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“Welcome home, my queen,” were his last words before pulling away.
~6~
I should have known we were just getting started. After that first round, I had no idea how long Reyes stayed planted inside me. Long enough that moans turned into nothing but small whispers and soundless screams. I lost myself in the delirium.
When the effects of the drug didn’t wear off after two days, I was fully convinced it was in the water he forced me to drink, but I was in no state to protest.
I stayed in a state of mindless bliss for five days.
Five days of Reyes and I.
Five days in his bed.
We stopped for me to eat and him to do whatever the Purgatory King needed for the day, and then it started over again.
It didn’t matter that he was a stranger, a fucking monster. The only thing that mattered was that he spread my legs and fucked me until it felt as if my body would break apart.
When we showered together, he would wash me gently and then roughly take me in the corner. Sleep, sex, and food became my daily routine. His name became a chant, always spilling from my lips.
When I did sleep, he would pull my naked body close to his and force my head to his chest. The way he watched me when we were together was far too intimate a path for my mind to go down in the heat of our hungry, fucked up passion.
It wasn’t until the sixth day—after we’d showered and he laid my tired body in fresh sheets—that everything sunk in.
Emerging from the haze, the first thing I noticed was the swirling black mark that ran from just beneath my right breast down to my hip. It signaled to everyone that I had been fused, mated. The location couldn’t be chosen and truly didn’t matter when it could be sensed, even by demis like me. All would be able to tell that the man I was now bound to was powerful.
A bubble of utter despair and total self-loathing welled up inside my chest, threatening to overwhelm me. I shoved it down, refusing to fall apart. If I didn’t give myself time to grieve for my father and our kingdom, I sure as hell wasn’t shedding a tear more over this.
I rose from the bed I’d spent far too much time in and went into the bathroom. I flipped on the light, bare feet moving to the vanity that took up one whole wall.
Bright sage eyes watched me approach in a thick pane of glass.
I brought my fingertips to the mark, languidly tracing over it. If I were honest, it was quite pretty.
The meaning made it ugly.
It was like a collar, and Reyes firmly held the leash.
I continued to stare at my person, wondering what it was that he saw. He’d made sure to tell me in a million different variations I was beautiful, perfect. The months had not been kind to me. A body once nicely toned with an ass that jiggled was now disgustingly thin, hip bones poking out.
On the right side of my neck was evidence of his bite—multiple times in the same spot.
It was an ugly wound that was already scabbed, surely going to scar. A pairing could never be unpaired, but it could be strengthened. I could only assume that was his intention; it gave him more sway over me.
A tighter hold on that proverbial lead.
Done correctly, it could be a blessing. To fuse with someone strong, intelligent, and capable of protecting if need be were all positives when choosing a life partner.
Now, the selection process made much more sense. Depires were all of those things. It was only natural they’d want a partner somewhat on the same level.
It was still so risky, though. Some pairings could be hell and drive one to insanity. Abuse, cheating on the male’s end—who could still find pleasures elsewhere, unlike us—and generally hating who you were bound to as Reyes and I now were…forever.
Shaking my head, I grabbed one of the many camisoles he had brought in for me and slipped it over my head.
The bedroom door swung open just as I returned, and the same vampire I knew was responsible for delivering my meals stepped inside, carrying yet another food tray.
The dimpled smile was unexpected, and a drastic change from his previous disposition.
“He wanted to ensure you were fed,” he explained in an even friendlier tone.
“I’m not hungry,” I lied.
His smile never faltering, he placed the tray on the small round table on which I’d taken all my meals for the past few days and then left the room. The door was closed behind him, lock clicking into place from the other side.
My stomach chose that moment to release a low grumble.
I went to the table and eyed the tray’s contents. It was a simple meal of grilled chicken cut into thin strips, steamed vegetables, a soft roll, and bottled water. The silverware was low-grade plastic. I wasn’t sure why that mattered; it wasn’t if I could take Reyes down with a fork or butter knife.
