Page 35 of Sound
My mate’s screams and moans echo for many more hours through the night. It’s the best music my little Muse could play for me.
28
Melody
Iwatch Étienne’s face as he sleeps next to me, though internally I’m fighting the panic trying to bubble up because I had sex with a vampire and when he bit me something inside me changed fundamentally. His long, thick lashes cast shadows over his high cheekbones, and his kissable lips are slightly parted. Sleep softens his normally controlled features making him so adorable my fingers twitch with the need to touch him. Unable to stop myself, I gently move the few strands of blond hair that fall over his forehead and freeze when his deep, even breathing changes.
Holding my own breath, I wait to see if his eyes will open, but he stays in whatever dreamland he is in right now. The urge to giggle like an idiot is there, and the stupid smile on my face hurts my cheeks. I never knew sex could be so intense or life altering. Everything he said about mates and how I am it for him better be true, because after the night we had I have not an ounce of doubt that he broke me for any other man. I wasn’t even sure my body was capable of so many orgasms in one night.
Delicious soreness left as a reminder of what happened between us tingles on the inside of my thighs, so I shift my legs and pull the covers down, revealing Étienne’s bare shoulders and chest. My eyes roam across every dip and bulge of his muscles, and then his right arm—which is curled around me protectively—tightens to pull me closer to him. Even in his sleep he keeps me close so he can protect me from anything trying to harm me.
The room is dark since the thick heavy drapes are closed over the windows, though a soft light from the handful of tall lamps casts a golden glow on his skin. All the furniture is made of solid, polished wood, carved expertly to look like art pieces rather than something one would use in a bedroom. Earthy tones give it a comforting feel, from the crème colored walls to the light brown upholstery on the ornate chair, which is placed next to a round little table with leather bound tomes of old books that form a small tower on it. Even the candelabra, with one long white candle stuck in it and the wax hardened along its tall body, makes me feel like I’ve stepped into a different time and space.
The second I stepped foot inside his home, I was left gaping at all the opulent things arranged tastefully in every hallway and room. From golden accents on the walls, to the statues and sculptures perched on their own stands, to the paintings sprinkled between them that belong more to a museum than a house, I was left dumbfounded feeling like I stepped through history into some eighteenth century royal court. After the events that transpired at the cursed place where Seraphina held me prisoner, me and my bloody feet, along with my dirty clothes and smudged face, don’t belong here.
I don’t belong here.
Étienne’s arm tugs me closer to his chest and the feel of his skin on mine makes me sigh deeply, all the air exiting my lungs in one long exhale. If I don’t belong here, than why does it feel so right? Why do I have this sense of rightness deep in my soul, this awareness that in his arms is where I was meant to be all along? While his handsome face nuzzles the crook of my neck, my mind wanders off back to everything I learned about myself.
A descendant of a god.
Me.
The girl that barely had any friends, who clutched her violin like a shield against the world until Viola decided to befriend me and refused to go away and leave me alone. The freak everyone used to whisper about in the hallways of the school whenever I passed by.
A demigod.
Unhinged laughter tries to bubble out of me, but I swallow it down because I don’t want to wake Étienne. Goosebumps pebble my skin just thinking of what could’ve happened if I didn’t go with Viola to keep her company when she wanted to see her sister. If I hadn’t been in the club that evening when Étienne came out of nowhere and made me think I was hallucinating when he spoke. I’ve never given fate or destinies much thought, but looking back at events now, everything seems to have been orchestrated to bring me here. I don’t even want to think about what could’ve happened if he never saw me that night. If he didn’t know I existed, would he still have done everything he had to save me when Salmon lured him to the Chalice? Guilt rears its head when I realize I keep calling Alto Salmon like he is just a cat. He is not a cat … far from it actually.
And you are not human either.
Chills spread through my body, numbing me from head to toe when a voice inside my head reminds me of that. Lost in my thoughts, I don’t hear Étienne wake until he speaks, and I have to bite on my lip so I don’t scream when he breaks the silence.
“What has you thinking so hard, little Muse? I can hear the gears turning in that brain of yours in my sleep.” His deep voice is raspy from sleep, and it does all sorts of inappropriate things to my insides. I’m taken aback all over again when I turn to look at him and his lashes flutter before he lazily opens his eyes. I lose myself in the deep blue of his irises. A small smile tilts his lips at my reaction. “I thought I tired you enough to stop fretting, though it would seem I was wrong yet again when it comes to you, little mate.”
“Hey,” is all I can whisper because butterflies are flapping through my stomach due to the way he is looking at me.
“Hey,” Étienne whispers back like his word is some great secret we are sharing. “What has you awake, Melody, when you should be resting? I thought being well pleasured and cleaned up would have you sleeping for days.” That’s when I realize my hair is soft and clean, and so is my body. He must’ve washed me when I passed out in his arms. Becoming more alert, he lifts himself on one elbow and peers down at me anxiously. “Are you hungry? I never stopped to think that you need food.”
As if summoned, my stomach growls so loud it sounds like a hungry bear ready to attack its pray. My face catches on fire from embarrassment. The thought of food didn’t even register until he mentioned it. When his body coils to move, I take hold of the arm he still has around me to keep him next to me.
“Do you think I have some powers now? Apart from my music killing people, do I have other powers after as you say my bloodline woke up?” It’s strange that my fingers are cold while his skin is so warm at the touch.
“What do you need powers for, little Muse?” A line forms between his eyebrows and I smooth it with my thumb.
“You promised that you’d save my friends from Seraphina, remember?” Holding my breath, my hand tightens on him while I wait for his answer. I hope he hasn’t changed his mind because I pissed him off so much with my little tantrum last night.
“I always keep my word, love.” Placing a soft kiss on my lips, he moves away so he can look into my eyes. “We will get them out of there and kill the magic user that hurt you. I swear it on my life.”
“I want to help.” I know the second I speak that I’m going to have to fight him to be involved in the rescue, but I’m nothing if not stubborn. It’s what kept me alive the whole time I was held captive. “I am going to help, Étienne, whether you like it or not. They are my friends, and it’s partly my fault they are in this mess. If I didn’t agree to go to that audition, neither Viola nor Harmony would’ve been there in the first place.”
“You are not going anywhere near that place, Melody. And that’s final.” Throwing the covers off him, he jumps out of bed angrily but I’m finding it hard to remember what we were talking about when his naked body rises next to the bed. “My brothers and I will deal with the witch and save your friends from that cursed place.” Whirling around, whatever he was going to add in his anger trails off and he smirks at my gaping face. “You like what you see, little mate? I can stay naked forever if that will keep you from arguing.”
“I’m drooling, aren’t I?” I stupidly murmur and even wipe my mouth with the back of my hand to check. Yup, drooling. His grin grows, and I shake my head to clear it, dragging my eyes away from his nakedness and back to his handsome face. “No. Don’t you fucking distract me! I’m going. I can stay in the background while the three of you do your thing,” I rush to assure him, but those assurances are only good if he agrees to take me along. “You won’t even know I’m there. Scout’s honor.”
“Fat chance that I won’t know you are there, love.” His gaze turns hungry as he looks me up and down, and that’s when I notice when he stood, the covers slipped. Now they are pooling around my waist, so I snatch them and tuck them under my while I glare at him.
“They won’t come with you if I’m not there, Étienne.” Changing tactics, I try for reason. “They’ve been prisoners just like me. Do you think they’ll follow strange men after what they’ve been through?”
