.”

“Trust me,” I hiss. “This is going to feel very good for me. I want you to feel what it’s like for a woman to suck your cock like it’s the only thing she’s on this world to do.” I pull his boxers down under his balls, the size of those impressive as well. I kitten lick his tip quickly.

“Oh, fuck,” he moans, his fingertips in the roots of my hair.

I know he lost his virginity to Gen. He told me as much. She’s the only woman he’s ever been with, and I know in my core she’s the kind of person to be selfish in bed. He probably thought nothing of it. He didn’t think he deserved pleasure.

I will knock that thought out of his pretty head tonight—both of them.

I wrap my hand around his length and begin pumping up and down, looking into his eyes as he stares down at me, his eyes glowing with lust and power. I smirk, glad to know he feels that way. I want him to know he doesn’t have to feel like a second-class citizen with me.

“Mate,” I hiss possessively, my canines fully extended as I let them only lightly brush against his cock, allowing a bit of my venom to drop from them so they can soak into his skin topically.

“Mate.”