affectionate

7

LUCIUS

Logically, I knew it was a bad idea for me to be here. Here as in, Melrose. Where she undoubtedly was.

But the unyielding curiosity that ran rampant throughout my mind was hard to ignore. It was like an itch that I couldn't scratch no matter how hard I dragged my nails against my skin. After years of living in solitude and never seeking out companionship—which I was completely fine with, I thought it was rather ironic that my soulmate, was actually my bloodmate; bound to me and only me. Similar to soulmates, we were made for each other, but the need to be with her was way more intense. Bloodmates were also incredibly rare. Everyone in the supernatural world had a soulmate, that was just the way things worked around here and even though I was not a fan of intimate relationships I accepted the fact that I had someone out there for me a long time ago. But for us to be bloodmates? This was definitely some type of sick joke.

Upon my arrival to Melrose, I could feel her, quite literally. Anytime anyone touched her I could feel it, could also feel what kind of touch it was. I could vaguely make out her emotions in my mind's eye, whenever she felt sad my heart constricted ever so slightly and when she was mad my eyebrows furrowed and my fingers would twitch, the need to curl into themselves and form a fist was almost enough to actually make me do it. It somewhat bothered me that these were the only emotions I ever felt from her. But at the same time I had no intentions of ever meeting her or forming anything permanent with her. Just because we were bloodmates didn't mean we had to be together, I hadn't...
"marked" her yet so as of now, all there was between us was her emotions flashing in my mind at random times during the day. I enjoyed traveling the world alone and doing what I wanted, fucking who I wanted, drinking who I wanted. I completely despised the thought of being tied down to someone for as long as they lived.

Clearly I did not enjoy that life as much as I thought I did because currently I was stood outside of her place of employment. I blamed it on the nature of our nonexistent relationship, the tug I felt towards her and the irritating bout of curiosity I had for her brought me here. 

I could tell it was cold from the way she was wrapped in a huge puffer jacket and the way she hugged her arms closer to her while she leaned on the counter, desperately trying to preserve whatever heat her body was giving her. I looked down at my naked arms and realized that I probably should've worn a sweater to look a little less suspicious but I was already here and going back to my cottage in the woods seemed like a waste of time. It was late and there was a big chance that she wouldn't remember this encounter in the morning anyways.

I breathed in the air around me and immediately cursed myself for doing so. The scent of her blood was intoxicating and my mouth watered at the smell of it alone. I felt my fangs scrape against my bottom lip before I closed my eyes and willed them to shrink back up. I hurriedly closed the distance between me and the front door and walked inside. Heading towards the back, I could see her in the corner of my eye looking at me and an uncomfortable feeling spread across the left half of my body.

To make it seem like I was shopping around I grabbed a random drink before heading up to the register, the correct amount of change already in my hand because I didn't want to spend anymore unnecessary time here.

Approaching the counter, my heart started beating faster and my palms grew sweaty. Fucking sweaty. I hated it and I hated her for making feel like this, like some prepubescent kid who was holding hands with his crush for the first time. But as I set my drink on the counter and finally brought my eyes up to meet hers all of that melted away as soon as her eyes met mine.

She was infuriatingly gorgeous.

Her brown skin was smooth and glowy despite the less than optimal lighting in the store. It was blemish free and right then I realized that I would do anything to be able to undress her and mark her to my hearts content. Her eyes were incredibly captivating too, they were brown but such a sweet shade, like maple syrup and my stomach began to churn thinking about how easy it was to get lost in them. Her lips were pink and glossy and big and I had to stifle a groan because they didn't belong anywhere except against my own. Her black hair touched her shoulders and fell in curtain bangs around her face. When my eyes found her again I was amused to discover that she was checking me out as well, her eyes were fixed on my eyebrow piercing and I raised it in hopes of getting her attention. She sniffled and quickly looked down before ringing up my item.