Chapter 15

Adryan

She was terrified, reasonably so, but there was also this underlying hint of curiosity, arousal.

She knew I was right behind her, yet she didn’t turn around, didn’t acknowledge my presence. It was the way her body tightened, her shoulders stiffening, that told me she was in tune with me just as much as I was with her.

Forever Linked.

I didn’t know how strongly humans recognized their mates, but I knew it wasn’t the intensity an Otherworld creature felt when they found their other half. But she definitely felt something for me, this instinctual, primal part of her that recognized me.

She gripped the handle of the door tightly, her knuckles white, the skin on her arm prickled up in goose bumps because of the chilled weather. I wanted to reach out and smooth my fingers along her soft, very human skin, so fragile, like tissue paper. Easily torn, easily destroyed by one of my enemies… by me if I wasn”t gentle or careful enough.

Gods, I wanted to protect her, to destroy everything just to make sure she’d be safe, that no threat would ever come to her. If I could level everyone and everything as a precaution, I would. Gladly so.

I knew she’d run if she could, if there wasn’t a vast land of nothingness right out in front of her. But I said nothing as I stood there, giving her the time she needed, patience that I’d never possessed, never granted to anyone in my life.

She slowly turned around, shifting her smaller body so she faced me, her hand still on the door as if she was using it as some kind of lifeline, an anchor. Our gazes clashed, held. Her pupils dilated, the scent of adrenaline rushing through her veins saturating the air, surrounding us, telling me that her body knew to be afraid of me, that I was a dangerous predator.

I liked the fire in her eyes, the stubborn streak that she gave me. It turned me on, had flames licking through my body and settling in my cock, hardening the length, reminding me that with each passing day I didn’t claim my female, I would only become harder. It would be a temptation that was like an addiction scratching me from the inside out, trying to tear its way out until it was fulfilled.

And she’d also feel that rising desire as well, that consumption that would slowly eat her alive until she was mindless with her need for me. It wouldn’t be as strong as mine; it would never be the kind of possessiveness that I felt. But it would be enough to drive her crazy, to have her throwing herself into my arms and giving every piece of herself over to me as if she’d been born to do so. And she had.

Only mine. Only mine. Only mine.

I sensed Kane and Sebastian step into the foyer, their presence an irritant when all I wanted to be was alone with my female, to ease her worries and tell her how it would be, which would probably have the opposite effect of easing anything in her.

Because there would be no running, no fighting. I couldn”t allow that. She was mine, and I’d never give her up. Even if she hated me, I’d have to show her how good it could be with us, that I was her protector, her savior, that I’d kill anyone who threatened her.

“Go,” I said to my cousins but didn’t look away from Kayla. I could see how tense she’d become since they stepped into the same room, but she tipped her chin up in an act of defiance, in a rebellious streak that had me grinning.

She’d make the greatest queen. My queen.

I didn’t have to tell Kane and Sebastian what was going on. I knew they could scent the connection Kayla and I had now that we were in the same room, now that I let my pheromones for her pour out of me and fill the space… the mating mark I had for her that would let all other males know she was mine.

And that mating scent would cover her flesh as I fucked her, as I came deep inside her. It would cover every inch of her right along with my bite marks on her skin. Any fucker who looked at her would know she was mine, and the consequences for getting too close to my female would be their dismembered corpse at my feet.

When Kane and Sebastian came forward, Kayla stepped away from the door, her focus on them now, apprehension on her face. I wondered if she realized she edged closer to me, as if she instinctively knew I would protect her at all costs.

Not that Kane and Sebastian were a threat to her. Not that anyone or anything was, because I’d level them without a backward glance.

But if I were to entrust the safety of my female—the most important thing in my godforsaken life—to anyone else, it would be to these two big bastards who would lay their life down because their loyalty was unfaltering toward me.

Kane was staring at Kayla especially hard, and I narrowed my eyes and stepped forward and to the side to use my body to block their gazes from her. I growled low, a warning that if he wanted to keep his eyes in their sockets, he’d stop looking at her.

He snapped his attention to me and straightened, giving me a slight nod of acknowledgment that he understood. Kane and Sebastian were stepping outside, the door shutting behind them.

And then we were alone.

I’d sent the staff home already but had them prepare a few meals for Kayla on the off chance she’d be hungry after all this.

I looked at Kayla then, feeling her gaze already on me, her expression hesitant. On any other given day, I thrived on the anxiousness, the nervousness that came when someone was afraid of me. But I didn’t want that for her, and certainly not from me. I wanted her to look at me with trust.

