You Intoxicate Me {A Vampire Romance}

You Intoxicate Me {A Vampire Romance} [#4]

My heart must have been pounding a thousand beats per minute, and I felt so light headed I thought I would drop to the floor any second. My eyes flicked up to catch Raif turn and start to walk towards the stairs and I couldn't help my desperate reaction. "Wait!" I flung myself at the bars and called after him. "Raif!"

Not once did he hesitate, or even look back. I stepped away from the bars as he disappeared up the stairs and shut my eyes in an attempt to contain my frustration. What the hell was I going to do? Never had I thought, in my whole life, that I could ever be someone's mate. Ever. It was a concept beyond my imagination and I didn't even begin to know what to do with it. 

The weird thing though? I actually wanted it. 

I looked up, remembering that Noelle was still in the room, though she was being respectful and just silently waiting for me to process it all. My heart was pounding out of my chest as it so often seemed to do these days and I gripped the bars of my cell tightly because I could barely contain whatever this feeling was. I felt like I could run a fricken marathon.

"What do I do?" I asked, resisting the urge to jump up and down or jog in circles or do something crazy. My entire body was singing with energy and it felt like the further away Raif walked (even though I obviously couldn't see him anymore) the more antsy I became. I could literally feel his absence growing more and more. 

Noelle's face scrunched up in something of a cross between regret and confusion. "Well, there's not much you can do. I don't know if you remember, what with everything that just happened, but the prince is here and you're about to be condemned to death. I don't think this changes anything." She said grimly, and with each word my heart sunk lower.

"But I have a mate! How does that not change anything! If they kill me, he will die as well!" I said desperately. I still felt like running a marathon, but the purpose had taken a three-sixty turn to the other end of the spectrum. It wasn't just a matter of my life anymore, it was a matter of his.

"I don't know, we'll have to wait and see. You know I want you to live Shandris, and I'd do anything I could to help, but there is nothing anyone can do at this point." She shrugged and offered her wrist to me. "You need to feed. Trust me, no matter what happens you're going to need all the strength you can get." She reasoned and I took her wrist without thought. 

When I was done she wiped her hand across her dark jeans and rolled her sleeve back down, then said farewell and walked off. I was alone. That thought hadn't really meant much before I had a mate. A mate that didn't even want me. I slid to the floor in despair and ran my fingers through my wolf's fur. Maybe it was better this way, that I was going to die. Would it not be better to be dead than to live a life where everyone hated you, no one trusted you, and you were even outcast by the one person you bound to for eternity?

Torrent whimpered as he sensed my sadness through our bond and he licked my hand in an attempt to comfort me. He didn't know what was going to happen, and I found myself reluctant to even tell him. My only companion, and I was about to leave him utterly alone.

I closed my eyes and lay there, god knows how long but eventually I slipped into sleep with my hand still woven into my wolf's soft, dark fur and his intent amber eyes watching over me. 

"Shandris." I heard the farmiliar voice but I didn't want to get up. Even though my spot on the floor was increasingly uncomfortable and I could feel my neck was terribly sore from sleeping in a bad position, sleep was much more preferrable than getting up and doing... anything. 

"Ow" I said, and rubbed my leg after someone had, presumably, kicked it to get my attention.

"Well, get up then. The prince is ready to see you." Lucian said and stood his warrior stance outside my open cell door. I opened one eye first to look around, and then I opened the other one. As I stood up, my wolf did too, and he took to my side instantly. Lucian wasn't the only warrior there either; Geoffrey stood off to the side, and Hunter stood next to him. I had a full escort, awesome.