Page 44 of Those That Don't Exist
“It's not that easy Red.” He looks down at me then, meeting my gaze. “Adicious doesn’t let anyone leave. And he has loyal members in the pack. If I tried to injure him he’d order them to kill me on the spot.”
“And he wants me? To bind me to him in this way?” I can't stop the selfish thought before it's out.
“No, Red.” Ty leans into me further, something I didn’t think was possible. “He wants you as his mate. You’d be his equal. Although I’m sure he would be the same dictator in a relationship as he is with us.” Anger flashes across his irises.
“Relationship?” My voice comes out a few octaves higher.
“I wondered if you had truly understood me earlier. Red, if you become his mate, you’d have to sleep with him. Be his in every sense of a romantic relationship. Mate bonds are like marriages, but stronger. Broken only by death.”
The fury and panic erupts in me.
“No! Hells no! This guy, who you say killed my father, has used me as an experiment, expects me to crawl to him and be his partner?” I’m spitting the words in absolute disgust. “I won’t, Idon’t care if I’m a vampire or not, I won't. I don't have to do it, do I?” I plead. “Just because he turned me, there isn’t something there already right? I’m not connected to him right now am I?”
Ty releases my wrists, moving his hands to my waist.
“No, you’re not.” The growl is back in his voice. “It doesn’t matter who turns you. Hell, most females are turned by their parents once they reach adulthood. A mate bond, however, can only be made during sex.” His thumbs are brushing circles over my hips. With his additional height he surrounds me. My hands, now free, have found their way to his broad shoulders. It’s like we’re embraced in a dance.
“Ok, so I can choose. There’s absolutely zero chance I would ever choose him if what you’ve told me is true. The guy killed my father.” My breathing eases a little but Ty stills. “What?”
“He could force you. I think he plans to do just that if you’re not compliant.”
His words are acid over my skin.
“You mean he’d…” I can't say it, it's too abhorrent.
“Rape you? Yes, I think he’s that evil.” Ty brings his head forward, his lips at my forehead and his nose in my hair. He inhales like he’s scenting me. It’s slightly odd, and intimate, but it does soothe the panic filling me. Why do I feel so at ease in this predator's embrace?
“I wouldn't let him, Red. Trust me, I’d kill him if he even tries.”
“But wouldn’t you be in trouble? Why would you risk yourself to protect me? In fact, why are you not handing me over?”
I think I know the answer, and have done since the first time our gazes locked weeks ago. It's something we’ve yet to voice to each other but it's been there since the very first time I spotted him watching me.
“Because Red, I want you to be mine.”
CHAPTER 18
TY
She’d broken down at my final truth. Sobs had wracked her body and she’d collapsed against me. It would’ve felt like rejection if she hadn’t clung so tightly to me, her arms like an iron vice around my neck. She cried into my shoulder in what I thought was relief but also grief. I finally got the reaction I was expecting from someone whose life I’d just blown up spectacularly.
I look down at her sleeping form, she’s been out for a while. She’d cried for what felt like hours, it had made my chest ache worse with every sob, every tear that left her body.
However, before passing out we’d laid together on her bed, she’d fired more questions at me and I had answered them honestly. I’d told her how I got my injuries, how I’d been following her since the day after the car crash. How I had come to have blood packets in my possession.
She’d been nestled into the crook of my arm, her head on my shoulder. I’d liked the feeling way too much, felt like I was protecting her from the world.
It wasn’t far from our positions now. I had gently sat up once her breathing had evened out and I knew she’d fallen asleep. She’s still tucked into my body but her head is on my lowerstomach and her arm is wrapped around my thigh, like a tired out koala.
Her hand is splayed against my inner thigh which is some kind of pleasure filled torture, her heat burning through my sweatpants.
I find myself staring at her, occasionally brushing my fingers over her hair splayed across the bed. The shimmering red was beautiful.
She hadn’t bothered putting her glamour back in place so I was drinking in her true form, which was much healthier now she’d drunk the blood her body had desperately needed. In those pyjamas she’s wearing too there’s a lot of her on show. Her powerful thighs and smooth calves are begging for me to caress them. And the tight camisole top, like the gym gear she wears, shows off her hourglass shape. Her ribs and hip bones are still jutting out too much against her skin but she’ll gain her weight back now she’s drinking.
I pull her tighter as the fear rises up my body. Even if I manage to not return with her to the pack she’s an unmated female in a world where males would literally kill each other to have her.
I’d spent the last while running various excuses through my mind, ways I could appease my leader without bringing Red back to the ranch. I’d have to return to the pack soon and I needed something to report on, Adicious’s patience was wearing thin.
