Eclipse Sector (V-Clan #3)

12. Ivana

CHAPTER TWELVE

IVANA

Ransom walked quietly beside me, his steps not making a sound. Had his hand not brushed mine every few paces, I wouldn’t have even known he was there.

He sort of reminded me of Lorcan, except Ransom just seemed to be perpetually thoughtful, while Lorcan’s silence always felt ominous. Maybe because Lorcan was more intimidating by nature, his power palpable whenever in his presence.

Ransom didn’t strike me as all that daunting. Sure, he was big like most Alphas, but he had a gentleness to his touch that made him more teddy-bear-like than beast-like.

Cillian’s definitely not a teddy bear, I thought darkly, his energy swathing my being despite him walking over a hundred yards behind us.

The Elite had throttled the entire sector with his gifts the moment we’d arrived, and he’d yet to release anyone from his hold.

I hated it. That damn aura of his made focusing on Ransom all the more difficult.

“Would you like to watch a movie tomorrow?” Ransom asked me softly as we arrived at my igloo door. “Maybe one of the old ones? From before the Infected Era?”

Those three questions were more words than he’d said in the last hour. But the way his black eyes lit up with interest told me these old movies were important to him.

“I would love to,” I told him.

It was a bit of an exaggeration; the cinema had never really appealed to me. I preferred outdoor activities, like fencing, shooting, and running in wolf form. I also enjoyed playing computer games, especially puzzle-like ones that required me to think.

However, I understood that mating meant I needed to indulge in my partner’s desires, too.

“Okay.” He gave me a smile small, his hand lifting to caress my cheek.

It was a tender graze of his fingertips, one that drew his eyes down to my mouth. I parted my lips, wondering if he intended to kiss me already.

Do I want that? I marveled. Maybe. Yes. I… I think I do.

A kiss would help me determine how much chemistry existed between us, if my wolf desired him, if I liked him.

He seemed nice enough. But could I mate him?

I licked my lips, suddenly eager to find out.

His nostrils flared, his head angling toward mine.

I closed my eyes, waiting.

Then waited some more.

What…? I peeked at him, confused as to what was happening. I could feel his breath on my mouth, his face close to mine. But his gaze was no longer focused on me.

He was staring behind me.

At Cillian .

I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was there. Just like he’d been the entire way back to the igloo.

Our igloo , I realized. Fuck .

Ransom cleared his throat, his palm leaving my face as he took a step backward.

Double fuck , I growled in my mind.

“See you tomorrow, Ivana,” he said quietly.

Then shadowed before I could reply.

I narrowed my gaze at the space he’d just occupied, then slowly turned to find Cillian standing at the end of the path that led up to the igloo.

“You couldn’t have waited a little bit down the street for five minutes to give us some privacy?” I demanded, irritated as hell by him interrupting the end of my date.

He arched a brow and leaned against the dimly lit light post, the top of it dangling off over the vacant street to provide an ominous glow behind him. “I wasn’t aware that I needed to wait for anything.”

I couldn’t swallow back my responding growl, my irritation inflamed by the condescension underlining his tone. “No Alpha is going to want to date me with you hovering over me like this, Cillian. I need space so I can be properly courted.”

“My existence shouldn’t impact your courtships, Ivana. If an Alpha is worthy of you, he won’t care if I’m five feet away or a thousand feet away. Because I won’t even exist in his orbit.”

I blinked at him. “What?” That didn’t make any sense. “The Alpha energy is practically pouring off of you. Of course they’ll care that you’re here.”

He pushed off the post to walk toward me. “You’re wrong, Ivana.”

“Clearly, I’m not,” I argued, gesturing at the space Ransom had just stood in moments ago. “He vanished because you scared him off.”

“He disappeared because he’s not worthy of you and he knows it.”

My eyebrows shot upward. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Vana,” he said, only a foot away now. “He’s not worthy of you.”

I ignored the random nickname—one I’d never heard him use before—and focused on the latter part of his statements. “And who are you to decide that?”

“If he were good enough, he wouldn’t have cared that I was here. Fuck, he wouldn’t have even noticed. He’d have been too taken by you to sense my presence.” He cupped my cheek, his palm singeing my skin in a way that Ransom had not.

Stars, Cillian’s touch felt like a brand. An imprint. A claim .

Why couldn’t Ransom have felt that way?

Why was it only this way with him ?

“You deserve an Alpha who will only ever see you, Ivana,” Cillian went on, his thumb brushing my bottom lip. “An Alpha so obsessed with your presence that he forgets everything and everyone else around him. An Alpha who will kiss you without caring who is or isn’t watching.”

“Cillian…” I shivered, his name leaving me on a breath.

Because he was so close now.

So… so warm. So strong. So Cillian .

His dark eyes smoldered with hidden secrets, his intense gaze holding me captive as he bent his head to brush his lips against mine.

A soft touch.

An unexpected one.

And yet, it sent electricity humming through my being.

The hairs along my arms stood on end, my neck prickled, and my heart… my heart felt like it had just beat for the first time.

His mouth met mine once more, this time for longer than a beat. He lingered, inhaling and exhaling against my lips.

“Vana,” he whispered, the nickname sounding reverent on his tongue.

I couldn’t move. I could hardly even think. Too swept up in Cillian’s aura, his dominance, his claim.

I’d waited so long for this, dreamt of it, craved it since the night we’d first met.

