3. Ivy

Justice stares at me with wild eyes. "The time for avoidance is over. I'm bone-deep tired of trying to run away from this." He runs his fingers through his dark hair. "Now that we are stuck here together overnight we need to talk about this. I have to tell you the truth. I've done all I can to remain honorable and avoid this circumstance and it's yet it's here. I need help because this frenzy is now more than any one Korn can be expected to resist. And at some point, I will run out of my synthetic blood antidote."

"Antidote? So, it's true that you'll turn crazed or something when that runs out and try and hurt me?"

His voice gentles. "No, that's not the problem. I would never hurt you, Ivy King. The soldiers who dropped me off on this planet gave me extra bags of blood while laughing, ‘Good luck' because I already felt the itch of frenzy. It interfered with my sleep, but I managed to ignore this strange reaction that had begun for no discernable reason. And then I befriended a human coworker named Joseph King and soon afterwards I learned of the source of my troubles."

"My dad," I whisper. "And then…me?"

"Yes. I met your father and greatly enjoy his friendship. We have much in common despite being two different species. Humans are very compatible with both the Voltare and Korn. I can see us all becoming great allies in the future. We"ve started trade relations, but the Voltare, who arrived first, already set up military relations and peace treaties. I"m sure the Korn will eventually do the same. We could bring the humans into our alliance one day when you are fully ready."

My lips twitch. "We like you too, very much."

He takes a deep breath and strides toward the couch. He takes off his boots and lines them up on the floor and I take my boots off next to his. His feet are large and he wears black socks make of thick, shiny material.

"While I was spending so much time with Joseph King, he let me know of his beloved daughter who was graduating from university and going to intern in his company. He introduced me to her, wanting her to specifically join the team working on Korn and human business relations."

I follow behind and frown. "I also remember that day. I was excited to be working with you because I'd majored in International Business Relations. My dad had said so much about you, and I wanted to meet the mysterious Justice Bloodworth. I truly wanted to be of help with this historic moment of human and Korn trade deals."

"The moment I met you a growl rumbled in my chest and I took a step back. You both looked to me in surprise."

"Yes, that's exactly what happened."

"After that, I did my best to stay away because I'd realized you were the source of the frenzy. Joseph brought me into his office to question me. ‘What happened when you saw Ivy?' he said. ‘Something I should be concerned about? I"ve never seen you act like that.'"

"What did you tell him?"

He sits down on the couch, looking at the bed which is much too close. "How do you tell a human that his only daughter is your future mate?"

My shoulders soften. "That's how you felt when you first met me?" I can't get rid of this goofy smile that's still on my face, because now he's told me that he's always basically been in love with me, since the moment we first met.

"That's how I've always felt. But Joseph had already regaled stories of how much he wanted his daughter to marry his business partner's son so they could carry on the business together. It had been his and his partner"s dream and their children had been raised together. And he'd told me the two of you were already pledged to each other and set to be mated the next year? The worst part was I immediately scented your reciprocal attraction."

"Pledged to another?" I sit heavily next to him on the ratty old couch that's thankfully covered with a colorful knitted blanket. "Oh Justice, there's so much I need to tell you." I place a hand on his thigh because he looks like a man on the edge and I feel bad for him because this is all about misunderstandings. "You thought I was engaged to Kristopher Borges? How terrible. You must think the worst of me, considering I've been basically throwing myself at you."

He shakes his head and leans away. "I need to stay away from you. I cannot give in to the frenzy. I told your father the truth of my feelings. He was not pleased."

This whole situation just keeps getting weirder. "Wait, you're telling me my dad has known for months that you wanted to be with me and he never told me this important bit of information? I asked him point blank why you were avoiding me and if I needed to be off the team and he just shrugged and said it was nothing and that I should carry on. He acted like it was just a weird quirk of the Korn species, but harmless."

"Joseph has always known how I felt about you. He made me promise not to say anything and stay away from his daughter so he and I could remain friends. Since then, I"ve done my best to remain distant without letting you know why. It"s very difficult. But I managed, until today. This has also kept the blood frenzy from becoming fully matured. But my smart, tricky girl has managed to get herself alone with me on this trip, which I don't understand considering you have a fiancé. I am not going to be your temporary pleasure mate before you settle down with your true mate."

"Justice, I would never do that. You don't have that right about Kris and I."

"Female, I know that you are secretly engaged and that your two families will be merged into the same line."

"I need to tell you?—"

"No. I already know that you're promised to another male and you're exactly what I"ve vowed to avoid."

"Vowed to who?"

"Your father."

"My dad might've told you to stay away from me, but that does not make him the decision maker in what happens between the two of us. We decide, not him."

"No, I made a formal vow with him to stay away from you. We shook hands on it. I invoked the language. It is sealed and legal amongst my species."

"Oh no."

He nods.

We're both quiet for a moment, listening to the drum of rain on the roof and the crackle of the logs in the wood stove. This vow sounds very serious, but the more I think of it, the more I see that it's got to be invalid because it was made under duress. It's not fair for a Korn to have to follow a vow made with a human who didn't understand the consequences.

I love my dad, but this isn't the first time he's tried to meddle in my life and I've had to come in behind and choose my own path.

"Well," I finally get the courage to say, "that's a bummer because I"ve always thought you were ‘the one' too. I've wanted to be with you too since the moment we first met."

"No, that's not possible. Why do you continue to act as if you are a single female, able to take a mate? It is not right."

I lean close. "Because I am?"

