Fortress

Chapter 6

Rome

I had never tasted anything more sweeter than my mate's blood. Blood bags now shared the same rank as animal blood compared to Mina’s. My body was completely healed in less than ten minutes I had never felt the amount of power flooding through my veins like this before. My erection still stood out from my body at the thought of Mina’s reaction to my bite. I knew she would soon feel a pull to me after allowing me to feed from her. In a sense, I felt bad about what would transpire over the next few days. I witnessed it time and time again with the clan members as they each found their mates. We would both experience uncontrollable desire for each other until the union was completed, but it was intensified for the first three or four days for the women after a bite. I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to Mina going crazy over me, I had been going crazy over her for the last ten years everyday. If she planned to walk away it was possible but it would affect her just as much as it would affect me now. I growled at the thought of letting her go. It wasn’t an option there was no way I was allowing her to leave me. Mina is mine.

The water shut off and a few minutes passed before Mina emerged wrapped in a thick towel she looked everywhere but at me and I struggled to read her expression.

“I would give it a few minutes it ran cold,” she said reaching for her bag with shaky hands.

“That’s actually just what I need,” I said before rushing into the bathroom. The cold water did nothing for my erection and I was reduced to working it out myself. I pictured Mina naked and it was enough to send me over the edge. s**t, it was going to be a long night. Mina turned on the TV and was sitting up on the bed under the covers when I finally emerged from the shower. I tugged the towel tightly around my waist and went to peek out the window. I scanned the parking lot looking for a car to steal.

“What else is real?” Mina's sweet voice asked pulling my attention to her. Her eyes ran over my body before throwing the covers aside. My eyes latched onto her bare legs and hard n*****s through her shirt and groaned, she wasn’t making this easy. I was going to lose it in this room. She approached me slowly and carefully ran her fingers over my chest in awe feeding the flame inside of me.

“Unbelievable”, she whispered as she looked up into my eyes. Self-control has always come easy to me but being here and smelling her enticing scent had that control crumbling fast.

“I have you to thank for that I’ve never healed that quickly before”. I couldn’t help but touch her as I brought my hand up to her soft cheek.

“Vampires are real. So you were bitten? You bit me does that mean I’ll turn into a vampire too?” Her voice grew more frantic with each question. I couldn’t keep the smile from forming on my lips.

“No, it doesn’t work like that you would have to drink my blood and I was born this way,” I said softly giving her the short version of the process.

“Born this way how?” She asked searching my eyes for answers.

“Our functions work the same way as humans I’m not sure of all the science behind it. I stopped aging a year ago but I know others who matured later in life. I still need air I still can eat but it does not nourish me I’ve been on a blood diet the majority of my life and I require it to survive. The sun doesn't harm us but the stake to the heart is true, fire and also beheading kills us”. She hung onto each word and I watched as her eyes grew big.

“Helios stumbled upon a clan of vampires during one of their human trafficking raids. My father along with the rest of the males who fought were killed instantly but the women were taken along with their young children. I was six months old when they took me from my mother. Elaine had suffered multiple miscarriages already and wanted a baby desperately. I of course was not what they imagined” I continued.

“My mother named me Rome Jace Smith”, I said pausing to look down at her beautiful face. The boy in our vision curried my middle name I'm sure she was thinking the same thing. “My first five years of life were normal according to my records but then I developed a terrible biting problem”, I continued smiling at the memory.

“I bit Elaine and her husband George multiple times a day. I bit every nanny and tutor they brought in to push me off on. I was no longer a sweet little boy. From five to ten, I was treated horribly in that household but after all, I was a freak to them. I killed several pets of theirs draining their bodies dry of blood.” The disgusted look on Mina's face caused me to chuckle.

“What? I was hungry. They no longer could put up with me and soon Helios came back for me that’s when the real torment began. I met my brothers there we were all from the same clan. Turns out all of their projects didn’t work out. We didn’t know it then but the remainder of our clan was coming for us. Helios was too cocky about their extraction they didn’t know about the mate union” I said looking into her eyes, I could see the wheels turning in her head.

