Mine to Claim

Chapter 2

Sometime in 1993

Warm fingers, like fire, roam over my torso, leaving a trail of heat on my cold, dry skin. I look down at my newfound mate as her scent swirls around me, giving me a sense of peace; a gateway from the reality of my life.

Never in a thousand years had I imagined my mate to be a human. I had expected that my mate would be a vampire; maybe not a royal-like me but yes, a vampire. Yet here I am basking in the afterglow of our lovemaking, with my mate in my arms, slumbering peacefully and completely unaware of the chaos that's waiting to be unleashed inside my mind.

I was feeling caged, suffocated and on the brink of losing my mind when she walked into that alley. I remember that night clearly. It feels more like a couple of minutes ago instead of a couple of nights ago. The scent of her blood, the sweet, tantalizing, teasing aroma of her blood made my blood sing and flow more forcefully through my veins, awakening my sluggish heart to catch up the pace.

That's the first time my heart thudded and then kept on thudding inside my chest unable to go back to its dormant sluggishness. She had innocently walked up to me and wiped the blood off my lips as if I was the victim here and not the other way around.

Being the selfish man that I am, I let her believe the lie. I let her believe that I was a good man and that I saved her friend from a drunk rapist in a dark alley instead of luring her in so that I could feed from her vein. Little did I know that she would turn out to be the most important person in my life. The person with whom, I cannot afford to take chances. Yet I let her believe the lie and even went to immeasurable lengths to make her believe how good a human I am.

She's innocent. A woman who fiercely protected her friend. An innocent, untouched woman. A woman who unleashed all my protective instincts. So much so that I couldn't control myself and allowed my beast to claim her on our first date itself.

I close my eyes as the image of her shy face comes up in front of me. How shy and unsure she was when I asked her for a date. She had said no but that was expected from a young human woman. They aren't allowed to go out with men without their parents' permission.

So that's what I did. I went to her father, promised him about having the best intentions for his daughter. I promised him that I was courting her and not just using her. That much was at least true but then, I went and destroyed it. I lured her in my charisma. I lulled her into accepting my advances and then I took her innocence.

She was willing but she was under a haze the entire time; allowing me to lead her and following behind me blindly.

That's how we ended up here, in my bedroom inside my castle with her scent all over my bedsheets and her resting on my chest. I was so selfish in my bloodthirst that I almost drained her during my climax but at the last moment realized my error.

That's when my lust induced bloodthirst took a back seat and the sober side of my brain kicked in. Along with that, came regret. Heavy regret and guilt for deceiving my mate and luring her to have sex with me.

Oh, what a sinner I am.

A low groan of pain pulls me out of my thoughts, making me stiffen in dread. I push back the possessive urge to wrap her up in a false sense of safety. If I did that, I would never be able to forgive myself. I have already done enough damage. It was now time for damage control.

I wait patiently, fearfully, as she stirs from her sleep and then blinks open her eyes. Rubbing at her eyes adorably, I watch as she takes in her surroundings. I know the exact moment when she realizes that it was not a dream but a reality.

I know the exact moment when her eyes squint in fear, pushing away the post-coital bliss that they had a few seconds ago. I watch as she pouts her bee-stung lips and then looks around the room and then when she feels my arm acting as her pillow she stiffens in dread.