CHAPTER 4

Edmund

It hasn't been even a whole day, and the animal inside of me is restless. I want to see her again.

Kano wanted to join me for our nightly search party, but I told him to join another pair, because I will try to go into town. He didn't like me going alone, but I didn't want to tell him that I had a completely different agenda than the one I gave everyone else.

I follow her scent easily. As for mine, I masked it well with juniper. Luckily, the woods are full of it, so no one in town should be able to catch my scent, unless I want them to.

I keep out of sight, which is easy because it's the middle of the night. They're all asleep. I know there is still the possibility of the shifters in town being aware of my presence. I know I'm risking a lot by being here, but I can't help it. It's stronger than me, than any fear of being caught by a mob of angry shifters out for vampire blood.

It is the house on the very outskirts of town. It looks dilapidated, almost as if no one is living there. I see a small light flickering in the upstairs window. I stand in front of the door.

I could just turn around. That would be the best thing to do. I should go back, find Kano and join the search party. I'm not here for her. I shouldn't be here for her… a mere human. What the hell am I doing here?

I rake my fingers through my hair. I have no idea what's going on, what this spell is that I feel has taken over me. I can't remember the last time I felt so drawn to somebody. It's been ages. I have seen vampire queens. I have taken them to bed. I have shown them wonders and they did the same. Yet, the raw sensation of just seeing that sweet human fills me with more desire than any memory of any sex ever could. It's crazy.

I can't just push the door open. Instead, I find an open window and crawl inside through it. A thief in the night. That is what I am. Only… what am I here to steal?

I listen to the house. I'm asleep. She must be asleep, too.

I head for the stairs. The first one squeals, revealing my presence.

"Shit," I murmured to myself, stopping immediately.

I look up. One of the doors upstairs opens and a beam of light shines down through the hallway, towards the staircase.

"Who's there?" she calls out. My heart starts beating wildly. It takes all my conscious effort not to run.

As stupid as it sounds, I called back. "It's me."

I frown in the dark. Of all the stupid things to say…

I hear her footsteps, slow and measured. She is cautious, but she is walking towards me. She stops at the top of the stairs, looking down.

"You?" she says. "What are you doing here?"

I almost say that I just wanted to make sure she's alright, but that would be an even stupider reply. I know why I'm here. But I can't just come out and say it.

"I didn't mean to startle you," I say instead.

"Well, you did a helluva good job of it," she frowns, coming down.

She is wearing an oversized t-shirt, which is falling to the middle of her thighs. As she's descending the stairs, it flies around her legs. Her breasts have perked up underneath the thin fabric, her nipples pebbling, almost piercing through the t-shirt. I get hard instantly. I stifled a groan that died in my throat.

"You shouldn't be here," she tells me.

"No shit." The words escape me before I can think about whether or not I should say them.

Our gazes lock. I can see that she's stifling a chuckle.

"You didn't come to kill me, did you?" she suddenly asks, sounding more serious than ever.

"Kill you?" I frown. "Why the hell would I do that?"

"You're the vampire king," she points out.

"Ah," I nod several times. "Your friend told you about me."

"Mhm."

"Have you told the others?" I ask, but I already know the answer. I probably have minutes, maybe not even several of them, before the shifters barge in here and take me. It was a risk I was willing to take. Maybe I would be able to fight off a few of them, and run back to the woods, then I can–

"No."

Her reply stuns me into silence, into oblivion. I have to admit I wasn't expecting that. I remain silent for a few moments, gathering my thoughts, trying to make sense of this unexpected situation.

"Why?" That is all I manage to muster.

My mind warns me that she might be lying. I inhale deeply, her scent floating in through both my nostrils, filling me. There is no fear. Usually, when someone is lying, they're sweating. That sweat is different than, for example, sweating after a run on a hot, sunny day. Very different. The scent of fear is ingrained in that sweat when one is lying. It's unmistakable.

