Chapter 5 Lust in thoughts

By the gods, what beautiful eyes she possessed.

Her irises were a stormy grey ringed with black, so beautiful I could stare into them forever. Sleep disappeared from her eyes as she finally seemed to register what he was.

A stranger in her bedroom.

Her mouth opened to let out a scream and Adair pounced on her, immediately cutting her cry short.

"Shh," he whispered in her ears. "Be quiet and no harm will come to you."

Still, she kept wiggling beneath him trying to throw him off. Her strength was useless against his and her twisting only seemed to excite him as her soft body fused against his. She became limp, finally aware of his member against her belly. Adair panted heavily both from his arousal and his effort to keep his beast in check. This was the second time he felt his beast since his capture. The first was when it had whispered 'mate' in the dungeons.

All it wanted was to release its pain on her and sink into her soft, warm hole. Their bodies would be so joined that she wouldn't be able to tell where she stopped and where he began.

Rhea looked up at her attacker as his eyes flickered between dark hazel one moment and gold in the next. He was not a vampire.

No vampire had eyes as chaotic as his. So what part of the lore had he come from? And why was he in her room?

Up close, his face was chiselled and defined as if wrought from stone. Long filthy brown hair covered his eyes from her as he bent over her and his face spotted a few days' shadows of a beard. He looked like a fallen angel but couldn't be one because his skin was covered with dirt and dried blood. And he reeked.

Oh heavens! It also didn't help that one of his callused hands still roughly covered her mouth while the other was wrapped around her throat, his sharp claws tapping gently in a warning. Rhea lay petrified with fear as she felt his steadily growing hard-on rage against her thighs which had been exposed during her struggles.

Rhea's body was frozen with fear but her mind was screaming at her to move as he gazed intensely at her with a look she couldn't quite place. He moved his calloused hand from her mouth and she let out a whimper. What she wouldn't have given to reverse time back to when she used to run away from her uncle's defence training. They had been too tough on her weak body and she had shied away, giving excuses. If only she had that now.

He removed a callused hand from her throat and mouth, placed it under her and pulled her closer for a hug, confusing her. He groaned when her chest met his as electricity seemed to pass between them, or had she imagined that? Wasn't he here to hurt her?

As if he heard, he dropped her back on the bed and lowered his mouth to her neck. His tongue was hot against her cold skin, shocking her and she jerked as a shudder passed through her.

"Please, don't" Rhea choked out, bringing her fists up to badger at his chest. He captured both of her shaking hands and raised them over her head, holding them in place. Continuing his administration, he plastered kisses all over her neck, shoulders and even her face, whispering into her ears in a foreign language. Rhea opened her mouth to release a scream which had been lodged in her throat and shoved against him as hard as she could. Weakened by hunger, he didn't even bulge. He simply shut off her scream by covering her mouth once more with his large hand.

"How dare you deny me what's mine," he growled, his golden eyes ablaze.

"Please, don't," she whimpered, but it fell on deaf ears. Instead, he raised his hand. Instinctively, she closed her eyes expecting him to hit her.

His sharp claw sliced through her thin bralette, splitting it into halves and exposing her breasts to the now chilly air in the room and his eyes. Her body shivered due to the cold and to her dismay, her breasts pebbled right before his eyes. He groaned in appreciation before covering her soft mound with his warm coarse palm.

Rhea lay there dazed and exposed, her breasts on open display to a total stranger and no help in sight. Her chest constricted with emotion and a tear rolled down her cheek.

Adair reared back in confusion and repulsion as his head fogged with need, finally cleared.

"Black tears?!" He roared with disgust. Was she...?

He roughly grabbed her jaw, forcing her mouth open and narrowed his eyes at her barely noticeable fangs.

No...no!

He twisted her head from side to side as he sniffed at her face and hair. He couldn't smell it...the frigid scent of death which seemed to follow vampires on her.

He looked at her canines once more and the still noticeable trail of pink on her cheeks. He wasn't mistaken, she was a vampire.

How could the gods be so cruel? he thought. Fury pumped through him as he gazed at her with loathing.

Choices and emotion warred in him as he stared down at her face, a face he still found irresistibly lovely despite what she was.

Should he kill her here and- even as the thought crossed his mind, he discarded it. Harming her was not an option. He would rather kill himself than hurt her.

He couldn't let her go when she'd been given to him by the goddess. A Lycan having a second chance mate was unheard of. He had never heard of it in his years of living and had never read it in any of the history books in the library back home.

The gods had tied him to her and he'd be damned if he let her slip past his grasp. A plan hatched in his mind and a sinister smile crossed his face.

