I’m assuming we’re on Earth, but I don’t remember ever going before I joined the circus.
“We’re being watched every time we leave the house.” Lila’s mom sounds so desperate.
“Do you know who it is?” my dad asks, leaning forward, but Lila’s dad shakes his head.
“No, we can never see or catch anyone, but I’m worried it’s going to escalate.”
“Why would they be watching you?” my mom inquires, looking confused, and Lila’s parents exchange a glance.
“Can you put up a sound barrier?” Lila’s mom requests, and I watch as my dad waves his hand and a barrier appears. They continue talking, but I can’t hear a thing.
Fuck! The meeting goes on for a little while, and I can see my parents’ shocked reactions to whatever Lila’s parents told them, but Lila herself draws my attention away as she claps and laughs.
“They are so pretty, Xavar, can I do that?” She goes to touch them, but I pull my hand away and the fireworks disappear. Her bottom lip drops and starts to tremble, and I see the look of panic cross younger Xavier’s face.
“No, no, don’t cry,” I beg her. “I didn’t want you to get hurt.” The lip stops trembling, and both younger me and current me breathe a sigh of relief.
Younger me wraps an arm around her shoulders and she snuggles into it. She looks up at my face as she traces a finger across my pointy ears.
At the time, I had no jewelry in them. I didn’t get any until I was older.
Her hand drifts to my cheekbones and the light markings on my skin. “You’re so pretty, Xavar, and so clever. I’m going to marry you when I get older, and then I can kiss you like Mommy kisses Daddy.” She drops her hand and rests her head on my shoulder as younger me wrinkles his nose in disgust, but I don’t say anything nasty to her. She closes her eyes and smiles as I watch our parents continue to talk.
How is this memory in Lila’s brain? It’s not actually hers butmine, I realize with shock. It’s all from my point of view. So not only have Lila’s memories been removed, but this one was deliberately planted, and it must have been one of my parents who did it.
Again, I almost drop the memory at that realization, but seeing the barrier lower, I quickly tune into what our parents are saying.
“Promise me that if anything were to happen to us, you will protect Lila,” her mother begs.
“Of course, Alina. We will raise her as one of our own,” my mom assures them, but Lila’s dad shakes his head.
“No, if the worst happens, wipe her memories and take away her powers. The safest thing for her would be to live as a nobody on Earth. Make sure you change her name so that my parents can’t find her either, because they will, and then the target will be on her back again,” Lila’s dad implores.
“But what about Xavier? Lila is his intimate. He willneedher.” My mom sounds upset.
“Your son has other options. He can have a harem. Lila’s life is more important.” He has a stubborn set to his jaw, but his wife puts a hand on his shoulder as my parents gear up to argue.
Thankfully, Lila’s mom is more reasonable than her dad. “Don’t be like that, Marcus. When Xavier is powerful enough and ready to find his intimate, you can tell him about her. Now that they have found one another, he won’t ever spark on anyone else, will he? I’m sure he will question you two about it one day, and then you may tell him.”
“Then yes, we will do as you have asked.” My dad sounds resigned, and that’s where the memory stops.
I try to dig a little deeper, but there is no sign of Lila’s lost memories, which means my parents must still have them. I need to speak to them immediately.
Sighing, I pull gently out of Lila’s mind. She’s in a trance-like state, and I don’t wake her just yet as I run my hands through my hair in frustration. Why didn’t my parents tell me any of this once I was old enough? But then I have never spoken to them about wanting or needing an intimate, and I guess those were the instructions issued by Lila’s parents.
Fuck, my thoughts continue to wreak havoc in my mind.
Now what do I tell Lila when she wakes up? I need to speak to my parents before I tell her anything, but she’s going to be so disappointed if I tell her I found nothing. Maybe I can distract her. My eyes rake over her body, and I look at her in a whole new way. Before I dove into her mind, I would have been happy to fuck her four times and see her on her merry way, but now that I know differently, a wave a pure possessiveness rushes through me and I squeeze my hands into fists to stop myself from reaching for her. Everything makes sense now. It explains my extreme reaction to her and how I am absorbing her residual emotions, which is an intimate thing, and I don’t know how I didn’t consider it earlier. All I want to do now is take her into my room and fuck her until I seal myself to her in the Skarrian way then do it again the warlock way.
Do I tell her about this, or do I wait and let her get to know the real me and not the playboy prince I project to everyone around me? Shit, and my harem. I need to get rid of them, but how am I going to feed in the meantime? Saxon will help me out, but maybe I can talk to Lila’s mate and see if he is willing to feed me as well until I can get Lila to bond with me.
My emotions are a confused mess when I hear a door open and someone steps into the room. Whirling, I put myself between Lila and the intruder. Standing there is my head harem girl, Elyan. She’s wearing a flimsy see-through robe, and I can feel her hunger float through the air. When it hits me, I recoil in disgust. She sees my reaction, and her sexy pout turns to a frown.
“You told me to come find you next time I needed to feed.” Elyan is the strongest of my harem and likes to feed from me because she gets a temporary boost, but she’s still nowhere near my power levels. In the past I didn’t care, but the thought of feeding her now turns my stomach. Shit, that’s going to be a problem if I feel the same way about feeding from others.
“I’m busy. Get one of the others to see to your needs,” I snap, waving her away. I see the hurt in her eyes, but I have no time to soothe hurt feelings now, especially when I have never asked for feelings to be involved, apart from the superficial ones of course.
She huffs, turns, and flounces back through the doorway, and it slides closed behind her. Thankfully she didn’t notice Lila, because she can be a vindictive little bitch if she thinks that my eye is wandering. She’s vicious whenever she sees Saxon on the ship. He thinks it’s hilarious.
