10. Cassandra

CHAPTER 10

Cassandra

" Y ou know, you're really quite lucky that no one from the Wrights' bloodline is questioning the sudden disappearance of their first-born son," Mother said, sitting across from me at her favorite little table set up on the balcony of the highest level of the estate.

Like always, the island was beautiful, the sounds of life reaching us even here.

I glanced down to Talon at my side, stroking his fur and trying not to smile so widely at the purr he gave me. "I said no three times," I said to Mother. "Shadow was just doing her duty. Any male stupid enough to not realize that Shadow is a protective animal doesn't deserve to live." I managed to say the words without a hint of remorse, seeing as the vampire in question had intended to have his way with me with no concern for my desire at all.

So completely different than how Talon had had his way with me, which I had enthusiastically consented to.

And would absolutely do so again.

Then. Now. Anytime in the future.

A bolt of worry zapped down the center of me, concern flooding my instincts as I agonized over just how damn good it had been between us.

Did that mean something more?

Did all the little details that'd been hanging me up and taking residence inside my heart lately mean something more?

Or was it simply the fact that we were on this mission together, locked in an estate we both hated, unable to get away from each other and sharing blood on top of it? I'd been so used to rejection, I wasn't sure what acceptance or true desire actually felt like.

"Still," Mother said, her eyes falling to where Talon had his head in my lap, me stroking him in long, lazy waves. "It could've been quite the scandal, especially if it was a worthwhile match," she said with more emphasis.

I held her gaze for a few moments before realizing she was waiting for me to respond with the correct answer.

"Of course I wouldn't have said no to a proper match," I said, the words tasting bitter in my mouth. I had no intention of saying yes to anyone except for the panther that was purring in my lap, nuzzling me in a way that was incredibly suggestive. In a way my actual panther would never do.

It was making it incredibly hard to concentrate.

I shifted in my seat, and Talon blew out of breath that sounded a lot like a huff as he shifted lower, sprawling out at my feet beneath the table, his tail switching back and forth over my bare legs thanks to the short sun dress I wore. The island really was so gods-awfully hot, even at night.

That's why I took Talon to my father's secret rendezvous spot, knowing a delightfully cool dip in the crisp water was exactly what the two of us needed. Had I known that little endeavor would lead us to where it did, I likely would have taken him day one.

Yeah, he was that fucking good.

Maybe it was just because he was a thousand-year-old Viking hunter vampire who had enough experience to know how to make my body sing. Maybe that's all it came down to. I didn't care. It'd felt good to be consumed by someone enough that I forgot anything else existed outside of us.

Even now, I wanted to go back. I wanted to run to that warded-off section of paradise, taking Talon with me and never looking back.

I wanted to lose myself in that moment forever. I didn't even feel bad for wanting that.

One, because I knew it would never happen, and two, because I knew I was more afraid of the unknown than I was of indulging myself in ridiculous little fantasies. Because when we did finish this mission and made our way back to the king's residence, who would we be to each other then?

Friends didn't seem accurate, especially because I didn't even know if we were friends now.

Would he go back to sending vicious little barbs my way every time he saw me at evening repast? Would he withdraw every gentle or claiming touch he'd giving me since we got here?

I hated thinking about it. So I forced it out of my mind and did my best to focus on my mother.

"Do you even know who a proper match would be?" she asked, sipping from her third glass of blood.

I'd only been able to manage a few swallows of the glass she'd poured me, something about it tasting so dreadfully awful compared to drinking Talon's.

"Perhaps you could enlighten me," I said, and she flashed me a warning look at the little slip in attitude.

"I have my ideas," she said. "But you know, as our traditions go, the head male has final say over that pairing."

Hope flared in my chest at her opening the door for discussion about Edward, but I tried to remain as calm as I could on the outside. "How is my dear brother?" I asked. "I expected to see him by now, and yet, we haven't heard a peep."

"He's incredibly busy, like I've told you," she said, waving me off. "You know how many things your father had his hands in. He has enormous shoes to fill."

"Clearly," I said, tapping the edge of my crystal goblet. "Seeing as how I was abandoned at court and left to face the punishment for the crimes of my father."

"Watch your tongue," Mother snapped, her voice laced with fire.

My entire body reacted to that tone, my soul wilting a bit, the young vampire inside of me terrified of being thrown in a closet.