“Come,” I said and turned, heading toward my study, not looking back to see if she’d follow. Knowing she would. Her curiosity was stronger than any anxiety or fear she felt.

I opened one of the double oak doors that led into the study that also doubled as my library, and stepped inside. The scent of old cigar smoke, aged books, and brandy still hung in the air. I’d lit a fire an hour before and walked toward the mantel. My home was decades old, modernized and updated over time, but this room I’d left untouched aside from the window. This room had old bones, an icy draft perpetually between the walls.

I heard the soft padding of her footsteps follow me in, but she didn’t close the door. She was smart, my sweet little mate, not wanting to be trapped in with a ravenous male.

I tucked my hands into the front pockets of my slacks and stared at the flames but not lost in thought, because I was very aware how close Kayla was, how good she smelled… how good she’d feel.

I finally looked over my shoulder and saw her standing close to the door. I smirked. I’d let her have her false sense of security, because even if she did run, escape, try to hide, there would be no way I wouldn’t find her. But the hunt would certainly be entertaining… and arousing.

“Ask your questions.”

A long moment passed before she started speaking. “And how do I know you’ll tell me the truth to anything I ask?” she questioned hesitantly.

I turned to face her fully. “You don’t, but what other choice do you have?” She was silent, worrying her full, pink bottom lip with her straight white teeth. It turned me on. “I can give you my word that I’ll never lie to you. I’m not sure what it’s worth to you, but there it is.”

After a prolonged second of her mulling that over, she exhaled and nodded once, as if she was coming to terms with some internal struggle.

“Let’s start with how you know who I am. Where I live, my name, all that personal stuff you shouldn’t know unless you’re a creep and stalked me.”

I felt my lips twitch in humor. Hell, had I ever felt anything that resembled… happiness or amusement? The only pleasure I’d ever felt in my long life had been in the form of taking down my enemies, the sadistic part of my soul and bloodlust being satiated with that outlet.

But looking at Kayla, how she made me feel, the connection I felt growing between us because she was mine, was unlike anything I could’ve ever imagined in my dark, coldhearted life.

Nothing scared me. No man, no Otherworlder, not even the monsters that hid in the shadows. Because I was one of those, a killer, an animal others cowered from.

But this? This feeling, the hollowness in the center of my chest that was slowly being filled? That terrified the fuck out of me.

When I didn’t answer right away, she made this exasperated sound and crossed her arms over her chest, right under her full breasts, which had the effect of all the blood pooling in my cock and making the fucking length harden painfully. The material stretched over the braless mounds, those perfect fucking handfuls that had me breathing harder from my lust.

My gaze instantly latched onto the way her nipples were tight, hard, and slightly visible through the thin white material.

Gods.

I slowly let my gaze travel back to her face, feeling absolutely zero shame if she caught me staring. But she wasn’t looking at me and instead staring at the floor, her arched, brown eyebrows furrowed as if she was deep in thought.

“You clearly looked me up, but…” Her beautiful face was filled with so much confusion that I hated I was the one who had caused it. “Why? I know you can find anything out about anyone, but why me?”

To tell her she was my fated mate, my Coveted Female, a title deemed, handed out by fucking destiny itself, would have been the easiest explanation. But she was human and not ready for all that, wouldn’t be able to mentally or emotionally handle it. Or maybe she was. Maybe I should just spit it all out, like ripping a Band-Aid off. Quick and easy. I’d deal with the fallout afterward.

It would’ve been so much easier if she was from my world—an Otherworlder. She’d understand the undeniable bond we had. But even as I thought about that, I knew I didn’t want her to be anyone but her. Fate, destiny—if I even fucking believed in that shit—had given me a fragile, beautiful human for a reason, a perfect connection, and an undeniable bond that only we’d ever share.

“I saw you in my club. And I knew you’d be mine.” I shrugged again. “So of course I”m going to find out every little piece of information I could about you, Kayla.”

She was shaking her head, maybe trying to convince herself this wasn’t as crazy and fucked up as it actually was. “Just like that, huh?” Although she phrased it like a question, I could tell she was speaking to herself and not looking for my confirmation.

But I would have gladly fucking given it to her, craved that truth in my chest so there was no denying what I said.

