Page 26 of Those That Don’t Exist (Hidden Vampires #1)

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S he’d broken down at my final truth. Sobs had wracked her body and she’d collapsed against me.

It would’ve felt like rejection if she hadn’t clung so tightly to me, her arms like an iron vice around my neck.

She cried into my shoulder in what I thought was relief but also grief.

I finally got the reaction I was expecting from someone whose life I’d just blown up spectacularly.

I look down at her sleeping form, she’s been out for a while. She’d cried for what felt like hours, it had made my chest ache worse with every sob, every tear that left her body.

However, before passing out we’d laid together on her bed, she’d fired more questions at me and I had answered them honestly. I’d told her how I got my injuries, how I’d been following her since the day after the car crash. How I had come to have blood packets in my possession.

She’d been nestled into the crook of my arm, her head on my shoulder. I’d liked the feeling way too much, felt like I was protecting her from the world.

It wasn’t far from our positions now. I had gently sat up once her breathing had evened out and I knew she’d fallen asleep. She’s still tucked into my body but her head is on my lower stomach and her arm is wrapped around my thigh, like a tired out koala.

Her hand is splayed against my inner thigh which is some kind of pleasure filled torture, her heat burning through my sweatpants.

I find myself staring at her, occasionally brushing my fingers over her hair splayed across the bed. The shimmering red was beautiful.

She hadn’t bothered putting her glamour back in place so I was drinking in her true form, which was much healthier now she’d drunk the blood her body had desperately needed.

In those pyjamas she’s wearing too there’s a lot of her on show.

Her powerful thighs and smooth calves are begging for me to caress them.

And the tight camisole top, like the gym gear she wears, shows off her hourglass shape.

Her ribs and hip bones are still jutting out too much against her skin but she’ll gain her weight back now she’s drinking.

I pull her tighter as the fear rises up my body. Even if I manage to not return with her to the pack she’s an unmated female in a world where males would literally kill each other to have her.

I’d spent the last while running various excuses through my mind, ways I could appease my leader without bringing Red back to the ranch. I’d have to return to the pack soon and I needed something to report on, Adicious’s patience was wearing thin.

Seeing the physical evidence of her suffering snapped something in my brain.

I was still blood bound to the pack but I was done trying to make it work.

I was finished with standing by and building excuses in my head to make allowances for Adicious’s tyrannical behaviour.

I couldn't hand Red over to that monster.

If I was going to make this female my mate, and I absolutely intended to, I needed to wait until she was ready. Not an easy thing to do in our current predicament but she’s been through so much she doesn’t need to be hit with the full force of my obsession with her just yet.

Her body certainly reacted to me but she’d yet to voice it. And I doubt she yet understood the level of possessiveness I felt.

A darker side of me wanted to take her and run. But if we left, we wouldn’t be able to settle as Adicious would forever try to hunt us down. I know him too well to think he’d let it go.

The other issue was her fangs. Without them she was without a vital weapon, and a way to feed herself.

That’s it! She hasn’t bitten anyone yet. That’s my work around Adicious’s orders. He’d said to kidnap her when she’s bitten someone.

A hundred kilo weight lifts off my shoulders.

I have time.

I’d been playing the pack for a while, what’s one more act whilst I figured out a way to break the blood bond with Adicious and steal the female he believes to be his. She may have been created for him but she was made for me.

I roll my aching shoulder, wishing I’d had more blood. Not that I would’ve denied Red anything. Still it was taking longer to heal than I’d like.

I slowly wiggle back down the bed, careful not to jostle Red. I slowly roll to my side so I can lay my other arm over her waist and cocoon her into my body. Her scent fills my lungs with every breath. The comfort it brings along, with her warm body, has sleep pulling me under too.

I wake to an earthy, vanilla coffee scent still surrounding me, I can’t remember feeling this relaxed in years. Surrounded by fluffy pillows and a bunched up duvet in my hold, I breathe deep. I could get used to this.

No, this should be better.

There should be one red headed female in the bed with me but I’m alone.

I bolt up quickly, noticing my injuries have healed. I must’ve been out for a few hours.

I don’t have to look far to find Aurora, fiery curls catching my eye immediately.

