Goodbye, messy room.

SOMETHING HAPPENED between them.

Even though the words were never uttered out loud, it was what all the others were thinking when they saw the way Juliette was unable to meet her guardian's gaze over dinner. And although Ga?l did act his usual courteous self towards his ward, the others also didn't fail to notice the look in his eyes when Juliette got up to leave.

Were they seeing things...or had the second-born Bellecourt finally realized his ward was no longer a child?

Ga?l finished his dinner with the rest of his family in silence, and he abruptly excused himself from joining them for coffee. He had much to think of, and foremost of his concerns was whether he would truly accept his ward's decision to offer him her sangferia.

It was only a quarter past ten when Ga?l silently treaded the stairs leading up to the top floor of his family's three-story estate. It was where all of their wards' bedrooms were located, and midway up, Ga?l's heightened sense of hearing as a Caro allowed him to hear the hustle and bustle of activity inside Juliette's room.

He listened for a few moments, and he realized that she was hurriedly doing her best to fix her room in time for his arrival. This went on for another half hour before he heard her enter the shower...and slowly take off her clothes.

Fuck.

Ga?l strove for control, but it was impossible to keep his mind from conjuring an image of his ward disrobing herself. It felt fucking wrong to think of his ward in the shower, but the moment imaginary visions of her nude body teased his mind, his cock surged into life, and hunger for her flesh seized his entire being.

This wasn't fucking right, but God, how he wanted her!

He listened to her shower, and every minute of it was torture. To imagine her body glistening and wet, and what it would be like to wrap his fingers around her throat just as he...

Control yourself, dammit.

He swung away and cursed himself under his breath. This was insanity. And God knew he was the last man on earth to do something crazy, after what his moment of insanity had caused him in the past.

But when the grandfather clock struck midnight, and its heavy ringing echoed through the hallways of the estate, Ga?l told himself that he should still go to Juliette's room, if only to tell her that he had changed his mind.

This was insanity, after all.

Insanity.

But when he found himself looking down on his sleeping ward, and he saw that his charming, sweet, beautiful Juliette was drooling in her sleep—-

Insanity.

Juliette was the first girl that had accidentally farted in his presence. Snorted at his words. And now this. She was the first girl he had seen drooling in her sleep, and somehow, when he thought about all of these things—-

Insanity.

It only made Ga?l realize that he indeed wanted to be the man to consume the blood of her deflowering.

GOODBYE FOR NOW, POSTERS , photo books, and pouch-containing one-strand-of-her-guardian's-hair that she kept under her pillow every night!

By the time Juliette was done cleaning with her room, she could barely keep her eyes open as she took a shower, and Juliette immediately fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Oh no!

Juliette wanted to knock her stupid sleepy head against the wall when she woke up and saw that it was already two in the morning.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Who in the world would ask a man to take her virginity, only to fall asleep while waiting for their midnight rendezvous? Ga?l would never think of her as a woman after this! She would always be a child to him—-

A low, sexy chuckle played out from one of the dark corners of her bedroom, and Juliette let out a shaken gasp when she saw her guardian emerge from the shadows.

Ooooooooh....myyyyyyy.

Juliette had years of practice controlling her reaction whenever the sight of Ga?l caught her unawares. But as this was the first time ever for Ga?l to be inside of her bedroom (and with the door locked!), her hard-earned skills in keeping her composure went straight out of the window, and as her dazed gaze took in the sexy, tousled mess of his white-blond hair, before drifting down to the sculpted angles of his beautiful face and the chiseled panes of his chest under the thin cotton fabric of his shirt—-

"Ga?l..."

It was not the first time he had heard his ward utter his name. But what made this unique was the way her voice was so damn soft and breathless, and when combined with the rapid beating of her heart and the way moonlight streaming from the window revealed how her nipples were now puckered against the loose, silken fit of her nightgown—-

Fuck.

He had been hard and aching the entire time he was watching her sleep, but now that she was awake, and her body made more seductive with how the moon's silver sheen caressed her skin—-

It was now he realized that there was no way after this he would ever see his ward as a child again.

His Juliette was all womanly flesh, and so fucking hot he could barely think straight as she stared up at him with a contradicting mixture of shyness and eagerness.

Ga?l could see that she had no idea of how she was gobbling him up with her doe-like eyes, and he could not help but wonder how and when her desire for him had begun. Since she had always been a dutiful ward in the past, could this sudden change be attributed to her first day in class with Professor Gustav? Was that all it had taken for his ward to awaken her womanhood and make her realize she found him attractive?

The idea struck him as preposterous at first, but when he thought of how a single spark had also caused his own desire to burn into being—-

"Ga?l?"

His ward's uncertain tone made Ga?l's jaw clench. "What is it?" He saw her bite her lip as if further hesitating, and he asked abruptly, "Have you changed your mind about tonight?"

Several moments passed, and it was only when Juliette slowly shook her head that he realized he had been holding his breath the entire time he had been waiting for her reply.

"What about you?" Juliette whispered.

Ga?l knew what his answer should be, but how could he say what was right when he saw her wet her lips as she stared at his mouth, and just when he thought it couldn't get any worse and hotter than that—-

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

That was when he noticed the fragrance of her arousal gradually scenting the air, and Ga?l breathed hard.