Yet nothing compared to the experience of finally feeling his mouth against mine.

His palm left my cheek to grasp my nape, his tongue parting my lips as he deepened our embrace. I shuddered, lost to him. His scent. His commanding presence. His sensual taste.

I’d never been kissed like this.

Never been touched like this.

Never been consumed like this.

This was… this was…

Stop thinking, Vana, Cillian murmured, his tongue tracing mine. Just kiss me.

My pulse raced, my mind seeming to shut down as my body caved to Cillian’s will.

He owned me now. My mouth. My tongue. My sense of being.

Our kiss was no longer tender or soft, but passionate and all-encompassing. He set the pace and I matched it, my lips learning and memorizing his movements, perfecting my own skills to match his.

It was divine. Fated. Written in the stars .

This male was mine.

I was his.

And in this moment, everything was right. Everything was perfect. Everything was… magical .

Stars, I must be dreaming. But I didn’t care. I wanted more. I never wanted this to end. Cillian tasted minty. Refreshing. Like dawn on a cold winter’s day.

So crisp and perfect.

I moaned against him, my tongue dueling his in a way I’d never anticipated. He met me in kind, his hand on my nape a reminder of his dominating presence while his opposite arm cradled my lower back, holding me as though I was the most precious being in the world.

The contradiction left me winded, my body shaking with a need that reminded me of my estrus. It wasn’t time for me to go into heat. Wasn’t time for me to require a knot.

But I wanted his.

I wanted him .

“Cillian,” I breathed, my arms encircling his neck as I pressed myself tighter against him, ready for more. Ready for him. Ready for us .

Only, his mouth left mine, his lips trailing a hot path to my ear. “That’s how an Alpha should kiss you, love,” he murmured, his Irish lilt thicker than I’d ever heard it before. “Like you’re the most important woman in the world. Like he’s yours and only yours. Like he couldn’t give a fuck as to who might be observing from nearby.”

He pressed a kiss to my thundering pulse, then extracted himself from my arms and took a step back.

“Now go get some sleep.” He turned to leave, then paused and faced me once more, his palm finding my nape again. “ Not on the bloody sofa, Ivana. Sleep in the bed. Understand?”

I blinked at him, too confounded by the last few minutes to fathom words, let alone a response.

Did he just… kiss me… to prove a point?

Not kiss me because he wanted me.

But to… to show me how I should be kissed.

In front of our igloo. Out in the open. Where everyone and anyone might have seen us.

“Cillian—”

“Go to bed, Ivana,” he interjected. “You have a busy schedule tomorrow—a movie date with Ransom and before that, a brunch date with Prince Cael.”

What? I was struggling to understand. A… what?

“Prince Cael sent a message a bit ago saying he intends to take you out to brunch at nine,” Cillian explained, likely having heard my confusion.

Except he hadn’t understood my question at all.

I wasn’t even sure I understood. Because this… this didn’t make any sense. Us talking about Ransom and Cael. Right after… right after…

Cillian kissed ? —

“You need sleep,” Cillian said, interrupting my thought. “And I need to do my security rounds. Good night, Ivana.”

Rather than shadow, he simply walked away.

Without a backward glance.

I almost called out after him, but I couldn’t seem to catch my breath. My heart… was no longer beating.

A movie date with Ransom.

Brunch at nine.

With Prince Cael.

Cillian’s words made it sound like he expected me to allow the other Alphas to court me.

Why would he want that after kissing me?

Unless… unless that kiss didn’t mean what I think it meant.

Which suggests…

I swallowed, my mind slowly piecing together everything that had just happened.

“That’s how an Alpha should kiss you.”

“Like you’re the most important woman in the world.”

“Like he’s yours and only yours.”

“Like he couldn’t give a fuck as to who might be observing from nearby.”

That bastard…

Cillian had been demonstrating what I should expect from the Alphas courting me. He hadn’t kissed me because he’d wanted to, but because he’d wanted to set my expectations.

What the fuck? I thought, glaring in the direction he’d walked off in. It was too late for me to ask that question aloud. I couldn’t even see him now, my mind having taken too long to process his kiss.

And hell if I was going to try to talk to him telepathically.

The last thing I wanted was for him to be inside my mind. To hear the chaos floating around. The hurt .

He’d just given me a pity kiss.

After telling me that Ransom wasn’t good enough for me because he hadn’t been able to kiss me in front of Cillian.

I growled. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

How the hell was I supposed to find an Alpha mate with Cillian bestowing pity kisses on me? Not only did I smell like him—thanks to sharing this damn igloo—but he’d basically branded my mouth.

And for what?

To teach me a lesson on sensuality.

Out of pity .

I shoved the door open to our igloo and stomped inside, livid with myself for giving in to his touch. Yeah, I’d dreamt of it for years. And yeah, that kiss had been far better than any fantasy I’d ever concocted.

But the cruel reality of why he’d kissed me destroyed everything about the moment.

Stripping off all my layers of clothes, I went to take a shower.

“Sleep in the bed,” he’d said.

Fuck you, I thought in reply. Fuck you and your mouth and your hands and your demands. Fuck. You.

Telling me not to sleep on the couch.

Well, joke’s on him.

I’ll sleep in the fucking bathtub instead.

It was the only way I’d rid myself of his scent .

And it wasn’t like I would be resting much anyway.