• 𝓝𝓸𝓪𝓱 •

When Kite unceremoniously dropped Mae in the bathroom, telling her that she needed a shower, I had to hold myself back for the umpteenth time since we went out to get her. I respected Kite to an extent. I always had. Though I would ever tell Mae that. The idea that, even when we spent hours talking shit over the vampires, I still somewhat liked a few would probably piss her off.

But maybe not as pissed as she was with me, now that I was the thing she hated the most.

Kite locked Mae in the bathroom and turned to me and Luca, looking damn proud of himself. He hadn't lied when he said he would burn down the world for her, and when he saw my reaction to the sirens when she escaped, he knew I'd do pretty much the same.

Luca and I had taken turns watching her over the week she was outside of the city walls. She was none the wiser. Neither was the woman who continued dropping things off for her. One would think seven years out in the wilderness would have made her ears more sensitive to the noises around her.

Kite came over and clapped me on the shoulder. "Why the long face? Didn't you want her back?"

I did. Ever since he turned me into a vampire, I spent most of my days trying to figure out how I'd go about telling her. With her hating vampires as much as she did, I doubted she'd be too keen on keeping me around, even when I was let out of isolation.

This was not how I wanted her to find out.

I wanted to be able to sit down and have a conversation with her. To tell her that just because I changed, didn't mean my mentality did a one eighty. I was the same Noah that she knew before I was turned. She just needed to see that, and now that we practically dragged her back to the city, I doubt she'd want to have a conversation with me, let alone be in the same room as me.

I eyed the mahogany door, hearing the shower turn on from inside the room. That was the only thing she would be willing to do for Kite. One week out in the wilderness would probably make anyone want to shower.

"Yes," I said. "But you didn't have to throw her in there. She more than likely would have gone in there willingly."

I think sometimes Kite forgot that humans got hurt easier than vampires. He'd been a vampire for so long, he probably forgot what it was like.

I didn't want to get to that point.

He shrugged. "I have an image to uphold."

"If you ever want her to like you," I motioned towards the door with my head, "being an asshole isn't the way to go about it. No one else is here besides me and Luca."

As the master vampire's son, he did indeed have an image to uphold. His father wanted him to make the humans fear him, and he did quite well in that fact. Honestly, sometimes I wondered if the humans feared him more than they feared Titus.

Titus ruled the city with an iron fist. Every human had schedules to keep up with. All of them. And it wasn't that he particularly hated humans. He just wanted them to know their place - at least, that's what he said. After meeting the guy, I genuinely think all he saw was a walking buffet when he saw a human.

He shook his head. "I think you need to focus on getting her to stop hating you before you worry about how I feel regarding her image of me."

The reminder of Mae's hatred had the image of her in the forest flitting through my head. The moment she realized what Luca and I were doing there. I'd studied those eyes of hers for many years before I was changed. When they were more green, she was in a good mood. When they were more brown, she was in a bad mood. The moment she realized what I was, her eyes seemed to shift to the one color I wished I'd never be the reason for. Her beautiful hazel eyes showed nothing but betrayal.

I knew Mae would hate it. That's why I spent so much time trying to figure out how the hell to tell her. The way it happened was not the way I wanted it to go, especially now that she thought I basically turned her in.

Luca crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "Kite, if your plan is going to work, she has to know you."

"She knows enough." Kite shook his head. "My bites make her orgasm. What else could she want to know about me?"

An odd sort of heat curled in my stomach. For a moment, I thought it was jealousy, but I didn't feel any anger at the idea. I knew Kite favored Mae. I knew that for months before my change. For what reason, I wasn't sure. All blood tasted the same. Not that I had hers, but I doubted it would be any different.

Luca chuckled.

Any vampire had the ability to make a human orgasm by biting them. From what I experienced though, none of them allow it. Something about keeping the blood bags wanting more and all that shit. I feel like it should have bothered me knowing he let it get that far, but it bothered me more than she didn't feel like she could tell me.

"So." Kite eyed the door when the shower turned off. "I told her I'd make good on my promise. Are you two going to bite her, or am I?"

I didn't think she'd be too interested in any of us biting her, to be quite frank. And unlike Kite, I wasn't into drinking from the unwilling. Also, I didn't want her hating me more than she already did.

Luca shrugged. "Why don't you give her a choice? I know you have whatever reputation to uphold, but at least giving her that choice will let her see you're not as much of an asshole as you let on."

Kite snorted. "But I am that much of an asshole."

No, he wasn't. He needed to let his guard down eventually. And while he didn't let me in on why he was the way that he was, I knew it had to run deeper than just trying to please his father. If that were the case, he wouldn't have shown me compassion all those months ago.

Kite unlocked the door and took a step back, right as Mae threw open the door with a look of righteous anger on her face.