“It’s okay,” I say. “I think if you would’ve asked permission, I probably wouldn’t have believed you. I mean… vampires. That’s crazy.”
He looks at me, awe on his face. “You’re so perfect for me. Like, fate chose perfectly.”
I couldn’t agree with him more.
“Hey, Cayson. Do you think…” I pause, letting my voice trail off.
No. I’m not going to finish that statement.
“What is it?” he asks, squeezing my hand.
I shake my head, not wanting to finish my sentence.
“You know you can trust me, right? I would never judge you for anything. And you can trust me with anything.”
I nod, biting my lip.
I do know that. I’m just…
Scared.
I take a deep breath. “I just wanted to ask about the mate bond.”
I swear his green eyes grow darker. “What about it?”
“Is it too soon to complete it? I mean…” I pause, trying to think of a better way to word this. “I mean, how long do people usually wait to complete their mate bond? Cause I feel like I’ve known you forever and I don’t want to wait too long.”
He takes a deep breath before answering. “Most people don’t wait more than a day or two. But… I mean, you’re new to all this, so I don’t want to rush you.”
“I’m ready now.”
I’m not sure what I thought Cayson’s reaction to me telling him I want to complete the mate bond would be, but I didn’t think he would attack me right there on the beach.
Well, attack is the wrong word. But he does attack my mouth. He kisses me with such passion that I think if I wasn’t already sitting down I would fall over from how intense it is. I’ve come to learn that everything with Cayson is intense.
He pulls back to look at me. “You’re really sure, right? Because once we complete the bond, that’s it. It can’t be broken.”
“I know.” I lick my lips. “I’m ready.”
He kisses me hard again, but he pulls away quickly. He gets up from the sand and holds his hand out to me. “Come on.”
He helps me up and the two of us walk to his car. I dust the sand off my butt before getting in. I have no idea where he’s about to take me, but I’m equally excited and nervous for what is about to happen.
Cayson is my first.
I’ve found my person.
2:30 am
Three words.
I expect Cayson to drive us back to Mystic Academy, but he doesn’t. He drives to a hotel a little farther down the beach—one of the ritzy kinds that I’ve never stayed at. It even has valet parking. The guy who works at valet seems to know Cayson. He even calls him Mr. Ingram, which is kind of weird. I wonder if he stays here a lot.
Cayson hands his keys to the valet and grabs my hand to pull me inside. He doesn’t say anything to the guy. When I look back at the valet guy, he’s smiling at the car.
It is a nice car.
I follow Cayson inside and inhale sharply. Everything is so nice. There is even a huge fountain inside, spraying up water. A massive chandelier hangs from the ceiling in the middle of the lobby. There are glass elevators going up and down.
My jaw drops as I look around.
I have definitely never stayed in a hotel this nice before.
Cayson tugs on my hand and I realize we’re not going to the front desk. We’re walking toward the elevator. When the elevator goes down, he has to put a key in it to push the button to our floor.
“I thought you were in Colorado,” I say, tilting my head to the side. “Wait… you live on the Atlantic side, right? Not the Gulf side…”
“I do. I live in Southern Florida, on the east side.” He leans against the back of the elevator.
“Then why do you just happen to have a key to a room in this hotel?”
“I own this hotel. Well… this chain.” He shrugs. “I keep a room here open in case I need to do any business at Mystic Academy. It usually comes up out of nowhere.”
My mouth falls open.
Is he serious?
He owns a hotel. Or several hotels, I guess.
Again, I feel inferior. But I shouldn’t. Cayson has been alive for many lifetimes. I’m only seventeen.
Wait…
“Do you know what date it is?” I ask.
He looks at his phone. November thirteenth,” he answers, putting his phone into his pocket.
“Today is my birthday.” I grin.
“It’s your birthday?”
I nod.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve bought you a present or something,” he says.
I shrug. “You already bought me clothes.”
“That is just me taking care of you. We will get some more clothes before I take you to school tonight,” he promises. “And I’m going to buy you something for your birthday.”
“I’m eighteen now. I was really looking forward to this day. I mean… it wouldn’t have made any difference. I would’ve still had to be home with… you know… them… but it’s one step closer to freedom that graduating high school would bring.”
The elevator comes to a stop and the doors open. I expect it to open into a hallway, but it doesn’t. It opens right into the room. Upon looking around, I realize we’re in the penthouse. The first thing I do when I walk inside is go over to the window and look down at the beach.
“Wow,” I whisper, wondering how I got here. This feels like a dream—like I’m going to wake up in my room in Colorado or I’m going to wake up in the hospital from a coma or something and this will have all been a strange dream.
But it’s not a dream.
This is real.
“Do you like it?” Cayson asks, coming up behind me. He wraps his arms around me and I lean into him.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. I feel… overwhelmed.” I sigh, turning in his arms. “I know that I want to complete our mate bond, but are you sure you want to? Cayson, I can’t compare to all of this. I have literally nothing but the clothes that you bought me. I just feel like I’m not good enough for you.”
