Bound (The Grandor Descendant Series Book 3) (23 page)

Clyde looked confused. His eyes tore from Ari’s and back down to Ragon and the girl. Ari forced herself to sit up; she had to know that Ragon would be ok. With a pang of relief, Ari watched as Ragon’s pale hands reached out to the girl and pulled her closer. No longer content with her wrists, he lashed at her throat, tearing the skin away and drinking heavily, the blood overflowing from his mouth and joining the red stains on the carpet.

After a while Ragon’s eyes seemed to glaze over, his expression less feverish, and he pulled himself away from the source. He looked down at the girl; she had fallen to the floor, her dark hair pilling over her face, masking her identity. In one fast motion, Ragon’s eyes widened and his face dropped.

“Ari, Ari?” he said, moving to the girl and cradling her in his lap. “Oh God. No. No. No.”

Before Ragon could wipe the bloody hair from the girl’s face, Clyde said, “Ragon. That isn’t Ari.”

Ragon’s eyes shot up, first finding Clyde, and then he looked past him, and saw Ari. She smiled weakly at him, not knowing what else to do.

“Are you ok?” asked Clyde, moving from the bed so as to help Ragon to his feet.

“What happened?” he asked, still slightly dazed.

Both Ragon and Clyde turned to face Ari, expectantly.

“I don’t know,” she said, “I think it was Chris.”

“But how…” Clyde started to say, until a soft whimper from the floor reminded everyone of the girl’s presence. “I had better take her to the Pasteur Hospital. Will you be ok by yourself? Do you need more blood?”

As Clyde spoke he glanced at Ari. Slowly Ragon shook his head, and Ari watched as Clyde moved to the girl on the floor, lifting her up into his hands as he carried her towards the door and out of the room.

“I’m, I, I don’t know what to say,” Ari muttered, the moment she was alone with Ragon.  

Ragon too seemed speechless. He was watching Ari, his eyes fixed on her head, where she was certain a large bruise must already be forming. In an instant he moved to her, so fast that she felt her hair flick out to the side then fall flat as he reached her.

“Ari,” Ragon whispered.

Ari felt her eyes grow heavy; she was tired and sore, and all she wanted to do was to lie down against the soft pillows and fall asleep.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and as she spoke she swayed, feeling gravity work against her. “I’m so sorry.”

Ragon’s eyes searched her body, his gaze finally resting on her punctured wrists. In one quick motion he was beside her, tearing the sheets of her bed and wrapping them furiously around her bleeding hand. She tried to push him away. Her wrist, her life, none of it mattered right now. She didn’t care that her head felt too sizes too big; she didn’t care that her wrist fell cold and tingly; all that mattered was Ragon.

“Please,” she stammered, “please tell me that you love me. Please tell me that we are going to be ok!”

Ari had never felt so utterly helpless in her life. Ragon looked down at her, his face grave.

“Love you?” he asked, looking at her in confusion.

For one terrible moment, Ari feared the worst. She felt sick, felt the bile rise in her throat, and then Ragon spoke again, and everything, all the guilt and the sadness, was gone.

“Of course I love you. I have always loved you. From the first moment I saw you, even as an infant, I have loved you. You can’t know what that meant to me. Just to be able to feel… love. It doesn’t matter to me if you don’t return it. You need to always know that I will love you. I would have been happy, just knowing that you were alive, that you had a chance at a happiness I couldn’t.”

“But,” said Ari.

“Do you seriously think I cared about some stupid kiss?”

“But,” she said again, not believing what he was telling her.

“Did you mean what you said? When you told Chris that you should be with someone normal... is that what you want? Because I can handle you making a mistake; I’m old enough not to be petty about a kiss, but if you had feelings for the wraith… if you want to be with someone normal. I’m not normal Ari, I never will be. And I can’t blame you for wanting to be with someone who won’t accidently hurt you. But I can’t change who I am.”

Ari shook her head so fast that she felt the room slip out of focus. Quickly she stopped herself, trying hard to inch closer to Ragon, desperate for him to hold her.

“No. I don’t want to be with someone normal. I don’t know why I did that. I love you. I want to be with you,” she whispered.

Ragon looked at her apprehensively, apparently unsure if he should believe her.

“Nothing happened between me and Bridget,” he said finally, “nothing’s happened between us for over a century.”

“I’m sorry. I was being stupid… stupid and jealous. I got it in my head that you two, that maybe you were still together and-”

“-before I met you, before I saved you as a baby, I was different. I was cruel, just like Kiara. It was easy for me to seek momentary lust; it didn’t mean anything, not then and not now. What I have with you, it’s different. But, but that doesn’t mean that you have to feel the same way.”

“But I do,” Ari said, “I do feel the same way. I love you, so much.”

“So, so you don’t have feelings for Chris?”

“No. I was drunk, I was being stupid… I was-”

“-being human,” Ragon finished for her, a knowing smile spreading across his face.

