V · Present in the Right Moment

🎧 Guilty Conscience by Tate McRae

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When I turned around, I found a very, very jaw-dropping handsome being staring down at me, with pale skin, covered in black leather clothes, wavy hair so deeply red it felt like a beautiful blood bath falling over his forehead and the back of his neck, hunter hypnotizing shimmering golden eyes with a hint of silver in them, lashes long and dark, his straight brows in a shade darker than his dark red hair. His nose's thin and longer in a very attractive way, he has high cheekbones, full round lips, an intimidating chin and a jawline so damn sharp he could cut a person in half.

His collarbones also sharp, shoulders so wide it's hard to see any-thing behind him at all, and he's all sculpted muscles, even his legs. His big hands are covered in black leather gloves, but I can tell he has long slander fingers. Not to mention that he has earrings and a tattoo crawling up his neck. His ears are under his hair, but I can tell they are pointy and like mine and Landon's here, so he could be many things.

The only certainty I have is that he is dangerous, hot, and gloomy. I'm not going to mention his height because it's just humiliating me here, and I'm not that short myself, I'm 5'7, or I was back in the… human realm. I doubt I'm considered tall here like I was there.

"You are?" I asked after analyzing him with my eyes.

"Dorian Kairos," he offered me his gloved hand, eyes darkening.

I took it, "Hesperia Merikh."

As he seemed to get the meaning of my name, a grin curved the left corner of his lips, showing a deep dimple in his left cheek, what only made him prettier in my eyes, deadly so. "Evening star of death, uh?!"

"Is it common for y'all to know name meanings around here?" My question was genuine, no sarcasm for once.

"Never thought about it," he rolled his wide shoulders.

"What does your name means?" I'm not a name dictionary, I had Google and Pinterest to help me with that, but I don't think I have my phone with me right now, even less that they have internet in this dimension.

"A present in the right moment, not as cool as yours," he purred.

Tibitha butt in, "If ya take his offer, ya'll only pay 🎴80.00 for yer stay in here, Ria," she beamed.

Does she has no sense? "He is a stranger and a male."

"Yes, and?" She blinked, still happy for me paying less.

What the hell is wrong with them? These people are batshit. "He could be a murderer for all I know."

But she cackled as if I was the insane one here. "He is a researcher like ya, Ria, an authorized one. Ya guys are protected by the Nightcrawler Tower, and no one messes with Tower Dwellers of high rank like Dorian. He got a name preceeding him." Oh? "Best roommate ya could've gotten."

I stared at him, "You are an authorized researcher?" He asked.

"Yes," I nodded.

"Interesting," he purred. "So, will you take my offer or be outside?"

Why do I think this is a terrible idea?

"50/50?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

He grinned sensually, "50/50!"

Oh, this is a mistake.

"If you try anything, I'll kill you."

"I won't do anything you don't want, don't worry," what a jerk.

"Alright then," I shook his hand that was still holding mine.

He then took my backpack from my back swiftly with his left hand and turned to Dya, the receptionist, "I already paid for today, so she will start paying half of it tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded, "Aye, amazing for me. Welcome to the Inn, Ria."

"Thank you, Dya," I bowed softly and turned to Dorian, who was already leaving to the stairs. "Hey, I can carry that. No need to play the great gentleman on me," I scoffed.

"What is your field of research, Merikh?" He asked instead.

I followed him, "What is yours?"

"Interracial Murderous Triggers."

Ugh, he got one of the nasty ones, "Artifact Creation."

A husky laugh left him, "Most start there, but drop it. It's the hardest field to research on, the most dangerous given the entities hatred."

Entities hatred? What the hell? Why does this keep getting worse every time I hear more about it?

"I never give up on anything!"

"You should pray not to end like the Dark One then," he mocked. "If you can manage to withstand that field of research. His past haunts all the people from your field."

The what now? "Who's that?" I asked as we climbed to the third set.

He halted and I nearly bumped into him, his sandalwood and smoke scent taking over my nostrils, "You got into the Artifact field of research and you don't even know who the Dark One is?" And he was staring at me as if he really thought I was insane. "Do you even know what you're doing, Merikh? He's a Legend, one of the founders of the Tower, the one that gave meaning to the Nightcrawler title of the tower, that was once known as the Scholar Tower. The one that made people fear the tower's power."

I blinked, still confused, "Not a clue."

"Gods, you're screwed," he giggled, then took me by my hand and got back to going up the stairs, going to the last floor, then to the right end of the long corridor, stopping in front of room 509. He took a key off his pocket, opened the room, got us in, then locked it again. "Welcome."

Dorian set my backpack on the chair close to the door and let go of my hand. My eyes ran around the spacious room with a big nice window, a nice table, a wardrobe at the side, one big bed, and as the door of the bathroom was open, I could tell it was considerably big and with a bathtub. "Nice."

