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Chapter Nine
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ALEXANDRU DIDN'T MOVE a muscle even as his pet came to a clumsy halt just a few feet before him, the sight of her unearthing desires that, for the sake of his sanity, he had to bury at the deepest part of him.
An eternity. That was how it had felt, to be apart from this girl whose soul she shared with him, and who had his heart in her keeping.
Every second spent without her had been a fucking eternity, every second spent in hunger for the sight, sound, and scent of her - the feel of her, dammit. He had fucking starved for her, and now that she was finally here, finally within fucking reach...
Around them, the heart of the city continued to beat: the honking horns and the mad rush of people, the myriad of smells and noises that coalesced into a coarse attack on the senses. Most others would have found such an assault impossible to ignore, but for Alexandru...none of it even existed.
Only this girl with her long silvery hair and big gray eyes...
Only his pet mattered.
Only her.
Zari.
The mere thought of her name spiraled into a visceral need to touch her - kiss her, fuck her, thrust his cock home into the moist, lovely warmth of her pussy. He needed to really feel the familiar silkiness of her skin under his fingers to know that this was real, that this was no longer one of the millions of fantasies he had clung to when he was burning in Hell...
He needed her, and yet—-
Alexandru didn't lift a single finger to touch her.
Instead, he forced himself to remain still, centuries' worth of self-control coming to his rescue.
Four years might have been an eternity for him, and in those years he might have heard her crying endlessly, but even so...
The part of him that had never believed he deserved someone like Zari—-
The part that believed she should find someone better—-
That part of him demanded he wait.
Her choice to continue to be with him.
It always had to be her choice, which was why Alexandru found himself sucking his breath in and preparing himself for her rejection as her big, gray eyes slowly lifted up to meet his.
Her gaze was both bright and dazed, a cloudy, teary shade of gray that seemed to devour every inch of him as if she were unable to believe he was real.
Master.
This time, she whispered it through the blood bond they shared, and the sound of it was precious. So fucking precious to finally hear it and know...
She still chose him.
****
HELLO, PET.
A smile wobbled to Zari's lips as the velvety timbre of Alexandru's voice wrapped around her like tendrils of seduction. Four years, she thought dizzily. After practically disappearing without a trace for four long years...
She wanted to say so many things, but she was suddenly incapable of uttering a single word. Emotions burst out of nowhere, and sobs threatened to rush out of her throat. Just like that, all she could do was stare at him, just taking it all in...
Immaculate. Pristine. Perfect. That was how Alexandru Gheorgiu had always been, not just to her, but to the rest of the world. Dangerously beautiful, treacherously graceful, and so intensely sexual that she had gotten used to seeing even the most sophisticated women lose their cool and literally pant at the sight of him.
And yet now...
Some things were the same, but other things had changed.
He had obviously taken a bath sometime in the past hour, with his silky ebony locks glistening under the autumn sun. And after that, he had just as obviously borrowed (stolen?) someone else's clothes: the white shirt was a loose fit and the pants several inches too short, while his feet...were bare.
Definitely far from his usually polished appearance, and even though he remained so heartbreakingly handsome that women kept glancing over their shoulders to steal looks at him...
Her eyes started stinging anew.
It hurt to see him less than perfect, hurt so much to see him even the slightest bit less than his usual imposing and invincible self because it only meant all those years he was gone...
Where did you go, Master, she wished she could ask. Who did this to you? Why did you choose to suffer alone?
The damage that recent years had wrought on her Master was excruciating to see.
Wherever it was he had spent the last four years, whatever he had been doing...
It wasn't that he looked weak now.
If anything, he appeared tougher, so much more lethal than Zari could ever remember seeing him.
But his eyes...
So much suffering in those eyes—-
Are you crying for me, pet?
The sudden sound of her Master's purr in her mind had her shoulders shaking hard.
Miss me that much?
She squeezed her eyes shut, but the tears kept flowing. She struggled to get herself under control, but when her tears only kept rushing down her cheeks...oh, dammit. Why bother kidding herself? She would never be alright until she could feel for herself...
This wasn't a dream.
He was real.
And he was still hers.
Zari felt her Master's gaze burn as she took one clumsy step forward, and her heart started banging harder and harder against her chest with every shaky step she took. She could barely breathe by the time she was close enough to feel the silken heat of his presence, and her fingers started trembling as she slowly reached up.
Oh God, finally...
A part of her was terrified to find out that this was all a dream, and that she had driven herself mad from missing him.
Please.
Her fingers hovered over one darkly tanned cheek.
Please be real.
And then she felt it, the hot, smooth skin under the pads of her fingers—-
Real.
Alexandru could no longer hold himself back, and the moment he hauled his pet close, Zari started sobbing hard, and his arms closed around her shaking form in a fiercely possessive embrace.
You c-came back.
His arms tightened around her.
Yes, pet.
And I'll never leave you again.