Chapter 57: I can’t believe I said yes
***Author’s Note: Okay I’ve been really inconsistent lately with updates, my dad came to town, and we went fishing. Thanks for hanging in there for me. Happy Reading***
ODETTE’S POV:
My heart was pounding; my head was spinning. All the euphoria I had just been feeling was ruined, utterly destroyed.
"Mate" he growled deeply at me.
I couldn’t believe he used the mate word so casually like the word carried no weight. Vampires had mates too. We just didn’t have ’fated’ ones like the goddess gave wolves. We had chosen mates. My mom and dad are chosen mates. A marriage for a vampire is for life, only a select few vampires have ever left their mates. The bond we develop is just as strong as the fated one’s shifters are blessed with. If he thinks I don’t know the weight his words carry, he’s sorely mistaken.
What a shit head to play that kind of joke. However, it is strange I also felt a snap and feel closer to him now. I can’t deny that pull, that was once faint, was now pretty strong. But there’s no way this was real, what he said, it was impossible.
But the look in his eyes when he pleaded his truth. It didn’t look fake or forced. It looked disappointed and nervous.
The tension that hung between us was thick. Heavy with spoken and unspoken words.
But when he approached me in the bed, my wall went up automatically. Now that I was free to use my abilities, my senses were on high alert.
Everything was so confusing now. My feelings were all over the place, same as my thoughts. In a matter of hours everything changed. I still hadn’t had the time to process last night, let alone now.
Things were too much, and the added mate joke was just the cake on the icing.
"Can you at least let me check your wounds?" He asked
And with his complete comfort in his broad display of nudity, I couldn’t focus my thoughts and think critically.
"Maybe, if you put on some clothes..." I felt the heat rise to my cheeks.
He laughed at me.
I wanted to scream and cry and hide.
I hate him! Gahh! He’s so damn infuriating
"I was just inside every inch of you and you’re feeling the need for modesty, now?" He smirked.
I hate that stupid freaking smirk.
"Shut up!"
"Calm down, princess of prude, I’ll go cover up, as to not offend your virgin eyes." He shot me a teasing look before walking into the closet.
His sarcasm was as annoying as his stupid smirk.
"Screw you." I muttered pulling the sheets around my naked body.
Ugh, I can’t believe I did that! Saved myself my whole life and in the heat of death I practically beg for more. I was so starved. I must have been delirious.
But when he came back in, dressed in black jeans and a black long sleeve turtleneck. His muscles looked so clean and his body so trimmed, I felt my jaw drop a little. He looked like a man sculpted by the gods themselves. His black hair still tousled, his eyes glowed differently, they sparkled even.
He was memorizing.
I started feeling self-conscious, and insecure about what I looked like. My breath probably smelled.
Oh, goddess, I was probably disgusting. I can’t imagine what an unhived mess I look like right now.
I’m so embarrassed.
As if reading my mind, he goes and says stupid shit that melts my heart.
"Even covered in blood, you still look breathtaking." The words seemed to surprise him as much as they did me.
"Um... Thanks..." I tried to laugh it off. But his comment, it did make me feel a little better.
"Now that I’m dressed, can I take a peak at your wounds?" He asked gently.
I nodded.
This time when he approached, I didn’t put up the wall.
The closer he got to me, the more relaxed my body felt, a restlessness that once stirred in me settled. A restlessness I didn’t even recognize I had.
"Lean forward for me." He asked softly. So, I did without resistance.
He touched my back gently, "Wow, you’re almost completely healed. How do you feel?"
How do I feel?
With him that close? Dizzy? Anxious? Like my heart would rip out of my chest.
But outside of that, "Achy, I just feel achy, no real pain though."
"That’s good." He said.
We sat in quiet for a few moments, his hand still resting on my shoulder.
I felt him freeze, and the air in the room shifted. I look over my shoulder, and his face darkened.
"I have to go, I’ll be back. The healer will come take a look at you, I’m sure your maid will want to check on you." He said to me rising from the bed.
His absence left a chill in the space his body heat once occupied.
The farther he got, the more my heart lurched forward, urging me to follow him. Like being separated would kill me.
I didn’t say anything though, I just watched as he left the room.
Leaving me alone. With no nothing but an empty tummy and dizzy feelings and confused thoughts.
I shifted in the bed, wincing from the sore tenderness between my legs. Why does my vagina hurt more than my back after being shot with 4 arrows? Did it heal everything but my lady bits?
I laid back, and snuggling under the covers, inhaling the remaining scent he left behind. Letting the smell of pine engulf me, centering me.
"What are you doing Odette?"
"This man kidnapped you and here you are huffing his smell like it’s a freshly baked pie."
"Ugh"
I let out a scream and then stuff the pillow over my face and scream again.
He left only moments ago and I literally feel like it’s been ages since he was here last. My skin was begging for his touch; my senses pleaded for his aura. He was consuming my thoughts.
I’s never been like this with anyone.
Ever.
And that’s when it hit me.
Did I ever love Kalvin? Like truly? Because Kalvin has never made my heart race like this. Or my body crave him the way it does Ambrose.
Did Kalvin ever really love me?
I never did forget what I saw with him on my 16th birthday.
Could you do that to someone you claimed to have always loved?
Is control love?
Kalvin never let me eat or drink anything I want. He never let me just stay in and be lazy. He never really stood up for me either.
But Ambrose encourages me to eat and drink whatever I want. He encourages me to be laid back and relaxed. And Ambrose, he’s defended me.
He also tried to kill me... Actually, he succeeded.
But he brought me back. He’s been different ever since.
Maybe he regretted it.
Even still... After reflecting I realized as Ambrose’s prisoner, I’ve had more freedom in these last few weeks than I have since I was a child.
Endless training sessions and schooling. From dawn to dusk some days. Sparring and being forced to always hold back but being told I can do better. I was never allowed to be as strong as I am. The darkness in me, the part they all wanted me to hide. The diet and activity restrictions. Everyone always decided what my options would be for me. I have probably ordered my own meals a handful of times. My entire life has been monitored and dictated over for so long, I forgot what freedom looked like. When control becomes the only thing you know, freedom becomes a thing of the past.
But now it looked different.
It looked like me laying in bed gushing over a guy. It looked like me getting drunk on an airplane. It looked like me using me making my own choices.
Ambrose took me against my will but has someone how given me more than anyone ever has in my life. I can’t believe this is what I’ve been missing this whole time.
I know my mom and dad love me, but I never realized how little free time I was allowed. I’ve had the time to actually do laundry, because I choose too. I can eat whatever I want.
And Ambrose, he was at the center of all of this now. He ripped me from my life. He changed everything.
Even if my parent’s rescue me. What would I go back too? A fascist dictatorship?
Okay... maybe that’s a little harsh. But come on, I spent more time in a training environment than I did inside my own home. That’s not what a normal family does with their daughter.
Did I want them to stop looking for me?
Maybe I should just escape. And not go home, just disappear for a little, go and live life some.
But then pain slammed into my chest. It made me yelp from the surprise.
Thinking about leaving... leaving him... it hurt like hell.
That’s when I realized something even bigger. Something that proved I was the dumbest girl alive.
I think I’m falling in love with my captor.