I can't help but want you.
She jerked in his lap at the words. Wait—-
Sssh.
Zari could feel her cheeks burning up anew even as her body went entirely still the moment she felt both of her Master's hands slid under her sweater.
M-Master—-
His hands trailed up ever so slowly, and her heart slammed against her chest.
P-Please—-
She sucked her breath in hard when she felt his fingers brush against the undersides of her breasts.
Oh God.
Alexandru palmed her breasts with his large, strong hands, and Zari barely managed to swallow her gasp. She quickly pulled the sides of her trench coat close in a futile attempt to conceal her Master's actions, and she had just crossed her arms over her chest when she felt him start kneading and squeezing her already swollen flesh.
Master, please...
Please what, Alexandru asked mockingly. Harder, do you mean?
Zari couldn't speak, with her Master already playing with her breasts more roughly...more forcefully, and oh God, but it just made her feel all the hotter and—-
I can smell you getting wet, pet.
Zari bit back a cry.
Even hear your juices flowing out, soaking your panties.
The words were too much, the images they evoked in her mind making Zari blindly reach down as her nails dug into the hard muscles of his thighs.
M-Master...
She could no longer think, was only conscious of the way he was so expertly playing with her breasts, and when he started rubbing her nipples between his fingers—-
"We're here, folks."
A rather dazed Zari could only blink as the hands under her sweater suddenly disappeared, and she found herself unceremoniously dumped back on the car seat while Alexandru opened the door and stepped out of the cab.
As her Master helped her out, she saw a doorman bow in their direction before going around the car to pay the cab driver, and this turned out to be her first taste of the royal treatment Alexandru received as part of the vampire race's ruling family.
Alexandru kept a possessive grip on her hand as he led her inside what she knew was one of the city's most expensive residential buildings. Its interior was as elegant and palatial as she expected, but what almost had her tripping was all the familiar faces she saw. Just about every well-known otherworlder in the state seemed to be living here, and she could only mentally wince as she thought about what the other trappers would say, once they found out about Zari moving into Alexandru's fancy digs.
Although there were other people inside the elevator, her Master didn't hesitate to pull her close and have her completely leaning against his chest.
Master, Zari found herself pleading again. PDA with humans around were one thing, but PDA in the vicinity of otherworlders whose senses were so many times more acute than humans?
I'm just holding you close, pet.
Zari struggled to resist the urge to stomp on her Master's foot, hard. He might just be holding her close right now, that much was true. But there was also the fact that he was fully aroused, and she was excruciatingly conscious of the feel of his thick, hard cock twitching and throbbing against her ass.
She managed to wait until the last of the other residents stepped out of the lift, but as soon as the doors closed—-
Alexandru smirked when his pet tore out of his hold the moment they were alone.
"You're such a bully," Zari gritted out.
Amused at how easy it still was to rile his pet up, Alexandru spent a moment seriously contemplating on how else he could toy with her. Annoy her more or maybe shake things up a bit?
Mm.
Zari couldn't help feeling wary when she saw her Master's expression turn brooding.
"I'm sorry, pet."
His tone was rather subdued all of a sudden, and her wariness quickly turned into concern. What's wrong, Master?
He deliberately held back from answering and instead stepped out of the lift as soon as the doors opened to their floor. Zari soon caught up with him and looked rather anxious as she tugged on his sleeve. Alexandru?
I'm sorry, he made himself say again. It's the time we've been apart, I suppose. I only make a joke of it so you wouldn't notice anything amiss, but the truth is...there are still times when I have a hard time believing I finally have you back in my life again.
Oh, Master.
His steps slowed, and when he turned to face his pet, the look on her lovely face told him she was just about ready to do anything for him.
But I would never want you to force yourself to bear my touch—-
No, no, Master! You can touch me anywhere anytime-—And to prove this, she quickly reached for his hand and placed it on her breast. "See?" she asked eagerly. "I was...I was joking, too, but I truly always love your touch—-" But then she felt Alexandru trying to gently pull his hand away, and Zari panicked. "I'm serious, Master,” she insisted. "If you want, you can even, um...you can even p-pinch my n-nipples—-" Zari's tongue ended up all twisted by the time she got the last words out. "And I would never..." She stopped speaking.
Because right now, her Master's broad shoulders had started to shake...
Oh my God, he had done it again!
Alexandru threw his head back with a laugh even as he easily avoided Zari's subsequent attempts to kick and knee him.
"BULLY!"
"I'm sorry, my love. I just couldn't resist—-" It was his turn to suddenly stop speaking. "Zari?"
But his pet's eyes had already rolled back, and he had to lunge forward to catch Zari in his arms as her vision sucked her in, and she started to see.
The Truth Always Burns
Chapter Sixteen
ALEXANDRU KEPT A TIGHT leash on his emotions as he carefully lowered a still-unconscious Zari on the couch in his apartment. It always killed him to see his pet like this, and it killed him even more, knowing that he was still powerless to keep her safe while she was lost in one of her visions.
The thought of this happening while she was hunting down some poltergeist or ghost chilled his blood—-
Thank fuck for Elsa and Martin, he found himself thinking while running his gaze over Zari's form, just to make sure that she wasn't suddenly injured or bleeding anywhere. If this were to happen when Alexandru wasn't around to help his pet, he could at least be certain those ghosts would protect her at all costs.
Zari. He tried reaching her through their blood bond, which he had successfully done numerous times in the past. Can you hear me?
He waited tautly for her response, and Alexandru's powerful form grew increasingly rigid with every second that passed in silence. Thanks to demons burning down entire libraries about heartkeeping and soul seer magic, every one of Alexandru's attempts to learn more about how Zari's powers worked had been a frustrating waste of time. What little he knew was based on his own observations of Zari alone, and that much told him the longer Zari remained out of reach, the more dangerous—-
His pet's slender body suddenly jerked.
And then she was crying and choking, her terrified expression like that of a prey being hunted, and when Alexandru reached for her—-
A curse almost slipped past his lips.
Her temper was beyond feverish, her body seemingly burning from within, that the barest touch on her skin nearly scalded him.