“I can’t reverse time, only stop it, but if I could, if I had that power, I would go back and change what happened the other night. That was the biggest mistake of my life, and… and I am scared that it has cost me the only thing I have in this world that I can’t live without.”

A shadow of a smile traced Ragon’s lips. He looked down and took hold of Ari’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Good,” he said, and Ari was pleased to hear that his tone had lightened, “because you are stuck with me.”

Ragon’s hands reached for her but then his eyes hardened.

“God,” he said, suddenly throwing his hands off hers. “The wraith said you were freezing and here I am, an ice cube trying to hug you!”

“I’m not that cold.”

“I can’t even tell,” he growled.

“You know, I am sure that we can think of a way you could warm me up.”

Before Ragon could stop himself, he let a small smile creep across his face. It was this image that Ari held onto, even when she had to fight with him to join her in bed. When finally he was under the covers, Ari reached for his shirt and began trying to pull it up over his head; quickly Ragon stopped her. 

“I think it best that we keep as much material between us; I don’t want you to get a chill,” he said flatly.

Ari ignored him, trying once again to remove his shirt.

“Please Ari,” he said, “do you have any idea how hard you’re making this for me?”

“The way I see it, you have two choices,” she said. “You can either allow me to remove your clothes, or I can freeze you and remove them for you. Personally I would prefer the first option, but I am not opposed to using my powers against you. I am the Grandor descendant after all. I’m supposed to use my powers against vampires.”

Ragon laughed and reluctantly helped her to remove his shirt as he said, “Somehow, I don’t think that your ancestors had this in mind.”

Ari smiled seductively up at him, her fingers tracing down to his pants.

“Ari,” Ragon warned, but Ari held her hands up, as if pretending that she would freeze him and he conceited defeat; sighing loudly, he reached over and dragged her towards him so as to kiss her slowly on the lips.

Pressing her advantage, Ari reached down again to Ragon’s pants, pulling the zipper down slowly. She was halfway to kissing down his stomach when a sudden roar in the sky unsettled her. Looking up in surprise, Ari gasped when a loud cackle of thunder, followed by a bright flash of lightening, lit up the sky. There was a small popping noise and then the power in her room failed, throwing the pair into darkness. Ari knew it was a blackout the moment she craned her neck to look out of the window. The entire campus, normally lit by many bright windows, was suddenly pitched black.

From the darkness she felt Ragon reach across and pull her up to him, leaning in closer and sucking on her ear lobe before tracing his lips gently down her neck.

“Do you have any idea what I would do if anything ever happened to you?” he whispered. “You have no idea how much I wish… how much I regret that Bridget and I ever…”

But Ari held her finger against his lips, silencing Ragon’s words. She didn’t want to hear about Bridget, not ever again.

Ragon’s mouth hovered around the nape of her neck, his eyes raking her jugular vein as he playfully bit at her skin, careful not to break the surface. Ari’s heart screamed in her chest, and she was once again reminded of just how much she had fallen in love with the vampire lying next to her.

“Not a good idea to get so excited around a vampire,” Ragon whispered. “I can hear your heart racing.”

“I thought the idea was to get my blood pumping. You know, so I warm up.”

Instantly Ragon reached for her, and Ari knew from the force of his embrace that he needed her, almost as much as she needed him. Even just four days of their being apart was too much for either one to handle. In a second he had unbuttoned her overalls, pulling them free from her body. Gently unclasping her bra, he threw it across the room, so that Ari was almost naked besides him. Ari was already dragging her underwear off before she felt Ragon’s icy hands in between her legs and she let out a soft moan, falling back against the sheets as wave after wave of pleasure assaulted her senses.

Without really thinking or giving herself a chance to feel embarrassed, Ari jumped on top of Ragon, swinging her legs over his hips so that she straddled him. Instantly Ragon’s icy hands were on her thighs, gently guiding her on top of him. She let out a small gasp when she felt Ragon enter her, breathing heavily as she matched the rocking motion he was making. Suddenly his hands left her hips and he sat up, his stomach muscles hardening as his skin made contact with hers. She smiled when he clasped her hair, pulling her closer as he kissed her hard, biting at her lower lip.

A coppery taste assaulted her senses and she realised that Ragon had bitten her lip. She looked down at him, concerned that he might throw her off, but noticed that his eyes were closed and he was sucking on her lower lip. Ari let a small smile spread across her face; she relished the feeling of giving up her blood for him, even if it was only a few drops.

“I love you,” she whispered as she kissed him.

Ragon nodded greedily, pulling her even closer as his hands moved again to her hips, forcing her to rock faster and faster. When Ragon finally ended the kiss, Ari watched as he licked his lips and then kissed her breasts, slowly pulling her left nipple into his mouth, before refocusing his efforts on the right. She let a loud moan escape her lips and immediately Ragon kissed her again, silencing her.