Chapter Two

Walking back to the castle, she and Alexandru passed a vampire feeding on his pet. When they were out of earshot, she whispered to him, “It’s just not right. I really think this pet business is just a form of vampires taking advantage of humans.”

Alexandru only shook his head. “You always surprise me with how contradictory you are. It’s the way of the world.”

She didn’t say anything for a long time, but the silence wasn’t good. Just when he was about to ask what was wrong, she said something. So softly he wouldn’t have heard her if she didn’t own his heart.

“Like us?”

She looked at him with sadness in her eyes, and like she always did, her next words disarmed him, her honesty something he had never been able to match. “We can’t be together because it’s the way of the world?”

A SOB TICKLED ZARI’S throat as her Master knelt in front of her. It was not right, this position. It should have been the other way around, and that it wasn’t so threw her off, tempting Zari to think of things that she didn’t have a right to think. It wasn’t just because she was only his human pet. There were things she could never ever think because...because although she loved her Master, he loved someone else.

Alexandru asked quietly, “Is something wrong?”

She shook her head, unable to meet his gaze.

He sighed. “Even if you don’t tell me anything, even if you’re able to hide your thoughts, it doesn’t matter. You know that, don’t you?”

He touched her heart, surprising Zari into leaning back, her head jerking up. In that moment, he was able to capture her gaze. “I only have to feel your heart beating, and I know when you’re sad, happy, afraid—-”

“You’re being too melodramatic, Master,” she tried to joke, but it fell flat.

“You’re being too secretive.”

The words scraped her raw even though she was sure he didn’t know it would make her feel that way. She was not keeping the secrets here. He was. And that secret had been tearing her apart ever since she had found out about it.

She remembered the last time she had a vision of Alexandru, something she had never told him. He had been talking to his brother, Mihail, and his last words were of... her. But it was not the kind she had ever wanted him to say.

“Even if Zari is indeed my heartkeeper, I will not claim her as such. My heart belongs to Katarina, no one else.”

Without thinking, she asked, “What’s a heartkeeper?”

Alexandru froze. How had she known? Could she have had a vision of him? It was the only possible answer since those who knew about her were also people she couldn’t have ever had the chance to talk to.

He looked into her eyes, and what he saw made him reach for her hands. She tried to pull her hands back, but he was too fast, and he tightened his hold, letting her know he wouldn’t be letting go.

“Zari...”

She flinched. Somehow, hearing him say her name like that hurt. No, she didn’t like him calling her that. It was her given name, but somehow when he was the one saying it, he made her feel like a stranger.

Seeing her pet flinch made him curse silently. This conversation was going nowhere. “Whatever it is, it’s not something you should worry about,” he said gruffly. He stood up, and a second later, he had lifted her up in his arms. Words were pointless now. No matter what he’d say, Alexandru knew it wouldn’t be able to make her feel any better.

Her vulnerability was made more apparent when she didn’t even protest, only hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

He laid her on the bed, kissing her as he followed her to it. “Don’t think,” he whispered against her lips. “Just don’t think.”

Zari nodded. It was a command she was more than willing to obey since thinking would only bring more heartache. She closed her eyes as she surrendered herself to her Master’s expertise. They moved in synchrony even without either of them speaking, her body automatically lifting up so he could take off her jacket and blouse. Soon, they were both naked, and it became so much easier not to think the moment his hard body pressed against her, covering every inch of her heated skin.

So easy not to think, not to feel, not to remember that he hadn’t been able to tell her what a heartkeeper was.

And maybe it was better this way , Zari thought as she squeezed her eyes shut more tightly. Not knowing what it was meant not knowing how much her Master had given up, how much he loved that other woman more than he could ever care for her.

Above Zari, her Master said, “You’re still thinking, pet.”

Her eyes flew open. “I didn’t—-”

His smirk was her only warning, and then his fangs slid through the side of her neck. Pleasure burst inside her, Zari’s body arching against Alexandru’s as her senses swam. He drank from her, and she embraced him more and more tightly with every sip, her arms and legs locking around him.

There was nothing like this, the sweet, sinfully drugging beauty of feeding her Master, and she rocked against him, breathless and silently begging him to never stop.