She isn't afraid. She might just be good at lying.

I frown as I look at her. No one is that good.

She takes a few moments before replying.

"I felt like I owed it to you," she says simply.

"Owed it to me?" I echo.

"You saved me," she continued. "I saved you now. We're even."

"How did you save me?" I ask, amused.

"I was gonna go out into the woods tonight and look for you," she reveals. "I wanted to tell you that Rose knows about you. I managed to convince her to keep quiet about you for two days. That's all I can do."

As a human living with the shifters, her fate must be very strange. Very strange indeed. There is obvious loyalty here, but she isn't bound blindly by it. That is even more curious. She is led by some inner sense of morality, of right and wrong.

"You wanted to look for me, huh?" I ask, suddenly feeling that same desire that brought me here in the first place.

Something tells me all of this is true. I don't know why, but I trust her. I probably shouldn't. Then again, she shouldn't trust me, either. We're on two opposite sides. We can't be allies. Yet, this is what we are, standing here, in her home, in the middle of the night.

"Yes," she confirms. "Just to tell you all this, nothing else."

"Are you sure?"

I take a step up closer to her. We linger on the staircase, she is standing on the upper ones, making our eyes on the same level. She is holding onto the railing firmly, as if she might fall. Her lower lip is trembling, but she refuses to look away.

I can smell desire off of her. No fear. Just the heat of her body responding to mine. She is so damn desirable. I want to suck every part of her body, lick invisible lines on her perky breasts and feel the warmth of her mouth on my raging cock.

"You know why you wanted to go to the woods tonight," I whisper.

We are alone. I know we are. I realize why she is living in this house, on the outskirts of the town. They accepted her, but she isn't one of them. Wasn't that what those shifters who wanted to attack her told her? They are using every possible way to show her that her living here is just their act of mercy. Nothing else. I wonder if anyone would even come to her rescue if she called for help.

Suddenly, I am overcome by a strange emotion. A desire to protect her. A desire to show the world that she isn't alone. At least not tonight.

I grab her by the waist and pull her close to me. I expect her to push me, to use her hands and try to wriggle free, but instead, she becomes surprisingly malleable in my arms. She moans softly as I pull her even closer.

Now, her nipples are pressing against my chest. The need to feel them on my lips is overpowering. But I wait. I've been waiting for this moment since I saw her for the first time. Her skin is scorching hot, even through that t-shirt.

She looks at me, those blue eyes touching a place in me I never knew existed. I want to keep those blue eyes safe forever. I want to drown in them. I want to gasp and never come up for air.

All of those feelings are wrong. A vampire king can't mate with a human. I know that better than anyone else. That has been ingrained in me by my parents, by all the other vampire kings I've met along the way. We owe it to our clan to find a worthy female vampire and make her a queen, unless she isn't one already. That would be the best option.

But mating with a human? Unspeakable.

I don't want to mate with her. I just want to fuck her brains out, make her feel things she's never felt before. Just to get her out of my system. A part of me knows I shouldn't, but the way she is looking at me tells me she wants the same. Otherwise, she wouldn't be here. She would be pushing me away. Her eyes are telling me that she is just waiting for me to kiss her.

She won't make the first move. Females usually don't. Especially submissive ones. This one looks submissive. It is at this moment that I remember her name.

"Bianca…" I whisper, as I gaze into her eyes. It sounds perfect for her. Soft, yet strong at the same time. I know there is a strength in her, a strength no one else sees, maybe not even her. But when the time comes, she will find it. I'm sure of it.

She is still waiting. Her lips have parted. Her eyes have that dreamy quality now, as if she's lost somewhere between sleep and waking life.

I should let her go. I should focus on what needs to be done, on the real reason why we came here in the first place. I should turn around and forget about her.

I know I can't. Not until I taste her sweet lips and hear her moan in ecstasy.

With those thoughts, my mouth crashes against hers, like the sea crashes against the shore, demanding everything she has to give.