Twenty-Six

Vali

“Not as long ago as you might think.” He answered, his eyes finally looking into mine. While they were still red, they weren’t as predatory as they were before. “You wouldn’t be asking that if you knew everything about how the mating bond works…”

“What am I missing then?”

“Mates are born at the same time, right down to the second. It’s why the witches and the fae say ‘soulmates’, they believe one soul enters the world and is caught between two beings. It splits and becomes a part of both. Being born at the same time makes both halves of the soul perfectly matched. They’ll have the same amount of life experience, complementary powers, the same amount of power… they’re equals in every way.” He explained. It made sense, and I felt a little stupid for not having known it before. But then again, I’d had more on my plate than just trying to find my mate.

Hell, before I became a wolf it wasn’t something that was possible for me. A mortal’s time is so fleeting on our earth that mates weren’t possible for them, because it simply made it so difficult to find each other. But I still think they’re the lucky ones, you can fall in love with whoever you want to and as long as you choose to, can have a happy life.

If I had stayed with Dallas, if we had made that choice, we both would have had to deal with nausea every time we slept together, every time we hugged or kissed. That was the consequence for ignoring the mate you were meant to find, physical discomfort which would turn to pain the longer you fought against it for.

“So we’re the same age?” His red eyes finally went back to brown.

“Exactly the same age.”

What a strange concept. To know that I was born the exact same second that he was, that all this time I had been growing up in the world with someone so close and yet so very far from me.

“And when was the last time you…” I trailed off, and those brown eyes started glowing again.

“I had blood before the Summit.” He answered my unfinished question. Well, he vaguely answered it anyway.

“How long before?”

“A while…” So a couple of months at the very least then.

“When will you need…” I didn’t know the right words, didn’t know exactly how to bring it up.

“When will I need to feed?” He asked, shaking his head. Maybe he knew what the underlying question was.

“Yes.”

“I won’t need to until you let me. Normally I would have already felt it, but I think my body is telling me it only wants one thing, that it doesn’t want anyone else.” He said, and I didn’t stop my heart from racing. Didn’t even try to calm my breathing.

“I’m a wolf, wouldn’t my blood kill you?” This was what I was trying to get to. The part I was trying to understand. I didn’t know much, but I did know that once a vampire found their mate that there was only one person they wanted to drink blood from. I had also read people’s experiences… it had fascinated me, the euphoria from something that should be extremely painful. I know the last bite I was given had made me feel like my veins were on fire, so it just didn’t make sense.

“We’re mates, so my body is already changing to accommodate yours. My scent is becoming more wolflike, just as yours is becoming more vampire. The shift in my body would allow me to drink your blood, be bitten by you, have you scratch my back when you need to and not kill me.” Holy shit. That should not be making my cheeks blush. “Just as yours is changing to allow you to feel the effects of my venom and not become addicted to it, not in the normal sense anyway.”

“The normal sense?” I asked as he took a step towards me, and then another.

“You’ve probably heard about what happens to mortals, it’s why you’re asking about this.” He kept closing the distance between us. “They get addicted to it, associate that addiction with the vampire that drank from them. You wouldn’t feel that because it would be a punishment for you, it would be unfair for you to get addicted to something that benefits both of us.”

“You’re not really answering my question.” I told him, my lips parting as he stood directly in front of me. Even though I was pushing him, I already felt like I knew what he was going to say. And I felt it right in my core, right where warmth was turning to a flame.

“Judging from the scent of your arousal you already know what I’m going to say.” His words didn’t make me feel embarrassed in the slightest. Instead of cowering, or trying to cover that scent, I looked up at him through my eyelashes and put a hand on his chest. He was close enough that his breath was falling over my body, caressing my skin with warmth.

“Maybe I want to hear you say it. Make sure it will be worth my while, and worth the wait.” I said, trying to both ignore and savour the feeling of electricity between us as he placed his hand on the back of my neck.

“Fine. You won’t be addicted to my venom, you won’t come crawling after me like someone desperate for their next fix. You want to know what will happen instead?” He asked, I tilted my head to the side, revealing a sliver of my neck beneath my hair. If he was going to tease me with his words, I would do the same.

“What will happen?”

“I’ll worship you like a fucking goddess, Vali. Whenever and wherever you want me to, I’ll be on my knees for you.” I smirked as he spoke, his thumb rubbing my cheek. “And when you want me to, I’ll show you that euphoria you’ve no doubt read about. I’ll show you how it amplifies every other sensation, for both you and I, and why you’ll be wanting it every night for the rest of our lives. You won’t be addicted to my venom, Vali, because we’ll be too busy getting addicted to each other.”

“So you’ll make it worth the wait?” I asked, knowing that my own eyes were glowing in the wake of his touch. In the wake of the euphoric feeling from his fingertips on my neck. If this was what I felt from his hands alone, what would the rest feel like?

“Of course, my goddess.” He said.

“Good.” I responded, taking my hand away from his chest. “Then we’ll wait.” His fingers regrettably let go of my neck, his eyes squeezing shut once more as his arm fell slack. I took a few steps backwards to get some distance between us before I walked out of the library, leaving him there by himself as I raced back to my room.

There was one thing on my mind, aside from the ghost of his fingers on my skin.

And that was having a fucking cold shower.