Unexpected Mates ~ Book One
Chapter 11

It felt like days of sleeping, eating takeout, and repeating before Elias finally noticed her withering demeanour.

“What is it? You’ve barely spoken in 48 hours.”

“What, now I’m too obedient?” her voice croaked from being so unused. “You told me to stop asking so many questions.”

After confirming for the tenth time, he was, in fact, a very old vampire who didn’t sleep, didn’t like the sun but could go in it briefly, and drank copious amounts of blood; he informed her that her questioning was getting on his nerves.

Asshat.

“Your outfits arrived an hour ago and are in your office. Go try them on.”

She sat up and stretched, glad for the oversized tracksuit she convinced Elias to get her instead of the skimpy nightgowns. Men. She rolled her eyes. “Fine, but only because I’m bored, not because you told me to.”

His chuckle made her cheeks warm, and she darted from the room to hide her growing ‘arousal’. After discovering he could smell when she became aroused, she was determined to avoid the sensation at all costs, especially in his presence.

That fact also led to the most sexual frustration she experienced since her stays in the girls’ houses between foster homes. No privacy to masturbate there. Not that that stopped some of them. Even the memories made her stomach flip.

By the time she reached her office, tiredness had settled in her bones. The constant exhaustion was new, and she hated it. She prayed it would wear off soon because she was about to lose her mind. Just inside the office, against the wall, stood two rows of clothing hanging on a dual clothes rack: pantsuits, dresses, jeans and simple blouses, all in her colour palette.

“Holy shit.”

Sylvie nearly buried her face into the softness, opting to run her hands along the fabric. “This is insane.”

She peered out the door, and when she didn’t see Elias, she stripped and tried on the first suit. The navy blue pants and blazer hugged her curves perfectly. A surge of gratitude towards Elias made her smile and frown slightly as she remembered Kian.

Why did she have to feel this way for them both? It didn’t help her conviction not to be an adulterer. No. Not an adulterer. He was with Lazuli. Move on, idiot.

Shaking her head, Sylvie stared at her reflection in the window. “Wow,” she breathed. Every angle looked insane. A soft chuckle escaped her nose as she realised her wardrobe might finally be better than Fern’s.

She went to unbutton the blazer when a compulsion hit her. She’d seen it in movies, and Fern had done it to her occasionally; she just wanted to do it once. Surely he wouldn’t mind.

Adjusting the clothes one last time, she strutted down the hallway to the office and pulled the door open. Elias’s head lifted from his computer, and his eyes ran down her body.

“Turn around.”

His way of knowing what she wanted without speaking made her heart race. This time she did as he asked, peeking over her shoulder and revelling in his sexy smirk. She strolled back down the hall, skipping into her office at the last second and changing into the next outfit, continuing until she displayed the last dress on the rack, and Elias sat back, pleased. His hands clasped, and he placed them on his desk.

“Are they all to your liking?”

She finished her twirl and beamed at him. “Yes, thank you for indulging me.” She looked back down the hall at her impromptu runway. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” she whispered.

“I will always indulge you, Hart.”

Her muscles tensed, and she quickly imagined anything and everything to smother her desire as he feasted on her body with his eyes.

“If that’s true, and I must stay here for the foreseeable future, I need a bed.”

His brows shot up, and he bared his teeth in a surprised smile. “A bed?”

“Yes. I want to have some normalcy. I feel like a burden, crashing on your couch all day while you work.”

“You are not-”

“I know! I just feel like that, okay?”

Elias’ jaw twitched, and Sylvie knew he didn’t like her tone, so she looked at her feet. He seemed to like it when she did that. He didn’t speak, and when Sylvie lifted her gaze to check on him, he had returned to his work.

Frowning, she spun on her heel, pattering down the hall to her office. Her computer stared at her accusingly while her sweatsuit on the floor called her longingly. Then, with a sigh, she stared back at the computer and grumbled. “Fine. I’ll do some work.”

Tapping the space bar, her monitor fired up, and she logged in, heading straight to emails. 620 unread emails. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Scrolling through miles of spam, meeting requests, and adverts, an email titled Business Opportunity by R. Hex sent shivers down her spine.

She clicked on it, immediately remembering Natalie’s comments about someone named Rowan Hex and read down the email.

Elias Fletcher,

I believe an in-person discussion is long overdue about the whereabouts of the artefact of Animae dimidium meae. I know you have your creatures after it, and I do not doubt we will come to certain agreements about its uses.

I look forward to our meeting.

Hex.

She re-read the email a few times, quickly throwing the unknown words into Google, ‘The other half of my soul’ appeared to be the direct translation. “Soul mate, maybe?” she looked further but found nothing of note. Even her duckduckgo search engine had few results besides some racy anime fanart.

Her fingers hovered above the keyboard as she prepared to respond. She thought briefly about forwarding the email to Elias but thought better of it. He had told her all emails that came to her were for her alone to organise. She sighed and looked through Elias’ calendar. His next available meeting slot was Thursday that coming week. That’ll do. She set the sending time for eight am the following morning and started.

Good morning,

My next available time to meet is 11 am, Thursday the 28th. We can further discuss your expectations of the artefact and its uses.

