I woke with a start, that peculiar feeling of being watched pulling me from a dreamless sleep. My eyes adjusted to the darkness. finding a familiar silhouette beside my bed.
“You scared the living daylight out of me, Kalus, 1 gasped, sitting up and pulling the sheets around me.
He sat perfectly still in the chair next to the bed, his eyes reflecting what little moonlight filtered through the curtains. How long had he been there, watching me sleep?
“I like watching you sleep,” he said, as if reading my thoughts.
A chill ran down my spine. “That’s very creepy Kalus, even for you.”
He leaned forward, his face emerging from shadow. Despite the dim ght, I could see the hollowness in his cheeks, the dark circles under his eyes. The punishment had taken more from him than he would admit.
“You need to go to the healers,” I said, concern momentarily overriding my unease.
“I like so many things about you,” he continued as if I hadn’t spoken “I like when you are shy and embarrassed, but what I love most is watching you in tears. You cried for me, and it was a fucking turn–on.”
Heat rushed to my face. That was the last thing I’d expected him to say. I’d been so sure he’d be furious after I’d tried to intervene In his punishment, after I’d defied him publicly.
“But you don’t know me,” he added, his voice dropping lower.
I studied him in the half–light, trying to discern how badly he was injured, “I didn’t expect the punishment to be so brutal, you should have warned me so I would be more prepared.”
“I didn’t plan on making you watch, Elowen; I knew it would affect you.”
“It would have been worse staying here, left with my very unkind imaginations. I thought of the hours I’d spent locked in this room, picturing horrors far worse than reality.
“No, it wouldn’t be worse.” Something in his tone sent a shiver through me.
I reached out tentatively, wanting to check his wounds. “You really need to go to the healers, Kaius.”
His hand caught mine mid–air, grip firm despite his obvious exhaustion. “I don’t need that; do you want to know what I truly need?”
The sudden change in his demeanor made my pulse quicken. “What?”
“I want to fuck you, Elowen; that’s all the healing I need.”
I pulled my hand back, incredulous. “Seriously, Kalus? You’re injured, and this is all you can think about?”
A shadow of a smile crossed his face, gone so quickly I might have imagined it. “I heal fast, Elowen. You won’t understand.”
“Can I see?” I asked, curiosity overcoming caution.
“You want to see my injuries? I bet it would entertain you.”
“I only want to see how bad they are.
1/3
After a moment’s consideration, he rose and pulled his shirt over his head. I gasped despite myself. His torso was a canvas of fading bruises and half-healed wounds. What should have been devastating njuries were already in advanced stages of healing. Event as I watched, the bruises seemed to lighten slightly.
“You do heal very fast. I’m so sorry, Kaius.” The words tell inadequate against what he’d endured,
“Elowen, I didn’t do this for you,” he said, his voice sharp.
“You fought Alaric off; he would have done worse to me. Thank you, even if you act like
“I wish y you had completed your sentence.” He put me off, but there was no real anger in his voice.
He sat on the edge of the bed, his weight making the mattress dip. want to kraw, did you feel offended when I sent Frost in to have you?
The
le didn’t do it:
question caught me off guard. “The
“I know that, but he could have, and you would have had to comply; does that madden you?”
I looked away, unable to hold his intense gaze. “No, Frost is… fine.”
“I wouldn’t mind you going to him to satisfy your needs.
My head snapped up. “Really?”
“Yes.” His response was so casual, as if offering to share me with 11 Beta was the most natural thing in the world.
Does this mean you’ll go back to Lysandra?” I asked before I could stop myself.
Something flickered in his eyes–surprise, perhaps, that I would address the topic so directly. “Not now, not soon.
A strange silence fell between us, filled with things unsaid. Kalus s presence beside me on the bed felt at once comforting and dangerous, like sitting next to a predator who had momentarily decided not to hunt.
“I’m feeling very generous now,” he said eventually, “Ask me a question; you might get an answer.”
The opportunity was too precious to waste. I had so many questions about this man, this arrangement, this strange new world I’d entered when I signed his contract.
“Why did you pick me?” I asked. “You would have had others easily. What is your intention, and what are you going to gain from this?”
So this was the first thing that came to your mind? Ask any other question, but that.”
I tried a different approach. “Your parents had been present at the time you were being… Ophelia did nothing. I feel like there is something you haven’t told me, something between your parents, panicularly your mother and you.”
should be. That’s another question I can’t answer.” He shifted on the bed, turning to face me more directly. Itis bare chest gleamed in the moonlight, the marks of his punishment creating shadows where none st
didn’t expect smart questions from you,” he added, though there was no malice in the words.
“Were you planning to ever answer a question?” I asked, frustration ceping into my voice.
I considered carefully, weighing my options. There was one question that had lingered since I’d first begun to understand the strange dynamics of this pack.
“Have you ever been in love?”
Something changed in his expression–n softening arouil the eyes, slight parting of lips. Hod I finally found a question he would
musher?
“I want to know everything about the band you share with Frost, I pressed, emboldened by his reaction. “I want to know if you had a mate and… what happened to her.”
“Those questions I would answer,‘ he said finally, I think you deserve to know something, but there is a condition. No one would
ever hear about this.”
“Is this like a top
p secret? What would you do if I did tell someone?
His smile was cold. “You won’t; I don’t think you will dare that.”
“Don’t worry, no one will know; as you can clearly see, I don’t have lot of friends.”
“Good, it would be bothersome having to kill you if you do.”
11 if he was joking.
I couldn’t tell
“I had been in love before.”
“That is very hard to believe,” I said before I could stop myself.
“Yes, sometimes I can’t believe it either. There was one thing Alaric ad taught me. Love was pain, and he was very much right.”
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