And the director walks away.
My eyes shift back over to Jaxon. He stands there for another moment, opening and closing his fists. I see his nostrils flare as he works to control his breath. But finally, he takes a step forward. It's tentative, but when he doesn't lose his control, he takes another step forward. And then another.
Finally, he is standing just barely on the other side of the glass.
"Am I shit at this?" Jaxon asks. "Everyone seems to be getting a little…impatient. It doesn't usually take this long, does it?"
I don't want to answer him. I don't want to shake his self-confidence. All he needs to focus on is getting better at control. But I also don't want to lie to him.
"I mean…occasionally it takes a while. Some guardians have exceptionally strong instincts. You're one of those, obviously. It's not a bad thing, it's just…like you said, everyone is getting a little impatient. Now that we’ve found you, now that we know you're the gatekeeper, it's hard to keep being patient."
The look in his eyes intensifies. I see a spark of…anger. And heat. "What about you, Serena? Are you losing patience with me?"
I swallow once. When I agreed to this, when I accepted Ascelin’s help, I knew this moment was going to come. "Never." I want that to be enough. But Jaxon and I never made any promises to one another. The sum total of our relationship, our time together, was only two weeks. I owe him something more than one word. "It's been an issue for a while now. I should have shut it down long ago. Ascelin is lonely. He's been watching Renwick and Philomena keep each other company for a century. But I promise, my head has never gone there, not even once." I lean in closer to the glass. My breasts press into it. Immediately, Jaxon's eyes drop. "I'm yours, Jaxon. Somehow, it has to be enough."
Once upon a time, I had been engaged. He was a simple man, a printer's apprentice. We had known each other for a year. I liked his sweet smile. I liked that he was shy. I liked that he was kind, and that my parents approved of him.
I think I loved him. But it was so long ago. Mostly what I remember is anger. I was so angry with him because he didn’t know if he could still love me when I became a darkling.
But I had never, never felt what I feel for Jaxon right now.
The chemistry between us is electric. It was instant. It all sparked one night at the club, over the span of forty-five minutes.
I burn for this man. Just as hot as he burns in ultralight form.
"I wasn't making anything up when I told Vivian that you are mine, and not hers anymore," I say as my voice drops low, my words rough. "I'll fight anyone for you, Jaxon. I'll destroy this entire compound if I have to. I'll take on every member of the Gray family. I'll fight Vivian to her last breath if that’s what it comes to." My fingers curl into the glass as I imagine all the details of what I would do to pry him from his mother's grasp. "You're just going to have to deal with it, Jaxon. Your mine now."
With every word I speak, the hunger in Jaxon's eyes grows. And he is a man, so I can see the physical reaction in his body my words are causing. It’s exceptionally satisfying to know that I can cause that kind of physical reaction with only my words.
But he only has so much control. His body once more bursts into flames, light shining from every pore in his body.
A satisfied smirk pulls on my lips.
"Hurry up," I say. "I've got a few things I'd like to do to you."
Chapter Six
"You want to look at this?"
I wander through the control center with a sandwich in my hand. Ascelin calls to me from his office.
I step inside and he nods his head toward his screen in front of him. On it, there is a map of the entire world. There were glowing dots spread through the entirety of it. Every one of those dots represents an ultralight.
"Remember those two Kindred that were blocks away from you the night you and Jaxon ran away to the city?" he asks. There’s still an angry tone to his voice. He hasn't forgiven me completely, yet. He points to two dots on the screen. "They've been in Washington for the last twenty days. They're heading back south, though."
"It's just the two of them?" I ask as I narrow my eyes at the screen.
Ascelin nods. "Looks like they weren't able to convince the newest ultralight to join them. They are still in the Seattle area. It's just these two on their own."
"Think they are headed back here?" I ask.
Ascelin nods. "They have to know something is up. They know we took Jaxon. Considering we haven't released him, they have to be suspicious, or they're stupid."
I nod. He's right. If Jaxon weren’t the gatekeeper, we would have released him weeks ago.
"Why do I have the feeling that things are going to get messy again?" I say, as a pit of dread fills my stomach.
"What's with these idiots?" Ascelin asks. His tone is hard. "They want us eliminated, gone from the LightVerse. Yet they seem pretty determined to take away our key so we can get out of this place."
I shake my head. "I don't know that they can help it. These guys don't exactly think clearly, they simply act on their instincts."
"You defending the Kindred?" he asks, his brows furrowed deeply.
I shake my head. "Of course not. I just…" I rub my eyes. I don't even know what I'm saying right now. I'm tired. Stressed out. "Never mind. Forget I said anything. Let's keep an eye on them. I want to know if they step foot back in the state of Nevada."
Ascelin nods. "I promise. I’m getting a little sick of these two. Thinking it might be time to round up the crews. Just a few days and there will be more than fifty of us here. I like the sound of those odds."
"Me too. But only if they come after us. We don't need to go starting any unnecessary wars at this point."
Ascelin grunts, but I don't know that it means he agrees with me.
War and fighting are always his favorites.
I step out of his office and walk over to the vault.
Jaxon is sitting on the floor on the far side of the vault. He has a tray in his lap and he’s eating lunch.
He’s totally human.
“Hey,” I say with a smile.
The moment his eyes rise to meet mine, a smile curls on his own face. Sparks ignite in my lower stomach at the sight of it.
Oh, he needs to hurry up.
“Hey,” he says. He sets his tray to the side and carefully climbs to his feet. Slowly, he walks across the vault and comes to stand right in front of me.
I let my eyes trail down him. I take in his chest. He bears a fair number of scars. I remember that he told me he’d been shot twice when trying to rescue his girlfriend years ago. That looks like a stab wound just above his left hip.
It just makes him all the more ruggedly beautiful.
My hands want to run up his toned forearms. They want to crest at his defined shoulders before making their way over his collar bones, down over the rise of his chest. I find myself imagining what it might be like to lick my way up the valley in the middle of his stomach.
Bless the dark, what is this man doing to me? I’ve never even had sex and I’m nearly two hundred years old, but this man is provoking all kinds of fantasies in me.