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“It’s not your fault I’m simply a human with the wrong kind of blood, and it’s not your fault that it leads me to be an easy victim for… vampires.”

“We need to speak to someone about this, Ben. We need to get you out of here.”

“I can’t leave, not right now at least.”

“Why?”

“Your friend, he explained it better than me, but I’ve been marked as a…

I don’t remember what the fancy word is that he used, but it basically means I’ve been marked as a fucking fruity cocktail for the vampires on campus.

If I start walking around, I just up the chase for their thirst, but he said if I wait it out here while he gets everything under control, I’ll be safer. ”

I hear her gulp. None of this likely makes any sense, not a single ounce, and she’ll hate it. But as much as she won’t want that fact to be true, the honesty and vulnerability will only confirm it.

She heaves a heavy sigh, the predictable helplessness taking over.

“I wish there was something more I could do, Ben,” she admits.

“Are you joking? I’m sitting here because of you, and before you try and deny it, that guy saved me because of you. I’m not completely out of it and clinging to life in a dark pit of Hell because he cares enough to do something like this for you.”

That’s it. That’s enough. He’s going to make me look like a fool to her, or worse, give me a hero complex when I’m always the fucking villain.

Prying the door open a moment later, I fill the doorway. “Time’s up.”

It’s on the tip of her tongue to protest, I can see it, but Ben rises from his seat, stepping toward me with his hand extended. “Thank you.”

I look at the extension with a frown but take his hand, shaking firmly before I swiftly tuck my hands back into my pockets.

“When will I be able to see S?” Ben asks, scrubbing at the back of his neck nervously, and my gaze immediately drops to the floor.

Polaris rises to her feet instinctively, squeezing Ben’s arm in comfort before she speaks. “I”m sure we’ll be able to sort something out, she’s ? —“

“Been feeding on you,” I interject, completing her sentence with words I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for.

The pair of them gape at me in confusion.

“What?” Polaris mutters, brows gathering when I don't immediately continue, and I sigh, cracking my neck from side to side as I settle my stare on Ben.

“She chose you for her source, that’s why you were down there to begin with.”

Polaris gapes at me before peering up at Ben.

I see the despair and disappointment flickering across his face, but I push on.

“I interjected when Terence tried to choose Polaris, but I didn’t realize your importance to her at the time,” I add, using all of my effort to remain unfazed by the fact even though it tears me up inside just thinking about her down there.

“Terence did what?” she breathes, her eyes filling with unshed tears as terror burns through her.

I shrug. “It’s not going to happen now so there’s no need to worry,” I state, but she’s too stunned to express any of the panic expanding beneath the surface.

Instead, Ben clears his throat, cutting the thick tension slightly as he looks at me. “Who is your source?”

I scoff. “That’s personal.”

“So is your proximity in my life it seems, but I’m having to deal with it,” Polaris retorts, and my gaze snaps to her.

My nostrils flare as my lips purse, but I still reply, even if through clenched teeth. “I refuse to feed off any single person but my bound.”

“Who’s that?” Ben asks, and I wave him off, cutting the tension threatening to burn the room down.

“I have a feeling, but I’ve yet to find out for sure,” I answer, my voice barely more than a whisper in the wind. Truth claws at my throat, and I can practically hear the curiosity cogs turning in Polaris’s mind.

“What does that mean?” she asks, and I shut down. I feel the flicker ripple through my body. I can’t talk about this with her. Not without risking it actually fucking happening.

“We’re leaving,” I declare, turning my full attention to Ben. “You know the rules. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back with food tonight.”

Ben nods as I wave Polaris toward the exit, and she moves without thinking, rubbing her lips together nervously as she takes my direction.

I like it.

My dick does too.

And there goes my thundering heart.

The second the door is shut behind me and we’re alone in the hallway, I grab her arm and charge down the stairs with the same purpose I had in my strides when we arrived. I don't stop until we’re out of the building, down the path covered with red leaves and back onto neutral grounds.

We fall into step, my mind swirling from the whirlwind that is being in her presence, but the same thought repeats over and over again.

Take her. Take her. Take her.

Then she opens her mouth, pulling me from my thoughts, while plunging me into a state of despair.

