Page 103 of His True Beloved

“It would make it a hell of a lot easier! I’d forget the other stuff and concentrate on them. Wait.” I rubbed my forehead. “Are you trying to say?” Sebastian gripped my hands, pulling them to his lips as he kissed them. “Bella, they are alive. At least they were alive when he sold them.”

“Sold them!?” I screeched. “What kind of monster is this prick? I hope he’s dead. Is he dead?” I furrowed my brows, grabbing Sebastian by his dress shirt. Two of the buttons flew off and bounced on the marble floor.

Whoopsie, I’m all strong now.

“I’m trying to be patient here.” Sebastian scowled playfully. “Do you realize how many shirts have been ruined since coming to have you?” He pulled my fingers away and pulled me into a hug. “What am I going to do with you?” He chuckled.

Shrugging my shoulders, I tickled his back with my claws. Making extra sure that I didn’t rip up his shirt. “Tell me more,” I whispered, burying my face in his chest.

“Now, we aren’t sure what happened to them, but the assassin said he will find them. Part of some moral code or something,” he muttered. “We know your siblings were sold to vampire nobles, meaning they are probably in Bergarian.”

“But the portal is closed now,” I whispered. “The war?”

“Yes, but we hope for it to be over soon, and when that time comes, the assassin will travel with us when we are called upon. Until then, we will have to sit tight, my little fangling.”

Sebastian

Her soul ached.

I felt every part of her breaking inside. Once she became more in tune with the bond, she would then be able to feel the fury that hovered in mine one day.

The assassin had quickly returned down the stairs as Rowan and I contemplated our next moves to find the incubus, only to find he was in my beloved’s room. I wanted to storm in and destroy the bastard with my claws, but we had to be careful. The assassin was not all worried about the incubus hurting Christine. Now that she was bonded, he couldn’t do much, and an incubus wasn’t one for violence.

The assassin and I went around the coven house, sliding into the window undetected by Christine, but the incubus knew. He knew exactly where we were, even taking subtle glances where I hid in the shadows behind my beloved.

He knew he had lost now that Christine was bonded. The clear changing of his body into his true form gave that away immediately. Ir’ak had surrendered, knowing he couldn’t break a bond. He just needed to say what he needed to, and I knew Christine needed her peace.

I wouldn’t be able to live it down, not giving her this chance to clear the air. My claws stayed extended, ready to swipe the bastard if he stepped closer. He was beyond help, and his sick, twisted ways would have him sent back to the Underworld.

It was where he belonged, where his kind belonged. No incubus could truly know love unless the goddess had given them mates, which I highly doubted.

Who would want to give love to a sexual being such as him?

***

The next morning, which was a brief cry from when we had finally fallen asleep, was spent in bed. Christine was both exhausted in the physical and mental sense, and I wasn’t about to leave her.

My stomach was turning in on itself. Trying to keep my hungry pain to a minimum was getting to be hard to hide. “Sebastian?”

So much for that.

“Shh, it’s all right, go back to sleep,” I whispered in her ear. She had curled herself on top of my body, her hair covering my bare chest and her legs wrapped around my torso. My hands continued to rub up and down her back, trying to soothe her back to sleep, but that fell short as well as my stomach growled.

Christine giggled, her hands rubbing up my torso until she hung from my neck. “Are you hungry?” The blue and red glint in her eye sparkled. She looked more like herself, despite the turmoil she had experienced just a few hours ago.

“I’m all right. I can go hunt later. I want you to sleep now,” I urged her to put her head back down, but she forced herself up on my chest with her hands.

“We feed off each other. Why would you go hunt?” she demanded. “And who said I wasn’t hungry too?” I raised a brow in confusion. Christine ate so much yesterday that she could very well hold off until this evening. Reading my emotions, she laughed, slapping my chest.

“I’m talking about hungry for something else.” She tickled my chest. “Something that will help us both?” She wiggled her brows. Seeing the worry strip away from her, my arms pulled her in close, and her lips brushed my cheek until she landed on my mouth. Her soft lips brushed my own, and her tongue sneaked its way into my mouth.

If she was so adamant about feeding me and I pleasing her, then hell, who was I to argue?

Chapter 42

Sebastian

Christinesatonherknees, her night silk nightgown tickling her skin down to mid-thigh. The silk draped down her body, her nipples already hardened. A chill ran down her spine as my hands traced the cover that hid her delectable body.

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