"Pet. Lovely," I chortled.
When he just growled in response, I chuckled and gently pushed at his shoulders, hopping out of the bed.
I was surprised, yet unquestionably thrilled by how comfortable I felt with him in the face of the most unusual situation I’d ever found myself in, and with a wicked glance at my mate, I bent down to retrieve his shirt which had been discarded the night before. It was several sizes too big for me, but I slipped it on anyway.
I grinned when his eyes took in my every move and slowly sashayed toward him, buttoning the material as I moved. I let my hands trail up his beautiful chest and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I'm okay, Simon," I whispered since he seemed very hesitant about leaving.
His expression was so anxious; it seemed like he was fearful that some lifeline could be cut, that our bond could somehow be severed by distance, and I briefly wondered if it could, but doubted it. I’d have to ask later, but at the present, I had to urge him to go feed. I had the distinct feeling it would be much worse if he continued to put it off.
He nodded and pressed a kiss to the top of my head before reluctantly making his way to the bedroom door, where he glanced back at me hesitantly.
“I’m okay,” I insisted softly.
I had just turned my back to him, when suddenly the Earth spun and his lips were against mine, an unusual and soft growl coming from his throat. "Make me," he rumbled harshly, his voice filled with pleading. "I don't want to leave you. Tell me to go."
I exhaled quietly, feeling my heart ache for him, and stroked his back. "You, Simon Treviso, need to feed and come back to me fast." I hugged him tightly and cooed in his ear, "I promise, Simon. I'm okay. I won’t lie to you and say I understand, and that everything’s sunshine and roses. This is a lot to take in, but I'm a big girl. I can handle it. As long as you are mine, everything is okay."
My own statement seemed to blindside me, and I came to the conclusion there were many more questions I needed to ask Simon.
"I am yours forever, cara mia."
"And I'm yours. Always."
Again, my words flowed so freely, so naturally that they took me completely by surprise. Regardless of my lack of understanding, it was like my world—a world that had been tipped on its axis by Colton, Madison, and everyone whom I allowed to drive me from my home—was suddenly righted, and that balance seemed far better than it had previously been. It felt like I’d just recovered some missing piece of an invisible puzzle. I stepped back and stared intently at him.
"I want you to go hunt. I'll be waiting downstairs for you. Okay?"
He inhaled deeply, as if drawing all his strength, turned faster than I could comprehend, and disappeared.
I picked up my jeans and shirt and draped them over the foot of the bed. I briefly considered searching for some pants or something to wear under Simon's shirt, but decided that it was long enough and covered my underwear appropriately.
I took my time walking down the stairs.
Maymuna, while clearly loud and forthright, seemed nice enough, as did Grace, but that still didn’t mean I was overly comfortable being left alone with two succubi. It wasn’t because I thought they would hurt me—I had a strong feeling Simon would do something rather drastic if they did—but more that these two women were the epitome of poise and beauty. It would take some adjustment knowing I would be seeing more of these two goddess-like creatures.
When my feet hit the ground floor, I heard a chuckle and glanced over to see Maymuna and Grace both simpering and dressed in similar pant suits, one in black and one in chocolate. Now that it was daylight and I wasn’t so drowsy or in as much pain, I could see them more clearly.
Grace’s hair was a completely different shade of red from my friend’s. Where Brie’s hair was a deep auburn color, this woman’s hair was a lighter, brighter shade of red. It could have easily given Lucille Ball a run for her money in the brilliant red-head department.
The exotic succubus appeared to be in her early thirties, which, if my memory was correct, was about ten years younger than her husband looked, while Grace appeared to be closer to my age. I couldn’t help but wonder how old both really were, given Simon was just over six hundred.
It was apparent from their matching looks that they had overheard my conversation with Simon, but then again, they were vampires, so I shouldn’t have been so surprised. It occurred to me then that privacy was something I may never have again, and I found that a little disturbing.
