Chapter 411: Leaving
Frederick’s POV
I didn’t think twice. In the blink of an eye—moving with the speed only a vampire possessed—I was standing in front of her. The small bag barely had time to shift before I ripped it from her grasp and flung it into the corner of the room.
Selene startled, half-turned, and for a second she looked so small and scared I hated myself a little for the way my hunger twined with the urge to protect her.
"You’re not leaving," I said in an authoritative voice.
She swallowed. Her voice trembled when she answered. "I... I can’t stay here. I don’t want to cause trouble."
"You caused trouble the moment you walked in," I shot back, but the anger in me was fractured now, threaded with something else I couldn’t name. "You will not walk out that door unprotected. Not when you—"
I stopped. The words I’d been about to say sounded ridiculous in my head. "Not tonight."
She looked at me, worry in her eyes. "Please. I—"
"No," I said sharply, then softer, "No more leaving. You stay."
I watched her chin lift, watching the stubborn flare in her eyes as if it were a dare.
"I’m not a child, Lord Frederick," Selene said, her voice hard even as it trembled. "I can take care of myself. I’ve done it my whole life before you met me."
Her words hit with a strange mix of pride and brittle fear. She squared her shoulders like she meant it.
"I’m leaving. I’ll go back to my hotel and finish my program."
Heat flared under my skin. "You’ll go back alone?" I snapped. "Do you have any idea what you’re asking? You’d be walking straight into danger. There are hundreds of vampires here... this place is not your hometown; it is a city of vampires."
She laughed, but it was bitter. "Danger is everywhere. I’m not here to be coddled, Lord Frederick. I didn’t come here to be someone’s pet."
The tone in her voice pushed a part of me I hate to be unleashed.
"This isn’t about petting you, Selene. It’s about keeping you alive."
She stepped toward me, defiant. "Keep me alive by keeping me prisoner? No. I can do my work without—"
"You think I am asking you to stay here for my own benefit?" I cut in, my voice filled with annoyance. "You think I brought you into my house because I enjoy your company?"
Her eyes flashed. "Then why did you bring me here?" she spat — her eyes filled with pain that for a strange reason, made my heart ache.
"Why are you showing me such love and care... why did you kiss me and act like it was the worst mistake of your life? Why!" she spat at me.
Where I stood inches from her, I didn’t know what to say... All I could feel was the panting of my heart like it was about to explode.
Selene quickly wiped away a strand of tears with the back of her hand and looked me straight in the eyes — those haunting eyes that reminded me of Hailee in her youth.
"You have a fiancée, Lord Frederick, and I am causing trouble for you two... I need to—"
Before she finished, something in me snapped: a mix of fury, desire, and a hunger I couldn’t fully name. I closed the distance between us in one stride. She opened her mouth — surprised, angry — but I crushed my lips to hers.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t tender. It was sharp and angry and full of everything I had been trying not to admit. I kissed her as if to silence the defiance, as if to force something raw and honest out of both of us.
Her lips were soft but stubborn under mine, and for a moment she stiffened, her hands pressing against my chest. I felt the push — her small frame trembling against my strength — and for a heartbeat I thought she’d pull away.
But then her eyes lifted to mine, shimmering with tears and desire.
"Frederick..." she breathed, her voice breaking, "we can’t. You have a fiancée."
I should have stepped back. I should have ended it.
Instead, I growled low in my chest, cupping the back of her neck, deepening the kiss until she gasped.
I lifted her effortlessly, her legs instinctively winding around my waist, her mouth still clinging to mine. She kissed me back, her breath hot, the sound of her gasp filling me as though it were my own air.
In a flash, I carried her up the stairs, moving with vampire speed. She held on tight, her eyes wide, but her lips still pressed to mine.
When I reached my room, I laid her on the bed, but I didn’t let go. I kept kissing her, harder, deeper. Her hands pushed at my chest for a moment, but then she pulled me closer, like she didn’t know if she wanted me to stop or keep going.
"Frederick..." she whispered. My name on her lips shook me.
I kissed her harder. "Say it again," I growled.
"Frederick," she breathed, and it broke something inside me.
I slid my hands up her thighs, pulling her closer. Her body was warm against mine, and the smell of her arousal made my head spin. I kissed her neck, slowly and hungrily, fighting the sharp need in my chest.
Her fingers curled in my hair. She gasped when I lifted her dress higher, my hand gripping her hips as I squeezed them.
Driven by hunger, I unexpectedly tore her dress. Selene gasped, her cheeks flushed, her body trembling beneath my touch.
What remained was lace that clung to her curves, thin and tempting, and for a moment all I could do was stare, my breath ragged in my chest.
Her hands went to cover herself, but I caught them, pinning them gently above her head as I hovered over her.
"Don’t hide from me," I growled, my voice rough with hunger. "You are fucking sexy."
Her eyes widened, glassy with fearful desire. She didn’t fight me. Instead, her chest rose and fell in quick, shallow breaths, and when my lips claimed hers again, she melted against me.
I unclasped the bra, freeing her breasts from its hold, and lowered my mouth to the soft skin of her chest.
Her sharp inhale, the way she arched into me, the trembling sound of my name on her lips — it was almost my undoing.
"Frederick..." she whispered, half a plea, half a cry.
My fangs ached with the urge to bite, to mark, to claim, but I forced myself to kiss, to taste, to worship instead.
Her hands tangled in my hair, holding me to her, and in that moment there was only one thought in my head:
The overwhelming need to sink into her.