He rubs his thumb gently across my cheekbone, making me shiver. “It’s me who is unworthy of you, Riley Green.”
His words melt my heart.
I didn’t know it was possible to feel so much love. And after being unloved by my own family for so long, I feel like this is what I deserve. I deserve to be loved and cherished. And Cayson will do just that.
“I know this might scare you,” Cayson says, his eyes darting from my lips to my eyes. “But I am in love with you and I have been since the moment I met you.”
I couldn’t stop my smile if I wanted to, which I don’t.
“I love you too. More than I’ve ever loved anybody in my life.”
Nobody has ever made me feel the way Cayson does.
He leans closer, gently pressing his lips to mine. He kisses my top lip. And then my bottom lip. Then he captures both of my lips and I kiss him back just as passionately.
This boy is unbelievable—he’s handsome, he’s intelligent, he’s sexy, and somehow he wants me.
Cayson’s hands grip my bottom and I grin against his mouth.
I like when he grabs my butt. It’s nice… no. It’s not nice. It’s hot.
“You’re so sexy,” Cayson murmurs against my lips, and continues to kiss me.
I have never been called sexy in my life, but I like it when he says it to me. He makes me feel exactly that way.
Cayson lifts me like I weigh nothing. I wrap my legs around his waist and he carries me toward the bed, his lips never once leaving mine. Eventually, he sits me down on the bed, not breaking our kiss.
But then he pulls up on my shirt and we have to stop kissing for a second while he tosses it aside.
Part of me wants to cover myself, but I quickly push those thoughts away.
I’m going to be brave tonight.
I reach around and unclasp my bra, tossing it to the ground, then I tug up
on Cayson’s shirt. It’s only fair that he gets undressed too.
His fingers gently graze against my nipples, making me shiver.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers.
I could definitely get used to Cayson calling me sexy and beautiful. Warmth spreads through my body.
“You’re the beautiful one,” I breathe, running my hand down his abs toward his jeans. Before I can reach beneath his jeans, he pulls away slightly.
“In bed. Without your jeans,” he demands.
“Yes, sir.” I grin, unbuttoning my jeans and letting them fall. He didn’t say anything about removing my panties, so I leave them on and crawl into bed. When I look back, I see him watching me.
I feel so powerful.
He sees me looking, so he quickly drops his pants, leaving his boxer briefs behind.
It’s safe to say that Cayson finds me very desirable.
He smirks at me when he sees where I’m looking and he climbs on top of me, hooking his thumbs around the edge of my thong. “This has got to go.”
He pulls them off in one swift movement.
I’ve never been naked in front of a guy before, but the way Cayson’s eyes rake up and down my body makes me feel so confident. It makes me so glad that I waited and didn’t have sex with just anybody.
I don’t know what to expect, but I know I didn’t anticipate for Cayson to kiss me so slow and soft. I feel like up until now, everything had gone so fast, but now he’s taking his time. But I don’t want him to take his time.
I whimper against his lips.
He pulls back to peer down at me, a grin on his face. “Riley, are you impatient?”
I shake my head. “Not usually. But I am right now.”
His grin widens. “I like this side of you.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Cayson, I swear if you don’t do something I will just touch myself and get off.”
“That has a lot of potential, but later. Right now, you’re all mine.” His lips capture mine again, but this time I feel his fingers skim down my body. They’re moving faster than he was before, but it’s still too slow in my opinion.
Just a few more inches and…
There.
I gasp and squirm against his hand. I don’t think I’ve ever been this turned on in my life.
His lips leave mine and he kisses his way down my neck. He doesn’t stop kissing until he reaches my breast. The second he start sucking on me, I go over the edge.
I have never had an orgasm this hard on my own. I mean… sure, I’ve touched myself while reading romance novels, but not once has it ever been this intense. Cayson has a magic touch. And I want to return the favor for him, but before I can even compose myself, I feel something hard line up against my center.
“Riley, are you sure?”
I nod. “Please.”
This answer must satisfy him because I feel him begin to move inside me so slowly and gently. I expect there to be a pinch or something, but there’s not. It just feels good. Really, really good.
“I love you,” he whispers, once he is all the way inside.
“I love you, too.”
He starts to move and everything is perfect.
Beyond perfect.
I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.
5:30 am
But who’s counting?
Cayson and I have mated a few times now.
Three times.
But who’s counting?
Oh, who am I kidding? I’m totally counting.
I get up to take a quick shower before we go to sleep for the day. We have to get up early tonight so we can go shopping before the stores close. When I walk into the bathroom, I can’t help but stop at the mirror and look.
I look different, even to myself. My skin almost glows, and I don’t know if that’s because I’m a vampire now or because of what I just did with Cayson. My eyes seem bigger, though that could be because they’re not hidden behind glasses anymore. My hair appears shinier, my teeth whiter and straighter. I look… kind of pretty.
