Page 37 of Pucking Vamps

The shift in his mood happened right at the end. He was his chirpy self, tossing innuendos at me every chance he got right up until we bid Vivian farewell.

I go over the conversation for the millionth time. I don’t think my friend or I said anything that could’ve offended Hayden. Or made him sad or mad with me.

Has he gotten bored then? The days I spent away meant we couldn’t have sex, so maybe he realized it doesn’t have to be me. He can have anyone, and once our arrangement is over after the ball, he will.

I growl, my fangs and claws protruding on their own. My stomach twists, roiling with the idea of it.

Mine.

The scorching realization pulses through me. Hayden is mine. He can’t be someone else’s. No one should be allowed to touch him. To kiss him. To embrace him. To make him smile and laugh in that bright way he does for me.

I growl again, the truth of the matter flooding me like a tidal wave. He. Is. Mine. I am not willing to let him go. I should be, that was our deal. I own him until the ball is over. Then he is free. He returns to his life, and I return to mine, never to cross paths again.

Dread makes my stomach sink. My chest feels too restrictive, my ribcage cutting into my soft tissue. This wasn’t part of the plan. For him to be so perfect. To make my day exciting and my nights sleepless. For him to get under my skin with his filthy mouth and chiming laughter and pretty eyes and charming smiles. For his hockey obsession to have me secretly learning the rules so we could visit the rink together for our next fake date. Just imagining him walking out of my home never to come again has me leaping from the bed like a rampaging beast ready to tear this whole place down.

Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine.

How irritatingly exhilarating that thought is.

My door bangs open, pulling my overexcited attention to it. Hayden is standing there, heaving with his eyes wide and his forehead creased. He scopes the room, zeroing in on the piece of broken vase in my hand. I have no recollection how I got hold of it.

“Is everything okay? I heard you growling and then breaking stuff. I thought… you were being attacked…” he pants, worry and relief mixing on his face into an expression that’s like a balm to my agitated nerves.

I place the ruined vase on the desk and walk over to him. His scent is sharper because of the adrenaline still in his system, irresistible as it wraps itself around me and guides me closer to him. I gather him in my arms and breathe him in, every part of my body singing at the contact.

He doesn’t jerk away like he did in the car. He hugs me back, somehow as desperate for the embrace as I am. So right. So so right. Mine. He’s mine. I can feel it in my bones, in every cell, in every nerve. In his presence, in mine. In the way they complement each other.

This is scary. This is… terrifying and overwhelming, making me feel like I’m on the edge of a building, ready to jump off.

“I am fine. It was just… trouble sleeping,” I lie, not ready to tell him how profoundly he’s affected my world.

His hands stroke my back, his breath hot against the crook of my shoulder and neck as he kisses my skin. “Me, too.”

I kiss his head next, soaking up the heat of his body with every pore of mine. It feels so right. This. It has from the start. The way he slotted into my life so seamlessly as if he’s always been part of it. How didn’t I realize it? What the pull that I felt toward him meant?

I breathe him in again, our mingling scents soothing the violent urges within me. He is mine. The elusive mate that exists only for me even if I didn’t fully believe it. I will not let him go, not tonight, and not when our arrangement is over.

“Sleep with me,” I coax, tucking locks of hair behind his ear as he looks up at me. Those soul-stealing hazel eyes shine with something deep, something I am not privy to, and it pulls at my heartstrings. The need to comfort mounts in me and this time I don’t fight it. I give into it. I embrace it, I make it mine.

“Just sleep?” he asks in a voice that’s quiet and unsure.

I capture his lips in a quick kiss that doesn’t go beyond a gentle flick of our tongues. “Yes. Just sleep.”

He sucks in a deep breath, his entire being melting in my arms. “Yeah. Okay. Just sleep sounds nice.”

I guide him to my bed and tuck him against my chest, feeling that all-encompassing rightness as we fall asleep in each other’s arms just like we’ve been since he moved here. He’s my mate. The one made specifically for me as I am for him. But I must be patient. I must not overwhelm him, because I can feel that he’s not ready to hear it just yet.

Chapter 15

Hayden

Something is different that morning. I don’t know if it’s because we just slept without fucking our brains out, but the floaty feeling that accompanies me during practice and lectures is both pleasant and scary. Just like the lingering feel of Leander’s arm wrapped around me and his soft kisses first thing when we woke up.

I panicked when I heard the commotion coming from Leander’s room, and so I ran there only to find him clutching the vase he’d broken without even realizing what he’d done. I know that he lied to me when I asked him what was wrong, but I had no right to call him out. Not after I did the same in the car.

“Earth to Haydeeeen!” Nick swats me on the arm, shoving a fry in my mouth. “You there?”

We are out with the guys from the team, but even though I’ve been looking forward to it since Park couldn’t come, I’m not really feeling it.

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