Creature (CENTURIES series: Book #7)

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• Incredible cover made by vivvistory - thank you, darling! •

Everything stopped. My heart, my lungs, my body, the whole world seemed to stop as that word left his lips.

I love you.

Love.

My mouth fell open and I stared blankly at him, every fiber in my body in shock.

How did he... how could he possibly have known? I couldn't even comprehend it. If he had known all along... if he knew... "How did you..."

"I've always known about love," He said, reading my mind like the genius he was. He pecked my frozen lips softly and then brushed his thumb over them. "They taught us about all the chemical reactions the brain can make, but I never understood it before I met you. Just like I didn't understand so many other things before you came into my life. Carly," He made my watery eyes pin on him when he squared me with his purple orbs. "I know how life is created, I know everything about the universe from the age of dawn to this very second, but I knew nothing about the actual world before you taught me. Before you showed me." He moved me a little closer and brushed his hand through my hair. "I knew nothing before I knew you, and now I don't want to know anything but you. You are my world. Breathe, Carly."

I drew in a needed breath when I realized I hadn't sucked in oxygen in nearly a full minute, but Charlie's words... I couldn't take them in. My head was swimming, my eyes were crying, and my heart... my heart...

"Say something," He begged me, giving me a little clench.

I had no words. No... words.

I was supposed to teach him about love, but somehow, right now, he had taught me. I had forgotten how it worked, how it felt, until he showed up and became a part of my life. In his smile I saw true affection and in his touch I felt sincerity. When he held me in his arms and breathed out peacefully, I felt more than just passion and pleasure; I felt him.

I felt his love.

He didn't even know what it fully was yet, yet he possessed it and gave it to me with all of his being. When he kissed me, it wasn't because he just wanted it, it was because he knew I needed it. He didn't stop until he could tell I was satisfied. It was like he sustained himself on my happiness, yet harvested it and let it instigate his own.

When he first came here, he was imitating my every move, copying my actions, but not anymore. He wasn't a mirror when he loved. That was completely his own. I didn't teach him to kiss, didn't teach him to reach for my hand and hold it whenever he felt something was missing in his. I never told him that showering me with selfless pleasure and attention would win any girl's heart, and I certainly never told him that saying 'I love you' would have this effect on me.

He did all that on his own, and I had no idea how to cope. Even now as he only held my face in his hand and looked at me like I was his whole world, I was lost; No words, no air, no thoughts.

But right now, I needed none of the above. Just him.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my lips to his, feeling him ease under me and lean back as I fell into him. He pulled me on top of him and situated me on his lap where he grasped my hips like his life depended on it and kissed me like I was his air and groaned like he had never experienced true happiness and pleasure until this moment right here.