It almost broke my heart though when she tried calling out to her mother without any luck. Maybe her parents were playing hide and go seek with her the way mine were with me. She looked lost and alone as she dropped down on the edge of her bed.
The bird flew down and landed on her lap and she mindlessly ran her hand over his head. Watching the two of them gave me an idea. A way I could keep tabs on her for the next few days without her knowing and still be close.
I need to stay close, to not only watch over her, but to learn as much as I can about her in the next few days so I’d know how best to make my approach. I was about to leave my little hidey hole when I felt the presence approaching. I knew who it was, one of my kind, but not someone I’d expected to run into here.
“Sabrina, what brings you here?” She landed not far from me looking more like she was going to a dinner party with the leading dignitaries of the world than a mountaintop. I steeled myself against her usual onslaught as we’d been through it a million times before with the same results.
Sabrina is an orphan, someone my parents had taken in long ago when her own parents had been destroyed for defying clan rules or some such thing when she was a very young girl. We’d grown up together, though I’m a couple hundred thousand years older.
When I was much younger I adored her company, as an only child she was like the younger sister I never had. But then somewhere along the way things changed for her, though they didn’t for me. She started seeing me as something more, while I could never see her in that way.
Over time her needy persistence only served to build a rift between us, something I regret but found necessary. There were plenty others who were interested in her, and as my parent’s foster child she could have her pick at any time.
But ever since she made her first move and I rebuffed her, she’s not let up once. Sure in her mind that I was the only one for her. She knows all about imprinting and how it works but in her mind she was willing to settle for being my concubine if and when I get married.
I have no interest in living such a life, but no amount of telling her that has ever worked. She’s one of the reasons I stay away from home as much as I do. Her constant mooning had grown stale a long time ago. Plus the fact that I didn’t like hurting her, or seeing that look of misery on her face each time I turned her away.
She came closer now as I got to my feet, in a hurry to get back to my woman and put my new plans into action. “I heard that they’ve chosen a mate for you.” I tried to ignore the note of hurt in her voice and the sullen look on her face.
“No they haven’t, I imprinted.” The words hurt her just as I knew they would. It’s one thing for the elders to choose a lesser consort for me and another for my nature to actually imprint on someone. The side concubines can be left at will, my true mate will never leave my side. It’s the truest form of mating amongst our kind.
“Have you seen her? What is she like? Who is she?” The tone of jealousy in her words grated on my nerves but I told myself to be patient. She’s ran off more than a few or my conquests in the past with her shit, but because I didn’t care that much I always let it slide, for her sake. This time I’m more likely to take her life if she messes with my Natalia. “No one you know.”
“I heard she’s not even one of us…”
“Stop right there. ‘She’, will be my queen and the only woman to sit beside me on the throne when the time comes for me to rule, have some respect.” My words hurt her it was plain to see, but there was no point in encouraging her.
Better to nip this shit in the bud now. A jealous vampyre female is a force to be reckoned with and not my cross to bear. I can’t let my feelings of brotherly affection interfere this time, can’t pull my punches and think of her feelings. Before it was always the fact of her pitiful existence that held me back from scolding her too harshly.
Orphaned at an early age, with none of her own kin around, though she lived in the monarch’s home among my family, everyone knew she wasn’t really one of us, wasn’t of noble blood, and some treated her with disdain.
But with an imprinting comes a whole slew of new rules and feelings, things I literally have no control over. If it comes down to it, I’d forget I ever knew her and could very well destroy her if she did or said anything to offend Natalia, something she should already know.
I took a step back when she drew even closer and her hand reached out to touch me. “Why won’t you give me a chance? I know I can be so much better for you. We grew up together, I know everything about you…” Tears, always there are tears when we meet.
“Sabrina, I’ve told you before, I’ve never seen you as anything more than a little sister, that’s not about to change. You need to stop, it’s time you met someone and settled down.” We don’t all have to wait for an imprinting, especially the females.
The only draw back is that if she chose someone and he imprinted on someone else later down the line there’s a good chance she would be left by the wayside or at best be someone’s concubine as she’s begged me numerous times to be.
“I think…”
“Listen I have to go, she’s waiting for me.” I didn’t have to tack on that last part but it was best she get use to the idea. Her eyes widened with renewed hurt. “You…you’ve met her, been with her?” She actually sniffed the air as if trying to find Natalia’s scent.
She opened her mouth to say something else but thought better of it when she saw the look of barely restrained aggression on my face. She’d know since she’s one of us, that it’s a dangerous game to play, stepping out of line when it comes to a man’s mate. And even more so with me, her future lord and ruler.
She curtsied now, something she’d forgotten to do on arrival, before disappearing.
“Dammit!” I hadn’t even given her a second thought since this whole thing started. I’d made myself believe over time that she’d gotten over her schoolgirl infatuation with me, but it seems now that I’d only been lying to myself.
I couldn’t be bothered right now though, I have to go take care of my own shit before I end up somewhere drooling and banging my head into the wall of a padded room. Just as quickly as I’d appeared the night before I ghosted back to my home.
Lucien
The sun wasn’t quite up when I landed on my balcony and strode into the thousand foot master suite. It’s odd that I could already see her here, could already imagine her things mixed in with mine as I headed straight for the shower.
My idea, the one I’d come up with not too long ago may or may not be the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, but I get the feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of stupid shit from here on out. It comes with the territory I guess, or so I’ve always believed. Women make men stupid.
I’ve seen it all my life with my own parents and myriad aunts and uncles over the years. My father, as the son of the ruling sky monarch, though not the heir, was still in higher standing among our kind than most. I’ve seen him destroy whole armies without breaking a sweat. And yet it only takes a frown or a pout from my mother to bring him to his knees.
Shit, I’m not going out like that, her little ass is not going to run me no matter who the hell she is. Shit, I’m making myself nuts and she’s not even here yet. I switched off the water now in a rush to get back to her. This shit had better work because the days seem to be going by real fast now that I’d found her scent.