“What do you mean your bound?”

I should keep my mouth shut. I should compel her right here and now and disappear, but it seems my damn soul has other ideas. “My bound, my beloved… I forget you know nothing, Florentine,” I grunt, shaking my head, and I know I’ve hit a nerve.

I need to do something, I need the distance, but the way she folds her arms over her chest cuts me too. The invisible distance she’s trying to place between us… I can’t stand it.

“Nevermind.” She looks away, picking up her pace as we near the end of the path that runs alongside the dorms, but I stop her in her tracks beside the familiar sandy walkway that leads to the witches’ dorms.

I wait, desperate for her full attention, until her eyes are settled on me, and I flex my fingers on her shoulder. “It’s someone who is connected to me by blood.”

“Isn’t that the curse we’re all under?” she clarifies, eyebrows gathering in confusion, and I shake my head.

“No. It’s my devoted, my beloved, and I am theirs. It’s someone in the universe that makes you weak yet strong, someone who offers you the world but can take it all away in an instant. Someone that fuels the fire in your veins just by being in their presence.”

She nods like it makes sense, but I can imagine it’s a little too overwhelming for her to let the weight of my words sink in. “It sounds a tad unhinged but almost poetic,” she offers, smiling at me as she tries to take a step back. When my hold doesn’t waver, she sighs. “Are you coming?”

Coming? Where? Did she not hear what she said? It’s on a fucking loop in my head, ready to bring me to my knees. My hold tightens as I tilt my head. “You think it’s… poetic?”

She shrugs, like she’s not got me balanced on a tightrope. I can’t fucking breathe.

“I think it’s romantic and overwhelmingly everlasting to love someone that hard. But what do I know, I’m a Florentine, right? Why are you telling me all of this anyway?” she grumbles, hoping to shift away from the sensitive topic, and I smirk.

“Because I make you forget, remember?”

She rolls her eyes, seemingly irritated with this constant back and forth.

You and me both.

Before I realize it, I’m stepping even closer into her proximity, until her back is pressed against the witches’ building. Heat flashes in her gaze, stoking the fire blazing inside of me.

We’re toe to toe, chest to chest. “We can’t keep doing this,” she whispers, and I stroke my finger down her cheek.

“Do you trust me?”

“No,” she says with a scoff, and the grin on my face darkens as I inch closer until we’re nose to nose.

“Good.”

Do I trust myself?

Definitely not.

But I’m moving without thought, my body a simple vessel for my soul as I eliminate the remaining inches between us, time stretching into nothingness before my mouth crashes against hers.

It’s not sweet. It’s not swoon-worthy. It’s harsh, it’s needy, it’s… intoxicating.

She pins her hands against my chest, curling her fingers into my tee as I claim her lips over and over again. I’m ravenous, obsessed, and I can barely breathe.

It happens before I can consider stopping it, but the action is only confirmed as Polaris gasps into my mouth.

A sharp prick across her bottom lip makes her eyes fly open, and she stares at me in a mixture of wonder and disbelief as I uncontrollably suck her bottom lip into my mouth. It’s hard, likely painful, but I let it go with a pop, leaving a droplet of blood lingering on my lips.

Not just any blood; her blood.

I sweep my tongue across the crimson mark. Every inch of me is buzzing and I can’t decipher if it’s a good or bad thing, but before I can settle on a decision, I stumble back a step before collapsing to my knees with a groan.

Fire burns through me as Polaris plasters her hands against the wall, staring at me as my head tilts back, my throat elongated as I breathe, hot and heavy.

What the fuck is going on?

Every breath is her.

Every sound is her.

Every taste is her.

Every touch is hers.

It’s like someone just turned the light on in my body, so all I can see is her. All I can worship is the woman before me.

Tilting my face, our eyes lock. Hers are wide, but the desire is thick. For me. It’s the most unhinged thing I’ve ever seen, and I like it.

She sinks to her knees before me, heart racing so hard it’s all I can hear. I grin, cupping her cheek as she leans closer.

“You’re mine now, Amica Mea.” Each word is ragged and breathless, but they still drive their point home. “You're my bound.”