“As far as finding out who you are, well—” I shrugged. “It’s easy enough to find out anyone’s information in this day and age of technology right at your fingertips.” My explanation wasn”t a lie, but it also wasn’t the entire story either. I’d told her I wouldn’t lie, and I wouldn”t. Never to her, never in my life. I didn”t need to fabricate the truth.I had enough power at my fingertips that the hard, cold, and brutal truth was the only way to go about living in my world.

“I make it my business to know who enters my club.” I stared at her for a prolonged moment, surprised and appreciative as hell that she wasn’t shying away, that she was now looking at me right in the eyes and waiting for me to continue. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve looked up people who’ve come into my club before.” Of course not for the reason I did for you. Not because I had the intention of stalking them or breaking into their house and watching them sleep because the primal part of me needed to be there to protect them.

No, my sweet female, the lengths I’d gone to find out every little shred of information was just for you.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Why were you at my house tonight?” Her brows lowered again in confusion, and she looked around the room, as if it would give her answers. “Is it even still tonight? God, this is so insane.” She lifted her hand to rub her temple, her eyes closing briefly.

She fluttered her eyelids open and looked at me, an almost desperate expression on her face and deep in those gorgeous green eyes of hers. I found myself taking a step toward her, every part of my body wanting to do nothing but comfort her. It was a foreign feeling for me, emotions and actions that went against the very grain of the bastard I was. But they were there, front and center, my priority.

“Dawn will be cracking in a few hours. You haven’t been here very long.”

She exhaled as if that were a relief, and maybe it was. Maybe, to her, knowing she’d only been unconscious and in a strange place for a short while eased her panic.

“I was at your house tonight for the simple fact that I could, because I wanted to be close to you.” I saw the way her pulse jumped in her throat because of my words.

She licked her lips and averted her gaze. “Where am I, exactly?”

“My home.”

She looked at me then and lifted a brow. “Obviously. But where?”

I smirked. “Outside of Ryeka, on a fuck of a lot of acres of land, and out in the middle of nowhere.”

She nodded slowly and looked around, her focus stopping on the window that was covered by heavy drapes. But she wouldn’t see anything, even if it weren’t pitch-black and the drapes were pulled. I had heavy shutters installed over the windows, ones that came down automatically as soon as the fucking sun rose.

I’d bought this land decades ago, before the city had grown to the size it was, before they started putting businesses on every fucking street corner. Then I’d had this big-as-fuck house—too big for just me, if I was being honest—built. I’d installed the window shutters to protect me and my soldiers from that ball of fucking death.

Although I wouldn’t be burned to a crisp by the sun, not like how the movies and books portrayed my kind—with a fiery death—prolonged exposure to daylight would weaken us by the second, the minute, the damn hour until we were susceptible to injuries and wounds not healing and finally death.

I looked around my study, where I spent most of my time while here. This fucking beast of a house was more of a compound than a home, with security cameras all over the fucking place, even around the acres of woods that surrounded the house. If anyone stepped foot a mile away from this place, I’d fucking know it.

“How did you know to be at my house tonight, last night… whatever? How did you know those men would be there?” Her voice shook on the last part, her fear rising, the scent like burnt wood. “And who were those men? Why were they there?”

Just thinking about those fuckers made me want to kill them all over again, to tear their heads from their bodies for daring to make my mate feel as though she wasn”t safe.

“Who were those men?” she asked again when I didn’t answer her the first time. Her voice was breathy, barely audible, her words laced with the pressure she was feeling right now. She probably hated it, loathed that I made her feel this way, that her body was betraying her. But she’d soon realize it wasn’t a betrayal, but her body, her soul, her very essence submitting to me, because she was mine and I was hers.

“They were humans, the bad kind, the kind I don’t want anywhere near you.” The truth was I didn’t want any men near her, not human nor Otherworlder. But she wasn’t ready to hear all of that. “They were after you because of me. You were just collateral, a way to get to me, because you’re mine.”

“Humans…” She licked her lips, and I was transfixed at the sight. “You keep phrasing things weird. Mates, humans, that I’m yours. What does that all mean?”

“What do you think it means?” I was being purposely evasive, getting off on going around in circles with her, because I knew the moment I said what was really hanging between us, she’d no doubt close off, a defense mechanism, because her mind wouldn’t be able to comprehend it right away.

A long moment passed as we stared at each other. “I think it means you’re dangerous.”

My smart, pretty little female.

“I’m very dangerous.” I wanted to move closer, be that predator who stalked her, getting off and becoming excited to watch her retreat, knowing at the end of it all she’d give in to me.

