Chapter 35
Chapter 35
Alaric
The morning came far too quickly. If you could call it that actually. In the last couple of hours, I was sure my eyes had been peeled open to the point that I forgot how time actually worked. I blinked, like that could change anything, before I allowed myself revel in a new day again.
The light filtering through the cracks in the curtains was gray and reluctant, the kind that didn’t warm anything. It fit the hollow ache in my chest perfectly. I hadn’t slept, not that sleep was something I ever truly indulged in, but even the illusion of rest had abandoned me after what happened last night.
The kiss. I'd kissed Rhea. The fucking hunter that I swore only got on my nerves and nothing else.
The memory clung to me like smoke, and no matter how hard I blowed, she refused to leave. I could still taste her, I could still hear her heartbeat, down to the way her breath hitched against my mouth right before I lost every shred of discipline I’d spent centuries mastering.
One kiss. That’s all it had been, and yet it had undone me more completely than any hunger or bloodlust ever could.
I sat on the edge of my desk, the same one she’d been pressed against, my hand curling around the spot where her fingers had rested.
Pathetic. I was acting like a child by hanging around the crime scene, but I wasn't sure I could stay away even if I tried.
I told myself it was because she was human, that her scent, her pulse, and the whisper of her blood beneath skin had triggered something primal in me. But that was a lie, and I knew it.
If it were only blood, I would’ve fed.
If it were only hunger, I would’ve lost control completely, but it was her.
Her defiance, then her voice whispering, “show me.”The way she didn’t flinch when I warned her what I was.
It had taken everything, literally everything, to step back,and to leave her standing there when every instinct screamed to stay. I’d walked away before I did something irreversible, but I’d wanted to go back. Gods help me, I’d almost gone back.
Now, sitting here in the ruins of that control, I could still taste her.
I dragged a hand through my hair, forcing my thoughts into order. This couldn’t continue. I was Alaric, the vampire king. I’d survived empires rising and falling, wars, betrayals, hunger that drove others to madness. I could handle this. I had to.
Still, the words came unbidden, low and venomous.
“I need help.” I muttered to myself. “And fast.”
Before I could second, guess it, I reached for my phone and typed out a message.
To: Selene
“Need to see you.” I punched in the words like the letters themselves offended me, but I didn't care. Right now I was willing to do anything to stop this. “Urgent.”
I didn’t wait for a reply. I just shoved the phone into my coat pocket and left the study.
Downstairs, the house was quiet. The kind of quiet that wasn’t peace, just pause, like even fate was waiting to see what would transpire next between us.
Rhea was there, sitting by the window with a cup in her hand. Sunlight caught on her hair, tracing it in gold, and for a fleeting second, I forgot every reason I shouldn’t look at her.
She looked up when I entered, her gaze searching, like she was waiting for me to say something, to acknowledge what happened.
I didn’t.
“Morning,” she said softly. Her tone wasn’t casual, not really. It was layered, like she was testing the temperature of the air between us.
And when her eyes met mine, she looked like she was going to kiss me again if I got the chance.
“Morning,” I echoed, moving to pour myself a drink that I had no intention of consuming. Blood was usually my go to, but right now, the thought of any red liquid that hadn't come from Rhea wasn't the least bit appeasing to me.
“Well.” She studied me for a moment longer, then said, “You’re awfully quiet for someone who barely slept.”
“Didn’t realize you were keeping track.”
“Hard not to notice when someone slams a door hard enough to shake the house.”Her lips curved into something not quite a smile
“You should’ve been asleep.” I froze for half a heartbeat before schooling my expression.
“Couldn’t,” she said. “Too much on my mind.”
“Rhea….” I started, but she was quick to cut me off.
“Are we going to pretend it didn’t happen?” she interrupted, her voice sharper now, cutting through the fragile civility like glass.
“Yes.” I set the glass down carefully. “Happy now?”
“Why? Because you’re good at pretending?”
Her eyes widened slightly, but she didn’t back down. “Or because you’re scared you actually felt something?”
“It was a mistake, Rhea” I met her gaze, unflinching as I let out my next words. “nothing more.”
Her breath caught, and for a second, I thought I saw hurt flicker behind her eyes. It didn't last long though , because it quickly smothered by defiance.
“You keep telling yourself that.” she huffed, pushing her nose in the air.
“It’s not something I need to convince myself of,” I said coldly, though the words tasted like ash.
“Right.” She stood then, taking a step closer, until the scent of her hit me again, this time with warmth, heartbeat, and temptation. “You didn’t lose control, Alaric. You wanted me. And it’s killing you to admit it.”
“You're delusional, Rhea.” I clenched my jaw, every muscle in my body coiled too tight. “And you’re wrong.”
“Am I?”
The bond, that damned bond, flickered then, like it'd been waiting for this moment all along. It came just as a whisper of heat brushing against the edge of my senses, faint but undeniable. It simply meant it wasn't fully restored, but alive enough to sting.
I watched her eyes soften for half a heartbeat, and I just knew she felt it too.
“I can feel it,” she whispered. “Even now.”
“Stop.” My voice came out rougher than intended. “You have no idea what you’re playing with.”
“Maybe.” She tilted her head, that infuriating calm smile returning. “Then maybe you should stop pretending you don’t.”
I stared at her, every instinct torn between stepping back and closing the distance entirely.
But I didn’t move, I couldn’t. After a long silence, I said the only thing that might keep us both from burning. “Stay out of my way, Rhea.”
“That's not going to work.” She laughed softly, but there was no humor in it. “You keep saying that like you believe it’s possible.”
Then she walked past me, brushing my shoulder as she went, just enough for the bond to spark again.
By the time I exhaled, she was gone, leaving me standing in the middle of the room, the ghost of her warmth still clinging to my skin.
And for the first time in a long, long while, I didn’t trust myself to move.
Shit.