29. Millie

29

MILLIE

The next few weeks are a blur of chaotic lust that makes the days fly by, but I remember every single minute of it. Hayden keeps me up almost all night so I can match his schedule. He wakes me up multiple times during the night with his calculated mouth or his hypnotizing cock. He's the alarm I wake up to every night.

I've become his obsession. He recognizes how deeply my presence has him so demented that he doesn't want to seek retribution for it. Most of the night, he's gone doing whatever duties that are required of him since he's a Vampire Prince. Then he's back in his room, like right now; he just made me come so hard that my pussy is clenching down on his cock, and he roars my name when I orgasm.

"Look at me when you scream my name." He demands, husky and seductive. He sucks on my neck like a hungry beast that will never be satisfied. I can feel the warmth of my blood running down my neck and the moment it turns cold from the fall wind outside. His pace is slow, but his thrusts are deep, like he never wants to pull out of me. He fucked me on his balcony tonight, underneath a blood moon on a couch he had laid out. He fucked me like he always does. His hands in my hair, my breasts, his cock in my mouth, or my pussy, making me taste myself multiple times. Carnal, primal, and greedy.

He continues to claim me in ways that I crave and enjoy. Ways that I'm terrified to admit to him out loud that I love it when he mixes pain with our pleasure. My own blood stains my body, like I'm wearing his favorite jewelry. He claims me like he's afraid I'll die or run away from him. Hayden brings my dark kinks and fantasies into reality.

"I need to get on birth control, or I'm going to get pregnant," I warn him. I'm already past the three-month mark, and we still go at it every single night, sometimes even three times a night. He pulls out of me and pulls me onto his chest so that my face is resting on him. "My shot is up. I'm twenty years old, and I am not ready to be a mother yet."

"Ah…now there's my leverage. Do I have to get you pregnant? So that you will consent and let me turn you? So that you'll stay ?"

I slap his chest gently, and his morbid humor turns into deep chuckles. "Don't say that," I scold him. I can feel his smile when he kisses the top of my head.

His skin is cold, as always. I run my fingers up and down his ab muscles while I rest my ear on his chest, wondering if this is all still a really weird dream. I long to hear his heartbeat, but it never comes.

"I'll have a nurse come in tomorrow morning to give you your shot…" He pauses, and we listen to the sounds of nature: the waterfall that runs down the mountains right by the Cathedral, crickets singing along with the occasional bat that decides to join the chorus.

He stirs beneath me, and a heavy yawn flows out of my sore mouth.

"I never wanted to be king, Millie. I never wanted to fall in love. I never wanted to be a father. I never wanted any of this, but then you made me fall in love with you by waking me up with your selfless sacrifice for me. No one has ever shown me that kind of mercy before. You're the only one who wants to help me…by rescuing me."

Where was his mother and father when King Davenport barged into my room like that? Where was Kallumt?

I can't imagine the loneliness he's gone through. Constantly being burned will eventually turn you into something you always promised not to be. Or maybe I do understand that type of isolation. Although, it's two very different paths.

"Do you want to be a mother?" he asks.

I sigh and think of my future. I picture myself cradling a third-trimester belly, holding life inside me, protecting it from a cruel, unforgiving world…a world where monsters exist—human and non-human. Then my illusion shifts, and I picture a tall Hayden behind me, with bright red eyes, holding the bottom of my belly from behind. Motioning his large, rough, cold hands in circles as he looks at me like I'm his favorite meal.

I shudder.

"I do want to be a mother, Hayden. But I also want to get my bachelor's degree. I have ambitions and goals to meet. I want to become a published author; I've wanted that since I learned how to read. I want to learn how to surf on hot summer days in Hawaii, and then, when I'm ready to settle down, I want to find someone who can grow old with me and raise our grandchildren together without having to run from the sunlight."

He stiffens like I've struck him physically. I instantly regret letting my candor get the best of me. I close my eyes and curse at myself internally.

Stupid. I should have kept that all to myself .

