Chapter 171
Draven.
The corridor on the third floor was quiet at this hour, lit only by the faint golden wash of the wall lamps.
My boots made muted thuds against the polished wood as I climbed the last step, shoulders still heavy from the cold air of the woods and the weight of decisions made under torchlight.
I was halfway to my door when I noticed her.
Meredith stood outside my bedroom, barefoot on the rug runner, the hem of her light robe brushing her ankles.
Her silver hair was loose, spilling around her shoulders like liquid moonlight, and her arms were folded under her chest in what looked like an annoyed sulk.
Her bottom lip was pushed out just enough to tell me it wasn’t simple annoyance — it was a full pout.
I stopped, blinking once. “Why are you standing outside my door in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”
She shifted, gaze sliding up to meet mine, and the pout softened only slightly. “I was looking for you,” she mumbled. “I knocked, but you didn’t answer.”
As if I knew she would come to look for me in the middle of the night.
I raised a brow, moving closer until I stood a pace from her. “So, you decided to wait here? All night, if you had to?”
She ignored the question. “Where were you?”
For half a heartbeat, I considered telling her. The truth hovered, close to the surface. The midnight meeting, the plans, the vampires she didn’t yet know about. And I thought: perhaps it was time she learned, truly.
But not tonight.
I was still wearing my boots, coat collar still dusted with the damp chill of the woods. My head was tight from the hours of talk and the weight of choices.
“Tomorrow,” I told her, voice softer than I meant it to be. “I’ll explain everything tomorrow, if you ask me again.”
She tilted her head, clearly dissatisfied, but nodded anyway.
I stepped past her, pressing my thumb against the small black panel beside my door. The lock clicked open with a soft mechanical sound, and I pushed the door wide, gesturing her inside.
“Come in,” I said, keeping my voice level. “It’s late.”
She walked in, trailing the scent of lavender and the faintest warmth of her skin, and I closed the door behind us. The click of the lock felt louder than usual in the hush of the room.
As I shrugged off my black leather jacket and draped it over the chair by the fireplace, I asked, “So? Why were you really looking for me?”
She glanced at me, then away, her shoulders rising and falling in a small shrug. “The weather is cold,” she murmured. “I just… wanted to sleep next to you.”
For someone who’d waged silent battles against me for months, she’d said it as if it were nothing.
My mouth twitched, nearly into a smile. “Get into bed,” I told her. “I will change first and join you.”
She obeyed without another word, crossing the carpet to the large bed and climbing onto it. The cover shifted around her shape as she settled, pulling the sheets over her legs.
I walked into the dressing room, pulling the door half-closed behind me.
Inside, I pulled off the boots, the shirt, the belt, and the rest until. Then I grabbed a pyjama pants and wore it.
The mirror caught my face as I passed: faint lines at the corner of my eyes, the mark of fatigue under my cheekbones, but my mind was still restless.
For a brief wondered, ’Was she being clingy?’
The thought felt foreign, almost laughable. Meredith had fought so hard not to depend on me when I first married her. She wanted nothing to do with me but now, she sought my warmth?
But if she was starting to… I couldn’t say I was unhappy about it.
I exhaled once, deeply, and returned to the bedroom.
The lamp on the nightstand painted her silhouette in gold, the soft arch of her shoulders under the cover.
I lifted the edge and slid in beside her, the sheets cool against my skin at first.
Without speaking, I reached for her, drawing her closer until her back pressed gently to my bare chest. Her warmth settled into me like quiet relief.
She shifted once, then snuggled her back closer, the top of her head brushing my chin.
I bent slightly, lowering my mouth to her ear. “Are you warm now?” I whispered.
She nodded, the faintest brush of her hair against my jaw.
A breath left me, softer this time. I let my arm rest heavy around her waist, holding her there. The tension of the night dulled at the edges, not gone, but less sharp with her breathing steady against me.
Tomorrow, there would be explanations, questions, truths I could no longer hide.
But tonight, there was this: her warmth, the slow quiet of shared space, and the simple honesty of wanting to sleep next to me.
—
The night was still, the kind of stillness that feels too heavy, like the air itself was holding its breath.
My eyes snapped open.
At first, I didn’t understand what had pulled me from sleep—until the ache hit me. A low, maddening itch deep in my gums that sharpened into something close to pain.
I pressed my tongue against my teeth, but it didn’t help. The sensation spread, crawling under my skin like an insect. It felt wrong. Dangerous.
Then I caught it—the faintest drift of her scent.
Meredith.
Warm, soft, alive. Sweet. Far sweeter than she’d ever smelled before. The more I breathed it in, the worse the itch became—hot, sharp, feral.
Rhovan was awake too, stirring in the back of my mind. Restless, pacing, but saying nothing. His silence was worse than words.
Through the dim gold cast of the bedside lamp, I turned my head. Meredith lay beside me, silver hair scattered over the pillow, neck exposed in innocent, vulnerable trust.
I swallowed hard. My gums throbbed, the pressure building until my fangs pricked down, lengthening against my will.
A strange thought flared through the haze: it wasn’t the same urge as marking. This was darker, more primal—like a hunger I’d never felt before.
My breath grew shallow. My body leaned forward before my mind caught up—drawn to the steady beat of her pulse. Closer, just inches away.
And then horror jolted through me.
My reflection flashed across the darkened window: eyes shadowed, fangs bared. My chest tightened until it hurt.
I stopped, frozen, staring at the soft curve of her neck.
Slowly, with effort that made my muscles shake, I drew back. My heart slammed against my ribs, loud in the silence.
What was happening to me?