Chapter 236

Danielle, Paris, and Summer, who insisted on sitting in on my private lessons with Shade, nodded at his every word.

When I’d told them about Jared and me being fated mates and that he’d rejected me as a man but his wolf rebuffed BJ in favor of me, they’d been shocked but promised not to tell anyone. I was pretty sure Jared had done the same with his men as he wouldn’t want anyone to know about us either.

“So that was why King Grayson signed the release paper instead of executing you,” Danielle had pondered aloud. “The king must have known, and the royal family’s tight circle must all know about it by now. And with BJ seeing it firsthand during the ceremony, you’ve become her biggest threat. She won’t rest until you’re out of the picture for good.”

“Thanks for putting me in a better mood.” I’d shrugged and then offered to keep my distance from the girls to keep them safe, considering that I’d been marked for death. “I don’t mind sleeping in the bunkhouse with the

 

 rest of the students. I’m not above them or anyone. I just hope people in the bunkhouse shower. I have a sensitive nose these days.”

“Don’t insult us, Catnip,” Paris had said, using Shade’s term of endearment for me.

“You won’t be separated from us, ever,” Danielle had assured. “End of discussion.”

As soon as I shifted back into my human form, Shade mercilessly put me to work on my pushups. He also decided to include the girls in our lessons. While he enjoyed trading fists with Danielle, he made Paris and Summer cross wooden swords in the ring.

For some reason, he always gave me the most tedious tasks.

I did twenty pushups, bored to tears, so I started replaying last night’s erotic dream. It had felt so real that I wasn’t sure it was a vision or a lucid dream.

I was with the gorgeous vampire again. His face was something I’d never forget.

I could still feel the slight burn of that bite in the pulsing veins on my neck. The pleasure that had rippled through me after had felt damn good, I didn’t think such sensations were possible.

“You taste like darkness and sunlight at the same time,” he’d told me, his eyes mesmerizing, his voice velvet and sensual beyond this world. “I’ll never let you go. I’ll come for you, Bride.”

He’d thrust into me, his massive cock granite hard. It’d filled me and stretched me to the limit. I’d screamed, half in horror, half in pleasure, as if I was torn between Hell and Heaven.

And his cock—

“Why did you stop doing pushups, Pip?” Shade demanded, jerking me back to the present.

“Uh? I did? Why?” I asked and found myself prone on the mat, my core still throbbing with heat.

Shade sniffed, and his cornflower-blue eyes suddenly glowed with heat. The girls snapped their heads toward me.

Crap! Shifters could smell arousal. To a male shifter, I must smell like a bitch in heat right now.

My face burned hot, and I blamed the Vampire God for appearing in my vivid erotic dream. In the back of my mind, I kept believing that he’d come

 

 for me one day, as if my lost memory told me that we had unfinished business.

While a tinge of fear washed over me at his coming, the dark part of my soul longed to see him.

I was fated to be the mate of the Alpha Heir, but my fated mate had rejected me. Now I couldn’t stop thinking about another man, who not only craved my blood like nectar, but also my body.

Fate must have big plans to screw with me, over and over.

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