As I started across the room, Grace vanished in a flash while Maymuna blurred to stand in front of me, holding out a glass of chocolate milk. "How are you?" she asked sagely.
I inhaled deeply, my eyes drifting shut for a moment, before they snapped open. "I'm okay, I think. I’m confused about a few things, and it hasn’t all fully settled in, but overall, I’m okay." I let her lead me to the kitchen where Grace stood, adding some butter to the large stack of pancakes on the table. "I mean, I can’t lie: it's a lot to deal with. Vampires, mates.”
I sat down and beamed at the blind succubus, even if she couldn’t see it. “Thank you, Grace.”
“You’re welcome.”
To my mild surprise, both women seemed incredibly kind. I found my discomfort fading rapidly as I dug into the pancakes, occasionally using the food and the delicious, chocolaty beverage as a temporary distraction while I asked and answered questions.
“He was my boyfriend before, and prior to college, before I started growing up, certainly before I walked through y’all’s door, I thought I knew love. I thought I understood being in love. I thought I loved Cole until I started maturing, and then I realized that wasn’t love. That was poisonous.
“And when I started seeing Simon, when I started developing feelings for him, I thought that was what falling in love felt like, at least to an extent. I suppose for a human that is supposed to be what falling in love feels like. Well, except for maybe the jealousy those first couple of weeks. I thought that was a little odd for having just met someone. Actually, I thought I was going crazy. I guess that’s a vampire-inspired-mate-thing?” I looked up for confirmation and was relieved to see both nodding. “Oh, well, that’s good. I thought I needed to call a therapist,” I commented, much to their amusement.
I ate a few more bites of my warm breakfast before I continued. “This feels different. When I first started seeing Simon a few months ago, I said I wanted things to go slowly, but this feels okay. It feels…nice. It feels surprisingly natural, and that, well, surprises me.”
I took a large gulp of milk and nearly choked on it when my phone buzzed and a box appeared proclaiming I had a text message from Cole. I put the glass down and sighed. “Then there’s this.”
I held up my cell phone for Maymuna’s inspection. “After what happened with Cole, after everything he put me through when I broke up with him, I can’t feel sorry for him, not really. I’m sure it hurts knowing the person you can’t let go of belongs to another, but I can’t deny my feelings for Simon. Even without the whole vampire-incubus-mate-stuff, I’ve been seeing Simon for months now. Even without some… intense connection… I’d still be attracted to him. We have mutual interests, and I’ve been falling slowly in love with him. So mate or not, Cole was always going to be out of the picture. Hell, he’s been out of the picture. At least for me.
“What if Cole can’t deal with this? I mean, when y’all sire a new vampire—is that the word y’all use or is that a media thing?—oh well. Isn’t that like creating a child or something for y’all? Aren’t clans or whatever like family? Because even though I can’t really bring myself to feel sorry for Cole, I’ll feel horrible if I’m ripping a kid from its parent. I don’t want that to happen.”
Grace simply moved around the counter to hug me.
"That is not exactly how it works, Sofia," Maymuna said patiently. “Honestly, it is not that complicated. There are no familial bonds, no psychic connection. The only connections that remotely resemble those of your human fantasies are the b
onds between mates. So do not worry that you will be causing any sort of parental trauma where Kendal or the family is concerned. You will not be taking, as you say, a kid away from its parent. And before you start developing any foolish feelings of emotional martyrdom, I should probably remind you of your own words, or at least similar ones.”
Her smirk held no condescension, just amusement. “Despite being a relatively new vampire, Colton Malver is a grown adult. You are not his mother, nor are you his keeper. His choices, behavior and actions are not your fault. It was explained firmly and without any malice, as Grace can attest to, that you are Simon’s mate. Yes, it was rather sudden for him, but at twenty-three years old, incubus or human, he should be mature enough to accept something that, apparently, has long since been finished.
“He not only chose to ignore the fact that you are Simon's mate, he plainly refused to accept the orders of his leader to cease attempts to pursue. If that was not enough, after you were caught in the crossfire, as it were, and were rendered unconscious, he then refused to follow the direct commands his creator gave him and proceeded to fight his sire.”
