Page 49 of Love & Monsters
He snarled and slammed his fist on his desk at something one soldier said, making me jolt and sink into my seat on his right side. The soldier shrank back at the power resonating in Vadric’s growl. Everyone in this dimly lit room had a reasonable mix of respect and fear for their Lord.
Would he allow me to help if I offered it?
“Everyone get out!” Vadric snapped with a wave of his hand.
“We need to talk about when—” Knox stepped forward, forcing Ilya to let go of his arm she’d been clinging to.
“I am done talking. Get out.” His voice went deceptively calm as his eyes went down to the surface of his desk. No one moved a muscle in that tense silence.
“Get out!” He bellowed, leaning over the desk with his face twisted with fury. Everyone bolted for the door. Knox and Ilya lingered the longest, waiting for everyone else to make their way out.
The following tension was painful as Vadric’s irritation fell like a heavy blanket in the air. It glued me to my seat. My fingers curled over the edge of the chair, digging my nails into the wood. My first thought was that I needed to leave with the others. Yet as I watched Knox wrap an arm around Ilya and guide her out of the door, I didn’t think I belonged on either side.
War gave everyone an ugly side, I suppose. My mind raced back to the night of our escape when I witnessed Vadric tear apart the guards on our way out. He brutalized them in a way I’d never witnessed in my life. His body moved with the grace and skill of a wild animal, trained to kill since birth. But even now, he wasn’t evil to me.
Something must be terribly wrong with me. Because seeing his rage and primal side and feeling the fear swelling up in my body was an unholy concoction. It was like my body was learning to become aroused when I was afraid of him.
My urge to leave was still in the lead at first. Ever so slowly, I lifted myself from my seat just out of Vadric’s field of vision. Holding my breath, my eyes never wavered as I watched his shoulders rise and fall with each steadying breath he took. Then the chair scraped on the floor when I stood at my full height and my calf bumped it. The tip of Vadric’s ear twitched at the sound, followed by his head jerking around to stare at me.
“Not you, little one. You, come here.” Vadric held his hand out for me. I thought I might pass out from holding my breath, but for the life of me, I couldn’t inhale. Not with the pressure weighing down on my chest at that moment.
I placed my fingers in his palm, watching his massive hand curl over mine. His midnight blue skin enveloped mine, and heat swarmed through me from his touch. My nipples hardened underneath the dress and my cheeks flushed to witness our size difference.
With ease, Vadric pulled me into his lap. His other hand cradled my head and pressed me against his chest. I could hear the hammering of his heart and each slow, controlled breath he took. Then his fingers ran through the waves of my hair, and I suddenly felt like a kitten being petted by its stressed owner.
I didn’t really mind the analogy. After all, I wanted to help Vadric where I could. If it made him feel better and eased some of his tension to hold me when he was upset, then I’d let him. Besides, I found I enjoyed when he held me. Even though he’d briefly terrified me seconds ago, I couldn’t deny the warm comfort I felt in his lap now.
My life assuredly was a roller coaster.
“How are you feeling, Mina?” I listened to his deep voice rumble through his chest and felt the vibrations in my cheek. I nuzzled my face against him and sighed with a shrug of my shoulders.
“I’m alright I suppose. That was really tense.” I lifted my face, pulling back to look him in the eyes. Vadric pulled a strand of my hair away from my face and carefully tucked it behind my ear. Such a simple action, yet it painted my cheeks red.
“It’ll only get worse from here. Everyone who’s been cooped up here waiting for me is ready to go to battle, but we don’t have the numbers we need yet. There are thousands out there awaiting the signal to rise, but we need to get the word out.” His face fell as his eyes scanned my features. I didn’t like the sorrow he was letting me see.
“I heard you need help keeping track of the numbers.” Here goes my chance to bring up the subject. I need to take it while I can.
“Yes. All my court advisors are back in the city, forced to work for Rykan. By law, they serve whoever holds the throne, so I can’t hate them for it. Though I might like to.” He exhaled while his finger rubbed the curve shell of my ear. “I have no one here to manage the numbers for me, and no one wants to. They want to fight and worry about the rest later.”
I pulled my bottom lip from my teeth to stop anxiously gnawing on it. There was a lead weight in my stomach, but I forced myself over it to speak my mind.
“Well, do you remember me telling you about my job back on Earth?” As soon as I asked, Vadric’s hand fell from my ear to run down my back. He arched his brow as he stared at me, maybe following my train of thought.
“You’re good with numbers.” The corner of his mouth jerked up. The smirk and his claws skimming up and down my spine made shivers dance over my skin.
“Very. I want to help. Everyone sees me as a useless human here, but I know I can help.” My fingers ran over one of the golden buttons on his black vest. “I want to helpyou.”
Vadric didn’t speak as he registered my request, and the way I stressed helping him specifically. His hand stilled on my lower back, and his yellow eyes dilated a fraction as he admired the planes of my face. I liked the softness in his eyes when he looked at me as he did now.
“Of course, you can help me. I’ll show you my documents and the numbers we have.” His hand resumed rubbing up and down my back, but there was a spark of lightning that coursed through me this time. “I truly appreciate that you endeavor to help me, Mina.”
“I might know nothing about war, or what’s going to happen, but I might as well do what I can while I’m here. On Earth, I had a purpose, a role to fill. Maybe I just need that here.” In a way, it felt like moving on. Though not fully recovered from losing my world and my loved ones. It was a start.
“You can do whatever you want here, little one. If you want to run the numbers while I lead a war against my brother, I won’t stop you.” Vadric chuckled, but his claws distracted me by running over my scalp. My breath hitched when his fingers curled in my hair and gently pulled my head back.
“Good, I just really want to help you wherever I can.” My breathing picked up and my fingers spread over his chest. Heat coursed through my veins as the softness in his gaze turned indecent.
I shifted in his lap and felt the hardness of him underneath my bottom. A whimper freed itself from my lips as I ground myself on his growing erection through the layers of our clothes.
