14. Chara

Chapter 14

Chara

I lean against the headboard, staring at the detailed list of rules and the research spread out before me. Hours and hours of research on humans transitioning into vampires are in neat notes. I've been awake for hours thinking about ways to solidify our relationship that aren't on his list of rules. All while waiting for him to text and let me know that he has made it through the night without getting killed.

I reread the passage that holds my deepest interest, yet my wildest fears.

You will submit to being mine… Ownership.

I slink down in the soft down covers as if they will protect me from my thoughts. I will belong to Master Bistrita, like a pretty possession to own, not the human that I am. Nowhere in the list does it say anything about love. I mean, how could it? Maybe the feelings are all mine; maybe the love word is something only humans need to hear over and over again to feel secure in relationships and in their partners. How can I feel what I feel having known him for barely a moment in time?

Fated mates…

I sigh and give my pillow a few punches before resting my head while contemplating what he's doing at this very moment. The sun will be coming up in a few hours.

Perhaps he's been hurt, had a rough night, is exhausted from hunting the rogues all night and just wants to go to bed without me asking him a gazillion questions about his lifestyle.

I do a quick search in answer to some of my questions, bound and determined to understand why I'm irresistibly drawn to the beast after barely getting to know him at all. Animalistic attraction? If so, maybe we should just go to bed with each other until the desire runs its course. But belong to him? For how long does he want to own me and make me obey all of the detailed rules? And those are only for purposes of giving me a foundational knowledge. He said we would take it slow, create them together. How many more rules are there without love?

I heave out a big sigh, turn off my phone, and try to put my mind at ease and trust in him. That is what he would want, and I do trust him. Odd that I do, but I trust him wholeheartedly to have my best interests in mind. Maybe it's more to do with the fact that he saved me from being torn apart by the wolf and calmed me when I needed it most, than destiny.

Fated mates...

The phrase keeps coming up, every which a way I search. It's not that I haven't heard of fated mates. Who hasn't? But this longing and heart-wrenching ache now that he's not by my side is absolutely crushing my soul. Finally, exhaustion drags me under its spell.

Dreams of my dark-souled mate tempt me in the night, his dark voice commanding me to do things that I have never done with another person in all of my life. Thoughts of him burying his fangs deep in the soft tissue of my neck and sending me over the edge at the very same time flash vividly in my mind.

A screeching alarm sounds throughout the suite, dragging me from a heavy sleep. Taylen grabs my arm. "Move fast!" she says, barely above a whisper, racing with me down the hall, out the door, and into a room four doors down. "Stay here. I'll be back soon," she says before slamming what looks like a heavy black wood door from the outside, but sounds more like a heavy clunk of metal as it closes me into protection from the rest of the world.

It's been a while since I was shown the panic room. The very first day on the job, I recall a lesson on the buttons, being shown where they were every two feet underneath the bar, the ones in the bathroom, and in each of the play areas, all as a precaution in case the enemy were to come. I slide along the wall until I feel the switch, bathing the dark space in bright light. The room looks oddly familiar, almost like the one I just left, with the kitchen and dining room facing the same way, adjacent to a small hall to the master bedroom, and a smaller room the opposite way.

I breathe in deeply, turning on my cell, but knowing that I will not be able to get reception through these walls. I look at the missed message from Bistrita.

Breathe, love, it will be over soon.

Master Bistrita knows I'm here and they may be coming for me, but how far away is he, what's happening downstairs? The alarms are still blaring. A gazillion questions flash through my mind and cause my head to spin with worry about him, Taylen, and Natalia.

Breathe, love…

From somewhere, that calming voice moves through space, time, walls made of steel and whatever it takes to keep rogue vampires and shifters from wreaking havoc in my mind while calming my blood.

If I didn't believe in fated mates before, there is absolutely no denying it now. I feel the power of our connection so strong that it pulses through my very veins as though we are already one.

I slip onto the couch, curling into the curve of the soft leather to watch the door, knowing that whoever is at the club is coming for me. Maybe not now, but in time, when they've searched every nook and cranny of this building, they will find the panic room. It's just a matter of time and whether it holds up to the force they will bring in their effort to get through to me, we will see.

I scroll through recent social media posts, unable to receive new ones but able to read ones that are already in my feed. Image after image, I scroll, anything to keep my mind off the fact that snarling wolves and rogue vampires with a thirst for blood could be killing everyone that I know and hold dear.

And all I can do is stay locked inside this box because I don't have the strength and the power it takes to defend myself or those I love against the monsters. A mere human has no power great enough to fight our foe. Taylen was right about that. And if I live in their world, this savagery is a part of life; something they must deal with each and every day of their lives in an effort to defend the underworld from rogues and traitors alike.

I will never be anything but a burden, a hindrance, a mere human who can't look after herself, a damsel in distress who leans on everyone else.

And that is not me.

At least it wasn't, until the wolf scared the crap out of me with his snarling and gnashing teeth. My mind is made up. I may not be able to fight them off this time, but soon, I will, because as one of the masters' mates, it will be my right to ask for a transition.

Then, I too could become a vampire, as sexy and sleek and tough as Taylen and Natalia are now. There should be so much to think about, but there really isn't. At least not after having researched it so thoroughly and having close friends who've already done it before you. Knowing Master Bistrita and I are fated for eternity, it removes all of my doubt and answers all the questions one would otherwise have. I'm convinced I am going to cross over, one way or another.

I'm going to be a vampire, a vampiress, even. Then let the bloodthirsty bastards come for me. I will tear them limb for limb with my long, beautiful white fangs, leaving my scarlet red lipstick stains on their neck, right along with their blood. They will wish they had never set eyes on my dark-hearted soul.

My mind and heart are resolved. I am ready for this nightmare to be over. But the pounding on the door, a very distant drilling sound, and that same snarling I heard earlier, tells me that my trouble is just about to begin, because the rogues have found a way in.

They're going to take me.

Master Bistrita will be too late.

We won't be fated mates in this lifetime.

Destiny got it wrong.