The Consort (MalexMale) 《COMPLETE》

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The door closes with a soft click. Bogdan's footsteps lightly trail across the wooden floorboards, a deceiving sound despite his massive strength. My ears ring as I listen to his every graceful movement with closed eyes. He has to know I'm not actually sleeping; my quickening pulse is making sure of that.

He paces back and forth, back and forth along the spacious stretch of floor. My mind wanders thinking about where he's been all day. Was he trying to find more vampires to kill? Did he return Axel's body to the Village?

I take a deep breath, and once again Bogdan's scent fills my nose. Vampires all have the same type of smell – a cool mint that's heady and laced with seduction. Yet there's something different with Bogdan's. Something more.

Maybe when a vampire changes, their pheromones from being mortal carry over, adding a hint of realness to them. Or perhaps his scent stands out to me simply because he has claimed my blood. I swallow hard, internally repeating the words a second time.

My blood is now his.

I am now his.

My stomach clenches with desire. I know I shouldn't want to be claimed by a vampire, to be considered an immortal possession. To any other immortal, I wouldn't stand for it. But with Bogdan...

A prickling heat of want dances through me. Even though our last kiss landed me into Axel's cruel arms, it was our most intimate moment yet. My lips ache for more. Even the pulse in my neck seems to be thrumming with anticipation, prepared for Bogdan to succumb to his hunger.

"What are you thinking, human?"

His voice produces a troupe of goosebumps to break out across my skin, slithering down the length of my arm with rehearsed precision. My eyes pop open. I keep my gaze focused on the ceiling, unsure of how my body will react when I see him.

"A lot of things," I whisper.

His footsteps come to an immediate halt. "What are they?"

He poses it as a question, but his voice is demanding. A heated blush rises to my cheeks. I'd sound pathetic if I actually confessed my thoughts of desire for him. Instead I route the conversation in a different direction.

"Kelly told me about Axel...and you, from the war," I mumble, hoping that'll get him talking.

Of course, it doesn't.

"It's not something I enjoy speaking about."

I hug the blanket around my shoulders. "Then why'd you tell Kelly?"

Bogdan grunts. "He wouldn't agree to my plan otherwise."

A small smile hovers at the edges of my lips imagining my best friend standing up to the likes of Bogdan. He may not remember me, but the goodness of his soul is still there. Kelly knew a plan like that would be dangerous, and he refused to execute it without a proper explanation as to why. Even as an immortal Kelly manages to protect me.

"You could have just told me about Axel, you know," I say after a stretch of silence.

There's a beat of silence and the pacing starts again. "If you had known the plan ahead of time, your emotions would have been different. You wouldn't have felt the same level of fear, of hope, or of pain. But you needed to feel all of them, human. Axel wouldn't have been fooled otherwise."

It makes sense. I hate that it does...but it does.

Bogdan had a chance to take down a highly dangerous and deathly destructive immortal. So he took it. If I was in his position, I'd probably do the same. The only difference is that I probably wouldn't have been successful.