His gaze drops to my lips then back up to meet my eyes. "Your father told me one night while we were drinking and talking with others that they'd planned your marriage since the two of you were children and how happy he was that the plans were coming to fruition."

"Those are just my dad's fever dreams. But the truth is that I have no desire to be with Kristopher and he doesn't want me that way either. He's not my fiancé. Kris is two years older than me and one of my closest friends. Kris is basically like my brother to me, a brother who is about to get married to someone else that his dad doesn't like. I let him tell his dad that he was engaged to me to keep him off his back. But he's very soon going to elope and get married to Angela and then we'll tell his dad the truth. They are away at grad school together in London and I didn't even know my own dad knew about this."

He stares at me with both heat and tenderness and then reaches out to rub a strand of my hair between his fingers.

My breath catches and butterflies swoop in my belly.

His voice deepens. "You are not pledged to another? Joseph was mistaken?"

"No, I'm not engaged to anyone. In fact, I'm depressingly single, which is sad because I'd really like to be with someone I care about. But I've never had an actual boyfriend, just a lot of dates that led to nowhere. But then I met you and felt different."

He clenches his jaw and drops his hand. "If you start something with me you will need to be able to commit to being with me until the end of your days, or mine, whichever comes first. You must think of this first because it is a very important vow for a human to take."

"You're saying that Korn don't date?"

"No, Korn can date, and take temporary pleasure mates, but this is only with a partner that is not causing blood frenzy. That is not our situation. I've already determined that my body considers you to be my mate. If we start something, I will latch onto you for life. I will be physically unable to mate with anyone but you until the end of my days."

I smile. "This only makes me like you more. It doesn't scare me away. I can make a commitment like that to you, Justice. I admit there are a lot of details I don't understand about your mating, like this blood frenzy, but I understand how you think, how you operate and you've gotten to know me and you know my family too. It's not like we're strangers. I want to be with you."

A growl rumbles in his chest. "This cannot happen. Even without that vow to your father I would still be troubled at the idea of giving into a frenzy with you."

"Why not? Why can't we be together? I don"t have a boyfriend. I"m not married. We are both single. What is the problem? Is it because you don"t like the idea of becoming tied for life to a human?"

"You know I like your species, this is why I stay here and work." He reaches up and rubs a hand on his beard and then against his chest. "You don"t understand. There's still the fact that I am much too old for you. You do realize I am fifteen years your senior?"

I shrug. "I know and I don"t care. I like that you"re mature and I like to think that I'm not too immature either."

"No, you're not too immature. You are in fact a highly organized female who is smart for her age."

"Okay, so we've swatted aside that age problem. What else well is wrong?"

"We"re not the same species. Korn aren"t like humans." He points at his bags of blood. "We are vastly different. You do not have fangs and you don't ingest blood. Does it disgust you that I will be drinking bags of blood in front of you?"

I swallow hard because he's got a good point here. It's true that I have to learn to accept this about him as if it's nothing. Because he will have to accept that I will never be able to drink blood with him, or drink his blood, which is probably something he wish would happen with a mate. Maybe he's always thought fangs were sexy, and yet my teeth are blunt compared to his. "No, I am not disgusted. I like you just the way you are and I hope you feel the same about me and accept all my odd human attributes."

He gives me a sharp glance, as if he's not entirely trusting of my statement. I suppose I'll have to show him not just with words, but also with actions.

"You"re going to drink all of that blood you brought tonight?" I question.

"Yes, all of it. I have to."

"Whose blood is that? Is that your blood?"

"It"s synthetic Korn blood for emergency situations, such as this."

My brow furrows. "What emergency situation?"

"The emergency is that I want to make you my mate. I"ve been trying to avoid you this whole year. But now that I am close to you, I"ve been thrown into a blood frenzy."

"You keep saying that. What does blood frenzy mean? Can you explain it to me?"

"It means that I want to make you my mate."

A warm rush of heat runs through my whole body because I love this idea. "I love it when you say that." This is what I suspected and now it's wonderful for him to say it loud and clear. I never thought I'd get married right out of college, but then I never thought I'd meet someone like Justice Bloodworth. I can easily imagine creating a future with him that might even involve children if he was interested.

"I want to become your mate." I'm literally giddy with excitement because he's basically saying he wants to marry me. It's true I've studied him from a far, but through the viewpoint of his business dealings, the way Justice treats his employees and other humans and the way he treats my father…I know he's someone I can trust. A man I'm already falling in love with. And now I need to tell him I feel the same. Except the words are stuck in my throat due to an overwhelming wave of shyness.

I've never been this close to him before and it's causing all my girly parts to come online. All I can think of is how the both of us are wearing entirely too many layers of clothes. He's taken off his jacket and is sitting in a white t-shirt and black leather pants, looking so very sexy. His arms are powerful and muscular and I want to snuggle. What would it be like to finally kiss Justice Bloodworth?

He cups my cheek with a big, rough Korn hand. "No, you can't possibly agree to this without knowing all the details. Like I said, even without that vow I made to your father I feel it isn't fair for me to do this to you without your full consent. You are a human who doesn't know what she's getting into. You have indeed learned much about my species and culture, but in this you are lacking."

"Then explain it all to me. What exactly is this blood frenzy? At what point do those fangs and blood come into play? I know we can have sex and I can get pregnant because Hale is married and has a baby on the way that's half Korn, half human."

"Yes, he did this first and it does give me peace knowing it can work. But there is much you would have to accept. For instance," he licks his lips, "I have to drink from you with my fangs."

For some reason this sounds unbearably sexy. "Really? What will it feel like for me if you sink your fangs in me. Will it hurt?"