Regards,

Fletcher.

She proofread the template response Natalie had made for her and scheduled send before swivelling in her chair. The darkened sky outside made another yawn rip from her mouth, and she glanced at her tracksuit.

“That’s enough work for today.”

She changed into loungewear and dragged her feet back to Elias’ office. When she got there, the room was empty, and she hummed. “That’s weird.” He hadn’t left her unattended since she returned with Kerensa, and she wrapped her hands around herself as a chill tickled her nape.

“Hello?”

Walking over to her temporary couch bed, she sat and curled up, watching the open door. “Elias?” she called louder, pressing her body into the back of the couch. Then, pulling the phone from the coffee table he had given her days earlier, she pulled up her contacts and stared at his name.

Asshat. If he knew she nicknamed him that, she’d probably get spanked. She swallowed, even the thought sending heat between her thighs.

Pressing call and speaker, Sylvie lay down, waiting for the dial tone. Instead, the device rang until the automated voice told her to leave a message. Hanging up, she closed her eyes for a second as another wave of tiredness hit her. When she opened them to redial Elias, a pair of yellow eyes stared at her from an inch away.

The scream that tore from her lips made her ears ring, and she bolted upright, jumping and falling over the back of the couch. The creature peered over the furniture and sneered down at her. Its sharp, stained teeth dripped a brown goo which hit her bare skin and sizzled. She screamed again, swiping the liquid on her pants before crawling behind the couch and away.

“Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off,” she chanted as if her words could compel the thing to listen. Then, popping out the other side, she spun to see the creature staring at her with a wide smile. The dirt and wet gunk coating its naked, wiry body now covered her couch. “Ew.”

Its head tilted to the side. The metre-long curled hairs swished around itself as it stalked closer on all fours.

Sylvie’s eyes shot down to the phone crushed beneath its clawed feet, and her body trembled as she rose to stand. Lifting her hands, she shifted sideways towards the main doors. “Stay there,” she whispered.

As it crept closer, the smile stretching wider than humanly possible, Sylvie shouted louder, “Stay back! Elias?”

The creature stood to full height, its head almost brushing the roof, and she lost all resolve. “Fuck no!” She screamed and sprinted for the door, her whole body shaking violently as giant footsteps thumped behind her.

Her pitiful life flashed before her eyes as she screeched louder than ever. “Elias!”

Sylvie raced down the hall with the humanoid creature skittering behind her. With the length of its legs, it could have easily caught up.

It was toying with her.

Where was he? “Elias, goddammit, where the fuck are you!” Glancing wildly towards her office and the elevators, she saw nothing she could use as a weapon. Tears sprung to her eyes as she realised she might die.

Running full pelt into the elevator button, she spun and raised her hands at the creature. It towered above her, blocking the downlights with its floating mop of black curls.

“What the fuck do you want?” she moaned, hitting the button repeatedly.

“I thought you’d never ask,” it hissed, lowering onto all-fours, letting its acrid breath line up with Sylvie’s nose. Its voice had a dual quality, both masculine and feminine at the same time.

Her back pressed painfully against the icy elevator doors as it leaned in, staring its yellow eyes into her soul.

“I came to see how you taste,” the creature elongated the ‘s’ on taste, and Sylvie shuddered, pulling a face.

“Why?” she squeaked.

It lowered further than she thought possible, sniffing her bare feet, and she squealed, jumping to the side as it straightened.

“You are not human.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so.”

“I know so. You are magically imbued. Delicious.” Its mouth opened wide. Far too wide. The jaw detached like a snake, and the top fell backwards, leaving a gaping hole.

Its claws reached for her just as the elevator dinged, and she tumbled backwards straight into a tight grip.

The hands around her spun her body, forcing her into the back corner of the elevator, and she looked up through petrified eyes to see Elias. The fury in his bloodred eyes as he took in the monster made her heart race.

“Stay here,” he said as he slammed the closed doors and ground floor button and stormed out, his fists clenched at his sides.

The creature hissed and recoiled, snapping its maw into place as Elias’ fist flew and the doors slid shut.

Soft 80s elevator music mocked her as she curled into the corner, letting herself sob. Its face flashed behind her lids. Yellowing eyes. Brown teeth. Monster.

She wished she had asked Elias to stay with her. What if he got hurt because of that thing? Because of her.

Her body shivered so hard her teeth clacked as the floor numbers flashed 67, 66, 65, 64, and beyond.

Wiping her dripping nose with her sleeve, she jolted in the elevator as it suddenly stopped its descent. Eyes wide with terror, she froze, seeing the floor numbers ascend again.

“No! No, no, no...” she crawled over and slammed the emergency stop button, but nothing happened. “No, what the fuck?”

Slamming her flat palm across every floor button, she waited for the doors to open on 78, but to her horror, it didn’t. She just kept climbing.

Succumbing to her fears, she dropped back to the floor, curling in the fetal position, her face buried in her tear-snot-drenched sleeves. If she was hydrated, a puddle of urine would have doused the floor too.

Her dry mouth quivered as the floor shuddered to a stop. “Please don’t eat me.”