Or it could be because I can now see myself how Cayson sees me.
Once we completed the mate bond, Cayson and I were able to share our thoughts. We can feel each other’s emotions, and it’s kind of awesome. I thought it would be weird, but I like the fact that we can’t keep our true feelings a secret. We will always have to talk through our issues in the future instead of bottling them up.
The bathroom door opens, so I step back from the mirror and look at Cayson walking in. He’s completely naked, as am I.
“Can I shower with you?” he asks.
I grin. “Duh.”
Truthfully, I don’t want to spend even a moment without him.
“Will it always be like this?” I ask, as Cayson turns on the shower, setting the temperature.
“Like what?” He motions me over.
“Will I always want you so much?” I stride over to him and stand on the tips of my toes so I can give him a kiss.
He bends down to kiss me, then smacks me on the butt. “I sure hope so.”
Me too.
I walk into the shower and Cayson follows me.
“My brother said it hasn’t lessened for him and his wife,” he says, closing the door to the shower.
This shower is the biggest I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s one of those showers that rains down water from the top and is definitely made for more than one person.
“Have you ever had a girl up here before?” I ask, wondering if I truly want to know the answer to the question.
“Never.” He pulls me into his arms. “Only you.”
He presses me against the tile wall and kisses me harder.
My heart feels lighter at his words.
I know Cayson has experience. I mean, he’s lived multiple lifetimes waiting for me, so I can’t expect him to have just been waiting for me. But I like that this place is special—just for us.
Cayson pulls away from my lips, grabbing the shampoo. He rubs some between his hands and begins to massage my scalp. I’ve never had somebody else wash my hair before and I kind of like this.
Is this what it’s like to feel complete? To be so happy that you feel as though your heart could burst? Because I can get used to this with Cayson. All of this.
My mind is still having a hard time comprehending the thought of ‘forever.’ I have forever with this boy. How does this kind of happiness even exist?
When he’s done shampooing my hair, Cayson leans forward and gives me a soft kiss on the lips.
I could definitely get used to all of this.
6:30 pm
It doesn’t get any better than this.
Cayson and I woke up early so we could go grab some clothes.
I really, really hate that he had to spend money on me, but I truly don’t have any other options. And he just keeps telling me that everything he has is mine too, but it feels wrong sometimes. Like I’m using him. I make sure to tell him thank you every time we go into a store, but it just doesn’t feel like enough.
“Would you rather I let you go around naked?” Cayson raises an eyebrow at me as we pull up to Mystic Academy.
It takes me a few seconds to remember that he’s in my head now. That was part of completing the mate bond. We know each other inside and out now. It’s strange, but also nice. While shopping, I could tell Cayson was really happy to be doing all of this for me.
I’m just used to my dad. Even when it was back to school time, I’d have to basically fight to get any money for new clothes and shoes. Meanwhile, Cassie and the step monster would come home with a trunk full of clothes at least twice before school started.
“You will never have to feel like that again.” Cayson grabs my hand and kisses the back of it. “You ready to take all your new things to our room?”
I nod, grinning.
I am ready. Even though today felt kind of weird because I don’t like spending Cayson’s money, it was also nice to have somebody take car
e of me. I haven’t had that in so long, not since before my dad got remarried.
Someday, I will be able to take care of myself.
As we get my bags from the trunk of his car, I think about all the places I applied to college. I wonder if I got accepted into any of them.
“Can I even go to college?” I ask, as Cayson shuts the lid on his trunk.
He nods. “If you want to. I’ll go with you. I have a couple of degrees myself, but it’s been probably twenty years since I did the whole college thing. It would be fun to do with you.”
He has a couple of degrees?
“Immortal, remember?” He opens the front door for me and I walk through.
What am I supposed to do with immortality? I mean… college is a good start, I guess. But it almost seems silly to go to college. I could travel the world—go to all the places I’ve never been. Of course, you need money to travel, but don’t broke college kids travel all the time? I can backpack across Europe and stay in cheap motels, doing whatever I can to earn money.
“Or you could let your mate fund the trip,” Cayson suggests, as we make our way up the stairs. “Hopefully by the time you graduate from Mystic Academy, you’ll get used to the fact that everything that I have is yours.”
“Even that expensive car you drove today?” I raise an eyebrow, calling his bluff.
“Yes.”
“So you’d let me drive it?”
“You can have it if you really want it.” He shrugs, like it’s not big deal.
I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am.
Cayson and I walk into our room on the third floor and my bags are all put onto the bed. There are so many that I have to go through, but the thought of doing it right now is exhausting.
I definitely did not get enough sleep last night.
“Can vampires drink coffee?” I contemplate out loud.
“No.” Cayson opens the mini fridge and grabs a couple bags of blood out, handing one to me. “But blood will help give you energy. Vampires don’t need nearly as much sleep as humans do.”
Even if we did… it was worth the lack of sleep. Even tired, my body feels better than it ever has in my life.
Mystic Academy Page 6