I would never allow her to do that to me again, but apparently muscle memory was a real fucking thing.

"Besides," she continued, lifting her chin in the air just slightly in that pompous way she'd mastered centuries ago. "We knew that weak, pathetic king would never do anything to you. He doesn't have the killer instinct that the kings of old did. Hence, why we've had to take up allegiance through other, more like-minded people."

"People," I said, lingering on that word.

Not vampires. Not creatures. Hell, not even witches. She'd said people. The Sons of Honor, no doubt, but it was clear she couldn't even find the will to say their name out loud.

A new form of disgust rose up inside me, her little slips of tongue doing enough to confirm what I had suspected about my eldest brother. Edward truly was working with them like Father had been, the same band of humans who were using weapons against us in order to try to eradicate our species. They'd already killed so many humans who even had a quarter of supernatural blood in them. I'd been working diligently with the king and his assassins on trying to stop that, seeing as my little gift of sensing supernatural blood was helpful.

"The king only offered me mercy because I assured him I didn't condone the actions of my father," I said. "Had he suspected for a second that I did, his assassins would've eliminated me."

"I doubt that," Mother said, chuckling softly. "But I do have a question," she continued, looking at me skeptically. "How was it that you managed to convince the lie detector that you were innocent?"

My blood ran cold. I had hoped she'd never ask me that. Because she knew what Benedict was, the king's personal brand of lie detector, and she had to know that Alek would have used him to test my allegiance.

I straightened in my seat, smiling deceptively at her. "I know a few witches," I said, and relished in the fact that it was the truth.

Jocelyn may not might be my BFF, but she liked me well enough that if my mother went digging, there would be confirmation that I spent time in witch territory.

"She owed me a solid," I continued. "Gave me a little spell before my questioning. It made sure that no lies showed up on Benedict's skin."

"Benedict," my mother latched on to the familiar way I spoke the assassin's name. "Interesting."

"Would you rather I had not sought out a witch?" I fired her way. "You sound almost disappointed that I wasn't caught."

"Oh no, of course not, darling," she said. "I am quite happy you are alive and well, just a curious situation is all. You must understand things have been so dreadfully dull since your father died."

"Indeed," I said.

Part of me believed her, but the other part knew it was more likely that she would've delighted in me getting caught and tortured. Too bad for her, she didn't know there was no witch spell needed. I'd spoken nothing but truth to Benedict and Alek and every other vampire in his inner circle in regards to my allegiance to them.

Talon must have felt that fierce declaration down the connection radiating between us, because he twitched that tail of his, curling it around my calf, up and down in a way that had me thinking about anything but politics.

"We shall ask Edward once he returns here," she said. "Shall we? I'm sure that he'd be open to my suggestions for a proper pairing for you," she continued.

Talon continued his teasing, that tail getting dangerously close to an aching part of me between my thighs before it would snake back down my leg in the softest of caresses.

"I'm sure you're just as ready as I am for you to be married."

That was sobering enough to shake me out of the need pulsing through my blood.

"Seeing how it's highly unlikely you'll ever be mated," she said. "We've tested enough hands on your skin that it's improbable that any of the worthy males would actually be linked to you through the fates." She gave a heavy sigh, shaking her head as she looked me over. "And to think, you were such a fine specimen. I'm not sure why the fates wanted you to spend your life mateless. There must be some sort of defect within you. But arranging a marriage can be just as effective."

Shame and rejection and pain curled my insides.

Talon's tail fell to my ankle, as if he felt every emotion hit me one by one.

Memories assaulted my mind, embarrassing and violating memories that I'd tried my best to bury.

I managed to wait fifteen minutes before I came up with an excuse and retired to my bedroom.

I locked the door the minute Talon cleared it, but I didn't wait for him to shift as I rushed to the bathroom and locked that door behind me. Two traitorous tears slid down my cheeks, and I swiped at them with the back of my arm.

I needed to get a hold of myself. Needed to not let that vile, wretched vampire who called herself my mother get to me.

"Cassandra," Talon called for me from the other side of the door. "Open the door."

I blew out a breath and slowly opened the door, shrugging as I watched him take in the tears on my cheeks.

"Tell me about it," he said, stepping closer and cupping my cheeks. "Tell me about what you were thinking right after she said the mate thing."