She wanted him.

Wanted to fuck him.

His dear, sweet Juliette wanted to FUCK him!

Another gasp escaped Juliette when she found herself flat on her back all of a sudden, and Ga?l's magnificently hard form throbbing powerfully on top of her.

Oh dear God.

She knew of course what that throbbing meant and where it was coming from, but she had no chance to think about it, with a pair of blue eyes already taking hers captive, and oh dear Lord —-

Ga?l's eyes were usually cold and unyielding, and it was only now that she saw his blue eyes glittering down at her with what could only be described as lust.

Her guardian was lusting after her .

Her!

Juliette wanted to squeal, but there wasn't any chance to do this either, with Ga?l's head bending down to take her first kiss.

Aaaaah.

Juliette's eyes swept closed at the touch of her guardian's lips, and after all these years of loving him in secret, the realization that Ga?l was finally kissing her for real—-

Oh my God!

The craziest thoughts exploded in her mind as his lips pressed against hers.

Was there some kind of statistical data available about the number of human girls whose first kisses came from Caros?

Were there more first kisses from Caros compared to, say, first kisses from fellow humans or other preter races?

What were the chances of a Caro accidentally biting a human girl while kissing because of—-

"Stop thinking," Ga?l ordered.

Oops!

She opened her mouth to apologize, but the moment she did, Juliette felt something deliciously forbidden dart past her lips, and oh...oh... oh!

Was that her guardian's tongue?

The sensation disappeared just as quickly as it began, but that only made the ever-so-brief foray of his tongue inside of her mouth feel a thousand times hotter and sweeter. She wanted to beg for more, but his lips had already started nibbling hers, and her brain melted anew.

Her guardian was so, so good at this!

She couldn't get enough of how firm and smooth his lips were, and how lovely and hot they tasted at the same time. Every cell of her body was tingling with the way his lips played over hers, and just when she thought it couldn't get any better—-

"Let me in, Juliette. I want to taste your mouth."

His tone was lazy and beguiling, and the sound was infinitely intoxicating. This was Ga?l speaking to her as a woman, finally, and the realization had Juliette craving to give him anything and everything he wanted.

Her lips parted open yet again, but this time, Ga?l didn't take immediate advantage. Instead, his tongue dove oh-so-slowly into her mouth—-

Oh...my.

As Ga?l had always been cold and harsh, she had imagined, foolishly perhaps, that his manner of making love would reflect this. She had wondered, perhaps even worried just bit that she would be too inexperienced to appreciate his touch if he were the type to be hard and rough, maybe even brutally fast, but oh...

This was the very opposite of all those things, with the way he absolutely took his time exploring every inch of her mouth. Every stroke of his tongue was so agonizingly languid, that by the time she felt his tongue slide invitingly against her own, it was all she could do not to cry—-

Oh, Ga?l!

Her guardian finally stared sucking on her tongue, and it was the hottest and most wondrous thing ever . She had read about how good this felt, and she had often fantasized about how good it would feel, but this ...

This reality was just so impossibly hot, it had Juliette arching up with a sob, and she heard him chuckle as her arms curled around his neck.

"Your turn, my darling." Ga?l was only teasing his ward with the invitation, but instead of shying away, Juliette caught him off guard by doing exactly as he asked, and white-hot need blazed through his blood at the way his sweet, beautiful ward was suddenly sucking on his tongue.

As expected, his ward was no expert, but oh, the way she sucked on his tongue so eagerly—-

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

If he didn't put a stop to this, he would no longer be able to control himself—-

Why?

Juliette cried out in surprised protest when Ga?l was suddenly standing a few feet away from the bed, and she was left all alone as she sat up and stared at him in dazed confusion while her body still trembled with need.

"What's wrong?"

The sheer innocence of his ward's question nearly had him groaning. She obviously didn't know how close she had been to being fucked out of her mind, and even now, he could barely think straight with the way Juliette was making no attempt to hide how swollen her lovely breasts were under her nightgown or how fast and hard her heart was pounding against her chest—-

God, how he wanted her!

And right now, it was fucking clear that she wanted him just as badly. The air in the room was now rich with the scent of her arousal, which was exquisitely musky and delectable all on its own. It was also a scent that promised heaven and hell...because what he would do next could be the biggest mistake of his life.

Now or never, Bellecourt .

If he did not end this insanity here and now, then there would be no turning back.

But if he were to pull back, what then?

He tried to imagine what it would be like for another man to kiss his ward the way he had, to taste her the way he had, and the mere thought made Ga?l violent.

No.

Fuck no!

Juliette was his ward.

Juliette was his.

He could not in good conscience trust her deflowering to just any man...and so wouldn't it be his responsibility as her guardian to take care of it himself?

"Ga?l?"

The unconcealed yearning in her breathless tone was the final nail on his conscience's coffin, and it was then Ga?l heard himself say, "I'll ask you this once and never again."

Juliette's breath caught.

Oh God, this is really happening.

"Are you sure you want this?"

Her whole body burned and trembled, and she slowly lifted her gaze to his. "Yes."