Okay, fine. Perhaps they weren’t aware that therewerefull-grown male vampires, so whatevs.
Thanks to his quick reflexes, Mirakel managed—barely—to keep from breaking his neck when he’d all but exploded the motor on that damn thing. And now, as the belt limped along while he held firm on the side rails, he was stuck with nothing to help rid him of this abundance of energy that had kept him confined to this room for the majority of the night and into the day.
He glanced at the clock on the wall.
Twenty minutes until he had to meet with Briony.
What he wanted to do was tell her he couldn’t make it. However, that was his brain talking. The rest of him was all about the meeting, desperate for even a small glimpse of her.
And yeah, yeah. He knew it was wrong.Mielix zanwas not something to be avoided unless you were a recluse and never saw anyone. He’d gone and imprinted on the female, and she had no freaking clue what that meant. As it was, he’d been grateful she’d yet to feed another male. Heaven help them all if he couldn’t manage to keep his distance if and when that happened. It was part of the reason he’d restricted himself to the weight room, hoping all the stone and earth between him and her would be enough barrier to prevent him from feeling it should it happen.
Of course, he’d been called to the carpet and rightfully so. Because he’d been so caught up in his own problems, he had ignored the very reason he was here. Thankfully, Kaj had kindly realigned his priorities, and Mirakel was back where he needed to be.
Snagging a crisp white towel from the rack, he wiped his face and the back of his neck. What he needed was a shower, then maybe half a dozen sandwiches. Perhaps then he’d be calm enough to go to her, to feed without losing his shit. Even the thought of touching her again was enough to keep his cock in a semi-hard state all the time. Didn’t matter that he’d worked that fool out a good half a dozen times every single day just to keep it from getting pissed at him. Asshole still saluted him at all hours.
As he made his way up the stairs into the house, he kept his head down, slipping through the parlor to the hallway that would lead up the back way to his room. Last thing he wanted was to have a conversation with—
“Hey, Mirakel!” Blaz shouted.
He grunted in response, taking the stairs three at a time. He rushed down the hallway, listening to the male’s voice behind him.
“Yo, dude! I just wanted to let you know—”
Desperate to get away from him, Mirakel slammed through his bedroom door and came to an abrupt halt.
“—that Briony’s here to see you.”
Yeah. She was definitely there. And she was most def seeing him, because her glittering purple eyes were in the process of caressing his bare chest.
He grunted again, holding his position in the doorway as he considered the ignorance of walking into that room and closing the door behind him. It was a testament to his desperation that he would even think it was an option,b-t-dubbs.
This morning, Briony was wearing emerald-green robes that hung from her narrow shoulders, resting gently against her full breasts, tied with a matching sash around her tiny waist before dropping all the way to the floor, covering her feet. Her red-gold hair was pulled up once again, pinned in place to reveal her delicate neck.
As usual, she looked absolutely stunning, and Mirakel was pretty damn sure it required no effort on her part. She simply was beautiful.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said softly, bowing her head slightly. “One of theheurospsaid they would be occupying the laundry suite, and I figured after what happened in the infirmary … I thought it more appropriate if I come here.”
Not appropriate, no.Temptationwas the word he would use.
“Briony…” He took a deep breath, gripping the hand towel in his fist. “I think it’s best—”
“Please don’t send me away.”
Her urgent tone had his words dying in his throat. “What?”
Those amethyst eyes scanned his face. “I know you don’t like to be alone with me—”
“I like it too much,” he corrected, though he wasn’t sure what the fuck was wrong with him.
“Uh…”
Yeah. Exactly. Uh.
“You like being alone with me?”
Could she seriously be that naive? Part of him had thought her innocence was faked. Similar to thecosrobolshe usually fed from. Those females were always pretending, doing whatever was necessary to please the male they were offering themselves to. But Briony … she seemed sincerely confused that he could possibly want to be alone with her.
Because he wasn’t going to let her go until he had explained himself, and hopefully found a way to let her know he couldn’t do this anymore, Mirakel closed the door behind him.
