Chapter 21

Mihai didn’t come back after our fight, not that i wanted him to, but it would have been nice to have someone to distract me from the deafening silence. I've never spent this much time alone before, let alone away from my family. Sure, we go our separate ways a lot, but we always find our way back together again, no matter how far we have gone. At least, we did, until now.

I wonder how my father feels about my failure, i mean he should be used to it by now, I've always been the family disappointment, all because i don’t want to kill. In some areas of the world that would make me the perfect daughter, but not to my father, and especially not to the hunter council.

I never wanted or need their approval on how i should live my life, after all, i was going to leave all of it behind, including my family.

But it would have been nice to have his approval at least once before i lose my life, and i know that i will, I'm too stubborn to be a good prisoner, and too mouthy. I'll be dead before the year is out.

But if what Mihai says is true, he plans on turning me into one of them, a vampire. I'd never be able to live like that, I'd never take another’s life just so that i could live. It isn’t who i am. It isn’t who i want to be.

I put the book down on the sofa beside me and toss my head back against the armrest, closing my eyes tightly to stop the tears that are threatening to fall. Crying has never been something that i did a lot, but right now everything seems so hopeless. None of it feels right.

I shouldn’t be here, i should be somewhere warm, living the life that i have chosen because i wanted it, and not because it was forced upon me.

Fuck my father, and my brothers, fuck Mihai for taking me prisoner and branding me like cattle. Fuck everyone who ever wanted to have control over me.

I hate them, all of them.

I throw the book across the room, screaming in frustration, though just as it slams against the far wall, the door opens, Mihai walking in with what smells like a hot chocolate.

He looks at the book on the floor and then back at me, noticing the tears in my eyes, “I brought a peace offering.” he says softly, carefully shutting the door.

“We can never have peace.” I snap, angrily wiping the tears from my eyes, “Not so long as you keep me prisoner.”

He holds out the warm drink, waiting for me to take it, “When i can trust that you won’t run, you’ll have more freedom to move around.” he says as i take the mug of chocolate. “You have given me no reason to trust you as of yet.”

I scoff, holding the cup in both hands, “And how am i supposed to show you i am trustworthy when you never give me a chance to prove it?”

Mihai slumps on the couch next to me, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, “I suppose we are at a locked gate, and neither of us knows the code to get through.”

“That’s a weird way of saying that neither of us can trust each other.” I say, shaking my head as the last of the tears fall.

He looks at me through half open eyes, “I don’t want to upset you, Mae, but i can’t let you go, it would tear me apart.”

I stare at the bloody flecks in his black eyes, “Sometimes i feel cold without your touch.”

I don’t know why i tell him that, it was something that i promised to keep to myself, but he looked so vulnerable and sad, and all i wanted to do is make him feel better, even if it is just a little bit.

I know i shouldn’t want that, maybe i have some form of Stockholm syndrome, or maybe i have lost my goddamn mind, but either way, in this moment, i didn’t want him to be sad.

I didn’t want to be sad either.

“There’s something I want to do, but I don’t want to do it unless you want it too.” Mihai says softly, cautiously moving closer to me.

My heart begins to race, the palms of my hands sweating.

“What do you want to do?” I ask, though I am pretty sure that I already know the answer.

And I want it too, it is all I can think about.

I shouldn’t want it, but I do, so badly.

“I want to kiss you.” He says, leaning closer to me and gently placing his hand on my cheek, the ghost of his breath tickling my lips.

“Then kiss me.” I breathe, eyes wide.

Since when did he ask?

He takes the cup from my hand and places it onto the small table beside the sofa, the thought of warming myself on hot chocolate long since abandoning my mind.

Mihai leans back in, his eyes never leaving mine as he tortures me with his closeness, he pulls me flush against his side, a small smile appearing in the corners of his mouth.

I thought it would be him who finally loses control, but it isn’t, it is me, I smash my lips against his and aggressively take what I want from him.

The kiss deepens as he pulls me onto his lap, my legs at either side of his hips, a fire starting in the bottom of my stomach and making its way lower until all I can feet is heat consuming me. He bites my lip, a gasp souring out of me at the sharp pain, but it is quickly forgotten when he uses the opportunity to push his tongue past my lips.

The fire builds, and so does our desperation to be closer, my nails digging into his shoulder as I break the kiss, gasping for breath.

But Mihai doesn’t accept my small defiance, he pulls me back to him, his hand wrapping around my neck and squeezing until all I can see is stars.

“You are so fucking perfect.” He puts against my skin, his lips making a trail down my face and onto my neck as he finally loosens his grip.

I take a greedy breath, but no amount of air in my lungs seems to be enough, and the fire that raged within me is only growing, I need more, so much more than he is willing to give me.

“Please.” I cry, not even sure what I am asking for.

He grabs the collar of my sweater and tears, the fabric disappearing right before my eyes, leaving my perky breasts and hard nipples completely bare for him.

“So fucking perfect.” He growls, flipping me over so that my back is resting on the soft cushions of the sofa, his mouth clasping around my nipple.

My back arches, pleasure rippling through me like a tidal wave that I cannot control, he sucks hard, the ghost of his fangs pressed against my skin.

“Please.” I say again, desperate for more.

“I love it when you beg.” He says against my skin, trailing kisses down my breasts, across my hips and stomach until he finally reaches where I want him to be.

He tears the trousers away too, the shredded fabric tossed to the floor, neither of us caring what happens to it.

Miami’s mouth lands on between my legs as he gently Laps up the juices my body has created just for him, but I don’t want it gentle, not anymore.

I push my hips up, my hand wrapping around the knotted strands of his hair and pushing his head down, forcing him to lick me harder and harder until I can no longer stand it.

“Tell me you are mine.” He says against my sensitive nub. “Tell me you belong to no one but me.”

“I’m yours.” I gasp, two fingers slipping inside of me.

Fire burns through me, consuming my body and mind, taking everything in its path and making it ignite in passion and want, his fingers pumping in and out of me and he licks away the juices from my clit.

It feels so fucking good, and yet it is so fucking wrong.