This cannot fall apart. Everything I have is what will keep her safe. And the deal I made with Damek? It will be my undoing, but it is the only way forward.
Providing Lucy agrees with it.
With some effort, I tear myself away from the door, or else I’ll probably wear away the tiled floor outside by pacing. Her scent is in my nostrils now, and no perfume can hide it from me.
Downstairs I pace again, doing my level best not to go looking for her. My sensible mind finally takes over from the one which has migrated to my cock, and I recall how much humans prefer eating in the morning.
Cursing to myself, I send a few texts to arrange for breakfast to be brought in and put on some coffee.
As the liquid drips into the pot, I attempt to compose myself. Lucy agreed to be with me for protection. She agreed to be my consort, although that might be less possible given the deal I have struck with Damek.
Breakfast arrives and I set it out.
“Wow,” Lucy says, pausing at the foot of the stairs, her eyes taking in the food I’ve laid out on the kitchen island. “I appreciate I’m eating for two, but there’s enough here to feed a small army, especially if you’re not eating anything.”
She’s wearing a pair of cashmere jogging pants in a soft grey, matched with a hooded top in the same color. The softness of the wool clings to her beautifully as her blonde hair, still damp and dark with water, curls around her shoulders. There is some color back in her cheeks after last night, which I am pleased with.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked.” I find myself rubbing at the back of my neck. “So I got everything.”
Lucy purses her lips and walks over to the spread, inspecting it carefully.
“I can’t fault that way of thinking,” she says, picking up a plate and continuing to browse. “And your thrall did a great job of presentation.”
“No thralls, no progeny.” I hear myself growl. “Just me.”
“Oh, of course, I forgot,” she says. “So”—she reaches out for a kifli and puts it onto her plate—“you did this?”
I add a second and a third kifli, and she glares at me.
“Yes,” I say, walking to the coffee pot and pouring out a cup before handing it to her. “Decaf, as you prefer.”
“I don’t actually prefer at all, but caffeine gives me heartburn so badly it isn’t worth it.” She takes the coffee. “Sorry, you’ll have forgotten what heartburn is like.”
“I am well aware of what it is like. Blood substitute does the same.”
“Bloodsubstitute?” She looks at me as I gesture for her to sit. “Is that what you were drinking last night? You’re not the vampire I thought you were, are you?”
Her eyes dance with mirth, and I am undone.
I have her in my arms.
“I am every inch the vampire you came to stake and more, Lucy,” I murmur in her ear. “I am a beast, a monster, a businessman, and a bloodsucker.”
“And you do a mean cup of decaf.” She laughs, wriggling in an attempt to leave my grip.
I cannot release her.
“I have not fed in close to a year,” I blurt out. “Ever since I knew what was coming.”
Lucy stops her movements and gazes up at me. “What do you mean ‘what was coming’?”
“I mean you, Lucy. Fate has decided it is time I took a mate. And that mate is you.”
Lucy
Dominik’s wordshang between us.
I am his mate…his fated mate.
