Page 58

ZAVIER

S he’s in my arms.

She’s alive.

She’s okay.

I keep repeating this mantra to help calm myself down.

I went into a rage back there. I don’t know if I’ve ever lost control like that in my entire existence, but I saw Genevieve and her posse and I fucking lost it.

She took my mate . The one woman I’ve ever truly loved.

I couldn’t leave that unpunished and she knew that.

She fought back hard, I’ll give her that, but she was no match for my lethal rage.

I clutch Celine tighter to me and breathe in her scent for the millionth time since she found me in the hall.

I refused to let her go and told her as much.

Since I had totaled my car, we were out of a ride, but I couldn’t wait for a taxi to take us.

Not as if any sane person would’ve taken us in our current state.

I ran us home faster than I ever have before, the people and city of Chicago a blur around us.

I turn the shower on to warm and gently peel her clothes off her body. They smell of mildew and urine and other things I don’t want to think about. Like her blood.

My fingers tremble as I toss her clothes in a pile and mine join them. I’ll burn them later.

I check the shower, finding it warm enough and tug Celine in with me. Immediately the water at our feet turns red as it swirls down the drain.

Celine nuzzles her nose against my bare chest, and I run my hands up and down her back.

She sniffles and I close my eyes, resting my chin on top of her head.

The horrors my girl has probably lived through … I don’t want to think about it.

“Turn around,” I murmur and grab the purple loofah sitting on the shelf.

She obeys, reluctantly letting me go. I think we’re both going to be needy for the foreseeable future.

Squirting berry scented soap onto the loofah, I get to work cleaning her from the neck all the way down to the tips of her toes. I take my time and gently scrub at stubborn grime. Each scrape, bruise, and scar I spot on her body I pepper with a kiss, trying to erase whatever memories cling to them.

She’s here. She’s safe.

I must be stuck in my thoughts longer than I think, because next thing I know, Celine is facing me with a look of understanding on her sweet face. She strokes my jaw with the back of her hand and holds my gaze to communicate silently we’re here and we’re okay.

Celine takes the loofah from my limp hand and begins to clean my chest. Her eyes are hyper-focused on my skin and getting rid of every bit of dirt and blood.

She takes my glasses off my face and sets them outside the shower to rub at my face with a damp washcloth.

Due to my shit eyesight things go blurry but I focus on the feeling of her cleaning me up.

Both of us naked and in close quarters it could easily be sexual, but this is more than that. It’s coming home and reminding each other we made it through and we’re together. The intimacy and closeness I feel with Celine in this moment is monumental.

I feel her tremble and open one eye to see her tears. Gathering her in my arms I lower us to the floor of the shower. She sobs into my chest, gut wrenching cries that I know she’s been holding in for two long weeks. I periodically place kisses on her forehead, her chin, her eyes.

“I’ve got you, pretty girl.” I rest my chin on top of her head and close my eyes as I lean against the shower wall. “The next time you want to fight, please don’t tell me I can’t follow,” I beg.

That pulls a watery laugh from her. “I bet you followed anyway.”

“I did,” I concede. “But apparently I gave you too long of a head start.”

She sniffles again. “I’m sorry about Tom. I know he meant a lot to you.”

I stiffen and squeeze her tighter. “You know about Tom?”

“Genevieve brought me a chess piece. It had dried blood. It didn’t take much to figure it out.”

“My smart girl,” I croon, kissing the corner of her mouth.

Her round brown eyes lock on mine. Even with my vision blurred it would be impossible not to miss the intensity in her gaze. She strokes her fingers lovingly over my cheek, down the slope of my nose, before finally tracing the curve of my mouth.

“I meant it, you know?”

“What?” I rub my face against her neck, and she gives me a gentle shove so I’m forced to look at her.

“That I love you.” She presses a soft kiss to my lip. “You might be a little insane, and kill bad people, and show up everywhere I am but you’re mine and I love you.”

I thought I might never hear those words from her and now I fear I’ll never get sick of them.

I clear my throat, suddenly thick with emotion. “It’s been a long time since anyone’s loved me.”

She cups my cheeks in her hands. “Don’t worry, I’ll love you enough to make up for every time you felt unloved.”

She leans in and kisses me and as much as I want to deepen it, make it more, I don’t because I don’t know exactly what kind of trauma she’s been through, so I’ll let her lead, and I’ll follow. I’m perfectly fine with being on her leash. Kinky, but true.

