Page 23

ZAVIER

I ’m hard as a fucking rock.

I’m talking dick absolutely weeping, steel rod in my pants, borderline moaning mess. The whole nine yards.

All it took was Celine’s body laid out in front of me and now I’m having a hard time keeping my vampire instincts under lock.

My stupid fangboner already popped with the initial excitement of our kiss.

It got worse when I accidentally nipped her lip and got a taste of her blood.

The honey flavor was the sweetest thing I’ve tasted in all my life.

It’s taken me years of practice to control my thirst, but Celine’s blood calls to me like no other.

I turned the almost bite into a hickey both to soothe myself with a mark of some sort and to hide my mouth until I could get my fangs to recede.

“As much as I’d love to have you for my dessert”—I stand and offer my hand which she grabs with a frown— “I have actual dessert for us.”

Her hair tickles my face when I lean in and whisper in her ear, “When I officially make you mine, it’ll be on a lush bed and not on hard glass. You deserve more.” Her eyes soften at my explanation, and I place a soft kiss on her brow letting my lips linger. “Come on, I made crème br?lée.”

“Is there anything you can’t do?”

“I’m shit at patience.” The irony isn’t lost on me what with how long I’ve been alive.

Her eyes sparkle with humor. “I could’ve told you that.”

When I place the blanket down once more, carefully avoiding any fire hazards, I sit and she settles beside me, close enough that both our legs are touching.

Celine’s dead set on torturing me by being this close.

“We could have this for dessert instead?” I hold up the bag of gummy bears I stashed away.

Celine gasps and makes grabby hands.

“How’d you know I like gummy bears?” She wastes no time digging into them. “Never mind, with you I don’t even want to know.”

I chuckle and go about my task while she eats her dessert appetizer.

I grab a ramekin out of the basket where it sits on ice packs. A small butane torch is tucked away, and she reaches for it which makes her scent even stronger than before.

Fangboner incoming.

“Celine.” A growl sounds in my throat. “Unless you want me to cover your neck in my marks and spank your ass raw, you’ll sit still.” The gasp she lets out is telling, and I know if we were at the point where I could slip my fingers into her panties I’d find her fucking soaked for me.

I need to be on my best behavior. I don’t want to take Celine to bed until I tell her we’re mates and what I am.

It feels wrong to take that step with her without her knowing the full extent of our connection.

I might be a lot of things; killer, stalker, psychopath—but I won’t take advantage of my mate like that.

I torch the sugar covered top of the dessert. Once it’s caramelized to perfection we dig in and the gummy bears are forgotten. Celine taps on the top a couple times before giving it a firm crack to splinter it so there’s a bit in each bite of cream.

Small noises of appreciation come from her, and I soak it all in.

How I’m sitting here with my mate, my human mate no less, I’ll never understand.

I’d long given up on meeting my other half and figured I was unworthy with the blood I had on my hands.

Killing vermin who deserved it aside, I had innocent blood staining my soul as well.

Fledglings struggle with their hunger and mine was hard to keep in check for a while.

“This is delicious. Whenever I’ve tried to make crème br?lée in the past I either scramble the egg or end up warming the cream underneath too much and ruin the sugar.” Her pink tongue flicks out to get the remnants of the dessert off her spoon. “You’ll have to teach me your secrets.”

Celine lets out a startled cry when I gently bite down on her earlobe. “You just want me for my crème br?lée.” The temptation to break skin is dangerous but I can’t seem to keep my fangs off her. The need to claim her is nearly all-consuming, but I won’t do it. Not yet.

She swats at me and rolls her eyes. “Yes, you’ve found me out. Once I get the technique down, I’ll toss you to the curb because you’ll be of no more use to me.”

Rain still pounds on the glass and a particularly aggressive strike of lightning illuminates her blushing cheeks.

“On the contrary, I think you’ll find me very useful. In more ways than one.” The last part I whisper and she shivers.

Her cheek brushes mine as she turns to me and just when I think her lips will be on mine once more the shrill cry of her phone ringing ruins the moment. Her eyebrows furrow when she sees the name on the screen and quickly answers.

“Captain Barnes?” After a few seconds she jumps up to stand. Her bootsteps echo on the floor as she paces nervously. “What? Just mine? Fuck.”

