Page 22 of Crimson Mate
We'll end up in the bed two feet away, and I know she's not ready for that.
“Nothing with you would ever be a waste of time,” I continue. “And I know you have missions of your own, a life of your own.I’m not trying to alter that or take that from you. I just want the chance to be part of it.” I swallow hard. “I've heard courting is a little different in this century,” I say as I reach her door, pulling it open to step through it, lingering just outside of it.
I have to gather all the willpower I have to leave her standing there, looking gorgeous as hell and totally fuckable.
“And just so you know,” I continue before I'm about to close her door. “I may have slept for centuries, but I only ever dreamed about you.”
CHAPTER 8
Talia
Ican't help but note the time, realizing it drags so much more in the residence.
It's been a week since Zachariah visited my bedroom, making me ache in ways that no one ever has made me ache before.
His kiss felt like a lightning strike, his touch a searing brand. It’s hard to think of much else when every day that passes only makes me want him more. Makes me want to see what else he can do, if he so easily brought me to release with just the power of his fingers.
I sure as hell won’t admit that to him. Not when I know he’s still after my heart.
And I don’t think it functions properly anymore.
“Do you want another muffin?” Grace asks. She’s sitting across from me at the small dining table where me, Lyric, Jocelyn, and Annika have gathered for evening repast, none of us wanting to join the king and the hunters and assassins in the formal court.
“No, I'm good, thank you,” I say unable to resist her bubbly and infectious attitude. She really is the perfect mate forAjax, her playfulness matching his despite his terrifying giant demeanor.
“Have you visited the human donors, yet?” Lyric asks me.
“I haven't,” I say, taking a sip from my water. “Though I do appreciate the offer.”
“Do youenjoythe canned stuff?” Jocelyn asks me, her nose scrunching slightly to indicate her distaste of the blood.
I smile and shrug. “I don't think anyone actually enjoys that taste,” I say, thinking of the coppery, bland taste of the canned stuff. “But I'm used to it,” I continue. “My missions take me all over the world, and I don't always have time to locate acceptable and volunteering human donors.”
“So, you never stay in one place very long?” Annika asks.
“No,” I admit. “Especially when I'm on a hunt.”
Something pricks the center of my chest at the thought.
At the way I've stayed here longer than I have anywhere else in a century.
I try to chalk it up to the king ordering me to, and the fact that we haven't found Conrad or Samuel, and both of them seem to have a particular investment in Edgemont, but it also feels like something else.
“Tell me about Ajax from the early days,” Grace says, being the beautiful creature that she is to change the subject.
I lean back in my chair, the tension draining out of me at the question.
It's hard not to smile when thinking about Ajax all those years ago. “You wouldn't believe the stunts he would pull,” I say, shaking my head as memories bubble up to the surface. “I was intimidated enough by Zachariah’s hunter brothers—anyone would be. They’re a formidable unit. But Ajax? That brute would pause time in the middle of my family's grand balls, rearrange all my mother's flower into vulgar shapes. No one but us ever knewit was him, and oh, how my mother would be infuriated at the mystery.”
Grace's laughter fills the space, and we all join in. “That definitely sounds like him,” she says, her eyes filled with nothing but love for her mate.
I remember that look, thatfeeling.
“Of course, I would do my best to use my powers and set things right, but sometimes it truly was fun seeing the look on my mother's face. My parents were always so formal and always so focused on class manners, it was fun to shake things up. Sometimes Zachariah would get me to join in on the antics, encouraging me to tip a vase here or snuff out the lights there. Then we’d sneak off while the candles were being relit in the ballroom, and leave the finery behind us and spend the rest of the evening talking and walking along the beach that my family's estate rests on. Zachariah can certainly talk for hours, not that I ever minded. His voice just might be my favorite sound in the entire world?—”
The meaning of the words catch up with me and I abruptly cut them off, my heart clenching in my chest as I come back to reality.
The mood shifts from whimsy to sadness, and I shake my head, unable to take back my slip of the tongue.