When the water grows cold, I reach up and turn it off and stand with her in my arms, carrying her out of the bathroom and to her room. I lay her down on the bed and grab my glasses and wipe them dry before I turn toward the dresser to get her something to wear.

“Zav?” she says softly, and I look over my shoulder, groaning at the sight of her sprawled on the bed damp and naked.

Her body is perfect and the divots in her hips call for me to place my hands there, but I’m a good boy and stay right where I am.

Her well-being matters more to me than trying to be all over her.

I swallow hard. “Yes?”

“I … I want you to…” She licks her lips and sits up, balancing on her knees. “I want our bond,” she says finally. “I want to do whatever it is I need to so I can accept the mating bond.”

My lips part and dammit if all the blood in my body doesn’t go south straight to my dick.

Down boy. Now is not the time. I mean it. You’re embarrassing me.

I move closer to her, and she reaches out, fingers gentle against my stomach.

“I’m not ready for you to turn me—I assume you can turn me?

” She waits for me to nod before she continues.

“I want to keep my humanity a little longer. But this —” she wiggles her finger back and forth between us— “I want it now.”

“Love,” the endearment slips out in a lisp around my fangboner. “Are you sure? You can’t take it back once it’s done.”

She holds my eyes. “I know what I want, Zavier, and it’s you.

I’m tired of denying how I feel.” Her hands slide up the back of my neck and I slip my arms around her, holding her to me.

“I could’ve died and you … you would’ve never known what you mean to me.

I was so mad at you when I left, and I hate to think that would’ve been your last memory of me. ”

Tears fall anew and I wipe them away with my thumbs. I don’t want to see her cry.

“Okay,” I say softly.

“How does it work?” she asks, biting her lip. I want to pull that lip from her teeth and bite it myself, but I refrain.

“I need to drink from you, and you’ll drink from me.”

She arches a brow, lips curling in disgust. “Even though I’m still human?”

“Even though you’re still human,” I concur. “It won’t taste like blood to you, though,” I promise, smoothing an errant piece of hair behind her ear. “It … your mate’s blood is … well, I’ve heard it’s the best thing you’ll ever taste. Nothing else compares.”

She gives a tiny nod. “Okay. I’m ready.”

Midnight, asleep on the pillow I normally use, opens one eye and gives a meow before he runs out the door like he knows what’s about to happen and doesn’t want to be privy to it. Smart pussy.

“Lie down, honey.”

She does as I say. The pulse point at her throat races, tempting me to make my first bite there.

“We have to take turns,” I tell her. “About five times to fully settle the bond in.”

She nods. “Do it. I’m ready.” She reaches up and touches my cheek again. “I love you,” she says, like she wants to remind me how true it is.

I close my eyes, absorbing those words. No one has professed their love to me since my parents were alive.

That’s a long fucking time to go without any love.

Sure, I had dalliances, but there was never any emotions involved.

All said, I’ve had a lonely existence, but I’d do it all again, a million times over, to get to here—to get to her.

I lean down and kiss the spot on her neck. “Ready?” I ask.

“Y—”

She can’t even get the full word out because I bite into her flesh and suck.

Fuck.

The stories I’ve heard are true. There’s nothing in this universe comparable to the taste of Celine.

I suck, trying to memorize the unique taste of her.

It’s unlike anything else I’ve ever had.

Any word I think to describe it, honey or even vanilla, is too flat of a flavor for how full and alive she tastes.

I pull my mouth away from her neck and bite into my own wrist, offering it to her.

She holds my eyes as she grabs it and brings it to her lips.

“Don’t be scared,” I murmur when I see the fear reflected in her eyes.

She gives a tiny nod and sets her mouth on the wound I created, sucking at my blood before the skin can heal. My head drops back, a moan ripping out of my throat.

She goes to pull away, but I shake my head. “More. You need more.”

She obliges and sucks down some more of my blood before I switch and take from her again.

Back and forth we go, the bond between us growing stronger as we do. I feel her more fully and sense her emotions. Mates can’t read each other’s minds, but we can sense certain things like intentions.

When the drop comes, the full snapping of the bond, we both gasp in surprise.

It feels like a rubber band snapping into place and ricocheting from the force.

