Claim Me

Chapter 4

Mickey quickly schooled his features and I did my best to calm down as well. But for some reason, my heart continued to pound in my chest and I felt that any second now, it would burst right through.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lydia. May I call you by that? Lydia?” Mickey smiled and for some reason it irritated me. Not only because it was a mocking smile, but also because it was fake. I felt insulted that he would flash such an artificial smile at me.

But that brought up another question. Why?

“As long as I can call you Mickey.” I answered his question.

His eyes became hooded as he took my hand and pressed the back of my fingers to his lips. I felt a shiver crawl throughout my body from the fingers he touched and resisted the urge to tug them away from him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” his breath tickled my skin as he spoke.

“Likewise.”

He looked up into my eyes and we locked gazes. Slowly, he stood up straight, but my hand remained in his. His grip tightened when his eyes made their way down and locked onto my lips—which were probably still red and swollen.

A muscle ticked in his jaw, but our momentary time-lapse stopped when Cole cleared his throat.

I immediately slipped my fingers from his and turned to the beta. “Should we get going?”

Cole nodded, but I saw the way he glanced at Mickey with questioning eyes. Even I was confused by the werewolf’s behavior. He knew I was his alpha’s fiancée, but his actions were intimate.

But did I really have the right to judge? I didn’t refuse his touches. That made me just as guilty.

“See you later, Mickey.” Cole nodded his head at his fellow werewolf.

“You too Cole.” He replied casually before Cole turned around and began walking down the hall. I immediately followed him, but momentarily froze when a whisper reached my ears. “And you, sweet Lydia.”

I glanced over my shoulder, but saw that Mickey had already turned around and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.

As Cole and I walked through the halls, my mind became occupied by Mickey.

What just happened? It felt as if lightning struck me. Never had I felt that way before, not even with Ja-

I cut myself off and sighed. What was I doing? No, what was my body doing? It was like it suddenly got a mind of its own. How could it react that way when I was to be engaged to Giovanni?

And the worst part was, I don’t even know what the feeling was called. Was it attraction? Was it repulsion? Or was it something even more complicated?

For some reason, my head began to hurt. Vampires never got headaches, but here I was, getting one. The throbbing spread from my head down my throat and to the tips of my toes. I took a deep breath and exhaled.

I must be in need of blood.

When we reached Giovanni and the group, they all turned to look at me.

“What’s wrong?” Gio asked with concern.

My friends surrounded me as well and I guessed that my condition must’ve showed physically.

“I think…I need to go back home.” I huffed. “I’m not feeling well.”

“What?” Ji-Sun said with surprise.

“Do you need blood?” Abraham asked and I nodded.

“I guess we’ll have to end this early.” Giovanni said.

I tried my best to flash him a smile, but it was weak. “Sorry, Gio.”

“No worries.” He smoothed my hair from my face. “I’ll make sure to come tomorrow, alright?”

Again, I simply nodded before we said our last farewells. Then my vampires and I teleported back home. Blair immediately volunteered to give me his blood.

Since we were so far from civilization, we either had to hunt the animals or teleport to any towns we’ve previously been in for human blood. We had our own supply of blood provided by official vampire blood banks, but the amount wasn’t large and was typically used for emergencies.

Occasionally, vampires would drink from each other, but again, that was only for emergencies and for those who were intimate with each other.

So I refused Blair’s proposal.

“Lydia.” Zachariah suddenly spoke and I looked at him for the first time since I came back from Giovanni’s bedroom. To my surprise, he was gazing at me with wide eyes that held…hunger?

“What is it?” I said with confusion.

Zachariah closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. As he exhaled, he shiver racked through his body. All of us stared at him and waited before he licked his lips and opened his eyes once more. They were clouded over with pleasure.

Then he spoke breathlessly, “You smell so sweet.”