For a moment, he’d had her.
In that intimate moment—his mouth against her throat, his fangs buried in her delicate flesh, her blood flowing over his tongue—she’d been his.
Saeed had never known anything so powerful. He didn’t waste any more time heading back to his apartment. They traveled the last ten blocks as quickly as possible without attracting unnecessary attention to their more than human speed. Cerys seemed just as eager as he was to get back, but then again, it might’ve been the promise of food that spurred her.
Cerys might not have been convinced of their bond, but Saeed had never been more certain. Fate had played a cruel game with them, and he would do everything in his power to make sure they won.
Before they even hit the elevator, Cerys had her cell phone to her ear and had ordered enough food to feed an army. “Chinese take-out for days!”
Her bright smile nearly brought Saeed to his knees. Her usual angry stoicism melted away to give him a brief glimpse of a facet of her personality he’d yet to experience. It was a gift to be treasured. Something for him alone. Her guard was down and she was still a little high from the euphoria of his bite. It was the perfect opportunity to continue to plead his case. He had two and a half hours until she needed to return to Rin, and Saeed planned to capitalize on every second.
They stepped into the elevator and Saeed hit the button for the penthouse. Cerys kept her gaze straight ahead and fiddled with the pommel of the dagger sheathed at her hip. “Thank you for taking care of Nick tonight.” Her voice was little more than a quiet murmur. “I know you don’t think you did him any favors, but believe me when I tell you he’s indebted to you.”
Saeed sensed that Cerys’s gratitude had little to do with any favors he may or may not have done for the werewolf. “Rin indicated that you weren’t an inexhaustible resource. Why is that?”
“There is no power, no resource, on this earth that is inexhaustible,” Cerys replied.
Evasive. She’d joked that what she did for Rin was killing her, but was there more to it than that? Anxiety gathered in Saeed’s gut. Pressing her on the matter would only create distance between them and undo everything he sought to accomplish tonight. Instead, he let the subject drop, hoping in good time she would explain the meaning behind Rin’s comment without him having to ask.
The tether bound their souls, but it didn’t create an instantaneous emotional connection. It didn’t create trust. Or love. It was an anchor and nothing more. A beacon to bring them together. The rest was up to them.
“Do the fae form mate bonds?” Saeed knew very little about them. The fae were more reclusive and secretive than even the vampires. Their history, their magic and power, were a mystery to him. He was greedy for any little bit of information Cerys would give him.
“No.” The staunch formality of her response settled in Saeed’s gut like a stone. “At least, not in the way that you might think.”
Saeed was beginning to believe she enjoyed giving him cryptic responses. All it managed to do was further frustrate him. “I have no preconceived notions about anything. Least of all, my own tethering. Vampires recognize the mate bond the moment our souls are returned.”
Cerys continued to avoid eye contact. “Exactly. So how can you know for sure I would be the one to return your soul to you?”
She would continue to fight him on this until he could provide her with definitive proof. Fair enough. She could thwart him, but she would never deter him. “I don’t need a soul. My instinct knows. My heart knows. My mind is convinced.”
The elevator doors slid open to the penthouse. Cerys stepped out into the foyer and waited for Saeed to unlock the door and let them inside. “No offense, but without a soul, how can your heart know anything? And I think we both know your mind is a little less than reliable right now.”
Her words bit into his skin like tiny sharpened barbs. She meant to push him away with her well-nurtured apathy. “Rin taught you heartlessness.” Saeed unlocked the door and pushed it open. Cerys walked into the penthouse without acknowledging him. “It has nothing to do with the absence of your soul.”
“You’re crazier than I thought if you believe that.”
Her openly hostile expression was a far cry from her earlier joy. Saeed knew the emptiness of existing without a soul all too well. A cavern had split open his chest upon his turning and the very essence of his being had been sucked away and replaced with a nothingness so intense, words could not describe it. He’d experienced the numbness. The pale shadows of emotions that lingered within him. Not enough to make him feel whole, only enough to make him ache with longing for what he’d lost. He wasn’t discounting Cerys’s own experiences. On the contrary, he wanted her to feel some measure of hope that her own gnawing emptiness might soon come to an end. He wanted her to acknowledge he’d awakened something inside of her. That the notion of their souls being tethered was not only a possibility, it was a reality.
“I need some air.” Cerys strode through the living room toward the terrace and swung the French doors open wide. “Let me know when my food gets here.”