Celine blinks up at me. “That was…”

“I know.” I kiss her, pulling her into my arms and beneath the covers. “Sleep,” I encourage, kissing the top of her head.

Luckily, she’s too tired to argue. She falls asleep with her head on my chest, her even breaths fanning across my abdomen.

“I’m never letting you go,” I vow. “Never again. Not for anything.”

Our peace is short-lived. It’s less than an hour later when Ava shows up at the apartment, banging her hand against the door.

“You two better be in there. I looked for you everywhere at the scene and you both were just fucking gone.”

I shift Celine to the side, and she groans. “Your ferocious pitbull of a friend is here.”

“Pitbulls aren’t ferocious,” she retorts, stifling a yawn.

“Fine,” I acquiesce. “Your dragon of a friend is here.”

“You two better let me in or I’m going to scream. Three, two?—”

“Let her in,” Celine says.

I slip on a pair of boxer-briefs and I’m at the front door in less than a second. “Get in here tiny pink one,” I grumble.

“Thank you.” She steps around me, chin stuck haughtily in the air. “Rude of you to leave me at the scene of your crime. A car in a club and a bunch of bodies.”

“Sorry about that.” I rub my jaw, trying not to grin.

“I just want to check on Celine,” she says.

The bedroom door opens and Celine steps out in a robe. “I’m sorry for sending you away,” she says to her friend. “I needed to get to Zav.”

“To bone, I can see that. God, I hate being single,” she groans, dropping her head back. “But you’re okay?” She crosses the space and hugs Celine.

“I will be,” Celine answers, smiling at me over her friend’s shoulder. “I have Zav.” Ava pulls back to glare at her. “And you,” she adds. “You’re a given, Ava.”

“And what? I’m not?” I point at myself. “That’s not fair.” I pick up my emotional support pussy from where he meows at my feet and settle him on my shoulders. “At least I’m someone’s favorite around here.”

Celine rolls her eyes at my antics and things, surprisingly, almost feel normal. I know deep down though it’s going to be a while before she recovers from this. But I’ll be there to support her in whatever ways she needs.

Ava takes a deep breath and squeezes Celine’s hand. “Now that I know you’re home and safe, I’ll leave.”

Celine tugs on her friend’s wrist. “You could stay in Zav’s apartment if you want, so you don’t have to go across the city.”

“It’s okay.” Ava tucks a pink piece of hair behind her ear. “I am going to need a new apartment soon, though. The lease is up in a month.”

I scratch my chin. “My apartment is going to be vacant moving forward so it’s yours if you want.” Celine gives me a look —one that says, excuse me sir what are you thinking saying that? I send her one back that says you’re my mate and you’re never getting rid of me now so deal with it.

“Really?” Ava says in surprise.

“Rent’s paid for the next year. It’s yours if you want it.”

“Zavvy!” she cries and runs over to me, throwing her arms around my middle. I grunt at the impact. For someone so tiny she’s shockingly strong. “Thank you.”

“Mhm.” I pat the tiny human’s head.

Pulling away, Ava says, “I’m going. For real this time.”

I open the door and see her out, locking up once she’s out.

Celine comes over and wraps her arms around me, curling her body into mine. “You’re moving in, huh?”

I grin down at her. “I already have your heart. What difference does it make if we live in the same apartment?”

She sighs dramatically. “Excellent point, roomie.”

I kiss her cheek. “I think I might prefer husband.”

She throws her head back and laughs. “I already accepted your mate bond.” She pats my stomach. “Let’s wait a little while on marriage.”

“But you will marry me one day?” I can’t stop my smile.

“One day,” she agrees.

“And have my babies?”

“Zav,” she groans.

“They’d be the cutest babies you ever did see.” I try to reason.

“Maybe,” she muses and reaches up to adjust my glasses for me.

That maybe is going to be a yes.

She entwines our fingers. “Let’s go back to bed.”

I let her drag me along, grinning like a fool. Despite the hell the past few weeks have been, the future is looking pretty fucking bright.

We settle into the bed, and I spoon her from behind.

I kiss the skin beneath her ear. “You were worth the wait.”

I sense her smile rather than see it. “Duh.”

I pinch her side for that sassy comment, and she dissolves into giggles.

Never, in my centuries of existence, did I think I could be this happy but I’m really looking forward to conquering whatever comes next with my mate at my side.