Page 90 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

“Don’t you want me?” she asks, tilting her head. I stiffen at the dejection in her voice.

I want her. But not like this.

Not when she’s driven by pure instinct and lust without an ounce of sane thought.

She plants a soft kiss on my jaw. I can’t hold back my groan when she’s grinding her hips down on me.

I’m ready to yield to this, but I know Rhianelle will hate herself if she continues any further. I caress her pale cheek with my hand. “Come back to me, Nel.”

She closes her eyes, leaning to the touch. When she opens them again, light returns to her pupils. A delicate moment passes.

“Svenn?” the girl calls for me softly.

“I’m here, little fawn.” I keep my voice even. I don’t want to scare her. I sure as fuck don’t want to hurt her.

Horror fills her gaze when she looks at her unfamiliar surroundings. Pain lances at me over the vulnerability in hereyes. She retracts her hand from me in a way that almost breaks my fucking heart.

Rhianelle takes a quick glance at our disheveled state and her eyes lower to the floor in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to—” she chokes on the words, her chest heaving with emotion.

This loss of control shames us both. We know what the bond wants us to do. She rearranges her clothes and retreats into the shadows. I give her several moments to hide and collect herself before approaching her carefully. “Are you hurt?”

She gives me no answer. Her hands are clasped to her face, trying not to let the tears fall. “Don’t come any closer.”

Fuck that.

I do the exact opposite. She stares back at me with wild, frightened eyes. “Svenn, don’t…”

I can’t bear the thought of her being afraid of me. I try holding out my hand.

She cowers away from my touch, shaking her head. “My body isn’t listening to me. What if I attack you again?”

This girl… I was seconds away from fucking the living daylights out of her and she’s worried for me?

“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” I dismiss her concern.

Her face is rife with worry and she hesitates for a moment. I ease a breath into my lungs when she slowly crawls out of the dark. “This is so wrong. It’s messed up. I’m sorry.”

I ignore the apology and seize the opportunity to draw her into my lap. She doesn’t protest when I wrap my arms around her. Nel feels like she was made just for me as she rests her head on my chest. Her water lily scent has a hint of vanilla today, and god-fucking-damn-it, I love that smell. Now that I have her in my clutches, I’m never letting this girl go. I’ve been starved of her for far too long. Rhianelle blinks softly, like a lost deer who doesn’t know she’s in the grasp of a wolf.

“I lied before,” she confesses, her voice as soft as a whisper. “The bond still affects me.”

Yes, it’s perfectly clear now. I am not alone in my obsession. Rhianelle needs me too. I release a long pent-up breath.

“It’s the same for me, Nel,” I reply with equal quiet.

Neither of us speaks for a long moment, only the sound of our breathing filtering the cold air.

Rhianelle shifts in my lap, straightening her back to look me in the eye. “The bond is always telling me to do things…”

In all of those times the bond pushed me into madness, it never occurred to me that Rhianelle may have been going through the same motions as me. Today alone the aberrant connection has persuaded me to slaughter everyone in town just so I can keep her.

Maybe it had driven Rhianelle to something close. If it’s skeletons she needs to hide, I’ll help her bury them.

“It’s terrible…” she says, her lips trembling.

“You can tell me,” I assure her calmly. She can do no wrong in my eyes. Hell knows I have a few things I will have to come clean about as well.

Lines crease between her brows and her face tightens solemnly with a hint of distress. I brace myself for her damning revelation.