“The bodies,” she whispered instead of saying what she really wanted to, and she looked at me, eyes wide.

“If you’re looking for an apology for killing them”—I slowly shook my head—“I can’t give you that.” I took another step closer, a low growl leaving me at the thought of her retreating. “I’ll give you anything, everything, but I won’t give you that. In fact,” I murmured, my focus on her lips again, “I enjoyed ending them. I reveled in it.” It made the feral beast that I inherently was growl in anticipation. “They meant you harm, and for that, I’d kill them ten times over.” I bared my teeth. “I’ll destroy anyone or anything that tries to take you from me.”

But the truth was I hadn’t known they’d be at her place. I should have been more careful. I should have known with the Assembly coming out of the woodwork again, especially with them trying to take Cian and his mate down, the human fuckers were getting more daring. They were willing to take chances, even if that meant crossing me.

I took a step toward her, and I was proud that she held her ground. No one stood up against me, not the ones who wanted to live. But my sweet, vulnerable little mate who barely reached the center of my chest refused to back down in the face of a very real predator.

I stopped when I was a few feet from her, looking down into her green eyes that were too wide, too apprehensive. “That’s not really what you want to ask me though, is it?” No, no, it wasn’t.

I knew what question rolled around in that gorgeous head of hers, something she didn’t want to contemplate as reality, something that was more important right now than the fact that she’d had a home invasion, or that I’d slaughtered two people in her home.

It was a question that churned in her mind over and over again since the last time we’d been together, when I had her pressed against the wall of my club, when I smelled her arousal and knew her pussy was wet… tasted the ambrosia that was her blood.

My cock throbbed at the memory, her flavor still on my tongue, forever in my fucking DNA.

“Ask what you really want, Kayla,” I repeated my statement, staring into her eyes. I knew she heard me the first time but was mulling over the question, probably trying to talk herself out of saying it, because it sounded insane to her. To humans, sure. But to my kind, this was reality.

And now it was hers too.

She licked her lips, and I had a feeling she wanted to break eye contact, but she was strong, my female, stubborn. I could tell this moment in time was a little too fucking intense for her.

This was only the beginning though.

“Who are you?” Her voice was soft and breathy, but she still had that spark of fire laced in the words that had my cock perpetually hard.

I hummed in pleasure. “Look at you, such a good girl and listening.” Her eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared briefly as her anger spiked. It smelled like crisp green apples in my nose.

Fuck, I’d never felt an ache the likes of which was currently settled in my balls.

“I told you who I was.” I took another small step toward her, feeling that surge of predatory pleasure when she stepped back… when the bookshelf stopped her from retreating. “Adryan Darris. Entrepreneur of imports and exports, owner of a hell of a lot of businesses, one of those being Sinner.” I moved closer, her scent surrounding me, making me so fucking high.

“Right,” she said softly, her disbelief in what I said was evident in her voice. It had my lips twisting in amusement that she wanted to call me out on my shit.

We locked gazes for long seconds, so long I found myself leaning toward her, a hand landing on the bookcase beside her head, caging her in as I went for the kill—to devour those lush red lips of hers.

“What are you?” Her eyes were wide, her pupils blown. Her mouth was parted as she panted, the adrenaline currently coursing through her veins no doubt igniting her entire body like a livewire, hypersensitive and aware. “The fangs. The blood. The freaky-as-hell, red glowing eyes.”

I moved closer and closer and closer still until my body was flush with hers and she had no way of escaping.

The scent of her pussy getting wet rose up between us. Her breathing quickened, and I felt her hard little nipples digging into my chest. A look down showed those little peaks, those little pencil-eraser-sized nipples all but tearing through her shirt.

I could make out the rosy-red shade of them, and my mouth watered, my canines aching. I wanted to run the tips of my fangs along her perfect tits, wanted to gently pierce her skin right by those tips and lap at the blood that beaded from the wounds.

“Prosthetics,” she whispered, her focus on my mouth. “Fake blood and new-age contacts.” She lifted her focus to my eyes then. “You’re one of those people into hard-core cosplay, right?” She made it sound like a question, but it really wasn’t one.

Fucking hell. I could come from the images in my head alone.

“What do you think I am?” I should’ve just come out and told her, said the word that would no doubt confuse and terrify the hell out of her, even though she’d more than likely already come to the conclusion of what creature I was.

