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“Like us?”

She looked at him with sadness in her eyes, and like she always did, her next words disarmed him, her honesty something he had never been able to match. “We can’t be together because it’s the way of the world?”

A SOB TICKLED ZARI’Sthroat as her Master knelt in front of her. It was not right, this position. It should have been the other way around, and that it wasn’t so threw her off, tempting Zari to think of things that she didn’t have a right to think. It wasn’t just because she was only his human pet. There were things she could never ever think because...because although she loved her Master, he loved someone else.

Alexandru asked quietly, “Is something wrong?”

She shook her head, unable to meet his gaze.

He sighed. “Even if you don’t tell me anything, even if you’re able to hide your thoughts, it doesn’t matter. You know that, don’t you?”

He touched her heart, surprising Zari into leaning back, her head jerking up. In that moment, he was able to capture her gaze. “I only have to feel your heart beating, and I know when you’re sad, happy, afraid—-”

“You’re being too melodramatic, Master,” she tried to joke, but it fell flat.

“You’re being too secretive.”

The words scraped her raw even though she was sure he didn’t know it would make her feel that way. She was not keeping the secrets here. He was. And that secret had been tearing her apart ever since she had found out about it.

She remembered the last time she had a vision of Alexandru, something she had never told him. He had been talking to his brother, Mihail, and his last words were of...her.But it was not the kind she had ever wanted him to say.

“Even if Zari is indeed my heartkeeper, I will not claim her as such. My heart belongs to Katarina, no one else.”

Without thinking, she asked, “What’s a heartkeeper?”

Alexandru froze. How had she known? Could she have had a vision of him? It was the only possible answer since those who knew about her were also people she couldn’t have ever had the chance to talk to.

He looked into her eyes, and what he saw made him reach for her hands. She tried to pull her hands back, but he was too fast, and he tightened his hold, letting her know he wouldn’t be letting go.

“Zari...”

She flinched. Somehow, hearing him say her name like that hurt. No, she didn’t like him calling her that. It was her given name, but somehow when he was the one saying it, he made her feel like a stranger.

Seeing her pet flinch made him curse silently. This conversation was going nowhere. “Whatever it is, it’s not something you should worry about,” he said gruffly. He stood up, and a second later, he had lifted her up in his arms. Words were pointless now. No matter what he’d say, Alexandru knew it wouldn’t be able to make her feel any better.

Her vulnerability was made more apparent when she didn’t even protest, only hiding her face in the crook of his neck.

He laid her on the bed, kissing her as he followed her to it. “Don’t think,” he whispered against her lips. “Just don’t think.”

Zari nodded. It was a command she was more than willing to obey since thinking would only bring more heartache. She closed her eyes as she surrendered herself to her Master’s expertise. They moved in synchrony even without either of them speaking, her body automatically lifting up so he could take off her jacket and blouse. Soon, they were both naked, and it became so much easier not to think the moment his hard body pressed against her, covering every inch of her heated skin.

So easy not to think, not to feel, not to remember that he hadn’t been able to tell her what a heartkeeper was.

And maybe it was better this way, Zari thought as she squeezed her eyes shut more tightly. Not knowing what it was meant not knowing how much her Master had given up, how much he loved that other woman more than he could ever care for her.

Above Zari, her Master said, “You’re still thinking, pet.”

Her eyes flew open. “I didn’t—-”

His smirk was her only warning, and then his fangs slid through the side of her neck. Pleasure burst inside her, Zari’s body arching against Alexandru’s as her senses swam. He drank from her, and she embraced him more and more tightly with every sip, her arms and legs locking around him.

There was nothing like this, the sweet, sinfully drugging beauty of feeding her Master, and she rocked against him, breathless and silently begging him to never stop.

The sinuous movements of his pet’s body were intoxicating, making Alexandru want to drink from her more and more. But he forced himself to stop in the end, not wanting her half-conscious when he took her. He wanted her alive and aware the moment he possessed her with his cock, wanted to hear her make noise because she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

Zari couldn’t help but sob when Alexandru retracted his fangs. He licked her skin to help it heal, pressing a kiss to the same spot afterwards as if apologizing for ending it. “Master.” She moaned, the only thing she was capable of saying to express her acute need for him.

“I know, pet.” His hands caressed her breasts, making them swell against his palms. He licked her nipples, using his fangs, and instead of fearing its treacherous sharpness, she was aroused by it, her nipples puckering up.