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She starts to walk, but I grab her by the elbow and pull her back. She almost stumbles and falls but manages to regain her balance by pressing her hands to my chest. Unconsciously, my hands fly around her waist.
“I promised to keep you safe,” I remind her. “And now instead of staying by my side where I can actually keep my promise, you’re suggesting going back to the hornet’s nest and putting yourself in danger. Seriously?”
“I’ll be careful,” she tells me, her voice quivering.
Why does she have to be so fucking irresistible? Why does her hair have to the brightest shade of a sun’s ray? Why do her lips have to be so kissable? Why is everything about this so fucking difficult?
“No,” I snap. “Why do you have to be so stubborn?”
I feel like grabbing her by the shoulders instead and shaking some sense into her. Maybe kissing some sense into her, as well. But this is neither the time nor the place.
“It is you who is the stubborn one,” she refutes even more stubbornly.
Her lips remain parted, so close to mine. I could just lean in a bit closer and–
“You expect to find the well, but how do you plan on going about it?” she interrupts my thinking again. “Just roaming the woods until you get a stroke of luck and stumble onto it by accident. Is that your plan?”
Her words cut me off instantly. The truth is that this was my plan. But I would rather die than admit it aloud and show her that she’s right. I thought we would’ve found it by now, although if I think about it properly, I can see how wrong that way of thinking should have been.
Suddenly, I let go of her. Being so close to her is bad for my thinking. My head is filled with images of her naked and moaning my name, instead of focusing on the matter at hand, which is somehow sneaking into the shifter Elder’s home and seeing if there is a map at all.
“I don’t know what my plan is, OK?” I burst, turning away from her, and burying my face into my hands.
A moment later, I feel her hand on my shoulder. Gentle, soft, reassuring.
She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t need to. With that one touch, she managed to soothe me, to make my heart beat a little faster, and my mind slowly come down from the tumultuous cloud it’s been riding on for the past couple of days.
I turn around to face her once again. I expect her to give me the usual it’s-going-to-be-fine speech, but she doesn’t.
Instead, she takes a step closer to me and silently, wraps her arms around my waist. She rests her cheek on my chest and squeezes me tightly.
Without even thinking, I reciprocate the hug. I lower my head to hers, closing my eyes. I never thought a simple hug had such power to pacify such emotional storms. Seconds pass by, and I expect her to let go, but she doesn’t. She just keeps me in her embrace, breathing and existing in this place, forgetting about everything else that is happening outside the confines of these four walls.
When she finally does let go, I notice that she is smiling.
“You know this still doesn’t mean that I will let you go,” I tell her.
She bursts into a chuckle. A few loose strands of sunshine blonde hair fall over her eyes. I resist the temptation to push them behind her ears, to use that excuse to touch her again with the tips of my fingers.
“So, we’ll just roam the woods until we find what it is we are looking for?” she asks this in a way that makes me feel like she’s referring to something else other than the well.
“That depends on what it is you are looking for,” I can’t resist replying in the same way, suggesting that there is more to what I am saying.
She picks up on it immediately. Of course, she does. Not that I expected any less of her.
“I wish I knew that to be honest,” she admits, sounding a little melancholic and in need of reassurance. While I’m usually not the one to hand out reassurance, I can’t help but be whatever it is she needs me to be, at least while she is under my protection. I want her to feel not only safe and secure, but also… alright. For a lack of a better word.
“Don’t sweat it,” I tell her. “Usually, when you’re looking for something, it keeps hiding away from you. But when you turn your attention elsewhere, you will notice what’s been under your nose the whole time.”
“Do you really think so?” she asks, her voice sounds a little more optimistic and I have myself to thank for that.
I smile. “Yes, I’m positive.”
I immediately think of our separation. It’s inevitable. Whether or not we find the well, Bianca won’t stay here. Neither will we. And I doubt that we will go along the same path, unless…
I can’t think in that way. A human and a vampire king can’t mix. It’s unheard of. My clan will never accept her as one of their own. They are protecting her now only because I’ve ordered them to. And I can’t have my clan not feel any respect towards their queen.
I inhale deeply. “How about that exit then?”