"Nice indeed," he whispered, and when I turned to him, his intense gaze was locked on me, pupils dilating. "Are you older than 16? Of age?"

Well, this has just gotten dangerous in the way I knew it would get, and I'm not about to resist this monument of a male. I practically signed up for him, conscious about what could happen. And here between us, hoping it would actually happen, because this... male is hot! "I'm 24 years old. You?"

"327," he grinned and it was no short of predatory.

Fucking hell, he looks 26 at maximum. This is insane. "Why?"

"Why I want to know your age?" I nodded, heart thundering in my chest. "I do not fuck minors," he purred and I felt my nipples going stone hard. "But I'm glad you're older, now I can fuck without a guilty conscience."

"Who said I'll be fucking you?" I huffed.

"I can smell arousal, deathling, and you reek of it deliciously."

He can smell it? That's nasty, "Doesn't mean I'll do anything."

"Don't worry, I'll only fuck you make a move on me, until then, I will remain desiring you as you are desiring me," he giggled. "I may not look like it, but I'm respectful." He then grabbed my backpack and set it on the bathroom. "Dinner time has ended, so you won't be able to get it, but the water is still nice, so you should bath and lay down, you reek of stress and tiredness, you probably need it."

I couldn't help smelling myself, "I… reek?"

"I'm partially a panther shifter, my nose is very sensitive. Feline."

Oh, that explains a lot, even if I have never seen one in my life. I mean, now I have, him. "So, you're a hybrid."

"Yes. Are you a fae? You feel like a fae."

"I get that a lot," I lied charmingly. "But I'm something else."

"Don't get me curious, deathling, I tend to obsess over it."

I couldn't help giggling at his flirt, "That's supposedly my line."

"Curious about me, are you?" He chanted.

"You and lots of things," I said nonchalantly. "I've always been the curious type, got it from my dad, I guess. Curiosity is my sin."

"Where is your dad now? Is he from the Kingdom?"

I wish I knew, "He is… dead," sigh. "He died some time ago, not that long, and I've been in this field ever since he died. I don't know much because he was the overprotective type, I only had him, and he raised me alone, just him and me."

After a minute he asked, "Your mom passed?"

"I think she abandoned me, but dad tried to put a band-aid on it."

"Band-aid?" He asked, confused.

"He tried to make it sound like that wasn't it, but I knew better. All that I needed was him, and he was all that, so I'm thankful. If my mom took the initiative to abandon me with him, because she didn't want me, I'm not going to be the person who will humiliate myself and go after someone who never even tried to reach out to me," I clenched my jaw, feeling bitter.

"Sorry to ask about it," Dorian mumbled.

"It's fine, I have no reason to hide it," getting my shoes off, I went into the bathroom. "I'll try not using much water."

"Take your time, deathling."

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I really did take my time in the bathroom. I sat on the carpet that is in front of the sink and grabbed the backpack, then I made a mental note of everything that was inside of it. Three pairs of clothes, two extra boots, with two pajamas that don't leave much to imagination, a leather jacket, more than twenty energy bars of various flavors, a big water bottle already filled, nine pairs of underwear, some basic higiene products, and a weird amethyst stone.

So, after a good bath, I put on a panty and a pajama.

It's a pajama I would use at home, a very small short with a short top, matching, in a very soft material, both black, making my ass and my tits pop. It's a sexy pajama, especially when I'm staying in a room, alone, with a predatory men that made his intentions on fucking me clear. Fuck, we will share a bed, this is like one of the most cliches plots in a damn book.

Putting everything back on my backpack, I grabbed the backpack, leaving my long hair loose, and walked out of the bathroom, dropping the bag on the chair again. And when I turned to the bed, where he was I, I froze because the bastard was naked and masturbating his enormous thick cock, and my curious eyes couldn't even focus on the tattoo that went down from his neck to nearly the entire left side of his body. All I could see was his cock, so hard and swollen it was dripping with pre-cum.

"I thought you would take longer," he huffed, still masturbating, but now his eyes were on me. "I don't sleep with clothes, hope you're okay with that, given how you're barely with any yourself. You could get naked if you wanted, we would be even."

I swallowed hard, "I'm not sleeping naked next to you, Dorian."

"Your loss, deathling. Like what you see?"

"What?" I gasped.

"You've been staring at my cock for a while, deathling," he purred.

I avoided his predatory watching eyes, "Oh, fuck off, Dorian. I'll go to sleep."

He giggled huskily and I quickly got in the opposite side of the bed, grabbing the blanket for myself and covering my entire body, even my head, with it. Trying not to think about him. Trying not to think about how slick wet he got my pussy just by masturbating his mouth-watering huge cock for me.

Fuck, stop thinking about it.

Stop thinking.