A cool, rain-scented breeze washed through the living room and died as she pulled the doors shut. Her brief moment of happiness had been as fleeting as a ray of sunshine hidden by storm clouds. Cynical. Hopeless. Cold and detached. Cerys had forced herself into a state of emotional inertia. She refused to even ponder the possibility of emotion. Saeed knew the detachment she’d forced herself into. He knew the gnawing need to feel complete. It had driven him close to madness in the course of a few short months. Cerys had lived in the void for millennia. And she’d coped in the best way she’d known how.
Would he ever break through her icy exterior? Would he ever convince her of what he was so certain of?
Saeed settled into an armchair in the far corner of the living room that would offer him the best vantage point to observe the thing he had coveted for so long. Cerys never wore her hair tied back. It was always left long and wild like flames licking down her back. The strands floated in the gentle breeze, fanning out behind her slender form. Even in the absence of sunlight, it shimmered in shades of red, copper, and gold. She appeared delicate and ethereal against the dark backdrop of night, but Saeed knew better. She was fire and granite. And she belonged to him.
She kept her back to him and Saeed continued to watch her for what felt like hours, his eyes caressing the parts of her his fingers longed to touch. His body responded to his wandering gaze as his lust was once again stirred by the sight of her. His fangs throbbed in his gums and his cock stirred in his jeans. The denim was too damned restrictive and he longed to strip down and lay his bare flesh against hers. Soon. Saeed took a cleansing breath to clear his mind. Soon she’d understand and he would no longer be alone in his desires.
A sense of contentment settled over him that he hadn’t felt in a good long while as he continued to silently observe her quiet beauty. He would take her reticence over her absence any day of the week.
The low chime of the doorbell flooded Saeed’s ears. He’d win back her attention while he fed her and perhaps in the process, earn another of her genuine bright smiles. He answered the door and accepted the hefty bag of Chinese take-out before slapping a few bills and a generous tip into the delivery girl’s hand. She offered up a quick thanks and a wide grin before heading back to the elevator. Cerys had managed to whittle away another thirty minutes on the terrace. She’d need at least thirty more to get back to Rin. That left Saeed ninety precious minutes with her. A contented smile curved his lips. He only hoped she’d pay as much attention to him as she did the food.
* * *
Cerys ignored the doorbell. She kept her focus on the vast city that stretched out before her, the lighted windows of the skyscrapers, the glow of headlights on the city streets below, and the press of people that crowded the sidewalks. Anything to keep her mind off of Saeed. Anything to keep her from fixating on the small seed of hope he’d managed to plant in her chest.
The sooner he left Seattle the better. If Rin found out what Saeed planned, what he thought Cerys was to him, he wouldn’t live to see another sunset. Rin would never let her go, and walking away wasn’t an option. She was a slave, plain and simple. She’d reconciled herself with the fact she’d never be free long ago. It had taken centuries for her to accept her fate. If she wasn’t careful, Saeed’s stubborn blind faith and hope would only help to crush her.
If only it were so easy to ignore what her heart wanted her to believe.
Well, her heart was a fucking liar.
The French doors swung open. Cerys kept her back to Saeed but his presence brushed against her senses in a pleasant tingle. Strange how she could be so aware of someone she barely knew. Saeed would say it was fate. Cerys had no idea what to call it.
“Time to feed, little fae.” His attempt at a sweet endearment coaxed a smile to Cerys’s lips. In his dark, serious tone it sounded a little too sinister.
“Somehow I doubt my dinner is going to be as gratifying an experience as yours was for you.”
Cerys turned to face him, eager to see his reaction. Saeed’s eyes flashed with silver and his nostrils flared as he inhaled a deep purposeful breath. “On the contrary.” Cerys nearly broke out into a sweat from his heated tone. “I’ve watched you enjoy a meal and I must say it is quite the seductive experience.”
She pushed herself away from the balcony as reluctant laughter escaped her lips. For a vampire, Saeed was quite charming. Probably a little too charming. “I think I can safely say no one has ever watched me scarf down a burger and said that it was seductive,” she replied with a laugh. She pushed past him into the condo, her body painfully aware of each and every place it made contact with his.
“It’s not the act of eating that I find alluring.” Saeed followed her into the condo, past the living room, and into the kitchen. “It’s the excitement you exhibit. The utter relief that passes over your features with every bite.”
Cerys cringed. That didn’t sound very sexy to her. More like pathetic. “Yeah, well…” She fiddled with an invisible speck of dust on her shirt. “What can I say, I’m a foodie.”
Saeed headed for the cupboard and grabbed a plate before crossing the kitchen to pull out a drawer and retrieve a fork. He placed them both on the granite countertop of the kitchen island and Cerys dipped into the brown paper bag to retrieve the white boxes of Chinese take-out. The salty, savory, and sweet aromas hit her nostrils and her gut clenched. Dinner wouldn’t do much to make her feel whole in the long run, but at least it was a temporary fix.