A vampire’s hearing is stronger than that of a human, so it’s not hard to listen in on the conversation. I don’t want to invade her privacy, but I have to know what has her so stressed. I need to know if I can fix it.

“From what we can tell nothing’s been stolen but you might want to get here as soon as possible.”

“Oh my gosh, Midnight!” Celine turns to look at me, eyes wide with fear. “Is he okay?” Tears well in her eyes and I rush over to grab her hand in silent support. She squeezes mine but lets go much too quickly for my liking.

“Yes, he’s fine, don’t worry.” Just then a telltale meow echoes through the phone line and Celine visibly deflates like all she needed was the meow of confirmation. Her valuables could’ve been taken, but of course with her soft heart she’s more concerned about the cat.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Thanks, Captain.” With an abrupt sign off they both hang up and she pockets her phone.

“What’s going on? Everything okay?” I play dumb.

“Apparently some psycho broke into my apartment.” Celine starts to gather up her things.

“I’m sorry to cut our date short, but I really need to get back to survey the damage and talk to the officers.

” Her eyes dart around the room realizing how much is left on the floor.

“Shit, I should help you clean this up.” The genuine upset in her tone while she debates between staying to help me and getting back to her broken in apartment makes me smile internally.

“Don’t worry about it. I have someone that can handle it for me. Right now, I want to drive you back and make sure everything’s all right.” Her watery half-smile in response guts me and we rush to the elevator to make our way back home.

“Captain!”

The police captain is standing outside her door, but no other apartment on the floor seems to have been broken into like hers has. Interesting. Multiple squad cars were parked outside of the complex and a few officers still mill about her space, taking pictures for evidence.

“Ah, Celine.” His eyes shine with pity as he watches her take in the pillaged space.

“One of your neighbors got home and saw the door broken in and the place a mess so they called the police. We’ve surveyed the building and surrounding area, but the culprit seems to have gotten away.

From the surveillance cameras we believe it to be a male, but his features were obscured so we need to investigate further. ”

“Do you have a picture?” She crosses her arms and tries to stay strong like always when I know she wants to break. There’s a subtle tremor in her lips that betrays her emotions despite her stoic appearance.

“Here.” Another detective walks over and holds up a monitor with a grainy picture of a figure.

The person’s tall and bulky build points to them being male. An all-black outfit with a hoodie covering their face doesn’t help narrow down our search but I’m already formulating a plan to track down this asshole. Nobody fucks with my girl and gets away with it.

I sniff the air as discreetly as possible, but with so many officers having already disturbed the scene it’s going to make it impossible to single out one specific scent.

Fuck.

“Shit.” Celine scrubs a hand down her face and her eyes brighten slightly when Midnight creeps out from around the couch.

“Come here, boy.” She grabs him and holds him close to her chest, stroking his black fur for comfort.

I reach over and scratch behind his ears which makes his yellow eyes narrow in pleasure.

“I need to look around and see if they took anything.” She starts her search and I watch helplessly from the sidelines.

“Can I help?” I trail behind her like a helpless child. I don’t like her shutting down.

“That’s okay. I want to do this by myself,” she sighs, and looks at me over her shoulder. “I’m so sorry I ruined our date, but thank you for everything. You don’t need to stay here while this happens.”

She’s kicking me out? Fuck that.

“You didn’t ruin anything, Celine. You didn’t ask for your apartment to get broken in. I want to be here.” We hold eye contact before finally she nods and silently continues to look around.

“Who are you?” The police captain must finally notice a stranger standing in the room.

“Zavier. Her neighbor,” I answer like that’s all he needs to know. “Who are you?” I already know but I’m a petty bitch, so I ask anyway.

“Chip Barnes. The captain of this force.”

“All right, Captain Chip nice to meet you.” I shake his hand when he holds it out.

“Captain Barnes,” he corrects me.

“That’s what I said.” I stuff my hands in my pockets and start to walk back toward Celine’s bedroom. “Captain Tortilla Chip.” A snort sounds behind me and a grin pulls on my lips.

I can’t seem to help myself. The man seems nice enough, but it’s a laughable name.

The apartment looks like a tornado was taken to it.

Furniture lies upturned on the ground, clothes that once sat folded in drawers are strewn across the floor, and even the fridge has been raided and torn apart.

Her bedroom seems to have the worst damage, and I cringe at the shattered picture frames and TV screen on the floor.