"Îmi pare rău (I am sorry)" Adair apologized sincerely and then he hit her temple, knocking her out. He winced as her body went limp, his beast roaring at him.

*

ADAIR

I grunted under the weight of my mate, still hungry and weak. She was slung over one shoulder, her hair tickling me through the tattered clothes on my back. A bag containing her belongings was slung over my other shoulder. I had packed up everything that smelled of her and taken all the in the wardrobe too.

Most of her belongings didn't seem to be in her room, so I was sure she couldn't be living in the vampire's palace. Despite her being a vampire, I was curious about her name and her story. My mind hated her very being, but my body and beast seemed not to care she was the spawn of the enemy.

After quietly escaping the palace, I headed in the direction of a hill I had spotted nearby. The moon was lost in the dark clouds and the streets were deserted except for the occasional drunks we met. Luckily, the hill was surrounded by forest and the forest always protected its own. Lycans were creatures of the wild, nature was always a safe zone for us. It was filled with many creatures and different scents. It would be hard to track us by scent or sound. I was glad when the treeline came into sight and grateful when I plunged into its cover. Feeling a tad bit safe, I slowed in my strides, taking time to cover my foot imprints.

Finally, at the base of the hill, I began climbing with the aid of the sturdy vines. Yanking it down, I propelled us upward till we got to a plateau where there was a dark warm cave. Hearing the soft lapping of water from far within it, I decided it would be a suitable shelter for the night.

My eyes quickly adjusted to the dark and I searched for the presence of wild animals or anything that could harm my mate. Deeming it safe, I gently placed her onto the soft green moss.

Her pale skin and hair were stark against the moss, her features striking, I barely resisted the urge to run a finger across her rosy cheeks. The bruise at her temple had already faded away to reveal only pink skin, but it wasn't enough to reduce the guilt he felt. Well, there'll be enough time to beg for her forgiveness. She shuddered with cold and I remembered what she was dressed in.

Shit! Pulling the bag closer, I fished for a shirt and loose pants. It wasn't hers but it was clean. Scrunching up my nose at the faint smell of the undead, I propped her against my chest and pulled the shirt over her head. Eyeing the little shorts she wore, I paused with my hands on her pale thigh. I didn't trust myself nor the beast not to lose control and do something to her sleeping form. What if I come unhinged at the sight of just her panties? Just the thought alone seemed to quicken my heartbeat.

Deciding against it, I wear the pants on top of the shorts and then place her in a more comfortable position. As if against my will, I placed a kiss on her forehead, I grabbed another shirt and pants I had found in her closet and walked further into the cave in search of the water I had heard.

The narrow path of the cave opened into a wide chamber. An opening in the ceiling dripped water from a nearby river and pooled into a lake. Silver moonlight streamed through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating the cavern. I put a toe into the water to test the temperature, and to my surprise it was warm. Stripping off my ragged clothes, I squeezed them into a bundle and waddled into the lake till the water had covered my chest and began scrubbing, using my clothes as a sponge.

Dirt and blood came off me in streams and got carried away by the gentle currents. I cleaned underneath my claws, disgusted that I had held my mate with hands as dirty as that. I washed and cleaned as best as I could without a bar of soap and only stepped out of the warm water when my stomach growled noisily.

The shirt was small and hugged my shoulders a little too tight and the pants were even worse. It was uncomfortably tight around the crotch and was a few inches above my ankles.

Well, beggars can't be choosers.

I walked back to the mouth of the cave where my mate still slept. How hard had I hit her?

Now that I was finally free after years of being trapped, the urge to run through the forest exploded through me, but I could not stray far from my defenceless mate. Instead, I climbed up the hill and surveyed my surroundings.

From this height, I could spot the palace lights in the west. It looked so different from how I last remembered it, they had done some remodelling. To the east, were buildings illuminated by bright light. The entire horizon was dotted with light. It made me wonder how they could all afford to have electricity.

The world had changed since his capture. There were automobiles covered with glass and metals parked in the streets, the roads were no longer paved with large stones but with tiny ones. I was currently underdressed in funny-looking clothes with no idea where I was. I wasn't even sure if I could still locate my home with so much change in the landscape.

I glanced back at my mate once more. There would be a warm welcome for me when I returned, but could I take her home with me? Could I even accept a vampire as a mate? I had suffered so much at their hands and I was burning hot with the need for vengeance. Could I present her to the kingdom as mine? What would they think of me bringing the enemy to our home?

Even as these thoughts ran through my mind, the instinct to protect and provide for her warred within me. Pushing the thoughts out of my mind, I plunged into the jungle to forage for food and fill my wanting pit of a stomach.