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“Ignore it,” I growled, crossing my arms over my chest and looking away from them.
Sensing my touchy mood, Kyle gave Elijah a quick kiss on the lips before sending him on his way. Elijah found a spot on the other side of the gym to finish his workout.
Kyle turned to me, elbowing my side. “Hey, if I don’t give you shit, then who will, Alpha?”
I grunted. “I would prefer no one. Perks of being king.”
A moment of awkward silence passed between us. “So…You and the luna…?” Kyle prodded.
“None of your business.”
He nodded his head in understanding. “It’s getting that bad, huh?”
“Kyle…,” I warned in a low tone.
He rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah, it’s none of my business.
“I know you would like to believe that, but you make it all of our business every second you go without fully mating the luna and fulfilling the prophecy.
“And when you walk around smelling so strongly of mating pheromones that I could choke on the fumes.”
I wasn’t listening to him anymore, my attention stolen.
I had just gotten a whiff of my favorite scent in the whole world.
Belle.
Belle was nearby. She was watching me.
And, fuck, she was turned on.
All of my focus was suddenly on this new development. Had she come to watch me work out? Did she need something? Was she lonely? Horny?
My head snapped up and narrowed on the viewing deck overlooking the gym. It was one-way glass, so I couldn’t see her, but I knew she was there.
And I knew she could see me. I would be able to pick out her gaze on me in a room of thousands.
My naughty mate definitely knew she wasn’t supposed to be here. It was dangerous for her, a human, to be surrounded by bloodthirsty vampires.
I had told her countless times that she wasn’t allowed outside our wing without the proper protection—especially when Azazel was still out there.
Azazel hadn’t caused any problems lately, but I almost would have preferred it if he would. Then I would at least know what he was up to. He was quiet right now, too quiet. And it was making me nervous.
“Oh, shit.” Kyle chuckled as he raised a hand to cover his nose. He shook his head with a smile. “The two of you are worse than teenagers, I swear.”
Thankfully, he walked away before I had to beat him to death for smelling my mate.
All of my prior thoughts about keeping a safe distance from my little mate went out the window as I started to march toward her, ready to give her exactly what she needed.
BELLE
I woke up in bed by myself. The spot where Grayson slept was cold, and a deep longing was rooted in my chest, making it hard for me to breathe.
Usually, I would just deal with it. I was a big girl who could go a few hours without my boyfriend.
Codependency? Yeah, we don’t know her.
But today was different. The last couple of days—weeks, actually—had been different. I wanted to be around him all the time.
I craved his presence, his heart-melting smile, his very skillful touch. He was like a drug that I needed all the time in order to survive.
Which was why I somehow found myself walking toward the gym’s viewing deck at six in the morning, seeking even a single glimpse of my mate.
I knew I wasn’t supposed to be out here. Liam would be at my door within the next hour, and then we would be meeting with Minnie.
Today we were visiting an older witch who had apparently turned herself into a cow and didn’t know how to turn back.
I had no idea what Minnie was going to be able to do to help her, but I definitely wasn’t going to miss it. So I would have to be quick. I just needed to be near him for a few minutes, and then I would be fine.
I hoped.
My eyes found him the moment I entered the viewing deck. He was at the back of the gym, talking to Elijah and Kyle, arms crossed over his massive chest.
His muscles strained against his black shirt, and sweat dripped down his face and neck, making him glisten in the fluorescent lighting.
God, he was hot. He was truly perfect in every way, shape, and form. Part of me thought it wasn’t fair, but the other part of me was content to stare at him and his perfection.
I sat down at one of the two large leather couches, observing my mate with rapt attention. It was crazy how much peace it brought me just to be near him, to watch him. It was the mate bond.
He was the other half of my soul, and I wanted to be with him as much as I possibly could. At the beginning of our relationship, that would have terrified me.
My dependency on him would have made me flee, run for the hills like a coward until he inevitably came and hunted me down. Now though, it felt natural. In fact, it felt incredible.
I loved him. He completed me. And after months of hesitation, trust-building between the two of us, and just pain in general due to everything that happened, that was an amazing feeling to have.
A giggle left my mouth when I noticed the deep scowl on Grayson’s face as he conversed with Kyle.
