Thirty-Six

"Hi, Zane," I murmured shyly.

“Elizabeth.” Victor said tightly. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise,” I sighed, ducking my head down.

"When can I invite her over for dinner?" Zane asked Bradley.

“Zane, she is not one of your scientific experiments.” He whispered angrily.

She shrugged waiting for him to answer.

“No.”

“But Bradley… she’s human.” And then she turned to me, smiling sweetly. “Don’t mind the pun.”

“And aren’t you cute?” I said.

“I’m not a kid.” She glared pushing back her black wild hair.

“I see.”

She turned to look at Bradley. “I’ve never met a human before.” She reasoned. “So…can I? Invite her.”

His voice was remote, "Soon."

Her demeanour changed, the room charged with awkwardness. I blinked.

She hissed and disappeared before I could fully comprehend what was happening.

“I’ll make sure Zane and Rebecca stay in the house this time.” Victor mumbled and waved a goodbye at me, before I could lift my hand to wave back he’d disappeared.

I sighed. “What was that about?”

“Zane sensed Rebecca coming.” He said. “She doesn’t want to be in the same room as Rebecca unless she absolutely has to be.”

“Why?”

“She doesn’t like some of Rebecca’s emotions.”

I frowned.

“Are you sure I’m your life-mate?” I worked to sound unbothered but of course I didn’t fool him. “Can demons really feel…”

He took my hand and placed it over his racing heart. “What I feel here.” He shook his head. “…this is real, I’ve never felt this for anybody and my heart can never beat like this for someone other than you.”

I closed my eyes and willed myself not to cry at his sudden deCarrie tion of affection.

His quick smile turned up at the corners of his flawless lips.

“I think I’m running out of salt.” I mused.

“Victor brought some.”

“He did?”

"You wouldn’t have noticed you were too busy staring at my appealing face." he said playfully.

I couldn’t argue with that. “You don’t know how true that is.”

He grinned and asked, still playful but I could see the curiosity behind his perfectly composed posture. “I don’t scare you?"

"I thought we’d already established that you fascinate me more than anything else."

He smiled wider; his teeth gleamed in the moonlight.

I inched closer, stretching my hesitant hand up, I stopped mid-air. I was trembling with anticipation.

He sighed and took my trembling hand and placed it on his head.

My eyes never left his face. I wanted to watch him, to know when I’d done something he wasn’t comfortable with. Slowly, so slow that he groaned, I combed my fingers through his silky smooth black hair, tagging it every now and then. He hissed.

“I…um,” I dropped my hand. “I’m sorry.”

His answering smile was breath-taking. “It feels way too good to be real.” He mumbled and then, like before he took my hand and placed it back on his hair and closed his eyes sighing contentedly.

He was suddenly lying on my thighs, his forehead pressed against my stomach – he’d moved in one of his blindingly fast movements that left me speechless and terrified. My hand froze by his ear.

"Sorry," he murmured.

I looked down in time to see he was staring at me. "It's too easy to be myself when I’m with you."

I smiled, blushing.

“You’re so responsive, it make me wonder…?”

“What?” curiosity burned my eyes.

He smiled devilishly. “How well you respond to other things.”

My cheeks heated all the way to my neck. “I don’t seem to have the same effect on you though.”

He cocked his head to the side and frowned. “You’re not as observant as I thought you were then.”

“Huh.”

He grinned but his eyes were guided, curious, stern. “I don’t scare you and Benjamin doesn’t do a good job at that either, what then scares you?”

“The very thought of losing you.” I mumbled, refusing to meet his gaze.

It was hard to concentrate with his piercing gaze on my face. I wanted to look up, to see his expression, to know what he might be thinking but I couldn’t bring myself to look up. His scent was overwhelming me, mouth-watering; it enveloped me in a world where only the two of us existed. It was surreal. Unconsciously, thoughtlessly, the need to trace my fingers along the length of his jaw over-rid my common sense; I ran my trembling hands over the smoothness of his face.