I sucked in a sharp breath, the memories threatening to swallow me whole. "I've never told anyone before," I said as if that would be answer enough.

"Tell me," he said, catching my gaze. "Please?"

The way he said please cracked something open inside of me, and I sighed, shifting myself away from him, walking past him and sitting in one of the chairs we had shoved against the wall in my sitting area.

He followed me, sitting on the couch that was shoved next to it.

"The day I came of age, my parents hosted a ball," I said, speaking the words out loud but seeing the memory play behind my eyes as if it'd been yesterday. "They talked about the event for months. Built it up as this incredible celebration of me entering the last stage of my life in vampirism. I had the finest custom-made silk dress. Although there wasn't much to the fabric, I didn't question my mother's direction when she helped construct the gown. I wore it proudly, delighting in the way it made my adult body look."

"Every prestigious vampire had been invited to the ball, and no one dared deny the invitation. Not even the king himself. He arrived graciously and politely with his band of assassins, and I remember thinking how wonderful things must be at court because they all looked so happy. I foolishly thought that coming of age meant my parents would finally love and accept me, that I would finally have earned their respect. Having the hope cut out of you for a century can turn you into a pathetic creature," I continued, shaking my head.

Talon remained silent by my side, his eyes intently on me as I continued.

"The king had been kind enough to take my hand and plant a kiss on the back of it, my parents watching with greedy eyes the entire time. I thought they were interested in whatever mutual friendship that might arise from it. I didn't know they were looking for something specific.

"The party was everything my parents had promised—extravagant and luxurious—and it absolutely made me feel like royalty. I felt like I'd finally done whatever mystical thing I needed to do to be accepted in this family, to be a real Zorin.

"But as the dawn drew near, I noticed the only guests who remained at the party were some of the most powerful families that I'd been forced to learn the histories of from a young age. And not the entire families, just the males. The sons of prestigious heads of households.

My mother had examined the hand that Alek had kissed, almost with a microscopic air about it. I didn't understand the disappointment in her eyes, or the hope as she shoved me into the study, where all of those males had been gathered."

My heart clenched at the memory, at the way they had all filled the room and sucked the air out of it. "It was the first time I'd felt like that youngling again, trapped in the Night Thistle closet. And it wasn't until they all started touching me, at my father's behest, that I begged to be put back in the closet."

Tears streaked down my cheeks, the memory sweeping over me and making me feel wretched all over again. "They were testing me," I said. "They were letting every male touch me on various places of my body, the very reason my dress had been so inappropriate that night. They took turns, each one hoping their mating mark would grace the skin of the only Zorin daughter.

"I begged them to stop. I begged my father and mother to make them stop, but they didn't. And by the time dawn broke over the horizon, I was hollow on the inside, scraped raw and violated. But on the outside, I had nothing but completely smooth skin. Not a mark in sight. The scars I had were invisible and have never healed completely."

A low, threatening growl poured from Talon, and I wiped the tears off my face. Did my best to shrug. "That's the day they decided I wasn't worth much to them. And years later, my mother would hold me down while my father tattooed Alek's mating mark upon my skin, claiming that if he hadn't found a mate by then, he likely wasn't going to, and that I could play the part well enough. That if I didn't, he would delight in killing my favorite brother, Warrick."

I blew out a breath, the admission setting something free in my chest as I met Talon's eyes. They were wide with shock and disbelief.

"It really was a relief when Lyric came along. The fact that Alek found his true mate freed me from the role that I'd been forced to play, and I was genuinely happy he ended up with who he was supposed to. I'd had to keep up the facade for a little while, enough to convince my parents so they wouldn't hurt Warrick, but finally, they let it go once she became our vampire queen. Warrick has no idea. No one does. I've never told anybody."

"Cassandra," Talon said my name with such an exquisite amount of remorse that it made a knot form in my throat.

"Don't do that," I snapped. "I don't want you to pity me. You asked. I told. Where is my cruel, Viking hunter now?"

"Cassandra," he said even softer, and more tears gathered in my eyes.

I rose from the chair, ready to stomp back to the bathroom before showing him one more ounce of weaknesses, but he grabbed my wrist, stopping me, pulling me into his lap so that I straddled him.

"I grew up in archaic times," he said, shaking his head as he gently smoothed his hands up and down my arms.

