I was too restless to stay in bed after he left and ran lightly down the stairs and slipped out of the house while the others laid asleep in their beds. Whereas before I’d strip bare without giving a thought to who might be around, now that he’d been here I was a bit hesitant.
I opened up my senses to see if perchance he was still here, lingering in the shadows, but he was long gone. I pulled the nightgown off over my head and slid naked into the cool water before turning onto my back to gaze up at the stars as I floated with my thoughts. “I’m sorry!” I whispered the words from my lips even though I knew he couldn’t hear them.
It hurt my heart to think of the damage my running away might do to him, but Annalise and the others were right, it’s not worth risking my life just so that he wouldn’t suffer a miserable existence. Besides, he’s the crown prince. It may be that he doesn’t suffer the same maladies as the rest of us lesser immortals.
I tried to satisfy myself with that resolve but it still didn’t sit well with me. In the back of my mind was the nagging thought that if I run scared I might be running away from the best part of my life.
LUCIEN
I was halfway home when she left her room and headed outside. I didn’t turn back but instead opened my inner eye to watch her as she floated atop the water. The turmoil in her mind was like needles pricking against my senses and I did my best to ignore.
Since it was still night I stayed out on the balcony and let the cooling night breeze keep me calm as I studied her. I had no intentions of taking even a drop of the cognac I’d poured myself when I walked inside my bedroom to turn the stereo on low just for some background noise to drown out my own thoughts.
I wouldn’t risk drinking this close to our mating. Not because I’m afraid that I might hurt her. What I told her was the truth, I’d rather cut off my own arm than hurt her. But it could mean the difference between me preparing her well enough to take me, or going half ass and fucking her raw.
I have no doubt that I have enough self- control not to kill her when we fuck. She might be bruised, battered and sore, but I’m one hundred percent sure that she’d be able to crawl out of my bed once I’m done with her.
She on the other hand, is building this wall of dread and fear around her that no amount of talking seems able to penetrate. So no more talking; the time for words are at an end. I’m just waiting to see if she’s going to be a brave little trooper or run scared.
In the meantime I’ll sit back and take the time to get my shit together. I’d been so focused on her that I hadn’t even given myself a second thought. Typical when it comes to my kind and our women. She too has been so focused on the whole mating thing that she hasn’t given thought to much beyond that. But there’s so much more!
I watched as she finally left the water and pulled the gown on over her head as her woodland friends watched with worry. At least she has a conscience. Though she’d made up her mind that running was the only answer, the decision was weighing heavy on her mind.
No matter, I’m still going to tan her ass for running from me after all the shit I’ve put myself through. After I fuck her of course. I ran my hand over my dick to let him know that I heard him. He’d come awake at the vision of her over my knee, naked, with her ass red from a fresh spanking. ‘Good fuck Lucien not now.’
I walked into my room and walked towards the music system to turn it off no longer in the mood for the smooth strains of Miles Davis. Not even my favorite music was working tonight and I knew that nothing would until I got this thing out of the way.
I had to accept that although it would’ve been nice if she’d cooperated and come to my bed willingly things would’ve gone a whole lot better, it was okay that I might end up having to drag her there kicking and screaming. The morning after is bound to be something to look forward to.
I was restless and out of sorts as I laid in bed thinking until the wee hours when the sun begun to rise. I folded my arms and turned onto my side as I watched her in my mind. Watched and listened to her and her sisters as they planned her escape.
I sent her a flash of my face in displeasure just to fuck with her and watched her freak out as she tried to decipher whether or not I’d heard their little conversation. The mark on her neck had grown even darker I noticed as I found my first smile of the night.
If I couldn’t find her before, my mark on her would make sure that I do now. She was still hiding it beneath her hair so the others didn’t see and so she had no idea that my family crest was even now being imprinted on her skin for all the world to see.
It didn’t matter much to me who saw it right now, what mattered was that with that mark, there was nowhere in the universe she could go without my tailing her and dragging her back to my side where she belongs.
The last I heard before my eyes closed in slumber was the bird warning her to be careful. I knocked his ass off his perch for the heck of it and he had a hell of a time trying to explain to her what had happened after I warned his ass again about sticking his nose in my shit.
I licked the mark on her neck for good measure before dropping off into sleep and felt her body heat up. Serves her ass right for being a ninny. Wait…you’re sending your woman out in the world with her pussy in heat?
Shit, fuck, asshole…the sun was up, there’s no way I could go after her now. Not unless I wanted to unleash my dragon as I’m sure the combination of sexual need, the sun, and her ass in heat would be just the perfect mix of fuckery needed for me to spaz the fuck out in the earthly realm.
Natalia
It was a good plan, if it had worked. I didn’t want to get everyone in trouble and since I didn’t know how he or his royal family would react it had been decided that I wouldn’t go back to the valley my people call home. My sisters refused to leave me as we headed out of town, though I was a bit skeptical of them staying.
All was going well except for the doubts in my mind that had plagued me all night and well into the day. The plan was to skip school, and head out of town. I knew his kind didn’t move very easily during sunlight hours so we waited until noon to head out.
We didn’t think too much about where we were going, didn’t communicate verbally for fear of being overheard, but relied more on hand signals and sign language. Patrick has been unusually quiet for him, which was a relief because before he went silent he seemed to think we were making a big mistake not heading to our immortal realm. Something that only panicked the others even more.
We were heading for the outskirts of town and from there the map was open on the console between Phoebe and I as I drove. I was battling guilt and uncertainty that made my tummy ache as I put my foot on the gas heading hard in the opposite direction away from him. I didn’t find it odd that there was no interference from him. I still believed that my shielding skills were up to par.
But I started second-guessing everything when we reached the edge of the city and a force field stopped me in my tracks. If I’d been walking I would’ve fallen flat on my ass, but as it was, the car just stopped and refused to move. It didn’t stall, it stopped. Like someone had snatched the key from the ignition mid drive.
I knew it wasn’t mechanical failure, I could feel the change all around us….