Page 67 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
Beat. Beat. Beat.
In his memory, it had stopped pulsing when I was under the water. Bastien said the stone came to life while his mate drew breath. My own became shallow, and as my heart raced, the bloodstone pulsed faster.
Beat. Beat. Beat.
I saw the answer waiting in the frozen blue ponds of his eyes. One word resonated through our connection.
Mine.
My head swam with dizziness. No, it couldn’t be.It couldn’t.It didn’t make sense. I was a witch, born of the Prideaux line.How could a witch be mated to… “Bastien,” I said, voice trembling, “are you saying…?” I couldn’t finish the question.
He trailed the edge of my lips with his thumb, and, despite the coldness of his skin, left a trail of heat behind. “Claire…” My name came out as a sigh, and the guilt that hit me after it was said was so thick it made it difficult to breathe. “Nothing between us has to change,” Bastien reassured me.
He hadn’t been able to control his feelings for me in the weeks I’d known him. Even now, at the party, his protectiveness had never been about my first time. It had been because I washis mate. He’d been sending confusing signals, affectionate one minute then cold the next, because he was fighting against our bond.
My shock slipped into anger. He’d known this whole time and saidnothing. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He pressed his lips together, and a crease formed between his brows. “Because I hoped you wouldn’t be drawn to me in the way I’m drawn to you. Because you hate me for who I am and what I’ve done to your family.”
He had no idea about my family. And the thought of Mama made me sick all over again. She’d saythiswas the reason I was born without Diana’s light. Because I had been fated to anunnatural monster. The choker squeezed again, tighter this time. A reminder there would be no mention of my family to him. Not mytruefamily.
My head swam, and I shook it to clear the haze. “After last night, you should’ve known that wasn’t possible,” I said. “You could’ve told me instead ofabandoningme.” Those last words tore from my throat, leaving behind a raw feeling. I shifted off his lap, coming to stand in front of him. Needing to put more space between us.
“Last night, I didn’t tell you the truth because I had the ability to walk away,” he said, pushing off the settee andstanding before me. Bastien was so tall I had to tilt my head back just to look him in the eyes.
“What about now? Do you have the power to walk away?”
He bit his lip. Staring at me hard. “No. I don’t,” he admitted. His attention burned a trail of desire that settled between my legs. He wanted me so badly I could taste it on my tongue. And despite all that I’d learned tonight,I wanted him too.Because he was my mate. The vampire I was fated to.
“I need you to tell me to leave,” he said, the words breaking into a million pieces, looking like he was on the verge of losing control. “Because I’m trying to do the right thing. To give you a choice. To let you live your life.”
I should be scared. I should push him away. But… I found myself saying, “And if I asked you to stay?”
He was quiet for a long moment. The fire in the hearth crackled, and I tried to find a steadying breath. Finally, Bastien said, “My thoughts are consumed by you. Every moment of the day. Right now, I am barely getting by. If we seal this bond and become truly mated, I have no idea how I’ll run this château or what I might do to protect you.”
Cupping my face with both his hands, Bastien looked at me so tenderly it stole my breath. His thumbs tracing lines over my cheekbones. I could feel everything he was feeling. The deep, endless desire. The care. The admiration. The need to protect me. All of it.
“Had we already been properly mated and I walked in to find Alec’s filthy hands on you, he’d be dead. And anyone else who’d looked at you like this would be dead, too. Is that what you want? To unleash me?”
There was a part of me that wanted to unleash him. On me. On everyone. I wanted to see Bastien Allard completely out of control.
But… there wasn’t a world where Bastien and I could live as mates. Not while the choker bound my voice. Not while Mama’s orders bound my life. Even at the end of my time in Bastien’s service, if I hadn’t killed him, I’d have to return home. If I didn’t, Mama would come looking for me. And when she did, she’d tell Bastien the truth that my choker prevented me from admitting.
Despite that fact, or maybe in spite of it, I laced my hands around the back of his neck and rose up on my toes, letting his hard shaft slide down my belly.
“Claire,” he said, his hands trembling as they circled my back. “I need you to tell me to leave.”
Chapter 31
Dis-moi que tu me détestes
BASTIEN
Ishould’ve left for the council meeting already. Decisions waited. Documents waited. But with Claire’s hands locked behind my neck and her breasts pressed to my chest, everything else fell away.
My palms skimmed down her spine, curving over the smooth rise of her backside, a thumb catching on the black lace of her garter belt. I’d already divulged too much tonight, and I had no idea what else I might say or do the longer I stayed. “Tell me to get my hands off you.”
Her nails bit into my skin and her back arched, but she said nothing. Only gasped my name. “Bastien.”
