I’m just digging myself deeper and deeper. Then, suddenly, my back is up against a column.
“Are you saying you don’t want to hit on me?”
Everything about this man is beyond attractive. From his boyish grin, his dark hair and chiseled jaw. I’m drawn to his lips by a magnetic force and can feel myself leaning in when the unexplainable pull ceases. I realize what I’m doing and stop.
“Okay, start over.” I take a deep breath and gently push against him to create distance. Thankfully, he doesn’t resist. “I’m going to be participating in the Hunt, and I didn’t know if you had any insight you could share. That’s why I asked if you have a mate.”
“Ah. I see,” he says. “Well, to answer your question, no, I don’t have a mate. It’s likely my mate is dead.”
“What makes you think that?”
“It’s... hard to find mates amongst our kind. The odds of finding your mate are already low, but if they’re already a vampire your chances increase. If they aren’t a vampire, then they are a human. Humans are our food source. The odds aren’t in my favor.”
“Do you have any powers?”
“Yes. Did you not feel them?”
“What do you mean?”
“The intense attraction you had toward me just now. Did you feel that?”
My eyes widen, baffled. “That was you? You made me feel that?”
There’s that grin again. But this time, the emotions don’t follow.
Son of a bitch.
“You can manipulate emotions.”
Vince raises a cheeky brow. “And energy.”
Suddenly, I find myself wondering if that includes orgasms.
“It does,” he says all coy.
“So, you read minds as well?”
“Only of those that I find intriguing.”
“I almost kissed you!”
“Kissing would have been of your own free will. I don’t have to steal those. I prefer my kisses with consent, but if I wanted you to, I could have.”
“It felt so real. Like they were my emotions.”
“That’s the point. I can make anyone feel anything I want at any moment.”
“So . . . you’re like a real-life Casanova?”
He stops. “In all my years, I’ve never been called that before. Hm. I might read your mind a little more often.”
***
The castle is breathtaking. On our way up the grand staircase, I have more questions. “So, you are stationed in the vampire kingdom?”
“Yes.”
I bite my bottom lip. “Did you know Colin?”
