The night was excruciatingly long; the wind howled outside, stirring up small sand storms. But all Siroos could dwell into and feel was his mate. She was in a healing sleep now, lying comfortably in his strong arms. His blue halo completely surrounded her as if he didn’t wish for anyone to even approach her.
The tips of his rough knuckles slowly rubbed her pink cheek. The skin so soft, unlike his. Never for a second his desperate gaze did waver from her.
The dips and ridges of her neck were crafted with perfection as if gods had all the time in the world to carve her with perfection.
The Cupid-shaped lips curled just the right amount, and his mind wondered how they would taste like when she would finally let him caress them.
Soft as those dew-kissed petals of a morning flower.
He had been bestowed with a gem and he failed in protecting her, in keeping the promise he made to her.
The burdens of his heart got heavier as the darkness of the night slowly abated to be replaced by the first rays of the dawn and yet she didn’t stir.
The tranquillity and serenity on her face were priceless. This connection which he sensed with her went way beyond the few days he had known her. He didn’t quite understand the complexities this new relationship held. All he felt was being responsible for her, for he had claimed her in front of her kingdom; she was his responsibility now.
"Forgive me for being so negligent in my duties," he whispered guiltily. The beast spirits inside of him paced restlessly. They wanted the culprit dead.
What baffled Siroos was no detection of scent on his entry to her room, except hers. If one of his pack members had entered the room as a snake and bitten her, he would have detected the scent.
He would handle this matter once she woke up; for now, all he wished was to stare at her ethereal beauty for an eternity. For those rich amethyst-shaded eyes to flutter open and stare back at him.
For her to bicker with him and call him barbarian. Deep down he loved it whenever she called him that.
The slow rise and fall of her chest kept his breath going. The very beats of her heart were like a beacon of light on a lighthouse guiding him home amidst a wrecking storm that was his own heart.
That elusive fragrance which oozed out of her pores faintly soothed his emotional burdens and he couldn’t help but take deep breaths.
He gently rubbed her arm, the velvety softness felt so good against the hard calluses of his fingertips. She wore no jewellery, unlike her sisters whom he had seen laden with them.
A silent reminder he made to get her the most luxurious of them. She would be his queen and he would bring her the finest of the finest adornments.
He knew he should lay her down on her bedding but he couldn’t bring himself to let her go from his arms and sever the connection.
As the first rays of the rising sun entered through the mesh-covered hole near the ceiling, Cassandra finally stirred in his hold.
The new day brought glad tidings and she slowly opened her eyes.
Her glossy gaze fell on his worriedly handsome face as his fleshy lips stretched, and he tried to smile.
"Hey! Princess."
Cassandra let her brain acclimatise with her surroundings and understand what had occurred.
The bits and pieces of what had transpired came back to her. Like a jerk reaction, her body propelled forward and she tried to sit up.
"Easy, keep lying down. You were poisoned." His hand gently pushed her back so her head would rest on his thick bicep again.
"I thought I was going to die," she professed, her cheeks shading the colour of rose as she realised where she had been lying. She was in his arms, sleeping in his lap.
"That can’t happen on my watch. We gave you the antidote, the healer said you will wake up in a few hours," he tenderly informed her as both of their eyes flickered towards her wound. Siroos’s hand gently touched the side of her thigh making her skin dance with those delicious sparks.
"Does it pain?" Siroos slowly asked as his fingers crawled above her bandage and further pulled up her flimsy night dress, revealing more and more smooth skin to his starved eyes.
There was no pain, the potion seemed to have done its trick but there certainly was an itch growing inside of her. The itch for his palm to join his wandering fingers on her upper limb.
"I don’t feel any discomfort." Cassandra heavily breathed out, trying to keep her emotions buried deep down. But he had a knack for plucking them out and starkly displaying them.
"Good or I would kiss away every speck of pain that would remain. Tell me what the snake looked like?" He asked in such a casual tone while his fingers and eyes remained on her naked flesh.
"Green and angry. It hissed at me before biting me and scurrying away," Cassandra recalled and a shudder went through her at the horrible memory.
Siroos quickly clutched the inner part of her smooth thigh while his arm securely wrapped around her head.
"Don’t worry, once I find it, that will be the last moment it will breathe. I will bury it with that audacity to hurt what’s mine. You are mine."
His voice was embroiled in frostiness so deep that it sent shivers through Cassandra’s body. She had seen his ruthlessness first hand and now it was going to unleash on a mere snake.
But then the idea of that snake being human erupted in Cassandra’s brain and her heart jolted with deep worries, the ones she didn’t wish to explore.
No, it couldn’t be.
But he had already deciphered what she was merely thinking.
The tip of his index finger’s nail traced her inner thigh as he spoke in a hushed but bone-chilling tone as if ruthless was his second name.
"Even if it’s a member of my pack."
His crimson eyes wavered to her, holding her hypnotised.