Authors: Anna Zaires
Tags: #Romance, #Vampires, #Science Fiction, #Fantasy
He drew in a deep breath and pressed her tighter against him, burying his face in her hair. “And I can’t live without you, my darling,” he whispered, “I don’t think I can ever let you go, not anymore . . .”
“Then why did you? Why did you try to let me go yesterday?”
He pulled back, looking at her again. “Because I realized I couldn’t force you to love me, to want to be with me.” A bitter smile appeared on his lips. “I could keep you with me until the end of time, but I couldn’t make you love me. It was no longer enough, you see, just to have you. I wanted more – I wanted you to love me freely. I thought you would rejoice at being made immortal, but you were upset instead . . . And I knew then that I couldn’t do that to you, couldn’t make you stay with me against your will –”
“Oh Korum,” Mia whispered, “it’s not against my will. It hasn’t been against my will for a long time . . .”
His expression softened again. “I’m glad,” he said quietly, brushing some hair off her face. “I want you to be happy with me. I never meant to make you feel like a slave. I just couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to you if I put off the procedure until you’d had a chance to acclimate to Lenkarda and get used to being with me. I thought I was giving you something you would want . . .”
“I do. I do want it,” Mia told him sincerely. “How could you even doubt it? You’ve given me a priceless gift, and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise . . . But, Korum, can you please promise me one thing?”
He studied her with a watchful gaze. “What?”
“Can you please never do anything to me without my consent again? Even if you think it’s for the best, even if you’re not sure I’ll agree to it?”
He hesitated for a second, and then nodded reluctantly. She could see how much it cost him to make that concession, the extent to which it went against his nature. But he had now given her his word, and she knew that he would keep it.
“Thank you,” she told him, caressing his shoulder. “This means a lot to me.”
He smiled and leaned toward her, giving her a gentle kiss.
When he pulled away, Mia made a serious face and asked him, “Do you know what else would mean a lot to me right now?”
He looked a little wary. “What?”
“Some yummy breakfast,” she told him, and watched his face light up with a dazzling smile.
* * *
On Friday morning, they left to go back to Lenkarda.
The rest of their visit to Florida had been uneventful, and her family had been sad to see them leave. Korum promised to bring Mia back for a couple of days before the end of summer, which earned him a tearful hug from her mom and a sincere thank-you from her dad. Marisa had been particularly emotional, thanking Korum again for everything he’d done for them and then blushing fiercely when he gave her a kiss on the cheek as goodbye.
“I’m going to miss them,” Mia told him as they drove toward the airport where he was planning to create their ship. “I really wish I could see them more often.”
“You’ll be able to,” Korum said, keeping his eyes on the road. “Once I’m sure that it’s completely safe, there’s no reason why you can’t drop in every couple of weeks or so. It doesn’t take that long to get here from Lenkarda –”
“From Lenkarda?” Mia inquired delicately. “I thought we were going back to New York in the fall . . .”
Korum sighed. “If you still want that, then yes.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
He shrugged. “You don’t really need the degree if you’re going to continue working at Saret’s lab. It’s not like you’ll learn anything more in school than you would staying in Lenkarda –”
“Is that what you’re hoping?” Mia asked. “That I would decide not to go back to school?”
“I prefer Lenkarda to New York,” he admitted, “but I don’t mind if you decide to finish college. I know it’s still important to you, and I promised that I would bring you back for the school year. Nine months – that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things, and if it gives you peace of mind . . .”
For the first time, Mia thought seriously about the possibility of not finishing school. Korum was right: what she was learning at her apprenticeship was head and shoulders above anything the university had to teach her. And if Lenkarda were to be her home, a college degree was meaningless. Would Saret allow her to return to the lab after such a long absence? She would hate to lose this opportunity in order to write a few more papers and study for a few more exams. She needed to discuss this with her boss and soon, Mia decided.
They arrived at the Daytona Beach International Airport, and Korum assembled the ship in a far-off section there, out of sight of any other humans. As the aircraft quietly took off, Mia remembered how frightened she’d been when she’d left New York, flying to Lenkarda for the very first time. Was it only three weeks ago? It seemed like a lifetime had passed between now and then.
The girl who had left New York had been frightened and traumatized, uncertain about her fate and unsure whether she could trust the man she loved – the one she had regarded as an enemy, the one she had betrayed.
She was no longer that girl.
This Mia felt utterly secure in Korum’s love.
Over the past few days, their relationship had undergone yet another subtle shift. There was an openness to it now that had been missing before. Until they’d had that discussion – until he’d given her a choice – Mia had still had doubts about their relationship. It had been an uncomfortable feeling, knowing that he held all the power and had no qualms about using it – and she now realized that she’d held a part of herself back as a result, that she had still subconsciously resisted him.
Now, however, it was different – it felt different. Yes, she was still his charl, but she no longer felt like he owned her. He loved her enough to let her walk away, to relinquish his control over her, and that knowledge was like a balm to her soul, soothing the scars left by the tumultuous beginning of their affair.
Every evening, after dinner with her family, they had gone for a long walk on the beach and just talked. She’d learned about some of Korum’s past relationships (there had been many) and about the fact that he had never been in love before. He’d actually thought himself incapable of it. “It really caught me by surprise, the depth of my feelings for you,” he’d confessed, and she realized yet again how difficult it had been for him to let her go. The fact that he’d done it proved to her that his feelings were real – that their sexual liaison could ultimately become the genuine partnership she’d always hoped it would be.
And now, as their ship flew to Costa Rica, Mia reached over and squeezed Korum’s hand. “I love you,” she said, and watched as a warm smile appeared on his beautiful face.
Her life couldn’t possibly get any better.
Epilogue
They were returning.
Saur had failed, but the Krinar had suspected he would. Korum was too good of a fighter to be killed so easily. Of course, he hadn’t counted on Mia getting hurt. That part had been unacceptable. If his enemy hadn’t killed Saur, the K would’ve done so himself.
Soon she would be near him again. The Krinar raised his hand and stared at it, imagining himself touching her delicate flesh, stroking that silky skin. She would be so small, so fragile in his arms. So vulnerable. He could do anything he wanted to her, and she wouldn’t be able to resist.
His cock stirred at that thought, and he cursed his apparent inability to control himself. In anticipation of her arrival, he’d ventured out to a nearby x-club and gorged himself on human girls. All three of them had been pretty, with ambitions of a career in Hollywood. One had even had curly hair, though it was more of a dirty blond shade that hadn’t appealed to him nearly as much. He’d fucked them for hours, yet he’d left the place still unsatisfied.
He wanted
her
.
And soon he would be able to have her – and anything else he wanted. His week had been quite productive.
Another few days, and he’d be all set.
From the Author
Thank you for reading Close Obsession, the second book in the Krinar Chronicles series! I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please help other people find this book by leaving a review or mentioning this series to a friend.
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About the Author
Anna Zaires fell in love with books at the age of five, when her grandmother taught her to read. She wrote her first story shortly thereafter. Since then, she has always lived partially in a fantasy world where the only limits were those of her imagination. Currently residing in New York City, Anna is happily married to the man of her dreams and closely collaborates with him in the writing of the Krinar Chronicles.
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