Page 61 of The Demon's Discovery
“It was a busy morning.” He handed me a plate but continued to stare instead of picking up his own food. “I’m sure you have questions.”
I set my plate down on his low coffee table. “I do.” I started simple. “What was she talking about in regard to Belmont? That you could help with the paperwork?”
Vassago smiled. “My brother Tap is in charge of recording and monitoring all familiar bonds.”
“Familiars?”
“Yes, animals devoted to mages and such. I’m assuming that Belmont asked to be yours. Or something along those lines.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but that certainly wasn’t it. “Do I have to do anything? I’ve said it several times today, but it bears repeating. I’m not a mage.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think that matters for what fate has planned for you. As for the bird, I honestly have no idea. Pretty sure Ophelia’s going to do the formal paperwork part, and I just have to pass it along.”
“I see.” I didn’t really, but it was pointless to speculate how we were going to cross a bridge we hadn’t yet arrived at. I pushed around some of the food on my plate, my stomach empty but also knotted.
“Ask your question, Greta. I can see you thinking it. I’ll answer as well as I’m able.”
I took in a breath, willing myself to be brave. “What exactly did she mean when she said you were my mate?”
“It means I am getting a tremendous gift.” He settled back in his chair. “A mate is one’s perfect match, in theory. My brother and his wife are mated, Magnus and Grace as well, to some degree. I never envisioned that kind of future for myself, to be honest.” He smiled, an introspective private kind of tilt to his lips. “But you will always have a choice. If you don’t want this, want me, then I will find a way to accept that. And the more you learn about me, the more you may hesitate.”
I tilted my head. “Why would you think I wouldn’t want it? Or you?”
He reached out and took one of my hands in his, tracing the lines in my palm with a fingertip, mouth pulled into a sullen frown. “You know what evil I’m capable of, Dragonfly. You’ve seen it. Been frightened of it. Of me. And rightfully so.” His eyes squeezed closed and his forehead dropped.
I swallowed, throat suddenly dry. Flashes of moments crossed my mind, a compilation of moments where fear had overridden my sense of who he was. But they were few, and Iknew they were not illustrative of even a tiny fraction of who he was.
“You don’t scare me,” I whispered. “And you had reason to do those things.”
He looked up at me, gaze soft. “And I will likely have such reasons again, at some point.” He cleared his throat, seriousness pulling at his mouth. “You have a choice. Fate isn’t in charge here. If you have hesitations, we will honor them.” He pulled a long silver ribbon from his pocket and laced in through my fingers, the satin sliding smoothly over my skin. Then he wrapped it around both of our wrists, somehow tying it in a perfect bow with just one free hand. “Do you feel the bond, Dragonfly?”
I considered what he might mean. “What does it feel like to you?”
He rubbed at his chest. “A burn here. An ache. It’s worse when I’m far from you or worried. It’s better when you’re close. It was gone altogether for a while last night. After…” He tilted his head.
“After?”
“Yes, Greta.” His eyes sparked with mischief, and he ran his tongue along his teeth as he closed the gap between us, on his knees between my feet once again. Mist swirled lazily around his body, some wisps reaching out and caressing me at what seemed like their own will. He laced his fingers with mine on the hands he’d tied together, holding them over his heart. “After I tasted your essence, both from your neck”—he ran the fingers of his other hand lightly over the spot he’d bitten, eliciting a shiver that somehow traveled from there all the way to my toes—“and from between these incredible legs.”
His eyes slid closed as he ran his free hand along my thigh from knee to hip, and the mist wrapped itself around me like a wide rope. He pulled me toward him with a sudden jerk, bothwith his hand and his mist, forcing my legs wide as I pressed up against his torso. “After I sank deep inside you. After I felt you tremble beneath me in pleasure.”
His hand swept up my spine, fingers tangling in my hair and tugging so that my head fell back, exposing my neck to him. A breath of cool mist wrapped itself around my throat, the slight constriction unexpected but enticing. I felt the fast beat of his heart under the back of my hand as he pressed it into his chest, my skin on his. “After you imbedded yourself undeniably, irrevocably in my soul.After, my darling. Having you so completely has satisfied the bond, if only temporarily.” He pressed his open mouth to the spot he’d bitten, and my pulse jumped under the wet warmth of his tongue, the sting of his quick suck. “I will always recognize those two distinct parts of my life, now. Before you, and after.”
I found myself unable to breathe for a moment as I processed the incendiary words, his touch, the tingle in my scalp. My body responded mightily to them, and I wanted nothing more than to repeat everything he’d mentioned. There was an insistent pulse back in my core thanks to the gleam in his eye and the hint of fangs on his lip. He’d let go of my hair, wrapped his arm around my center, and held me against him as I collected my thoughts.
After another quick suck at my throat, enough to bring the blood toward the surface of my skin but not keep it there, he exhaled a warm breath. I shivered, and a chuckle rumbled in his chest as he placed light kisses all the way up and along my jaw. I felt the mist retreat, missing the way it glided along my skin.
“Do you feel it?” he asked. I was still putting my thoughts back together, tongue not responding to my efforts to speak. “The bond.”
“Yes,” I managed finally. “In my chest too.” It was not an eloquent answer, but it was an accurate one. There’d been an odd sensation beneath my ribs since we first met.
“Thank the stars.” Vassago exhaled as though he’d been holding his breath, worried I might not feel what he was. He leaned in for one thorough, reassuring kiss, then sighed as he undid the ribbon and put it back into his pocket before returning to his seat. “Eat, Dragonfly. Then we need to scour that book for anything that might help you and pack. The sooner we see Lovette about your wings the better.”
I could barely breathe, let alone focus on food, but I did as he asked. I had a feeling I would need the energy too much to argue.
Chapter 26
Vassago
