Black Moon

Chapter 23: Blood at Midnight

I was too warm.

My eyes cracked open as the feeling of being uncomfortably heated intensified. My brain, fuzzy at first, cleared slowly as I saw where I was and felt who I was with. Jagger was wrapped around me like a vine, and he was breathing hotly on my neck, hence the reason why I woke up.

I suddenly remembered why I was entangled in my mate and a blast of sadness hit me, followed by a sensation of confusion. My nose wrinkled- why would I feel confused about my sadness? I knew exactly what was happening...

"Caloua, why are you sad?" rumbled the voice of my beloved in my ear. Furrowing my brow further, I turned in his grasp to face him.

"How do you know I'm sad?"

Jagger rolled his eyes. "Well, for one, I know you. Two, the mate bond allows me to feel what you feel, and we can communicate mentally when we're in close proximity."

I tried to hide my fear. What the hell was I thinking, linking my emotions to his? Now Jagger would feel every bit of pain I would feel, and there would certainly be plenty of it very soon. I never wanted that for him. I was dying to spare him pain, not to cause it.

"Oh," was all I could squeak.

"Yes, oh," rolled a sensual growl through my head.

Through my head...

I decided to test our new mind link. "Can you hear me?!" I mentally yelled it for good measure.

Jagger winced before laughing and responding verbally. "Yes, dear, I can hear you, loud and clear."

I giggled. And despite the stupid high pitched laugh, I couldn't have felt happier. Well, yes I could have, if I wasn't about to die.

That thought spurred me to action, and I checked the time, wanting to know how much longer I had with my mate.

The clock read 12:01 PM. On Saturday.

I did not intend leaving this house and my mate until the last possible second, so instead of dwelling on my doomed future, I stared into the lightning storm eyes of my mate, my lover, and my King. Ignoring the feelings of confusion coming from him, I smiled, albeit with a touch of sadness. "Jagger?" I questioned through the mental link that so quickly had become familiar.

"Yes?"

"I don't want to leave this bed until I have to go home to my girls, so please, by all means," I gave him the most seductive look I could muster, "please keep me occupied." Smiling at him, I traced my fingers down his unbelievably sculpted chest in a blatant attempt to seduce him.

I damn near burst out laughing at the thought of myself as a seductress.

Jagger did not nearly laugh at me. Oh no, he was far from laughter. He was straight into guffawing and snorting.

Rolling my eyes, I slapped his unnaturally beautiful torso. "Are my seduction techniques really that horrendous?" I asked him mentally, because I could and the fiend deserved it. It was a rhetorical question anyways, and any other intelligent being would have seen it as such, but not my Jagger.

Still laughing too hard for his own good, he replied, "Yes, actually. Your seductive face looked like you were holding in a shit for too long and it started to get painful."

I gave him The Look, and shut him up with my mouth, fully intending to get the most out of my last few hours with the man that I was prepared to die for.

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When I awoke next, the clock read 11:45 PM. I gulped. Despite knowing why I was doing this and even being okay with it, if I could remove the horror that is the White Blood Trio from the world, it didn't mean I wanted to die. The sense of peace I had the day before was gone. There was another presence in my mind now and it was the best feeling I'd ever had, and I was willingly giving it and Jagger up. All I wanted was five more minutes that I did not have.