Chapter 13

Vasile's POV

I raised my eyes to meet hers. The anger in my own expression starting to pull on her own. She was preparing for battle.

Good.

I wanted to fight. To see if she really meant this. I needed to know how invested she was.

“You can’t be falling for me. You don’t know who I am.” I snarled and stepped closer to her.

“I know more than you think. I know that you don’t just like knowing the facts of history-you fall in love the stories that build the facts. You don’t just want to teach history; you want your students to fall in love with it as you are. You care, even if you don’t want to show it.

“Your actions aren’t just because someone taught you them when you were young, but because you care. Your parents may have taught you that a gentleman pays or walked closest to the streets. That you should make sure your date gets home safely. But over time you switched from doing them for duty to doing them because you care about people.

“It’s not about being polite, it’s about keeping yourself between danger and someone you care about. When you fall you fall headfirst and it’s not stoppable. You’re loyal to your friends and family not from duty or honor, but because you want what’s best for them.

“That, Vasile, that is why I’m falling for you.” I watched as a tear fell from her eye and trailed down her cheek.

Her words stunned me. In such a short time she’d figured me out better than I had assumed.

She was breathing hard, and her face was flushed from anger. I tried to process her words but couldn’t. Not because they stunned me, or because what she said made me feel a certain type of way-which they did.

No, I couldn’t process them because they were the same words that Sophia had told me an over century ago. Almost word for word. She’d spoken the same words with the same fire behind them.

My head began to spin. The broach called to her. I was drawn to her in a way that I’d only felt one other time. Her expressions, and her words all so eerily familiar. She was able to unlock me from the curse.

Who was Cadella to Sophia? A descendant? Someone in her bloodline?

“What if I’m a monster?” The words tumbled from my mouth before I even realized I’d spoken them.

“I don’t care.” She shrugged.

“What if I want to hurt you, use you?” I demanded as I stepped closer still to her.

“Then do it.” She took a step closer, the gap growing smaller faster than I was prepared for.

“What if I’m not who you think I am? If it’s all an act and nothing is as it appears?”

“Then you’re a damn good actor and I was played by one of the greats.” Her hand rested on the lapel of my jacket.

My eyes stayed on where her hand rested.

Thoughts raced through my mind. There were so many similarities between Sophia and Cadella. Their mannerisms and expressions, their words, their minds. But there were so many differences too.

They didn’t look alike, Sophia’s hair had been darker, her skin sun kissed and tanned. Cadella was pale, with skin that flushed so easily. Her hair was white as snow. Sophia had commanded a room, her presence influencing everything in it. Cadella was quieter, more reserved. Until she was push apparently.

Then she embodied Sophia’s power.

Power that drew me to Cadella as it had Sophia. Power that made me pull her flush against me. Just because I couldn’t love Cadella, didn’t mean I couldn’t lust over her body.

Soft warm lips crashed against mine so hard I tightened my hold on Cadella, so I didn’t stumble back. The little mouse had kissed me. Consciously I knew I had a choice, but before I could consider it, I found myself pressing my own against hers.

Her inexperienced lips pried against my experienced ones. A part of me wondered just how far she’d gone with other men. But I pushed that thought away with a swallowed growl. Possessive thoughts about her were out of the question.

Pulling away from her hungry mouth, I kissed her cheek and slowly moved my lips across her soft skin down her neck. Moving down her neck I paused as I hovered over the throbbing spot on her neck. A familiar burn pressed through my gums.

I pressed a chaste kiss on the point that I wanted to sink my fangs into, a place I wanted drink deeply from her. Kissing my way back up her neck I pulled her ear lobe into my mouth and sucked hard on it. My teeth grazing over the edge of it, making her gasp against my shoulder.

Her legs shook and she sank deeper into me. I held her closer, ensuring she wouldn’t fall. Releasing her ear, I moved my face, so my cheek pressed against hers. My lips hovering near her ear.

“You said you were falling for me? I hope you don’t regret your pretty words.” I whispered darkly to her.

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Cadella’s POV

I could never regret them. No matter how much I wanted to, Vasile was everything to me. And that terrified me.

