120

120
Emma

“The double doors on your left,” he instructs in a lowered tone, gesturing with his head without disrupting our eye contact. “Go through them.” 

I take a few steps backwards, my stomach tingling as I fear to turn around for a few heartbeats. 

When I finally find the courage to do so, I turn around with my heart beating at the top of my throat, and I push the double doors open, finding a large sitting room with a few lounge sofas and love seats in the middle of walls made of shelves that are filled with books. 

“Wow,” I breathe out, fading out Ace standing close behind me as he caught up with me. 

The room is entirely dark, the only light source coming from the fairy lights and fire pits of the festival celebrations happening on the other side of the large window front. 

“This place is huge. Did you live here all alone?” I ask, my eyes still roaming the colorful decoration on the high ceiling. 

He hums, stepping closer to me and leaning in, his warm breath tickling my shoulder. “Yes, but I didn’t spend much time in here because I trained a lot. I was always on the field with my warriors.” 

“Your warriors,” I comment in a whisper, pushing down the shivers his proximity triggers. “What a pity. It is nice here.” 

Feeling his tongue lick my neck, I flinch, turning my head just enough to see him grinning at me. 

‘Would have been different if you had been here with me, though.’ His voice erupts in my head, triggering sparks to explode on my skin without even touching me. While his voice still echoes from the walls of my mind, I gasp, trying to get my thoughts out of the gutter. 

“How are you even able to mind link me when the court has restricted this ability on royal grounds for us outsiders?” I ask him, ignoring his gaze roaming the neckline of my dress. 

‘My demon has marked your wolf, did you already forget?’ he chuckles, and I guess that it is not only to hide his words from nosy ears. 

He really likes mindlinking me. 

“You learned your lesson about running away then.” Lifting my chin, I flash him a cheeky smile. 

He crosses his hands behind his back, his uniform jacket stretching over his chest while his grin broadens. “And I have been taking my medication.” 

I laugh, shaking my head, but fail to make my heartbeat slow down. My cheeks burn up when I feel a strange pull and my eyes lock with his. I practically feel my pupils dilate when a strangely calming sensation wafts over me. The soothing effect that seems to come from him in waves takes over my body, bubbling in my chest as it envelopes my erratically beating heart. 

Opening my lips in a silent gasp, I fail to avert my gaze, the darkening-red color of his eyes pushing out his human-form’s color completely. 

When he finally speaks again, his words pierce through the fog that clouded my mind, and I blink, realizing only now how much I let him hypnotize me. 

“Are you feeling less anxious now?” he asks softly, taking a step forward to lay his hands onto my elbows. Even the sparks exploding on my skin fail to reawaken my senses numbed by his lulling. 

Nodding, I study his face, seeing his grin morph into a gentle smile. I still seem to have lost the ability to speak, and he lets his hands glide along my forearms to tangle his fingers with mine. My eyes drop to inspect his gentle touch, and he leans forward, obviously taking advantage of the words stuck in my throat. “Kai and I shared the concern about your worry increasing with every minute that we are spending here. We can’t take you home yet, nor can we send you away, so we had to find a way to get you to calm down.”

“You are communicating with Kai?” I ask him, shocked. 

Are they fucking kidding me? 

I guess his demon or his wolf is still sending pleasurable impulses along my nerves, because I don’t seem to be able to get as angry as I want to get. My lips move without me actually being able to sense the movement, my brain acting as if locked into a dream, my body moving autonomously. 

Lifting my hands, I release my jaw, stopping myself from looking at him agape. “You know what. I don’t want to know about it. I am already too anxious all by myself.”

“So, you don’t want to know what we decided on to get you to calm down?” he provokes me with a sly grin. 

I gulp, crossing my arms to create a little distance between us, and stop that tingling feeling from dizzying up my brain. “Wha—What did you decide on?” 

He laughs, lifting his gaze to the ceiling before he shakes his head. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t know about what we actually talked about.” 

“You are impossible,” I murmur, my heart skipping a beat when, after averting my gaze, I find him only inches from my face. 

“But I can show you,” he whispers with an amused expression. “Would you like me to show you?” 

Staring at him, speechless, I nod, causing him to light up. He moves closer, pressing a light kiss on the corner of my lips. Closing my eyes instinctively, I only open them slowly when I feel him pulling away while I enjoy the sparks dancing up my face. His deep chuckle gets a shiver to run down my spine as he tilts his head, gesturing to the room behind me. “Sit.” 

“You are being way too controlling,” I protest, hoping to mask the fire he sends through my veins. “I’m not your dog.” 

The corner of his lip twitches, flashing me his canines. 

“If I were that controlling, you wouldn’t have been allowed to keep on your dress for so long.”