"If I were a better man, I'd let you go. But I'm not. I've never been a good man, and I've never led you to believe otherwise. I'm your monster and your future husband. I'm your future, and you are my forever. Stop denying us a life that is better than you think. You're going to come around, I promise. You can still do all of those things with me by your side, protecting you. I would rather get tortured at the Inferno than picture you grow old with some other human man. No one is good enough for you…not even me."

I furrow my brows. "The Inferno? What's that?" I think his mother told me about it, but I want to hear it from him.

He breathes heavily through his nostrils like he doesn't want to get into the subject matter.

"The Inferno is like our judicial system. The Kings of each region come together at the capital of Immortals Country, which is in New Orleans, Louisiana, and we torture the guilty before we execute them."

"When we were at the concert, that man, Cal. He mentioned your uncle. He mentioned that you hadn't attended that Halloween event in ages because you closed yourself off from your kingdom when he died. Did he mean a lot to you?"

"He was like my father." he prompts.

"How did?—"

Loud knocks thunder from his bedroom door.

"Hayden!" A loud, crisp, southern voice echoes into our ears.

Hayden's father .

Hayden shakes his head, stressed. He kisses me quickly and softly before lifting me in his arms like a child. My legs dangle off his forearms, and he tucks me into bed. Bringing cold bed sheets to cover my naked body, and he starts to pull on his pants and shirt, dressing himself to look presentable to his father and not like he'd spent the past hour fucking me into oblivion after oblivion.

I grip the sheets, make sure it's up to my breasts, and stop at my collarbones.

"Go to sleep, baby. I'm sure whatever it is will be quick, and I'll return to bed to watch over you while you sleep," he promises me. I nod as he runs a hand through his black hair.

The sun will rise soon, and my eyes feel dry and slow. I rub them with my hand and try to get comfortable. He grabs his cigarettes from the dresser and tucks them into the back of his pants. He flashes to the balcony and closes and locks them with a key only he has. When he reaches the door to his bedroom, he gives me one last glance, turning slightly toward me, and stares for a couple of seconds like he's entranced. He stands there like a statue, watching me.

"I love you, Mille. I'll see you…" he clenches his jaw, waiting patiently for me to respond.

Weirdly, it gives me a warm feeling in my chest and veins. It's our little dark routine of words we do right before I fall asleep. He smiles, waiting for me to finish his sentence for him.

Dammit.

I'm falling for him. I'm craving him. I'm missing him already, and he hasn't left his room. He's caught me now…truly caught me like a mouse, and now I don't want to try and escape him.

He's won .

I return the smile, and his eyes brighten like I've never seen them do before. The blue in his eyes looks vast, sharpened, and full of hope. I think he knows he has me, too. I rest my head on the pillow and say, "I'll see you next moon." This time, the words feel and sound natural…like when the sun reveals itself after a treacherous rainstorm. I didn't force it out; it just came. The solace smile painted across my flushed face tells him everything.

His shoulders relax, giving me that dashing smile that could make any girl melt for him.

"We're getting married in just a few more weeks. Only your family and closest ones, like your parents and brother, can attend the wedding. They can attend the Cathedral. They will be unharmed by every single Northern Vampire, so you don't have to worry about that. They will have everything that they need. They will stay here in Montana for only the wedding…and then they must leave. But you are not leaving me or this town without me."

I toss and turn in Hayden's cold, dark room, expecting another southern vampire to come to kill me. I'm expecting maybe even one of the Kingsguards to take me for himself, drain me, and unlock their powers, or whatever that means. On a positive, eerie thought, it's like no one would dare betray Hayden when he has a reputation for being merciless and unhinged when it comes to me or anyone who crosses him or his family. I mean, look what happened to Gerard.

I've become slightly paranoid, but after everything I've been through this year, it's hard not to fear my demise brought forth by monsters I always thought were fictional.

When an hour passes, I realize whatever Hayden's father wanted from him was more important than he thought.

Dawn is here, but there's no Hayden. Usually, I'm long asleep, curled up against him, or he's holding me with my back to his chest. I'm in my velvet-textured, black nightgown, turning the pillow over for the colder side with sweat forming on my brows. I find myself drifting off to sleep, thinking about my father and my mother.