His hands moved over me before they slipped under my shirt. I pushed his jacked off his shoulders and used his tie to pull him closer. He grinned at my forwardness.

Another tug and I had him leaning over me, his hands on my bare skin at my waist as I pulled him down for another kiss. His lips moved slowly, almost hesitantly before he gave in and took control.

A pulsing in my core like I’d felt in all the dreams that I had when I first got here returned, but it was warmer, stronger.

He sat me on the corner of his desk, pulling me so my hips were at the edge as he deepened the kiss. His tongue moved over the seam of my lips, asking for entry. Something I wasn’t going to deny him.

I don’t know if I could deny him anything. I definitely couldn’t when he kissed me like this.

No, this wasn’t a kiss. He was claiming me. And I loved it.

One of his hands moved up my back, pressing me closer to him, while the other tugged the cup of my bra down over my breast. His hands leaving a coolness in their wake. A feeling I’d come to love and crave.

He grasped a nipple between his thumb and pointer finger pinching it harshly before rolling it between them. A gasp made me open my mouth deeper, giving him better access. He tasted like nothing I’d had before, and something I wanted more of all at the same time.

Pulling back, he grinned as the hand that had been torturing my nipple released it and drifted lower. He only paused slightly, at my pants. A question in his gaze.

He was asking for consent. I grew a little confused. It was like he was hot and cold. Like he wanted this but didn’t. Nodding I let him know I wanted this.

With expert fingers he unbuttoned my fingers and thrust his hand into my pants. There was no hesitation as his fingers slipped between my slick slits. He knew exactly where my bundle of nerves was, and he played me better than I had ever done.

The dreams held nothing to the real-life experience.

My body tensed as he moved his finger quickly in small circles over my clit, before he pinched it harshly. The pain mixing with the pleasure in the best of ways and pushing me over the edge. But I still needed more.

I reached for his belt, hesitating the same as he had. A silent ask for permission. His eyes switched rapidly between lust and rejection.

My breath caught in my chest as I watched him fight within himself, not releasing until he gave a slight nod.

I quickly undid his belt; afraid he may change his mind before I got to use his body the way I wanted to. His pants came next, falling to his knees once they were unbuttoned and zipped. His briefs quickly followed.

His now free length slapped his lower stomach, its size making me freeze. That wasn’t going to fit inside of me. I wasn’t sure I wanted it to.

He smiled as he watched my shocked expression. Like most males, he took it as compliment.

“Scared now, soricel? It’s not too late to back out.” He taunted.

I wasn’t backing out. Instead, I dropped my pants and underwear and reached for his shirt buttons. Before I could reach them, he grabbed my arm and spun me around while pressing between my shoulders, bending me over his desk.

The sound of foil ripping and a slight pause as he rolled the condom on came from behind me before he lined himself up at my opening. I opened my mouth to say something, feeling like I should warn him, but before I could say anything he slammed into me.

I cried out in pain as he froze behind me.

“Fuck, Cadella. Was that-“ I nodded, cutting him off from his sentence.

He growled, leaning over me, and pulling me up to stand against him without withdrawing from inside me. I whimpered at the change of position.

“If I’d known I wouldn’t have bent you over my desk. I wouldn’t have just driven into you like that. Forgive me, soricel. Trust me to make this good for you? To make up for my roughness?” He asked, his breath tickling my neck.

I nodded, relaxing into his hold. His hand dropped to between my legs, his fingers circling my clit before he started rubbing it with a soft rapid motion. One that made me clench down on his length still buried inside of me. I couldn’t hold back as he pushed me over the edge.

Without letting me come down from my orgasm, he started moving in and out of me. The discomfort I’d felt earlier faded to pleasure that pushed me over the edge again. I felt his thrusts get more demanding, more sporadic as he neared his own release. Then his grip tightened, and his body stiffened behind me as he found it.

“Thank you, soricel. I hope I made up for my roughness.” He purred in my ear as he grabbed a cloth from somewhere and cleaned us up.

“You did.” I smiled as he pressed a kiss to the back of my shoulder, but I couldn’t help feeling that despite his clear enjoyment of our activities, that there as something he was holding back still.

Vasile had a secret.