There was nothing sexual about it, nothing but comfort. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

"But even by those terms that…what they did to you, is horrendous."

I shrugged again. "It'd be easier if you agreed with them," I said. "Easier if you kept up your original disdain toward me. I'm used to that, Talon. I'm so used to having people reject me, hate me, judge me, and use me. But this?" I motioned between the small space that resided between his chest and mine. "I don't understand this."

"I don't either," he admitted. "But I know one thing for certain, you didn't deserve that. And you are worthy of a mate. Maybe he's out there, you just haven't found him yet."

Those treacherous tears rolled over my eyes, and he reached up to swipe them away. "I gave up any hope of finding a mate that night. They killed something inside of me. Killed any notions of the fairy tale."

"I thought it was a silly fairy tale too," he said. "But I've seen my brothers go through it—" He cut himself off, and I tilted my head.

"I thought only Ajax had a mate?"

"Not my story to tell," he said.

"Fine," I said. "I respect that. So, what?" I asked. "You're a believer in fairy tales now?"

He laughed and shook his head, the delightful sound breaking the tension. He smoothed some of my long hair away from my neck, his fingers lingering and raising warm chills down my spine. "Stranger things have happened," he said. "Look at us. We hated each other when we arrived on this island and now..."

"I still hate you," I whispered the words, and his smile deepened, reading it for the lie it was.

He drew me closer, and my heart thudded in my chest, anticipation bubbling inside me as his lips inched closer to mine.

"Sure you do," he said. "At least we don't want to kill each other anymore."

I forced out a laugh, my fangs punching out. "Speak for yourself," I teased, and rocked against him, gasping when I felt him hard beneath me.

His fangs snapped out and he bared them at me, hissing as I rolled my hips again.

"Do your worst, little viper," he challenged, lust churning in those blue eyes of his.

I grinned at his delightful distraction and kissed him hard before hopping off of his lap and falling to my knees before him. He didn't say a word as I yanked his sweatpants down and off of his body, his beautifully large cock springing free at the move.

Without preamble I sucked him into my mouth, moaning at the taste of him, which was both savory and sweet at the same time.

"Fuck," he groaned, his hips thrusting off of the couch, his cock sliding even farther down my throat. A warm shock of delight and power rippled through me at the move, at the way his fingers tangled in my hair as I bobbed up and down, licking and sucking and gripping him until his thighs clenched.

"Fuck," he groaned again. "I've dreamed about those pretty red lips around my cock."

I flickered my eyes up to his, continuing with my relentless pace of devouring him, shifting my thighs together from the ache pulsing there.

He tugged on my hair, lifting me up until I was back on his lap again, tearing the lace covering me with one delicate move so I had nothing on beneath the dress that flared around us as I situated myself on top of him.

We came together quickly, our bodies snapping together like magnets. I shivered in delight, sighing as he filled me, thrusting into me as I sank atop him.

Over and over again, we clung to each other.

We devoured each other.

We crashed against each other like the waves outside, relentless and infinite.

I slammed my mouth over his, relishing the way his tongue danced with mine, the way my heart raced at speeds it never had before, at the way my body buzzed for him.

"Talon," I whimpered his name, breaking our kiss to catch his gaze as he shifted me on the couch, my spine kissing the cushions as he continued to pump inside me. "Gods, Talon." I could articulate nothing else, especially not when he pushed my knee up further, allowing himself to fuck me at a deeper angle, hitting all those delicious, white-hot knots.

I looked up at him, drinking in his powerful body, the crystal blue of his eyes, the golden blond of his hair, the sharp features signature to his Viking heritage, and couldn't believe that I was in his arms. That I was the one he was with, even if it was only in this moment.

I felt his muscles tense just as my body clenched around his, both of our releases bursting from us in unison as if every single inch of us was in sync.

I turned my head, sinking my fangs into the forearm that was braced near my mouth, and he bent down to bite me just above my left breast. He continued pumping, driving us from one orgasm right into the next session.

And after I drank my fill, practically drunk off of his blood, my entire body vibrating from the power in it, I clenched my hips and flipped our positions, riding him until the dawn broke the sky and we were limp with exhaustion from indulging in each other so much.

When we made our way to my bed to rest for the day, I couldn't take my eyes off him, even as he fell asleep. He was truly glorious, and I was quite certain that I would never ever have it so good as him again.