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Agatha hesitated, but the twittering crowd stoked her pride and she lifted her chin. “I command nothing of you, my lady. I am merely reminding you of the rules that you, yourself, have worked hard to enforce.”
Her cocky attitude irked me, but I didn’t let it show. I had been ready for this too. “The mating bond will be secured. But only when my partner is prepared to accept it. Until then, she remains my consort. Surely you would not have us consummate the bond right here on the floor of the grand hall?”
Agatha had no quick comeback for that comment and I used her hesitation to swiftly bring the meeting to a close. “I would like to thank all of you for coming tonight. I will see you again on the night of the Black Moon ceremony, with my mate at my side.”
Taking Sky’s hand in mine, I strode passed the bowing crowds, holding my head high until we were out the doors and away from prying eyes.
We had survived the gathering, more or less. But that was only the beginning of the problems to come. I feared my cousin’s influence had spread further than I could have anticipated, stirring our coven members to question my rule.
My hold on the throne was slipping, and I was running out of time.
Chapter 6
SKY
Thesunhadlongsince set by the time I awoke from what was supposed to have been a brief nap. Living with Jordan came with its perks. At twenty-nine years old, I couldn’t recall the last time I had a moment to simply relax, and my body seemed determined to catch up on years’ worth of lost sleep.
How I had learned to relax in the presence of a vampire was beyond me. I was still partially convinced Jordan had some kind of control over my mind. How else would one explain the quickening of my pulse whenever she was around? What was that invisible thread that bound us together?
I sat upright on the sofa, noting the blanket that hadn’t been there when I lay down to rest. The apartment was silent save for the hum of Manhattan nightlife far below me. The floor was icy against my bare feet as I tiptoed around the space, looking for any sign of my vampire roommate.
Jordan’s bed was empty, the pristine black sheets untouched. She hadn’t been sleeping much these days.
Vampires, I came to learn, were very good at holding grudges. Jordan had been in a foul mood for days after the incident at the gathering. While she didn’t expel her emotions outward, her temper simmered in a constant state of disgruntled anger, always on the brink of boiling over but never quite reaching that point.
I suspected she was holding it in for my sake. While I didn’t understand half of what had happened at the vampire gathering, I could piece together enough to grasp the full picture.
Jordan seemed to be standing on a precipice, her worries about her cousin, members questioning her rule, running her business, and probably a plethora of other concerns all threatening to topple her over the edge.
I felt a pang of guilt thinking back to that night when the three vampires had cornered me. Dylan had been watching me like a hawk. I could just make out her figure in the shadows, tracing her shape in the dark as Jordan had taught me to do.
But I had slipped away from her watchful eyes on purpose, wanting to learn more about the vampiric creatures I mingled with. That led me to trouble, and Jordan had to swoop in and rescue me again. I despised feeling useless, but what could I do? I was an average human, caught up in a world about which I had no real understanding.
I padded around the swanky apartment, following the sound of running water to the bathroom, where a sliver of light sliced the hallway in two. Pushing the door open an inch further, I peeked inside, holding my breath.
“It’s rude to spy.”
Jordan’s words made me jump and I sheepishly swung the door open, staring at the floor. “I wasn’t spying. I was just… worried about you.”
I heard the swish of water from inside and Jordan’s lilting voice reached me over billows of steam. “You were worried about me?”
“I-” I risked a glance upward and immediately tore my gaze away again. Jordan floated in the impossibly large bathtub that sat in the corner of the room. From my brief glimpse, I had seen bare legs poking out of the water, damp tendrils of flaming hair draped over the sides of the tub. “Well yes, since the incident the other night you’ve been… tense.”
I cursed my burning cheeks and fought to clear my head. I’d had brief entanglements with women before now, but never had I been quite so aroused at the smallest glimpse of glistening bare thigh. Stamping out my excitement, I met the vampire woman’s eyes.
Jordan held my gaze for a moment before dipping her head back and wetting her hair. “You can enter if you want to, you’re letting in the cold air dawdling in the doorway like that.”
I watched her comb her fingers through her hair, water swirling around her as she sank deeper into the bath. I willed my legs to move, inching my way into the steaming room and closing the door quietly behind me.
My gaze snagged on her collarbone, lowering to the glistening skin of her breasts. Her milk white skin had taken on a rosy tint, whether from the hot water or my intrusion I wasn’t sure.
“Let me help you.” I spoke before I could think better of it and settled on the edge of the tub at her back. “I’ve never seen so much hair in my life.”
Jordan stiffened when I scooped up her hair in one hand, fingers brushing her bare shoulders as I began to massage a dollop of some fancy-looking shampoo into the strands.
“I sincerely hope you are referring to the hair on my head.”
I resisted the urge to look down at the tender crease between her legs, clothed in colors as red as the hair in my hands.
