Page 19 of Forced Vampire Mate

“Whenever they were asked about it, they always looked… blissed out,” I said stiffly. Remembering how orgasmic my own experience was, I could understand that. “But what I never could figure out is if you bedded them or not.”

“Ah. I see.” Luken picked up our fire-stirring stick and moved the burning branches a little.

I sighed heavily. “Well? Did you?”

“No. Consent is important to me, Elara. And in that situation, how could I be certain they really wanted it?” He folded his arms over his chest, staring into the flames. “You’re the only one I slept with after drinking from. I was so caught up in the joy of finally having you with me that I forgot my reasons for waiting. And I’m sorry for that.”

I gaped at him. “Sorry?”

Luken turned to me. His eyes were alien, but the determination in them was so wholly Luken that it took my breath away. My mind spun around his words. Did his whole ‘until you beg for it’ come from a place of regret? I thought it was a power thing, a way to prove to me that he owned me bodily, that I couldn’t resist him for any real length of time. Had I been wrong?

“I’ve waited so long for you, Elara. I was looking for you before I ever met you,” he murmured. “And once I saw you, there were no others. That day, I was overwhelmed by how much I needed you. I thought you felt the same way.”

“You regret our first time?” My heart stung unexpectedly. Even for how fucked up everything was, how betrayed I felt by him afterward, I didn’t want him toregretit.

Luken sighed, still not looking at me. “Like at the springs. I took things too far. I always seem to lose sight, and I… I’m sorry for hurting you.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and looked up through the trees to the distant stars. “You once asked me if I could go back and change things, would I have still slept with you. At the time, I wasn’t sure what my answer was.”

“So you do regret sleeping with me,” he murmured.

“No. And that’s the awful part. If I could regret it, then things would be much easier. I felt so…safe. I’d never felt that safe. I don’t feel safe with you anymore.”

He flinched as though I had struck him.

A tear dripped down my cheek. “But I don’t regret it.”

A weight lifted off my shoulders at the words. It was true. Despite how fucked up this thing between us was, I didn’t regret giving him my body, my virginity. I hesitated, wondering if I should open the bond enough for him to know my words were true. But that felt like too much. Too intimate. I might not regret what passed between us, but that didn’t mean I had to invite more.

“And as for the hot springs… I told you to stop because I didn’t understand what you meant when you said you wanted to ‘taste’ me,” I confessed. Heat rushed to my cheeks, and I hunched my shoulders. I might as well get it all out, right? “I thought you were going to drink from me. If I’d known you meant eating me out, I would have told you to keep going.”

There was a moment of silence, then Luken laughed. His posture relaxed as he turned to me, his expression amused and incredulous all at once. “Is that so?”

“It is,” I groaned, hiding my face.

“So if I offered to eat you out right now…?” Luken’s voice grew husky.

I lifted my head to glare at him. “Now is different.”

He laughed again, throwing his head back as he did. It made his hair tumble down in a most distracting way. “Ah, I see. Because you know my cock is better, is that why it’s different?”

I wanted to keep glaring at him, but seeing him so light did things to me. Some of my own tension loosened, and I giggled as well. How easy it was to clear up misunderstandings with a simple conversation.

Would it help with more serious topics of conversation?

Before I could make up my mind, a terrible howl pierced the night. I jumped to my feet, my hands wrapped around my staff. The forest was dark and still, but it must be signaling an attack. Luken was on his feet next to me in an instant. He drew his sword, which was hidden in his walking stick, and listened. The howl came again before it was suddenly cut out.

“There’s magic in the air,” he murmured. He closed his eyes and I felt a stirring, a tugging on the bond. I held it down tightly, but Luken wasn’t searching the bond. After a moment, he groaned. “Ahhh.”

“What’s happening?” More howls rang through the air, making me shudder.

Luken ran a hand through his hair. “The shifter village we were heading to is under attack. I recognize the taste of the magic. Orc hunters. We’ll have to find another way into the city.”

“Orc hunters?” I repeated. “What are they doing? I thought this was shifter territory.”

“Warlocks that specialize in violent magic.” Luken sat by the fire again. “This territory has been under conflict for generations. Both sides raid the other, pillaging, burning, and stealing women and children. Sometimes, they’re traded back to the other side for those women and children. More often than not, they end up sold.”

Horror swept through me. How could he be so blasé about it? “Slavery is illegal.”

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