Page 14 of Blood Moon Bound

I moved to the next rose bed and selected another one. There were so many different varieties, and colors, I didn’t know where to go first. My heart felt full for the first time in a long time.

My mind wandered to Constantine. I was finding it hard to think of anything else, honestly. After our exchange in the dining room, he’d gone back to avoiding me, like he had been since the first morning I woke and found him at my door, staring down at me, fangs long and sharp, eyes glittering, face contorted. Before he’d snarled at me, then walked away. The male could be terrifying, but on some level, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. He hadn’t that morning, or since, and he’d had plenty of opportunity.

When he’d looked at me that first morning, I could see he wanted something from me, it shone in his eyes, I felt it. But I had no idea what it could be. No wonder he’d been angry. I was failing at this and I didn’t know how to fix it.

It didn’t help that my mate made me so nervous I stuttered and stumbled over my words when I was around him. No wonder he avoided me. Though, since then, I didn’t think he gave me much thought at all. Maybe that was a good thing? Out of sight, out of mind, wasn’t that the saying? That’s what I’d been thinking, anyway. Well, at least until he’d sat with me at the table and aimed his deep violet eyes my way.

When he’d said all those confusing things.

I felt like an idiot. So sheltered, so inexperienced in all things that I couldn’t even hold a simple conversation with him, and I’d been in a constant state of terror that he was going to send me home. That couldn’t happen. I’d run away and take my chances by myself if it came to that.

Clutching my roses, I said goodbye to John, and strode across the lawn toward the massive gothic-style stone mansion as dark and forbidding as the male who owned it.

My mind spun. How could I give him whatever he wanted, like mother told me to, if he wanted nothing from me? And how could I keep him satisfied and happy if I didn’t know what that entailed? I felt utterly lost. Did he expect me to just know?

I walked through the main doors and upstairs. There was a decorative vase on one of the dressers in my room and I filled it with water, arranged the roses, and placed them by my bed.

I still had a few left that wouldn’t fit. I chewed my lip. Constantine obviously liked roses, this was his house after all and there were rose beds everywhere. I’d stumbled across his room while I’d explored the house earlier, it was just down from mine. Yes, he was cold and intimidating, but he hadn’t hurt me, and last night I think he might have actually been attempting to put me at ease, at least at the end of our conversation.

I appreciated his trying, even if it didn’t entirely work. I needed to thank him, and like my mother said, it was my job to make him happy. How could sweet-smelling roses beside his bed not make him smile? They made me smile.

Mind made up and belly alight with nerves, I grabbed the drinking glass by my bed, filled it with water, and arranged the remaining roses into a pretty posy, then slipped into the hall and rushed down to Constantine’s room. I tapped lightly on the door. No reply.

Maybe I could just slip in and put them by the bed, a surprise for when he returned to his room later.

I eased the door open and rushed across the room. His bed was a massive four-poster made of dark wood with a black velvet duvet and curtains. There was also a matching wooden dresser and bedside tables.

His scent was strong in here, rich and enticing, and I found myself breathing deeply. I liked the way Constantine smelled, a lot. A shiver slid through me when I thought about what happened when I’d fed from him. I’d never experienced anything like that before in my life. I thought I’d done something wrong, that I’d disgusted him with my reaction to his blood, that he’d been avoiding me, but he said my reaction was normal, that he was giving me time.

He wanted to feed me from his vein again, and I wanted to repeat the experience, though my humiliation fired back to life at the very thought. Because there was no way he hadn’t noticed the wetness between my thighs, smelled it. I don’t know why it happened, or what it was, but I really hoped it didn’t happen again.

I quickly set the roses on the side of the bed I assumed was his. There was a lamp and a phone charger there.

A door opened behind me and I spun around.

The bathroom door.

Constantine walked out—and I froze.

He wore only a towel draped around his hips and nothing else. His smooth, tattooed skin was still damp, his dark hair slicked back. His gaze slid over me, and his abdominal muscles clenched. “What are you doing in here?”

“I was just…” I glanced at the posy and back. He ran his fingers through his damp hair, and I struggled to find the right words. “I walked around the gardens and I…well, I picked some roses. I put some in my room and thought…”

His gaze slid to the flowers beside his bed, then back to me. His eyes were cold, blank. “You thought what?”

I clutched my hands together to stop them visibly shaking. His accent was stronger, it did that sometimes, usually when he was focused on me. “Well, I…I assumed you liked roses, since you grow them here, and I…I thought you might like some in here as well.”

His expression didn’t change. “You thought I’d like roses by my bed?”

The urge to run, to get away filled me. I took a step back. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed…they’re just so pretty and they smelled so nice, I just thought…” I shook my head. “I’ll leave you to dress.” I turned and ran from the room, down the hall and into my own, slamming the door shut behind me.

I didn’t know what the right thing to do was. I’d barely been around anyone, let alone a male like Constantine. I was out of my depth in every way. My face burned with humiliation. I’d been alone, lonely, for so long that I didn’t know how to behave, what to do or say.

I didn’t want to be alone anymore, but I was messing everything up.

* * *

I tossed and turned.