What did they mean? I knew who I was, didn't I? I was Rosalia Mallory, a girl left on the doorstep of our town's foster agency to find a new home. From there I went through three homes before at the age of 16 instead of having to live in the group h...
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Rosalia's POV:
The next morning dawns and with it, I almost forget what happened yesterday. I forget the pain of learning that one of my two best friends was Turned into a vampire - most likely by one of the royals - and that she came to me for help and I didn't - couldn't - but then the pain from the previous day intrudes on my happiness and I sigh, opening my eyes and looking over at the wall. Trying to bury my pain only to have the knowledge of my letter from Laurel spring to mind and I have to fight to push that down. Pain. Just a never-ending cycle of it.
"Rosa?" Hunter's voice pulls me out of my sleepy haze of misery and I relax, leaning into him where his arms are still around me. Anchoring me to reality. "Rosa, what's wrong? What happened?" I somehow manage to summon up a weak smile and sigh, showing I didn't want to talk about it. "Rosa," now there was a commanding edge to Hunter's tone that I haven't heard much before but it makes me want to tell him everything. Only that's not an option - if Laurel's letter is to be believed - so I resolve to remain silent.
"Nothing," I reply, keeping my eyes fixed on the wall. And for all intents and purposes, that's the truth. Nothing is wrong per se - I just have to figure out what I'm to do about Laurel's letter. "Nothing just...just worried about Chal," I eventually admit when I see he's not taking no for an answer. "How...how did you know?" I ask quietly, not wanting to speak any louder in the hopes that it'll help me keep the pain buried inside.
Hunter sighs and pulls me closer. I shift around so we end up facing each other and rest my head on his shoulder, drawing warmth from our closeness. "I just recognised the signs." He replies after a few seconds and I give him a puzzled look. What signs? "Her hair looked shinier and her skin seemed to glow from the inside like a light had been switched on. But it was mostly the blood." I frown again and he sighs, pulling me closer. "She had dried blood crusted under her fingernails that looked fresher than what was left on her neck."
"Is - is she ok though?" My compassion had always been my achilles heel growing up and now I'd turned into whatever I was now it was only greater. A more pronounced part of my personality. "Did she seem ok to you when you saw her?" He remains silent and I brace myself for the worst.
But it doesn't come. "I honestly don't know Rosa. She was asleep when I saw her so I'd hope she's ok but without waking her up to check I don't know." I sigh again, wanting a distraction from the conversation's current pathway. And when he starts playing with my hair the exact distraction I need so desperately comes. Everywhere his hands touch makes electricity shoot through my body with a force that makes me feel like I'll explode if he keeps doing it.
Next his hands move down my arms, the electric tingles intensifying until I feel like I'm disappearing under the pleasure of that simple movement. By now rationality and worry is a faint flicker at the back of my mind since I can't focus. I can't focus on anything except Hunter and the way he makes me feel. Breathless and dizzy with pleasure he leans down to kiss me and I reach up like a sunflower towards sunlight, straining for the contact that will successfully feel better. Successfully make me feel whole. What starts as a warm, slow kiss filled with love and adoration quickly spirals upwards as the need increases between us until we're holding onto each other, the wild, hungry kisses the only thing keeping us connected.