He hissed viciously and he was gone. I felt empty without his presence next to me. I was frozen in spot, I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He was by the fireplace, blocking the slight glow from reaching the cave, his eyes seemed to glow. He stared at me, his face ashen.

"I'm… sorry… Bradley," I said in a hushed whisper, my voice cracked at the edges. I knew he could hear.

"Just give me a moment," he said his voice unreadable. “I need to gather my self-control.” He mumbled after a second.

After a long awkward silence – awkward on my part, he was suddenly standing over me. His gaze held me captive, trapping me in their electrifying exquisiteness.

“Forgive me… princess.” He whispered, sinking down, crossing his legs under him. He peered up at me under his long lashes. “I just need a heads up next time, so I can be prepared.” He winked.

“I understand.”

He sighed and lowered his head – in a painful slowness – I stilled as his scent fanned my face, made it impossible for me to breathe. My heart crushed hard against my ribs; in that moment I didn’t know where I began and he ended. I didn’t care to mind. I was focusing on remembering how to breathe. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as the realisation of what he was about to do slowly sank in.

I sat very still. I couldn’t bring myself to lean toward him like he was to me – it didn’t seem to matter that he was moving very slowly, it didn’t matter that I wanted to close that distance between us – I simply watched him wide eyed.

He hesitated and then asked, still staring at my lips. “Can I?”

My brain told my head to nod; I don’t know if it did.

The moment his lips pressed against mine, my breath came out in a gush and my eyes closed on their own accord. I couldn’t move yet, my whole body was frozen, it was as though I was having an out of body experience, watching what was happening from the side-lines instead of experiencing it.

He moved back slowly. “You can open your eyes now.” He laughed nervously.

I closed them tighter, afraid I would wake up. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, I could still taste him. This was a very convincing dream.

“Beth.” He said his voice worried.

I opened my eyes slowly and he sighed in relief.

“You…you…kissed me.” I accused when I was sure it wasn’t a dream.

“You didn’t like it?”

“No it was…” I searched for the right word; I sighed and settled with, “intoxicating. Far better than in my dreams.”

“You dream of kissing me?” he asked, his eyes unreadable.

I blushed. “I dream of a lot of things.”

He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes.

“If I could sleep, I would dream about you too.”

I sat without moving, more frightened of him being a figment of my imagination than I’ve ever been. I'd never seen him so human, so completely free, so raw… so beautiful. It was as though I could see his very soul.

He wrapped his arms around me and, I carefully placed my ear on his chest. I wanted to hear the unusual beat of his heart, to remind myself that an angel held me in its arms.

Bradley asked about my favourite meals, my childhood, what movies I enjoyed, places I liked to hang out in, where I’d go if I was given a chance to travel anywhere in the world.

I paused and blushed, fidgeting against his hold on me. Of course he noticed.

“Tell me.” He said whenever he spoke his chest vibrated. I sighed happily.

I couldn’t help wondering if he was as unwilling to move as I was. “I don’t care as long as I get to be where you are.”

“Oh.” He murmured, his velvet voice unintentionally seductive and then he was back to asking more probing questions. It was funny how I didn’t seem to mind, I’d never talked so much in my entire life. He asked about my non-existent social life, my roommate back in boarding school, he wanted to know more about my father, he asked why I never wore earrings, why I liked to wear my hair in a bun commenting how – and I’m paraphrasing – ‘you look beautiful with your hair down.’

He seemed to notice everything about me; I was seriously surprised when he mentioned that I had one grey hair on my forehead, something I took from my father.

I’ve never met anyone I could talk to for such a long time, anyone who seemed to care about even the smallest of details about my life, someone who could be so engaged by me, and I certainly hadn’t met anyone with whom I could talk to all through the night.

“You haven’t touched your food.” He said disapprovingly.

“I was occupied.” I mumbled, unwilling to move away from him.

“I’m sorry.” He said. “You’re just so very interesting that I lost track of time. It’s dawn.” he said glumly.

I sighed, “Yeah.”

His arms slowly dropped from my waist and he moved a foot back. I didn’t know what to do with my hands now that he was gone. He smiled and offered me food. I eat silently.