Page 50 of Monster's Melody

“Yeah,” I said.“I think they’re not alone in feeling that way.”

“I know they’re not,” he said, pain in his voice, “because I felt the same way, and never more so than when you were taken from me, right in front of my eyes, and I could do nothing to protect you.Nothingto protect my mate.”

I lifted my head from where it rested on his chest, his heartbeat just below my ear.

I wanted to tell him that there was no need for guilt or helplessness, that I knew he would have helped if he could have, but I also knew that words would change nothing about how he felt.

So, instead of saying anything, I began to trace his tattoos with my lips, pressing kisses of comfort against his skin, following the tattoos down his arm, then back up his chest.

Eventually, I ran out of tattoos, but that didn’t stop me.I pressed kisses to his neck and his cheek, then his lips.

He allowed me to kiss him gently for a time, then he took over, devouring my mouth like he might die without it, rolling us so that he was on top again, his weight coming over me and making me squirm in delicious anticipation.

He lifted my hips, notched himself in place, then paused there.

“Vorzak, please,” I hissed, already desperate to have him again.

As if that was all he’d been waiting for, he surged forward and slammed himself home.

CHAPTER9

Fight!

I woke with a start, heart pounding once more, visions of people being thrown into the shadows haunting me, that fierce whisper echoing in my head.

Despite the disturbing dreams, my body still hummed with remembered pleasure, and I stretched languorously, reveling in the feel of The Hissies and Vorzak hugging me close in their sleep.

I tried to enjoy the moment, but eventually, I couldn’t ignore the call of nature orthe fact that I was utterly famished.

If not for those two undeniable needs, I may have stayed in bed, wrapped in love, forever.

Instead, I carefully extricated myself from arms and serpents and made my way to the bathroom.

By the time I made it back out to my bedroom, Vorzak was sitting up, a disgruntled look on his face.“Where’d you go?”

I grinned.“Call of nature and now I’m starving, so it’s time for you to feed your mate, Vorzak.”

He smirked.“All right, then.”

“We should also probably try to make it to our afternoon class.You know how Puddlemoan gets.”

He grimaced.“Right.”

A few moments later, we left my room, hand-in-hand.

We barely had time to grab lunch before heading to Extreme Water Sports and then there was no time for talking as Vorzak and I got into our swim gear, then met at the pool, to leap into that day’s challenges.

The water always invigorated me, so those hours underwater seemed to wash away the shadows and the exhaustion as I battled the Academy’s moat kraken with Vorzak at my side.

By the time we climbed from the pool several hours later, I felt like a new woman, as if the lack of sleep was no longer an issue at all.

Vorzak and I parted to shower and change, then met up again in the corridor outside the locker rooms.

“Where to now?”He rumbled.

“I could really use a nap,” I said.

“That sounds like an excellent plan.”