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I waited for something else, for a half-joke or a sassy comment, but none came.
“Do you know who will bite you?” I asked. “This will be smaller than the annual blood bonding. The last one was only a couple of months ago.”
Natalie shrugged. “I think there will be more than one capable biter.”
“I hope you’re not talking about Zac,” I added. “Because you’ve tortured that man enough.”
“Oh, please.” Natalie tossed her curls over her shoulder. “Do you think so little of me, Ly?” She blinked, giving me her best I’m innocent smile she could muster.
I eventually gave in, giving up on the battle to speak any sort of sanity into Natalie. She had always been stubborn and strong-minded. Once she had made her decision, there was no changing it.
Even if it was about being bitten by a demon.
“Let’s go,” I said, standing from the bed and pulling her with me. “They’re probably waiting for us downstairs.”
Our black boots rapped against the perfectly cleaned white tile floors of the guest bedroom as we approached the massive stone door, one of many in the long hallway of guest-suites in the Black mansion. The shining tiles only continued as we walked through the hall, making our way to the front door where Alek and Wrath would be waiting.
Natalie didn’t talk, and neither did I. Even with Marcus gone, the silence of the house seemed to listen to all our secrets. I could feel it like a chill down my spine.
Still, as we walked down the grand, velvet staircase and descended to the front door, my nerves took over.
“Well, well, well,” Natalie finally announced as we made our way to the bottom. Wrath and Alek stood side by side, both of them looking up at us as if we were single-handedly the best things that had ever descended those stairs. “You boys clean up nice.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Alek wore his classic all-black outfit, with fitted black jeans and another leather jacket that seemed to hug his sculpted upper body in a way that should have been illegal.
His dark skin danced with tattoos climbing his neck, pulling my attention there and holding it. The smirk that lingered on his lips as his neon eyes scanned me from head to toe only proved that he knew it, too.
Wrath, while he looked so similar to Alek, could not have been more different. He wore more formal attire, with a button-down shirt and black slacks, his sleeves rolled up to reveal a gold watch hanging on his wrist.
Still, he stared at us with those same neon eyes. Only his gaze seemed to linger on Natalie instead of me.
Figures.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked Alek as he reached a hand out for me. “I mean, are you sure it’s safe? We can always wait until the annual bonding; we don’t have to do this today.”
“Of course,” Alek whispered. “The annual blood bonding just gives the demons an excuse to party. Anyone can be bonded any time of the year. As long as they’re willing to prove their loyalty, we’re more than willing to accept.”
“Oh, really?” I teased. “So, you’ll let just anyone become a Night Raven as long as they’re willing to be bitten?”
Natalie and Wrath got moving, walking through the massive front doors and leaving Alek and I a few paces behind.
Alek caught me around the waist before I could step away. He pulled my body backward against him, leaning forward and breathing onto my neck. “Don’t tempt me,” he whispered. “Your last bonding was merely a show. Perhaps you should be initiated again for good measure.”
I leaned against him, grinding my hips into his and loving every inch of our bodies that touched. “You had your chance,” I replied, knowing that my body was giving him a very different message. “Perhaps you should have enjoyed initiating me into the Night Ravens when you had your opportunity.”
With a growl, Alek spun me around. I squealed in surprise as he stopped me with his hands on my hips. He leaned down until his face was hovering over mine, until a mere breath separated me from him.
“Enjoy?” he repeated. “I think about that night in the Night Raven basement every single day, Lyra. The way you trusted me. The way you gave yourself to me, only to me.”
I recalled the events of that night, the look of pure terror on Alek’s face when he discovered he had to bite me.
That was one of the first times I knew I could trust him. Really trust him. Alek never wanted to hurt me, even if meant doing so to protect me from the other demons.
“Better you than Blade or Kyler,” I reminded him.
Alek’s hands on my body were making me forget about Natalie and Wrath waiting in the car outside, were making me lose sense of time entirely, as his fingers slid under the hem of my shirt, just barely.
