“Yes.” Walking behind me, Theodore grips my ponytail and wraps the long strands around his fist. He gives one sharp pull to the side and I’m left exposed, at his mercy. “I’m sorry, my love.” With the tip of his nose, he skims the length of my neck before placing a chaste kiss over the juncture before exhaling roughly. “I’ve missed you and can’t live another day like this. In a world where you don’t walk beside me.”
“You’re scaring me,” I say, my eyes closing to avoid meeting anyone’s eyes. Too many are witnessing my death, and the joy on their faces breaks my already fragile mind. “Please don’t kill me.”
At those words, an animalistic snarl leaves him, the sound pained and angry. “Out.”
The people in the room don’t hesitate and run out; they too are afraid of his wrath. And when the last person exits, he releases his hold and comes back to my front, squatting down to meet my tear-filled eyes.
I look away.
“Please don’t. Not you, Gabriella.” His emotions are my own. I feel him in that moment, and the anguish nearly makes me fold into myself. The depths—the yearning causes me to shiver and cry out, teeth chattering as a painful iciness seeps into my bones. “In this world, you are the only person who is safe from me. The only person with the power to kill me, and I’d let you. No questions asked, my wife. If it’s my life you want, I’d die with honor knowing it made you smile.”
“Don’t,” I say without hesitation. The mere thought of him not standing in front of me brings on a different level of pain—of anguish—and while I don’t understand it’s meaning; the other choice is unacceptable to me. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s my truth.”
“But not one I can accept.” Tears fall, running down my cheeks while his hand cups my jaw. He’s trying to comfort me, to soothe me with his touch, but fear is a dominating emotion, and right now it’s clashing with its direct counterpart. Theo is my comfort, while King is a killer.
He’s my Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and one doesn’t exist without the other.
“I’ve loved you for over a century, Gabriella Moore. It has always been and will always be you for me.”
“What will happen to me?”
At my concern, Diana scoffs, her chest vibrating, and the look on her face is one of disgust as her dark orbs meet mine. “You were weak then too, you know. Even with all the power you held, the curse your kind looked upon as a gift, you were a disappointment.”
“And yet, I sit where your mother—you—wish to be?” I ask, but there’s a tinge of taunt in my tone. Some malice. I’m not weak. I’ve just been thrown into a world I don’t understand. “Tell me, Diana. What did I ever do to you?”
“You existed.” The chains around her wrist rattle, the scent of burning skin heavy in the air around us. Whatever they did to those bindings are slowly melting her skin off, imprisoning her. “You took the throne from my mother, my grandfather, and now me. And even if it takes my mother another hundred years, My Queen...” she spits out the word with malice, so much hatred “...the Veltross family will kill you.”
“A glorified necromancer as the bride of the vampire king. I never thought I’d see the day the monarchy stooped so low,” a male voice I’m familiar with says, entering the library where I’m relaxing. I’ve had a busy morning so far, dealt with a problem back home, and all I’ve wanted since opening my eyes is some peace and quiet. Nothing else.
“What can I do for you, General Veltross?” My tone is bored, and facial expression holds annoyance. I tolerate him as much as he likes me. “As you can see, I’m busy.”
“You don’t belong here. Your kind is an abomination I’d have eradicated if—”
“You’ll never sit on that throne no matter how much you whine about it.”
“And he’ll never change you. I’ll make sure of it.”
“I’m sure you’ll try.” Standing from my seat on the couch, I take the steps between us and stand toe to toe. I will never be intimidated by this man who reeks of narcissism and greed. “But keep in mind that I’m a firm believer in an eye for an eye. And while you have fangs and sharp nails, I can take a life with a few simple words and the touch of my hand. Do not threaten me.”
“Those things won’t work once you’re dead.”
“They will when I come back. And I will,” I say with a saccharine-sweet tone. “My deal with the devil is sealed in my enemies’ blood, and I deliver on my promises. Never threaten me again.”
“My love,” Theo says, and I’m snapped back to the present. Each of these feels like memories fighting to break through. Like missing pieces of a story I’ve forgotten.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Turning my head slightly, I meet Theo’s eyes and even though I don’t understand what she’s claiming, I’m willing to accept my fate. There’s a reason I am here and feel what I do the second we touch—the electrifying current that ripples up my arm and squeezes my chest while causing my core to throb. There has to be a reason that explains why I know my life would lose all meaning if he walked away. “Bite me.”
Each memory uncovers a stolen moment in time that shows the life we’ve been robbed of.
Each time he touches me, I find myself wanting to be closer.
I need to know the truth.
“Are you—”
“Bite me, Theo.” Mimicking his actions, I cup his chin and then lean my forehead to his. I stare into his eyes and let him see me. All of me, with every fear and pain filling my heart, but the knowledge deep down that this is right. We are right, no matter how much I want to fight it. “I need this.”
“Thank you.” Then his lips are on mine, a reverent kiss that steals the very breath from my lungs while feeding my soul. Slanting his mouth over mine, Theo moves his hand from my chin and places it over my neck, fingers spread out. His hold is a little tight while controlling the kiss, dominating my senses with sweeps of his tongue over mine before embedding his teeth into my bottom lip.
Then he’s dragging them down my chin and the column of my throat, leaving behind tiny nips of pleasure that make me wet. Embarrassingly so.
“I am darkness. I am sin,” he says against my skin, his tone gravelly. I tilt my head a little more to give him better access, and I’m rewarded by a hum of approval. “I’m the devil incarnate and everything you shouldn’t want, but I am yours, Gabriella. Today. Tomorrow. Always.”
“Always yours.” My answer slips past my lips before I can question the words, but the smile on his face tells me I’ve done something right.
“Always yours.” Then he bites down, breaking my skin and coating his mouth with my essence. At once, blinding pain overtakes my senses and I gasp, clutching his arm, but he only digs deeper. His snarls become louder, and just when my body becomes faint—my eyes roll back and consciousness begins to evade me—a euphoric feeling I’ve never experienced before rocks me to the core.
It slams into me with the weight of a freight train, robbing me of every one of my senses while pleasure pulses from every cell in my body. I come. I lose myself as wave after wave of bliss pours into me before everything goes black.
38
Theodore Astor
Vampire King