“Sofia,” Grace spoke patiently as she released me and slid onto the stool next to mine. “What Cole did was wrong, and now he has to face the consequences. I’m sure it won't be easy, but hopefully in time, he will get over it.”
I knew Cole. He wouldn’t.
I was certain that a few of my friends would laugh if they knew I was guzzling down chocolate milk, but it was my comfort beverage, and by George, after the recent insights, I felt that I damn well deserved several ounces of comfort!
I finished my pancakes and was starting on my second glass of milk, eyes taking in the deep red of the kitchen, when another thought came to me. I voiced my concern, or rather my curiosity, about something that had been niggling at the back of my subconscious to Grace and Maymuna.
While it was true I’d become more and more involved with Simon over the passing months, I was still a bit surprised to have also had such a change of emotions in the span of only a few hours. Fortunately, they both calmly explained the intricacies of “vampiric mating habits” to me.
The term had my lips twitching, and I had the sneaking suspicion that Maymuna used it on purpose to try to get a reaction from me. It almost worked.
Between two vampires, the pull was apparently instantaneous and almost entirely irresistible. Under normal circumstances, the draw between a vampire and a human was almost as equally intense. That Simon struggled to resist his own nature for so long had put a strain on the spiritual thread that connected us, and the natural emotions evoked in both parties when one found their mate was, in our case, only intensified by the awakening sensations Simon felt. In short, where I would’ve been drawn to him and fallen for him quite quickly under regular circumstances, his heightened emotions were directly effecting my own, progressing them more rapidly than normal.
When I questioned them about what would’ve happened had Simon ignored the pull, Maymuna's face turned grave. All she would say was it would have ended disastrously. The look in Grace's unseeing eyes told me 'disastrously' was the other’s tactful way of saying that Simon would have died. I could only presume that a broken heart would’ve led to him having someone take his life.
I went to voice my opinion on this, but just as I opened my mouth, the sound of a door opening and slamming shut stopped me. I turned to see him blur to a stop only a few feet from me, where he then took in my relaxed appearance and bright smile. I watched as he made to step forward, but froze. He didn’t pause like a human, but genuinely froze. He was totally immobilized, as solid and as unmoving as a statue, and that made me nervous.
When I started to stand, Grace heard my movements and stopped me with a hiss. "Don’t move."
"What's wrong?" I questioned back. "Is he okay?"
"He is in shock," Maymuna supplied in hushed tones as she ever-so-slowly turned her head to look at me. Her eyes cut toward my mate, regarding him silently, then darted back to me, catching my incredulous expression. "Yes, Sofia, vampires can go into shock. It does not occur often. It only happens during times when they are just overcome with too many emotions. Emotions are more intense for vampires and when they are overwhelmed, they go into a type of sensory overload. I personally have never seen any vampire shut down before though."
"Shut down?" I could feel the panic growing inside me. "What's going to happen to him?"
"Nothing is going to happen, Sofia,” she assured me with a shake of her head. “When a vampire goes into shock, it is in essence our body's way of forcing us to stop and let our mind have time to comprehend and absorb everything.
“Vampires have an eidetic memory. Every single thing we do, say, think, see, smell, feel. Any input we encounter, we remember forever. Normally, our brains can keep up, but sometimes, when you add to all that stimuli enormous waves of emotions, it becomes too much. Our body just shuts down temporarily to keep us from doing much of anything while it sorts through all the input. We cannot speak. We cannot move. We cannot breathe. The only thing we have left is our hearing and vision.
"However," she drawled, "instinct is the strongest force within a vampire. If you were to make any sudden movements, his distracted brain would see it as a threat. Because you are his mate, he cannot directly hurt you. Unfortunately, that does not mean that he cannot hurt himself and pull the house down around our ears."
I glanced at Simon, still frozen like a statue. "So he can see us and hear us?"
