Page 51 of All for the Beast

Katy pulled away from him, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. There was only one thing left to say, and V knew it as well as he knew the sound of the pink crashing shores.

He met her eyes for what he thought would be the last time. He wanted to rip out his insides and lay them out for her, to show her how much he wanted her. Instead, he whispered as softly and as passionately as he could muster.

“I know that I want you, Katy. I want you always and forever. I need you to know that, too. My soul will know that.”

V kissed her again on the forehead, then picked up the blanket. He wrapped it around her shoulders, then turned away.

“I will get my driver to take you back to the inn.”

He went down the hall and into the bathroom before she had the chance to even open her mouth. V leaned on the door and let his own tears run free.

TWENTY-THREE

KATY

Katy stood there, naked and alone, listening to Vharlk stomp down the hallway and into the bathroom. In another world, she would have blamed him. She had told him the truth, the whole truth, and it was as plain as her naked body in the firelight. She was terrified of living a whole new life with the Prince of Siborim.

She shook from the extreme changes in mood, from the comfortable and cozy sensuality by the fire to the raw emotions of fear as she rushed toward V’s side. It was clear he wasn’t ready to pretend anymore. He had deep feelings for her, and he wasn’t going to act like they were just some casual fling.

She gripped the blanket wrapped around her body and then heard the sound of the shower being turned on. Katy stood there, frozen with indecision.

She essentially had two options, as obvious as a crossroad at dawn. She could get dressed and go outside, wait for V’s driver the way she had hundreds of times before, and then set off back to the big blue marble in the sky she had called home for three decades.

Or she could proudly waltz into that bathroom, naked as the day she was born, and pronounce her undying dedication to the prince and his way of living.

Both were going to be bold and daring. Katy had done so many bold and daring things in her lifetime, but somehow, standing there, one half of her body sweating from the fire, the other shivering in fear, she knew this one was going to be the most important decision she would ever make.

Katy rubbed her face hard with one hand, thinking about the time she had spent on the planet and how she felt about Vharlk the minute she met him. He had treated her like a queen even when she had scoffed at him, pushing away the idea of mates out of sheer ignorance. He had listened to her, and he had wooed her, waiting for her to make the first move in their physical relationship, and when she did, it was quite like a bomb had gone off in her very heart, soul, and body.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to center herself. She thought about the cruise liner on Earth, about her parents, and she realized something like a heavy weight dropping from the sky. It was what it was, but it wasn’t anything to run back to. If she went back, she would be returning for one reason, and one reason only … fear of the unknown.

Katy had to be brave. There was a man down the hall who made her feel like a fucking goddess. She felt powerful and sexy and downright magical when she was with him.

What the hell else could she possibly want?

She let the blanket fall off her form and strode down the hallway lit in medieval-style candles that glowed as she passed by swiftly, a ghost in the night, hovering toward the pulsing core of her existence.

Katy walked through Vharlk’s bedroom and pushed open the bathroom door. Steam streamed out in a thick fog, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was lost under the hot water, standing there with his head in his hands, scents of lemon and sage gently perfuming the room. It was only when Katy grabbed the handle of the shower door and threw it open that he realized she was there.

“Katy, please, don’t,” he began, leaning his arms in front of him, his head still leaning under the blast of water. “I can’t do this anymore. I want to be with you, but we can’t keep making love when I know that you’re leaving. Please.”

She had never heard him so defeated, so forlorn. And the fact that she was the source of all that agony made her feel even more dedicated to her conviction.

“Prince Vharlk,” she said, her voice firm and steady. “Look at me.”

The shower was spacious, a luxury experience made of fine black marble. The water came down like a soft waterfall, cascading over V’s mountain of a back like the most majestic oncoming storm.

It took him a moment, but he eventually turned to her. His hair was pushed into his face, the soft baby blue lightning from the mirror casting his eyes in a dark glow. He would have looked menacing if she hadn’t known him as well as she felt she did.

“I’m going to be blunt with you,” Katy said, her voice straining and echoing off the walls. “This all became so much more than I could have ever planned or imagined. I thought I was going to come here and have a good time and have some stories to tell when I got back home.”

V stared at her, his eyes narrowed like a wolf hunting its prey. She went on, the rhythm of her heartbeat the metronome to the intensity of the moment.

“It’s a lot, V, I’m sure you know that. But I want to take that chance with you. I am ready to believe in this dream of yours.”

He remained still, his arms hanging by his sides like a gorilla, staring at her with an even solemn look. It was her turn to take the helm, to assure him she was there to stay. She knew it in her heart, and it blared like an alarm bell. She was meant to be with him. No matter what happens.

Katy stepped forward and stood under the streaming water, and took V by the hands. She pulled him to her, his ripped stomach touching hers, her breasts pressed against his warm skin.

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