“Your recent food choices do nothing to support the case that you’re a foodie.” The dry remark earned another chuckle from Cerys and she met Saeed’s gaze to find his own eyes sparkling with humor. “I think you’d eat an old boot if it had enough salt on it.”
The laughter died in Cerys’s chest. When he made comments like that, like he actually knew her, it caught her off guard. “Old boots work in a clinch.” She kept her tone light so he wouldn’t see how his words affected her. “But I like them better with a little Sriracha.”
It was easier to be flippant with him. To joke and pretend nothing bothered her. She’d gone too long cold, emotionless, and stoic. Anything deeper than that might break her.
“You do love to deflect, don’t you?”
Saeed saw through the pretense. It shook Cerys to her foundation. The only person who knew her better was Rin. Shame heated Cerys’s cheeks. She hated that Rin knew her that well, that she was so transparent to him. He was her jailer. Her keeper. With one hand always wrapped firmly around her leash. Rin couldn’t have known her more intimately had they been lovers. And she hated him for it.
“Who’s deflecting?” Cerys forced her attention to the little white boxes of food. She opened each individual one and inhaled the aroma of the delicious contents before piling a little bit of everything onto her plate. “Aren’t you eating?” She asked without making eye contact. “I don’t believe for a second that a little bit of blood is enough to keep you full.”
“I don’t need food.” Saeed drove his point home by letting his gaze wander to Cerys’s throat.
“Come on.” Cerys pinched a few chow mein noodles between her thumb and finger. She tilted her head back as she brought her hand up and dropped the noodles into her mouth. “Vampires eat. I’ve seen it.”
She remained standing at the bar rather than take a seat at the dining room table. This way, she could keep the countertop between her and Saeed. No need to court disaster and close the gap between them. He mimicked her actions, dipping with his fingers into the box of chow mein. He dropped the noodles into his mouth and chewed. “I can eat. But I can’t digest food unless I’ve ingested blood first.”
Interesting. Cerys had always suspected as much but it wasn’t like she’d ever asked anyone about it. “But you like food, right?” She found her curiosity getting the better of her. “It tastes good and everything.”
Saeed grabbed the fork from the countertop and scooped a bite of fried rice from one of the boxes. “It does,” he agreed. “But in truth, no food on the face of this earth can compare to the taste of your blood.”
Cerys’s stomach did a back flip and a pleasant rush of heat circulated through her limbs before settling low in her abdomen. His blatant statement shouldn’t have turned her on, but her thighs were practically quivering from the implication in his words. Damn. It didn’t take much for him to get under her skin.
“What does it taste like?” She blurted out the question before she could think better of it. “I mean, besides like you’re sucking on a dirty penny.”
Saeed’s brow crinkled. “Not to me.” His gaze met hers and held it. “Your blood is the sweetest ambrosia and I am drunk on it from only a sip.”
Gods. Cerys’s breath left her lungs in a rush. It was a wonder she hadn’t burst into flames. Each word from his lips brought with it a silent challenge, daring her to deny the truth. Saeed was all dark, sultry heat. Midnight in the dead center of summer. “You had more than a sip earlier,” she replied wryly. “You seem fine to me.”
“You think so?” Saeed’s gaze roamed slow and hungry up the length of Cerys’s body. “I’m quite drunk. And eager for another taste.”
Oh boy. She never should’ve come back here with him. She was in way over her head and so close to the point of not caring that she could easily stay here all night, Rin’s curfew be damned.
“Not sure I can keep up with the demand.” Cerys gave a nervous laugh. “You might have to find yourself another blood donor.”
Saeed’s expression grew serious. “No.” The finality in that one word was like a fist to Cerys’s gut. “Yours is the only blood I thirst for. I will pierce no other’s flesh but yours.”
Heat pooled in Cerys’s stomach and she swallowed against the lump that rose in her throat. She couldn’t deny she wanted him. In fact, she hadn’t wanted anything or anyone more in centuries. Saeed watched her with the intensity of a predator. His dark eyes drank her in and she suppressed a pleasant shudder. What would it be like to belong to a male like Saeed? Not as a slave. Or a possession. Not because of her power or the influence she could gain for him. She wanted to know what it would be like to belong to someone for no other reason than she wanted it that way and gave herself freely to him. She’d felt so helpless for so long. Was she brave enough to go after something she wanted, if only this once? Gods, all she wanted was to feel.
“Well,” the words tumbled from her lips as though she had no choice but to say them. “Are you going to kiss me or what?”