"Yes," Grace replied. "They're protective measures. If we lost all our senses during shock, we’d be vulnerable to attack."
"What triggered it?"
“You,” Maymuna answered bluntly. “His instincts have been building and building, then after you were attacked… You are not the only one this situation is overwhelming for, Sofia. Despite actually being a vampire and being a leader of a clan, Simon has never really experienced life as a vampire.”
She shrugged. “All night he was fretting about how you will handle this entire situation, and that has pretty much been the only reason he has not gone into shock in the past twenty-four hours. I can only surmise the stress of telling you, the attack, and your state of mind has put so much stress on his systems they were ready to overload. And I can tell you that while he knows you are safe with us, he still was not entirely comfortable with the decision to leave you in order to hunt.
“I surmise seeing you relaxed and unharmed was a trigger in his mind that you are okay. In knowing you are both physically and emotionally okay, for the largest part at least, his mind gave his body permission to shut itself down to compute all of the sensations he has had to deal with this past day."
I let my eyes drift back to Simon, who had obviously dressed before coming downstairs. The black slacks hung low on his hips and a perfectly tailored, periwinkle, button-down shirt hugged his chest and mouth-wateringly broad shoulders. I thanked every god and goddess I had ever read about that the sleeves were rolled up, revealing his powerful forearms.
God, he was gorgeous. Then again, given what he was, I guess it came with the territory.
I resisted the temptation to look up into his eyes, because I felt a bit guilty sitting here discussing him, not to mention ogling him, especially knowing he could see us and hear every single word. Not that it would’ve really mattered, I guess. There probably was no place in the house we could go and not be heard. "It’s probably rude to talk about him when he's like this."
"Probably," Maymuna commented with no small amount of glee. "But it is not as if we can go anywhere if we do not want him to destroy this part of the mansion. Of course, even if we could leave, we can hear for a good mile or two. And what were we supposed to do, Sofia? Not tell you what is happening and let you sit there and panic?"
I sighed. "Good point. But, well, it's got to be uncomfortable, don't you think? I mean—" I barely waved my hand in his direction "—look at him! He can see and hear everything we do. It's got to be awkward."
"I know! It is quite hilarious, is it not?" she chuckled.
I looked to Grace for support, but her lips were quivering with a suppressed smile. "Grace!"
"Oh, c'mon, Sofia! It's funny, you’ve gotta admit,” she said with a wink. “He's stuck there. He can't move. We could tell the most embarrassing stories we know about him, and he can't do anything about it." She laughed before cutting the sound short, throwing a bemusedly apologetic glance up to my mate. "I'm sorry, Simon, but it is kind of funny."
"Oh my God!" I stared at them both, trying desperately to keep my expression under control. "You two are horrible!"
Maymuna looked at me knowingly. "Then why are your lips twitching?" When I mumbled ‘are not’, she burst out laughing. "You know that you want to laugh, Sofia!"
I could feel my face turning bright red. I felt bad, really I did, but they were right…kind of. However, I couldn’t let my mate see me laughing, so I dropped my head into my hands as my lips curled into a grin.
"I know you are not laughing at my expense, cara mia," he whispered in my ear.
I let out a blood-curdling scream and jumped from the stool, nearly losing my footing when my feet touched the slippery wood floor. I glared at the two succubi who practically rolled with laughter and wadded up my napkin, throwing it at Grace as she was the closest. "That was not funny.”
EIGHT
It wasn’t until after I finished my breakfast, when Simon went to kiss me, that I realized something very important. I had come straight down to breakfast without taking a shower or even brushing my teeth, so when he leaned in to kiss my lips, I smirked and kept them tightly pressed together, ignoring his arched eyebrow.
He seemed thoroughly baffled for a moment, but when I continued to grin, my lips firmly shut, he shook his head at me with a heavy chuckle. "Gioia mia, my joy, certainly you are not denying your mate the pleasure of your divine lips simply because you are worried about a little morning breath?"
Feral: Book One Page 9