She’s sitting at her desk, laptop open, and she’s reading the screen so intently she hasn’t turned to look at the noise I must’ve made scrambling from the sheets.

Her hair forms a curtain around her face so I can’t see her expression but it shimmers in the afternoon daylight spilling through the window. She really is breathtaking.

I pad silently across the room, stalking up to her. I come to her shoulder to scan the article she’s reading. It’s about vampiric feeding habits. Little Red is reading more about vampires. Cute.

“You know I can tell you about all of this,” I say completely deadpan, a grin stretching my lips as she jumps, twisting to look over her shoulder, curls of flame flying.

“Gods, don’t sneak up on me!” She clutches her chest as I pick up her racing pulse. It doesn’t decrease as she takes in my body, and no doubt my sleep mussed hair.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I stroke her bare shoulder, just needing to touch her again, before leaning in to look at the screen behind her, to gauge where she is finding her information from. I pull back to look at her in surprise when I realise the source.

“You know this is propaganda bullshit from before the war right? Our murder rates were never higher than the humans, or the Fae.” I try my best to hide my annoyance at the poison it's sprouting about how many hundreds of ‘victims’ one vampire creates.

“I know it's not accurate, but I wanted to read the popular perception. I started with Fitzroy’s latest work first and he cited this as the common belief. I wanted to know what regular people were made to think about vampires.” She pauses. “About you…” She pauses again.

“And you?” I offer.

“Yes, and me.” I can tell she is still getting used to it, her voice holding a tremble.

“Well, I guess Fitzroy is accurate if you wanted to do your own research rather than use the living breathing vampire in your room.” I pout, I want her to come to me.

“Sorry.” Her cheeks flush a rosy red and my mind blanks out. Holy hellfire.

My own blood rushes south as my fangs give a pulsing ache.

I must look as dumb struck as I feel because she gives me a bashful look before a small shake of her head, then saves me from trying to form words by carrying on.

“I’m a reader, it's what I do. And you were asleep. I didn’t want to wake you.

I thought you might need it to help with your injuries so I jumped onto the library’s online catalogue. ”

“I’m teasing, Red.” I grin at her again and she smiles shyly back.

“Oh,” she breathes out on a giggle, an actual giggle, and my heart skips in my chest. I rub at my rib cage, trying to pass it off as an itch.

“You can’t go wrong with Fitzroy. He’s a vampire too, just so you know.” It’s her turn to be shocked, her mouth dropping open.

“Really? But he's well known, at least in academia. He’s been subtly pushing for the governments to apologise officially for the war for years.”

“He has to be careful, of course, but he has been trying to shine light on the truth for a while. There are several vampires who want to reverse the damage those egotistical Fae dictators did, so we can eventually reveal ourselves again without fear of execution.”

“But several of the Fae who sat in power during the war are still in the governments.”

“Yes, but change is always slow, and it needs a catalyst. Weren’t you planning on writing a pro-vampiric dissertation?”

“Yes but I’m a student, no one is going to read my work. And I don’t know if I should now…”

“We’re going to have to keep you hidden Red.” I don’t sugarcoat my words. “You need to stay hidden from the world and from the vampires in the city, it doesn’t mean you can't continue your paper.”

She nods, letting that sink in.

Outside, the sun disappears as thick clouds gather in the sky, sinking the room into dimness.

She reaches to switch on the lamp which is precariously stacked on top of a pile of books on her desk.

It causes a soft light to spill across the room; it also creates pockets of darkness in the nooks and corners.

My shadows start begging to play. They creep across the wooden floor and wrap around my ankles as if checking on me.

Their embrace is comforting, and it gives me an idea to lighten the mood again.

“Want to see something truly vampiric?” I ask her, suddenly excited I get to share this with her.

She cocks her head at me, and spins round in her chair so she’s fully facing me.

“Are you going to turn into a bat or something?” Her face lights up at her own joke.

“That was a myth started by the damn wolves.” I narrow my eyes at her, adding scowl when she laughs.

“Sorry, what is it?” she asks with a little hesitance in her voice but I can see she’s curious.

“You never asked if I had magic.” I relax my face into an easy smile. Reaching out an arm into the shadow cast by her body across the bed, I let them free. The pale darkness becomes fuller until a trail of thick night swirls around my arm. It coils like a snake.