Page 56 of His Master

Uncle Vincent might not have been entirely adept or committed to ending my life to get his way, but he was making an attempt. That was worrying enough.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Simon

My heart continued to race for a long time after the other car left the highway and we drove on.

“He wasn’t trying to kill us, was he?” I asked, clenching my body to try to stop myself from shaking. “Was he, Master?”

“It’s okay,” Victor said in exactly the sort of calm, commanding voice I needed right then. He even reached out to rest a hand on my leg for a moment, even though we weren’t entirely through the curvy section of the highway and he needed both hands to drive. “I don’t think whoever that was really knew what they were doing. My uncle was probably just trying to intimidate us.”

I blew out through my tight lips and nodded. Victor was probably right. There was a world of difference between wanting your nephew to bow to your wishes and be the kind of alpha you wanted him to be and outright trying to kill him. VincentWoodbury might have been in business with some shady people, but murder was a huge step to take.

I shook myself as best I could in a car and tried to breathe deeply to calm my nerves. It helped immensely that I could feel Victor’s presence through the bond like he was hugging me. I didn’t know whether he was doing it on purpose or not, but it felt so good.

To distract myself as we sped along in the dark, I focused on our bond. It was new and pulsing and vibrant. It had formed when we were physically joined through sex, and it still had the feel of sex to it in a way that I couldn’t describe. It was that intimate, that pleasurable to feel. It stretched between us like a thick conduit of light and emotion and all good things.

I reached mentally along its length, feeling it like I could learn its shape and understand it better. It felt incredibly good to touch.

In response, Victor growled and sighed, like I had my mouth around his cock.

“You’re giving me all sorts of ideas for ways I can have you service me through our bond as well as physically,” he said, his voice rich with arousal. “But maybe now, while I’m driving on a highway in the middle of the night, is not the best time for that.”

“Yes, Master,” I giggled, giddy with the good feelings the bond gave me. “Sorry.”

I eased up on my exploration of our bond, just observing it instead of touching.

“I’ve always heard about bonds,” I spoke my thoughts aloud to stop them from being so intense, “but I don’t think anyone can just tell you this is what they’re like. My parents are bonded, and they’ve always been really vague, telling me I’ll understand when I’m bonded myself. I guess they were right.”

Victor frowned, and I felt sadness from him. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who was bonded,” he said. “At least not among my close friends, and definitely not my family.”

My heart ached for him. “That’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard.” Not knowing any couples with a bond meant he’d never been around people who really loved each other.

Except his parents. I had the impression they loved each other a lot. But they were betas, and betas didn’t bond like alpha/omega couples did.

“This must feel really different to you, then,” I said, smiling at Victor and touching the bond with a feather-light stroke.

His grim expression instantly turned to a small smile, like I’d pet a cat who stretched in appreciation.

He looked confused for a moment after his initial reaction, then said, “I like it.” His smile grew. “I like it a lot. I love it.”

Another wave of unsettled feelings came over him, and he drew in a deep breath before glancing to me quickly.

“I love you,” he said, as if he didn’t quite believe his own emotions.

“I love you, too, Victor,” I said, deliberately using his name, then added, “I know it’s soon and we still have so much to learn about each other, but I know that I love you, Master. We were meant to be together.”

“I think we were,” Victor said, smiling again.

It was exactly the sort of sweet interlude that the two of us needed in the eye of the hurricane. I was well aware that so much of what was going on right now, between us and with Victor’s uncle and Victory Holdings, was because of these new, fresh, good feelings brewing between us. Victor had deliberately set out to turn over a new leaf before he met me, which was definitely part of everything. And I’d summoned up the courage to be myself after years of trying to be who people wanted me to be.

Our timing was perfect.

I just hoped luck stayed on our side.

We were quiet the rest of the way to Norwalk, especially after we made it through the mountains and drove through flatter country. I even snoozed for an hour or so before Victor’s rising tension woke me.

When I opened my eyes and focused on the world outside the car, we were driving through the suburbs of Norwalk. I could see the lights of the executive airport ahead of us, though everything was quiet and calm. The clock on the dashboard said it was nearly three-thirty in the morning.

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