"Never assume… it makes an ass out of you and me," she said as she stiffly moved to the music.
"You're not going?" I asked, surprised. She was the Monarch of Europe. She would have to be there.
"No."
"Why?"
"I don't see how that's any of your business," she snapped and purposely stomped on my foot.
God, that was hot. "Everything you do is my business, Princess."
"Since when?" she demanded.
"Since I was balls deep inside you and you were screaming my name a couple of hours ago."
"Oh my God," she hissed. "Your ego knows no bounds. We've been having meaningless sex for hundreds of years. You have no rights to me. You should find yourself a nice uncomplicated Vampyre mate and… "
"Why haven't you mated?" I asked in a deadly quiet voice.
"Heathcliff, I'm not going there." She blushed and tried again to pull away. "The subject is not up for discussion."
"You brought it up, beautiful. Tell me why," I ground out.
"Because I…" she stammered.
Her avoidance of my question was a repeated thorn in my side—a thorn that had been imbedded and festering for centuries. My anger rose quickly and I wanted to hurt her.
"It can't be because you haven't been asked," I whispered as I reminded her of a moment we shared in time, two hundred years ago. I ground my erection into her as she gasped and went soft in my arms.
"Stop," she pleaded desperately. "We can never be."
"Because it’s more fun to lead me on, play with my pathetic emotions, and then rip out my heart?"
"Is that what you think?" she whispered.
"It's what I know, Red. I'm good enough to fuck but not to mate. You made that abundantly clear a very long time ago." I knew my eyes had gone green with fury and desire. My grip on her body tightened and my need to take her was almost debilitating. Glutton for punishment didn't even come close to describing the new low I'd hit, but she made me weak and I hated her for it.
"You know nothing of me," she hissed.
"I know every inch of your body," I shot back.
"That's just the shell. The part that matters will never be yours."
She ripped herself from my arms and glared at me with rage and a tinge of what appeared to be sorrow. Her body shook and her cheeks blazed with color. She was magnificent. Did she regret saying no to me all those years ago? I laughed at my wishful thinking. She felt nothing and the sooner I accepted it the better off I would be.
"My apologies," I said tonelessly as I gave her a formal bow and felt my chest clench in pain. "What we have had is now over. It should have been over a long time ago, but this lovely dance has truly ended it for me. I wish you the best with your life, Raquel."
"Heathcliff, I…" She trembled and wrung her hands. Her expression went from unsure to resigned.
I waited for more, but no more came. Time to cut my losses and maintain a semblance of pride.
As I turned to walk away, her goons immediately replaced me. She glanced at me, then up at the skylights and nodded quickly. The red headed one I wanted to kill held her sagging body up as the European group exited the ballroom. He looked at me strangely and shook his head in disgust. The need to tear him apart was overwhelming, but I refrained. Ethan would be furious if I killed a guest at the party and I needed to let go of anything that had to do with Raquel. Forever.
Not a problem. Not at all.
I made my way purposefully across the ballroom. The distraction I searched for stood in a group of Vamps gossiping about things I couldn’t give a shit about. But I wasn't looking for brains. I was looking to forget. She would do.
"Christina, are you ready to leave?" I asked, ignoring all the giggling and curtsying female Vampyres around her.
She glanced up in surprise and then slithered over seductively.
"I knew you'd come to your senses," she purred as she locked her arm through mine and winked at her friends.
If it were only that simple.
Chapter 4
"Well, this is disappointing," Christina said flatly as we both stared at my flaccid cock. "You're a Vampyre. You can direct the blood where you want it to go."
She was correct, but for the life of me, I couldn't direct it to my dick at the moment. She was beautiful, horny, and mine for the taking. It didn't matter that she couldn't carry on an intelligent conversation. Talking was quite unnecessary. I wanted to blame it on alcohol, but that would be ludicrous. I wasn't drunk, but it would have been a far better excuse than the truth.
"It's not you, it's me," I muttered as I grabbed my pants and pulled them on.
"Oh my God," she whined. "You are not getting out of here that easily. Let me suck on it."
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. If it wasn't so tragic I would have laughed. I had to get the Hell out of here. Now.
"Mate with me," she begged as she grabbed my arm and rubbed her naked body against mine. "It will be just fine if we're mated. And if you still can't do it, I won't tell anyone. I promise. I'll find a discreet lover and we can still be an important couple in society."
"As wonderful as that sounds, I'll have to pass," I quipped sarcastically. She was nuts. "You deserve a mate who’s besotted with you." I stepped into my shoes and put some distance between us.