The sinuous movements of his pet’s body were intoxicating, making Alexandru want to drink from her more and more. But he forced himself to stop in the end, not wanting her half-conscious when he took her. He wanted her alive and aware the moment he possessed her with his cock, wanted to hear her make noise because she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Zari couldn’t help but sob when Alexandru retracted his fangs. He licked her skin to help it heal, pressing a kiss to the same spot afterwards as if apologizing for ending it. “Master.” She moaned, the only thing she was capable of saying to express her acute need for him.

“I know, pet.” His hands caressed her breasts, making them swell against his palms. He licked her nipples, using his fangs, and instead of fearing its treacherous sharpness, she was aroused by it, her nipples puckering up.

“Master...” Her moan was louder, more plaintive, and he could have listened to it over and over because he loved it when she was like this. She never asked for anything, this pet of his...or at least she didn’t ask him for anything but this.

And this, the passion, the desire, the pleasure, he would more than gladly give to her. Fuck her until they were both out of their minds, for as long as she wanted.

He sucked her nipples until she was panting loudly, her nails scraping so hard against his back he knew it would leave marks. But still he continued sucking, using his tongue and fangs to play with her nipples until he got what he wanted, her legs tightening around his waist, and she was grinding her lower body against his, pressing her pussy against his cock.

The friction it caused was delicious, the way she rubbed and ground her wonderfully moist flesh against his rigid erection slowly driving him out of his mind as well.

Her fingers tightened around his hair, forcibly pulling his head off her nipples, and he let her because he liked it when she was a fierce little kitty like this.

Her eyes had turned into a stormy shade of gray. “Master, take me.” A demand and a plea.

“As you wish, pet.” And he used his preternatural speed to take her by surprise.

His pet screamed, the shock of his cock sliding into her – when it was nowhere even near her pussy a second before – intensifying the pleasure.

“Master.” She panted it out, screamed, whispered, moaned – she released whatever sound she needed to ease the ache inside her body, one that only Alexandru could satisfy.

His cock was like a large, hungry animal, and only her body could feed it. His cock devoured her, taking and taking more with each thrust. And she gave, oh, she gave his cock everything it wanted because deep inside, that was what she wanted. As his human pet, she wanted him to feed from her, to be satisfied with her and by her, forever.

His need going out of bounds, Alexandru could no longer control his thrusts. His body slammed against her, his cock plunging inside her, over and over.

This time, when Alexandru growled her name, she didn’t mind it because this time, it didn’t sound like goodbye.

“Zari,” he gritted out. His hands clasped the cheeks of her butt, tightening. “I want you to come with me.”

“Yes, Mas—-aaaaaaaaah!” Again, he had used his powers to take her by surprise, his cock moving so fast and hard no human could ever think of matching it. It was like a machine, but God, in such a good way, so fast and hard she wished he could pound into her forever.

She came, as fast and hard as his thrusts, and only moments passed before he was shouting her name again, his seed pouring inside her, hot and creamy, and so good it made Zari throw her head back even as she clung to him as tightly as she could. She wanted it all, didn’t want a single drop of his come to leak out of her. If she couldn’t have her Master’s heart, surely it was okay to have even just this.

Her eyes drifted closed again as she felt the aftershocks of her release fade. Dimly, she felt her Master kissing her forehead. She protested drowsily when she felt him pulling away, but it didn’t stop him, her Master only chuckling and pressing a kiss on her lips. She could have sworn he whispered he wouldn’t leave her, but she was too tired, too sleepy, to be sure.

When she woke up, her Master was gone. Panic bubbled inside her, but she forced it down, trying to keep herself calm as she reached for her phone. She only wanted to check if she had a message from Alexandru, but instead the dead came calling, sending a vision so horrid it had her crying.

GREEN.

The color of leaves above him as the world started to blur. Someone was drinking from his neck, and because Zari was inside him, this man who was dying, she felt like that person was drinking from her.

It hurt, so much because it had taken his (her) killer fifteen painful minutes to rip a hole in his neck. God, if he (she) had known, he (she) would have given his (her) attacker his (her) own knife instead.

Kill me now. That was what he (she) wanted to say.

Pain merged their thoughts, his and hers, and the green leaves around him seemed to merge as well, or maybe it was just because they were dying, making their imaginations start to play tricks on their minds.

A shadow fell over them, the world temporarily losing its greenness.

Now, the world had the face of their killer.

And it was not Rhapsody.