Kyle had obviously just said something that had bothered him, which, to be fair, wasn’t hard to do nowadays. He was snappy with every person but me.
It was extremely entertaining witnessing him be all sweet and caring with me when we were in private and then all grumpy and territorial the moment we were in public.
Plus, it definitely made me feel special. And loved. I was the only one who really knew him.
I suddenly wished I were down there. I wanted to touch him, to wrap my arms around him and press my lips to any exposed skin I could.
I wanted to beg him to take the day off—king duties be damned—and spend it with me.
Knowing him, he would probably pick me up, throw me over his shoulder, and march me right back to our wing, where he would ravish me head to toe until I was nothing but a satisfied puddle beneath him.
I shifted, unconsciously rubbing my legs together as a deep, throbbing sensation started in my nether regions, eliciting a small gasp to escape my lips.
The fire in my core that I thought he had put out last night when he had spent half the night with his head between my legs—had officially reignited. And it was stronger than ever.
Before I could stop myself, my hand reached for the button to my jeans.
Oh God, I should not be doing this right now. Not when anyone could walk in and see me. Not when Grayson could find out and punish me for getting myself off.
He once caught me touching myself in the shower and had been so angry, so close to shifting, that I nearly peed myself.
“This sweet little pussy is mine~, Belle,” ~he had said, his hand cupping me between my legs with an unyielding grip that had my mind spinning and my breath coming out in short pants.
“If you need to get off, you come to me. You come to your mate and let me take care of you in the way you need. Only I get to make this pussy pulse with pleasure.
Understand?”
Needless to say, we didn’t spend much time sleeping that night.
I hadn’t touched myself since then, and that had been weeks ago, only days after arriving in Zaweth. Thankfully, I hadn’t needed to. Grayson took care of my every need and then some.
All it took was one hooded glance from me, and he was throwing me down on whatever nearby surface and tearing my clothes off.
But, as of recently, that was starting to feel like all we ever did. It was all I ever wanted to do.
I couldn’t be in the same room with him for more than an hour without feeling a wet heat start to unravel between my legs. And it was never Grayson who initiated our… activities.
He was always more than happy to participate, but it always took a bit of prompting from me. It was almost as if he only ever wanted to be intimate with me if I was the one who wanted it.
I was starting to feel needy. And clingy. And maybe even a little bit dirty.
Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with an active sex life, but I was starting to question if Grayson really wanted to be with me in that way or if he was just appeasing me.
Was he getting annoyed with how often I wanted him between my legs recently?
And Lord forbid he start to think that was all I wanted from him.
And the worst part was, we hadn’t even had sex yet! We had done every other thing you could possibly think of, but his glorious cock had never once actually entered my body.
I knew Grayson was trying to take it slow so that I didn’t freak out after everything that had happened between us.
I couldn’t blame him for that and even appreciated it at first.
Especially since I was still a bit traumatized from when Azazel—in Grayson’s body
—had told me my only job as his mate was to bring him pleasure and power, right before he attempted to force himself on me.
But a lot had happened since then. My trust in him and in my role as his mate had been restored.
Our relationship had evolved and flourished and turned into something completely different than it had been during our time in Paris less than a year ago.
The love between us was so substantial, so profound, completely all-consuming.
And real.
Without warning, his eyes snapped up to meet mine. Tingles immediately shot through me, and I gasped, nearly shooting out of the couch I was sitting in.
My hand dropped the button to my pants as if it had burned me. He couldn’t be looking at me, right?
The other side of this window was a mirror. I had seen it with my own eyes the last time I had been in the gym.
I was sure of it—I wouldn’t have walked in here intending to ogle my mate unnoticed if I hadn’t been sure.
So how the hell was he looking right at me right now?
My heart pounded against my rib cage, nearly turning upside down when his nostrils flared, taking in a deep breath before narrowing his eyes.
He said something to Kyle and then started to march toward me.
Oh, shit.
I squeaked, jumping off the couch and immediately turning on my heel to flee to the door behind me.
Grayson had never told me I wasn’t allowed to come here, but he did say to stay away from vampires. And there were a lot of vampires down there.