Page 6 of Retribution
“She needs her mate.”
I walked to her door and stood in front of it, knowing that I needed to open it, walk in, take care of what is important in this lifetime. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to take the knob in my hand and turn it. I couldn’t push the door and walk inside with my fears and uncertainties still gnawing at the back of my mind. It wouldn’t be fair to her, nor would it be right.
I felt Lenin step behind me; his whole body engulfed my space as he placed his hands on each side of the doorframe, closing me in. He leaned down, his head hovering just over mine, “It’s not the same.”
I wasn’t sure which he was referring to, her commands or relations with Libby versus previous experiences. “How do you know?”
“The fates have gifted her to you.” His chest pressed against my back, and the vibrations as he spoke nearly had me shivering.
“Did the fates not have a hand in my entrapment then? Couldn’t they have stopped it?”
“Everything that has happened to this point has lead you to your mate,” Lenin spoke.
I corrected him, “Mates.”
His nose grazed against my hair, and he inhaled. “Mates. Everything that has happened, including your stolen time, has brought you here. To us.”
I swallowed hard; I swear I felt my body temperature rising. I knew he was right. If I never was trapped, I could have missed out on a rare opportunity. I didn’t just find a mate; I found two. The chances of this happening were slim, nearly impossible as the world’s population grew.
“It’s been sixty years,” I confessed.
“Afraid you won’t prolong ejaculation?” I felt his chest rumble, and I was nearly speechless.
My words stuttered out, “Did you just make a joke?”
“Mmhmm.” He mumbled against my temple, “You have not forgotten completely how to copulate, have you? Because I could help.”
Fates, I wish he would. “It’s like riding a bike.”
“I do not understand your reference. But, I have faith in your acts. She is waking; I can hear her.”
I let my forehead fall to the door. “What if she commands me again? Takes away my choice?”
“If it was me, or Horo under the jaws of a creature and you felt helpless to stop it, would you not have desperately tried to demand its attack halted?”
One of his hands fell from the door frame and landed on my hip, and for a moment, I froze. Contact like this was new, and I didn’t understand it fully. My voice left me in crackles as I tried to speak, “That’s different, you are people I-“
I froze before the word could leave my mouth, but it was too late, he knew. “Love?”
“Yeah.” I refused to look up at him now. Refused to stare into his eyes and let his all-knowing self read into my soul.
“Is her Oak not someone she also loves? Do you not think she would do the same for you?” He questioned, and the truth was, she would do the same for any one of us. She’d already proven that. But, I was a coward. Maybe I was making excuses because I was afraid. Not of her, but of admitting what this relationship would mean if I let it fully bloom.
Lenin’s hand left my hip and twisted the doorknob, pushing open the door. “Do not be afraid of what fate gifts us. It’s gifts that hold the most meaning.”
He nudged me forward, giving me no choice but to step into the room and be instantly slammed with her scent. The aroma like the sweetest of perfumes and the ripest of berries, and even though I smelled the thick layer of vampire in here, it didn’t take away from the appeal.
“Mine.” The growl left my throat, and I couldn’t control it, not like I wanted to. After a single wave of her scent drifted my way, all I wanted to do was ravish Liberty and prove to her just how mine she was.
She stirred under a layer of silk sheets, a slight groan leaving her right before a shiver racked her body. She was helpless in this state, powerless, really, and I don’t know why I let my fears rule me. I know her now, I’ve allowed myself to learn her, and I know she would never do anything in my disinterest; she would never harm me. She couldn’t, not when our souls were stitched together so tightly; only the fates could rip them apart. I went to her sleeping form, our souls like magnets, drawing me close even when I wanted to pull away.
“I gave her some tea to help her sleep,” Lenin whispered as I let my fingers graze over the silk, toying with the hem that caressed her bare shoulder. “She was exhausted; they all were.”
“You?” I wasn’t sure why it mattered, but I needed to know if he helped the vampires get her through it. Had he taken her before I had, helped her ride out a wave of heat?
“I chose to wait for you. It did not feel right without you.”
A swell of affection consumed me, and before I thought twice of it, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down toward me, kissing him hard. A tiny sound came from Libby before she mumbled, “That’s hot.”