Salazar's Caged Love

35

Salazar

Time stilled as we laid entangled in each other. I was supporting my body on my knees and arms, sparing Alexandra the struggle of suffocation under my weight.

I moved towards her ear and whispered, "Tell me, did I force you?"

If it was up to me, I would have stayed like that, buried inside her all the time, but a muffled sob changed my mind. I pulled away from her, and she immediately turned on her side, with her back towards me. I half laid pressing my shoulders to the headboard and pulled Alexandra over my chest. An action that earned a surprised gasp from her, followed by another sob. Caressing her back, I let her grasp the reality and give her time to get hold of her breathing. Her warm breath fell on my chest, along with her tears.

I still couldn't understand her denial, but I was not in a mood to make her understand. She didn't pull away from me, which was a positive sign. Perhaps she was making up her mind to accept her reality, or she was exhausted. Her head laid over my chest, making it easier for me to place my chin on her head. Gliding my hand tenderly on her back, I caught her hand and pulled it towards my lips. Her hand shook, maybe with the aftermath or with realization, but she didn't cringe when I kissed her palm.

"I hate you," the silence was broken by her whisper, and then I felt another tear on my chest.

"But more than you, I hate myself," she added, and I saw her inhaling deeply.

Instead of replying to her, I locked my fingers around hers and ordered the maids that had been waiting outside, "Come in."

Alexandra stiffened, and I felt her wet lashes over my bare chest when she closed her eyes. Seeing her discomfort, I pulled the sheet over her body to her hips. The slaves won't dare to raise their heads, but her uneasiness made me consider covering her.

"Prepare the bath," the humans immediately went inside the bath chamber to carry out the task.

Her breathing eventually turned back to normal, but I kept stroking her back, randomly brushing my thumb over her smooth side. She was not crying anymore, but her silence screamed what was running in her mind.

Once the maids were out, set out to prepare food for Alexandra, I carried her in my arms towards the chamber. A small voice made me halt on the tracks, "Why?"

I looked at the owner of the voice only to find her with closed eyes. If not for her tongue licking the lips, I would have assumed to imagine her talking.

"Because you have always been mine," I answered her unspoken question, Why me?

I continued walking, and silence engulfed us again. Lowering her into the bath, I leaned against the edge and pulled her in between. I was washing her shoulders with a cloth when she whispered again, "Who are you?"

"Salazar, a vampire, and a Duke."

She let out a shaky breath on hearing my answer, and she dropped her arms, stunned with the revelation, an action that caused the water to splash around us. I wanted to talk to her last night, but her words and fear sting me. I was compelled to change my approach towards her. It was a good sign she was asking questions, a sign that she was trying to understand the reality. I let her ask questions at her pace and kept washing her.

My hand halted over her swells when she asked, "What do you want from me?"

I leaned over her and kissed her shoulder before saying, "Everything."

"You took everything from me, my world, my life, my freedom, and my body," her voice shook at the last part of her speech.

I pressed my palm over her heart and said, "I don't have your heart. I don't want to take anything from you. I want you to give me your everything and take my everything in return."

"How can I?" Her body trembled when she was trying to suppress a sob.

"How can I when you abducted me and caged me? You mercilessly stole me and expected me to give you my heart when all you did was treat me like a plaything?"

"You are not my plaything, love," I said, grabbing her arms and wounding around her waist before adding, "you are my everything. And I will fight even the Eternal Lord to be with you."

She wasn't aware of anything that runs in this world and would never understand I had sex with her to bind her to me as my mate. Even if I tell her she was not in the right state of mind.

"I don't know, I..." she hiccups before whispering helplessly, "I don't know what's happening to me. I don't understand anything...I'm lost."

I grabbed her face and turned her face towards me. I gently kissed her, cupping her face, and she let me without protesting or reciprocating as if trying to understand the reason behind everything. She kept looking at me like a lost soul. I broke the kiss but didn't pull away from her face. Stroking her nose with mine and rubbing my thumb over her soft cheek, I whispered, "You are not lost; you are home. You will understand everything one day. Till then, let me make you feel good."

With that, I nibble her lower lip before taking it into a kiss. The kiss was meant to be gentle, to pour all my love for her into it. It was not aggressive like earlier; it was to take away her turmoil for that moment. I entered her mouth and devoured every inch of it. Her body relaxed before she returned my kiss, and with one hand, she held my neck to deepen the kiss. She needed an anchor for her drowning hope, and I was elated she chose to hold on by kissing me with the emotions I desperately wanted to see in her, even though her emotions were confused.