But I wanted to hear her say it. The depraved, sadistic beast that I was wanted to hear my female say out loud what I was.

For long moments she didn’t speak, both of us not breaking the gaze we held on the other. Maybe she thought things would become clearer. Maybe she thought she’d wake up from this because it was nothing but a dream.

“If I say it, it’ll somehow make it real.” Her voice was barely audible.

“Baby, it’s already real.”

She averted her gaze to stare at the heavy drapes covering the window. “Saying—thinking—that you could be… one of those is insane.”

“One of those…?”

She glanced at me then, her eyes seeming even greener as her pupils constricted. “A vampire.”

And there it was. There it fucking was.

I leaned in closer to her, letting my lips skim along her cheek. “How crazy do you feel saying that out loud?” She shivered against me but didn’t speak. “Pretty fucking crazy, huh? But you know it feels so right.” I leaned back, my scruff-covered cheek moving along her jawline. “You know it’s reality when you put all the pieces together. And the sooner you let your mind latch onto that belief, the easier all of this is going to be.”

“The easier what’s going to be?” Her voice shook, but was it from fear or… something else?

“Being mine, Kayla. The easier it’ll be once you understand you’re mine.”

She sucked in a breath.

“I’m nothing like what they portray in the movies.” I didn’t know why I felt like going into more detail. I’d never given a fuck what anyone thought, least of all about me or my kind. I was what I was, and there was no changing that. But as I scented her apprehension, I wanted to ease her worries. I never wanted her to feel this way around me, especially not about me. So I kept speaking, wanting to make her understand, this foreign part needing her to.

“Me, my kind, we are one of the species in what”s known as the Otherworld.” She was shaking her head as if to deny any of this, but she said nothing. “We’re the most powerful species, baby girl.” Of course the Lycans would disagree; hell, probably any and all creatures in our faction. But the fucking wolves had to rely on their inner animals to give them that brutal strength. Me, on the other hand?

I was just a fucking psychopath.

“Oh God. You’re insane.”

“I am.” No use denying how fucking unhinged I was.

“You’re a murderer.”

“Sure am, princess.” I’d been a killer for damn near my entire fucking existence. I’d been doing heinous, deplorable shit for nearly one hundred and twenty years. And I’d reveled in every single fucked-up thing I’d done. “I’m not a hero, Kayla. I never was, and I never will be.”

“I’m dreaming.” She closed her eyes and kept shaking her head.

“No, baby. No, you’re not.” I waited until she opened her eyes and looked at me. “I’m a lot of things, a lot of fucked-up things, but what I’m not is a liar.”

Even though she was shaking her head, I could see the reality sink in. She knew the truth, even if her world and mind were rebelling against it.

“You’re afraid,” I said in a low voice right beside her ear, nothing but a growl of unrestrained need. “You have nothing to be afraid of where I’m concerned. You’ve never been safer, never will be safer, than you are with me.” She was panting, not speaking, her body tense. “But even if you are afraid, I can also smell something else.”

I pressed my body right up against hers, harder, letting her feel how erect I was. Her breath hitched, but her body softened.

“You feel so good, princess.” I ran the tip of my nose along the shell of her ear. Her body was tight, but she didn’t pull away. “Do you know what other scent I smell from you, Kayla?” Her breath was going through her parted lips fast and hard, but she still didn’t respond. I chuckled low, deeply. “It’s the scent of your arousal.” I ground my erection against her belly, really letting her feel what she did to me. “It’s a scent that tells me your pussy is soaked right now. Isn’t it.” I didn’t phrase it like a question because I didn’t need her to answer, didn’t need her confirmation. I could smell the sweet honey that spilled from between her thighs so potently it was an aphrodisiac that had euphoria filling me.

“Are you going to kill me?” God, her voice, threadbare from her desire, was such a fucking turn-on. Then again, this female just had to look at me and my cock was rock-solid.

I rolled my hips, making her feel my cock. “This feel like I want to kill you, baby?”

She let out a little moan, and I wondered if she hated herself for it. But when she softened farther against me, her hands resting on my biceps, I dug my dick against her even more, knowing if I kept this up, I’d come so fucking hard.

“That’s it. Yeah, that’s so fucking it.” Her nails dug into my biceps, and her breathing quickened.

And just as I leaned in to claim her mouth, knowing tonight I was going to fuck my mate, fuck her good and hard until she couldn’t walk right tomorrow…

She brought her leg up and kneed me right in the balls.