(Zachary)KATE was flabbergasted. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened as if to say something, but then in the end, she opted to shake her head and look away. Her cheeks had turned bright red. Did she ever know how lovely she looked right now?I just wanted to devour her. All of her. I would do it right here, if possible.“Kate, look at me,” I commanded softly, something I didn’t know I was capable of.“Fine, I get it. I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that. But must you really say those words, your majes-I mean Zachary?”There. She finally said it. My name. Although she was forced to do it, it felt nice to hear my name from her. An amused smile curled my lips when she refused my order. I thought it was adorable how she kept trying to avoid my gaze. I glanced at her hands on the table. There was no ring yet.Good.I took her hand and drew rough circles on her palm. Her breathing had become uneven. Her body temperature rose. Did she feel it, too? If it was up to me, I would have tele
(Kate)FOR the second time tonight, my heart was acting up again as I stare at His Majesty’s eyes. I was seeing only my reflection there. After his Christmas greeting to a certain ‘Kate’ on the radio seven years ago, that name had become viral for months.Many people on the internet kept questioning who that lucky woman was although no one got an answer. I only accidentally heard a DJ talking about it on the radio. Zachary Collins was a name that could be heard from the women’s mouth almost everywhere. He had become every female’s embodiment of a ‘prince charming’ on a white horse especially with all the financial support he had been sending to students and athletes in different parts of the world.Never did it occur to me that I could be ‘that’ Kate. There were countless Kates in the world. And I know His Majesty. He was never the type to settle with one woman. I know his needs better than anyone else. I had witnessed it myself several times.“I want you, Kate,” he added.I shivered.
ZACHARY looked deep into my eyes. And when his gaze went to my lips, he swallowed. His breathing had become as irregular as mine. He cupped my cheeks and then he let out that sexy laugh, as his thousands of admirers put it. It was not supposed to affect me, but it did.His eyes had become softer. It was not like this was the first time I heard him laugh but for whatever reason, whatever he was doing tonight seemed brand new to me.“What’s funny?” I asked.“You. Your voice was full of conviction as you defied me and refused me, but here you are, looking at me like you want to be kissed by me.”“That’s not true.”“You have become a liar, Kate.”That’s the thing. I had always been a liar. I had been lying to him since day one. I pushed him away. “Please let me go, your majesty.”He looked into my eyes once more as if he was trying to see right through me and when he seemed to have failed, he took a rugged breath. “Only this time.”I went back to the seat and made sure to put enough dista
(Kate) “I GOT YOU. Don’t be afraid,” Zachary told me as he gently pulled me up from the bench. He grabbed my waist in one hand and pulled me closer to his body in a protective manner. Captain Tau had already compelled the humans in the park to vacate the area. When I followed where Zachary was looking at, I saw Maximo along with some of the senior Hunters. They looked stupefied upon seeing Zachary. And I knew exactly why. They didn’t come here to hunt the Vampires. It seems like the Hunters were not expecting to see them either since they only had one goal in coming here. And it was to hunt me. If I don’t do something, same day next year will be my death anniversary. If Maximo were to expose my secret-which I was sure he would do judging by the way he was looking at me with those ravenous eyes-both sides would compete to kill me. “Zachary, do you still remember inviting me out on a date earlier?” I asked him when the Hunters began firing. “Why ask about it now? Do you still rememb
I EXPECTED only two things. It was either Zachary would say yes after giving me a smirk or he would decline and still go somewhere else. And no matter how I think of it, the latter was the most likely outcome.But when it had been a few seconds already and I heard nothing at all, I opened my eyes and prepared myself to be rejected. However, I was surprised to see his face red.Am I seeing it right? Is His Majesty… blushing right now? Him of all people? Really?When he caught me staring, he instantly covered half of his face with his hand and looked away.“Goddamn it, Kate,” I heard him say.Zachary was doing all these things he had never done before. He invaded my neighborhood so early in the morning and approached me under the guise of ‘coincidence’. He had the lamest excuse of all but I could not even laugh because he uttered those words so confidently that if I didn’t know him any better, I might have been tempted to believe that our encounter this morning was truly a coincidence.
I’D BEEN told many times that every woman needed a man in their life. The old couples in my neighborhood said that life was different with a man. They said it’ll be warm, that it’ll be safe.They also said it’ll be chaotic, but they guaranteed that it was a beautiful kind of chaos. I didn’t believe ‘chaos’ could ever be beautiful. I had lived with men all my life and so far, all they brought to me was pure chaos. There was no beauty, just total agony and destruction.Except for my brother, I considered every man a red flag.And so was Zachary. His very existence screamed red flag for a woman like me.But today, as this king looked at me with emotions so raw and so real, as he held me as if I was a glass that could break anytime, as I feel the heat in his body, I think that I’m beginning to slowly understand the warmth some women were bragging about. They said men were rocks and women could depend on those rocks.I totally and wholeheartedly disagree. I didn’t need another rock. I was
ZACHARY cannot be a king and a warrior at the same time. Eventually, he would have to choose between the two. If he was an ordinary warrior, maybe I could give myself the chance to see where these strange feelings of ours could lead us.If he was a warrior, maybe he could find it in his heart to understand why I did what I did. Maybe then I could take a leap like any other ordinary woman would do. Maybe I wouldn’t have to lie to Mira. Our daughter wouldn’t have to live thinking that her father was dead. She wouldn’t have to look up at the sky at night wondering whether her father could see her or hear her from up above. She wouldn’t have to spend the rest of her life missing him.We could have been a normal family. I wanted that because I never had that. Maybe it would be nice to try having one for once in my life. But all these would remain as ‘maybes.’Because I was not an ordinary woman. Zachary was not an ordinary man either. We were born to be enemies. He had a major responsibili
“WHY are the Hunters targeting you? Why do they seem to know you? And why does it seem like you know them as well, Miss Morelli? If you evade my question one more time, you will be the next person who will fall on the floor.” I know I pledged to keep the lady safe, but before that, I must know who I was trying to protect here. She neither blink nor waver as she took the lives of the Hunters and as blood spattered on the floor. I knew that look on her face. I had seen it many times in the battlefield. That was the same expression His Majesty wore as he led the war against the Rogues and Hunters: cold and unyielding, ready to slay whoever would stand in his way. She seemed used to giving commands as well. For a brief moment there, I thought I just saw a female version of His Majesty. Even now, with the gun pointed on her forehead, she did not look terrified at all as if she had been in the same situation many times before. She looked straight into my eyes as if she was looking at deat