“What do you mean by mate union?” She asked.

“Vampires bond with one mate in their lifetime and even death doesn’t break that bond. We each find our mate in different ways. It didn’t matter how far they took our mothers from our mainland their mates would still be able to track them down. They kept the heads of our mothers as souvenirs and although I never knew my mother I recognized her face.” I shut my eyes at the image floating through my mind. I felt Mina’s arms wrap

around my waist and her head on my chest. She was comforting me I realized.

“They probably thought they killed all of the men but a small number weren’t there during the attack. Even though they felt their mate was dead they were bent on vengeance and the urge to get their offspring back. My brother's fathers unleashed hell on earth once they found us. I was fifteen it was a life-changing year for me.” I continued as I brought one hand up to stroke her hair. I dreamt of Mina the same day we were rescued.

“I was one of the lucky ones. Helios began killing us as soon as the breach happened. Many of our women were taken as well. The young males left behind fought and we still fight today to bring Helios to an end”. I finished and felt a hundred pounds lighter. I laid everything out on the table for my mate to take in except the most important thing. She is my mate and I could never let her go now that she's in my grasp. Mina released me after a while and sat on the edge of the bed I instantly wanted her hands on me again.

“I'm so sorry for the loss of your parents,” she whispered looking up at me with teary eyes. I sat beside her and wiped her wet cheeks.

“I didn't know them,” I said flatly trying to convey that I wasn't hurt by their deaths but I was, it had hunted me every day since I saw the gruesome image of my mother's head floating in a jar. I sensed she wanted to say more but I beat her to it.

“You should sleep you've had a rough day,” I said standing and going to sit in the chair facing the door. Mina nodded and crawled to get under the cover our eyes locked before she spoke.

“You believe I am your mate Rome”, she stated her soft voice trembling.

“I know you are Mina,” I said and gripped the chair's arms stopping myself from pouncing on her. She swallowed loudly while searching my eyes.

“What if I don't want to be mated to you,” she asked slowly. I felt my eyes shift and closed them.

“Then I would let you go” I lied. Just a small lie I told myself.

“Get some sleep,” I said and watched as she fell asleep. I sat in the chair for several more minutes before grabbing my pants from the floor. They were wet and muddy I took them into the bathroom and hung them up. I spotted my phone on the floor and quickly picked it up there were four missed calls from Jared. I called him back as I walked back into the room to watch Mina. We had much to discuss.

Mina

My eyes opened to a dark room but I could see the sun peeking around the curtains. My eyes landed on Rome in a chair beside me, his head resting on the bed close to my face. He looked uncomfortable but I assumed that was because he was being respectful by not joining me in bed. A sense of disappointment worked its way through me. Did I want him in the bed with me? I knew the answer already as my hand went to my neck and I closed my eyes replaying the events from last night. The way I felt in his arms the way my body reacted to his bite. A warm feeling spread through my body thinking of how much I enjoyed him sucking on my neck.

“The marks won't stay unless I want them to”, Rome’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and I jumped back hitting my head against the headboard.

“Damnit!” I hissed looking over at Rome who smiled brightly at me.

“Sorry, how does your body feel?”, he asked as if he were reading my mind.

“It's fine why?”, I asked as I straightened my back and eyed his handsome face. He laughed before shaking his head.

“The fall last night was pretty hard, if you had any major injuries I would have offered you my blood. Just a small amount will heal you.” he said while sitting back in the chair. My eyes instantly shot to his bare chest and then lower to the white towel in his lap. I shamelessly stared at the bulge there. Rome cleared his throat before standing and I silently prayed for the towel to fall.

“Tonight we’ll leave I’ll order you some food and I need more clothes as well,” he said walking towards the window. Something was different about him I couldn’t put my finger on it but I needed him closer to me. I needed to see his face, I needed to touch him. Unbeknownst to me my body was moving without my instruction and before I could stop myself I was dragging Rome’s face to my own.

“Mina,” Rome said confusingly before I stuck my tongue down his throat and jumped to wrap my legs around his waist. No, it wasn’t him it was me something was completely off about me.