I stroke her neck. "Are you sure?" I turn her jaw this way and that, examining the bite marks I left on her neck.
"Werewolves mark each other when they mate," she murmurs.
"Do you wish these were mating marks?"
"No." Her body hardens.
"You sure? Werewolves mate for life."
She turns her face away, giving me her profile. "I'm not interested in a mate. Ever."
I cup her chin, drawing her back to me. "You're so young, pet. You don't know what you want."
"I don't want a mate. I don't want to risk…"
"Losing them?"
She's quiet.
"We all die," I remind her.
"Except you," she mutters darkly.
"Except me. But even I could choose to face the dawn."
That gets her attention. "Would you? One day?"
"If I ever loved someone beyond reason. Beyond my own good sense, and they were mortal, then yes. When they died, I would face the dawn."
A furrow appears between her brows and I press my fingers to it, working to smooth it away.
"So, you see, you and I are the same. We both refuse to give into love. Do you know why?"
"Because we are incapable of being with someone?"
"No," I tell her what she already knows. "Because we love too deeply and too much."
She snuggles into me. "That's why I like this."
"Why, pet, I'm flattered. You like me?"
"No, not you. This." She presses into me. "Snuggling. With a vampire king."
"I can't ever let you leave here. My reputation won't live it down."
"You're going to kill me, remember?" she yawns. "Or I'll kill you."
"You speak of life and death so lightly pet."
"I'm ready."
"You're young," I remind her. "You shouldn't throw your life away."
"Are you lecturing me?" her eyes widen.
"Yes. You're wasting yourself on a stupid cause."
"It's not a stupid cause."
"Assassinating me? Foolhardy and impossible."
"Well, you would say that," she grumbles. "You don't want to be assassinated."
"Not only that," I say, and I'm surprised to find it's the truth. " I don't think someone as young and lovely as you should waste her life obsessed with me."
She gives me a look. "Obsessed, huh?"
I squeeze the muscles in her hands and arms. "You've fought before. Did you imagine fighting me?"
"Yes," she answers, tense.
"Don't worry pet. I won't question you anymore."
"You don't want to know why?"
"I've lived a long time. I've committed any number of abominations." I turn her to her side so I can spoon her. "You have a very human view of justice. Does the lion regret killing the gazelle? This is the law of nature. Survival."
"And if a lion kills senselessly, needlessly, should it die?"
"If it is stronger than its prey, than no. It has a right to kill."
"Is that what you think? You have a right to kill? Where is your humanity?"
"It bled out with my life when the vampire virus took over."
She stills. "So you don't have a sense of morality."
"I do, pet. I have been very moral, especially when compared with my colleagues."
"Would Georgianna say you're moral?"
I hide a smile. Selene's obsession with my past love is more telling than she knows. My little pet has feelings for me. "She might. I treated her well. I know you have no reason to believe me--"
"I believe you," she contradicts me softly and looks me in the eyes. No other creature looks me in the eyes like Selene does. Her lack of fear isn't bravado. She wants to look at me, so she does. She might be the only creature who truly sees me. "You treat me well," she says. "So I can believe you showed kindness to her."
"Until she betrayed me. I killed her. She tried to kill me, and I… well, I'm the bigger predator."
"You loved her."
"Yes. And I believe she loved me."
"What?"
"A vampire in love, is that so impossible?" I tease.
A little shake of her head. "She loved you and she tried to kill you? Why?"
My heart sinks, remembering. "Because, Selene, her maker told her to."
"Her maker?"
"He was a vampire like me, old, powerful. He brought her to life. Loved her, I thought, like a daughter. But now I know he wanted more from her."
Selene wrinkles her nose. "Eww."
"Yes. It's a tricky relationship, the bond between sire and sired, and he took advantage. He ordered her to kill me, and I doubt she thought to say no." My sigh gusts through Selene's hair. "I've never told anyone this."
"Why are you telling me?"
"I don't know. Maybe because you look just like her. You remind me how I felt when I was with her. Young. In love."
"Love."
She's quiet so long I think she's fallen asleep.
"Lucius?" Selene asks in a small voice.
"Yes, pet?"
"What happens after? Where do we go from here?"
"What do you want to happen?"
I would like... there are things I would have liked to do."
"Kill me?" I offer, dryly.
"There's that... but other things too. Those shifters in cages. I wanted to save them."
"What if they wanted to be there?'
"They don't. The auctions are an abomination. I'd like to put a stop to them."
I want the same thing, though she doesn't know that. "How about... you help me, and I help you?"
"How?"
"You remain here, as my submissive, until the end of the month." That will give me time to flush out my enemies. "In return I will stop the auctions."
"And set all the other shifters free?"
"Yes. No shifter will serve a vampire. Not unless they want to."
"They won't want to," she says.
"You sound so sure. A shifter in love with a vampire? Is that such an impossible thing?" I ask.
She raises her head and meets my gaze. The air charges between us. Little currents of electricity running between me and her.
"One month," she agrees, her voice husky. "Then it's over."