Page 32 of Sound
“Mine!” I have no doubt my brothers hear me all the way down in the living room when I roar in her face. “It makes you mine.”
“So you won’t make me lay eggs and have bat babies?” Her eyebrows are all the way to her hairline and I can see that she truly believes the nonsense she is saying.
I laugh.
Until a pillow sails through the air and hits me in the head.
“Don’t laugh, you jerk. I’m not laying eggs!” Another pillow follows, this one bouncing right off my face. “And I’m not an object. I don’t belong to anyone but myself.”
“Ah, you see, that’s where you are wrong, ma petite.” Her frown only makes my smile grow. “Vampires don’t lay eggs because we are not chickens.” If looks could kill, I would be ashes at the moment. “But don’t ever fool yourself into believing that you are not mine. You were born for me, and I will destroy this world if anyone tries to take you away. Do you understand me?”
She stubbornly clams her full mouth shut, shooting daggers at me with her scowl. After I assure myself that she will not move, I step away from the bed, striding to the liquor bar I thankfully have in my rooms. With the conversation I’m about to have with my mate, I’ll need a hell of a lot more than a bottle of vino. Snatching a glass, I pour myself three fingers of straight scotch and down it like a shot before refilling the glass. Turning back to face her, I lean back on the bar only to see my mate eyeing me warily.
“That’s not blood.” She points at the scotch unnecessarily.
“It’s scotch.” Lifting the glass in a salute, I take a sip of it and let the alcohol burn down my throat while I try to gain a little control so I don’t ravish her like a beast. “Would you like some, mon amour?” I realize my mistake when her face blanches. The magic user was forcing her to drink so she could drug her and keep her compliant. “You can have my glass if you wish.”
“No, thank you.” It kills me to see doubt in her eyes, to know she doesn’t trust me. How did things go so wrong?
Fucking Lucien. I should’ve brought her here first before dealing with my brothers. As much as they mingle with humans, you’d think they’d have more tact. My fingers rub at my forehead while I try to choose the right words to explain things to her. The problem is, I have no idea where to start. I needn’t have worried because she decides for me.
“Am I a prisoner?” The sun burning my skin not long ago didn’t hurt as much as her question.
“No! Never, Melody.” Pushing off the bar, I start to move toward her, but she stiffens and I plop my ass back on it. “Being a mate is not you being a prisoner. Remember the bond I told you about before I marked you?” It takes a long time before she nods, and when she does it’s barely a tip of her head. “I cannot forge a bond with just anyone like that. Not unless they were meant for me. We only have one mate, and most of us never find the second part of our soul.”
“You are talking about soulmates?” I must’ve said something right because her shoulders relax, and she leans forward as if eager to hear my answer. “Like when you meet someone and you just click as if you’ve known them your whole life? That’s a mate?”
“In a way … I suppose that can be a part of it, yes.” Judging her reaction over the rim of my glass, I take a longer sip to bide my time. “However, for my kind it’s little more than that.”
“Like?” Eyes narrowed, my mate watches me like a hawk.
“Now that I have found you and tasted your sweet blood, there will be no other for me.” She shivers at my words, and it takes everything in me not to pounce on her. “Not for as long as I’m alive.”
“No divorce for vampires, huh?” Her attempt at a lighthearted joke is ruined by the thick swallow that follows.
“Not when we find our mate, no.” I still answer regardless of her humor.
“Is this because of what Seraphina said, that I’m a descendant of a god?”
“It could be.” Knowing it will be some time before I can get close to her and touch her again, I cross one ankle over the other to get more comfortable for the long conversation ahead. “We are born, not made, and we are long lived. It would be a cruel punishment from the fates to give us a human mate. You being a demigod actually explains how we can be mates. But not why. You are my mate because you are perfect for me.”
“You are my mate, too?” Tilting her head to the side, she curls her legs under her, getting more comfortable as well. My heart swells seeing her like that on my bed.
“Can you imagine another male touching you? Kissing your sweet lips? Filling your body with his own?” With each question, I hear her heartbeat speed up, the scent of her arousal saturating the air in the room. “Tell me, Melody. Can you allow another male to sink his cock inside you and fill you up?” Despite all the tells she involuntarily offers through the reaction of her body, I hold my breath waiting for her answer.
I should’ve known better.
My mate is a feisty little thing, and she will make me work for every little thing she gives me. The bar cracks under my tight grip when she smiles sweetly at me and speaks the worst thing you can say to a male like me.
“And what if I can? What are you going to do about it?”
The hard thump of my heart against the breastbone curls the corners of my lips up and the smile grows when I watch her shiver when she sees it.
26
Melody
Idon’t know why, but the need to piss him off is stronger than my will to keep breathing, at least if I judge by the way the wood cracks when Étienne’s hand tightens around it. My heart somersaults at the smirk and the feral look in his blue eyes, but deep down some alien part of me rejoices at the reaction. With bated breaths, I watch him lower the glass gently on the bar, but when he swaggers toward me, I jump off the bed with a scream.
