Page 15 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

A lazy smile moved across Hayes’ face and my blood heated in response. “This is your room, right?” I crossed my arms and glared. “Or did you mean here at court?”

“Hayes.”

“Relax, love. I didn’t come to ravish you. I needed to see Cal.” The heat in his eyes said otherwise but I let it slide. For now.

“You’re still following me around?”

“I was with Cal when you texted,” he said, swinging his legs around so that he sat on the edge of my bed rather than sprawled across it. “What’s got you looking so pissy?”

“Other than the unwelcome vampire in my room?”

Hayes pressed a hand to his chest, smirking. “You lie so sweetly. But you forget I know exactly how you’re feeling right now.”

Impressive, considering even I wasn’t sure how I felt. “Get. Out.”

He ignored me, running his eyes down my body like he had the right to, and I bristled. How did he even know I was here anyway? “Cal might be your daddy,” Hayes said, smirking when I scowled, “but he’s been my Guardian for a whole lot longer.”

Of course the mage had ratted me out. “Guardian? As in, parental?” For some reason, the thought turned my stomach. We weren’t related, not even close, but Cal was my dad and Hayes… I turned away so he wouldn’t see the grimace on my face as I marched over to the small desk under the window.

“What? No. Guardian. With a capital. There used to be two mages assigned to the royal family.” To his family, he meant, and the reminder of the lie set my teeth on edge. “Cal is the only one left.”

I made a noise of disinterest and felt the air at my back stir before I felt his hand graze my arm. I twisted, catching it in a vicious grip that I dropped far too quickly when the bond buzzed happily beneath my skin. It may enjoy Hayes’ proximity, but there was nothing I craved less. “I don’t care what your relationship with Cal is. He’s your little bodyguard, so what? I don’t need to know and, frankly, I don’t give a shit anymore.”

Hayes chuckled and I narrowed my eyes as I looked back at him. His hand curved around my throat, holding me there, and the glimpse of his fangs between his parted lips sent a squeeze of unwanted desire through me. “You’re angry that I kept my heritage a secret. So go ahead. Ask me anything. I’m an open book.”

I knocked the hand at my throat to the side and took a step away from him. He was an open book? Too little, too late.

“Eternity is an awful long time to be angry, love.”

“Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you pissed me off,” I snapped and swallowed hard as my bloodlust rose. This was why I didn’t want to see him. I had all the best intentions about restraint when it came to Hayes, but the bond between us and something that was uniquely him kept me off balance. I couldn’t trust myself around him.

I stalked past him, intending on opening my door and ushering him outside before I could do something stupid, like bite him. But as my movement stirred up a very slight breeze, I froze.

An open book my arse. “You smell like blood.”

“Yes, well, I am a vampire.”

I didn’t smile. “And perfume.”

There was still a lot that I was learning about myself since my memories had vanished. Sometimes I dreamed about people I didn’t recognise, places that were familiar but unknown. I wasn’t sure if I was a jealous person, typically, or if it was the bond lighting up my insides with fury, but, as I began to circle Hayes, there was no mistaking the scent of another vampire on him.

The urge to claim, to punish, was hard to ignore and I pushed out small breaths through my mouth, wincing at the taste of this other woman on my tongue.

“Jealous?” he taunted, and I blinked away the red that descended into my vision. “Well, you don’t need to be.”

Well, that was lucky because I wasn’t jealous. I refused to be jealous.

Leonora, his voice purred in my mind and I jolted, the feeling of his consciousness sliding against mine taking the wind out of me. “It was just business.”

“I. Don’t. Care.” I moved forward with each word until those icy eyes were close enough that I could almost see the silver of his wolf behind the irises. “Get out.”

We stared at each other for a second, his rapid heartbeat the only sound in the room, and I relaxed my posture inadvertently as I revelled in the connection.

I made to pull away, turning around so quickly the room blurred, but Hayes’ warm hands caught one arm and spun me back to him, catching me in a kiss that was all-consuming.

For a second, just one, I kissed him back. Biting his bottom lip with a strength that drew blood and sinking my hands into his white-blond hair. He moaned into my mouth and the sound doused the fire licking across my body.

Fine—he wouldn’t leave? Then I would.

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