Raphael grinned at Thea. It was so funny to watch that her running reflexes didn’t go away. But this time there was some exception, because now she was determined to fight back. Fight back against him!

This realization hit him hard in the gut.

Of course, while she was unconscious, he repeatedly imagined in his head their meeting and her reaction to his presence. He had assumed that she would not welcome him with open arms, but he could not have imagined that she would immediately start attacking him.

Obstinate girl.

His palms itched to spank her ass, but that was the thought he hadn’t thought to share with her yet.

Her expression was very angry, but the way she weakly attacked him was more like a game than a battle and it made him smile. He knew that no matter how angry Thea was at him, she was still the kind soul who wouldn’t hurt anyone first. However, there was another option and it could only be a warm-up, because her furrowed fluffy eyebrows were too much brought together.

Only one thought was spinning in Raphael’s head: would she be able to give him an opportunity to explain himself and would she be able to forgive him?

Although he cared little about forgiveness, he had long ago decided for himself that he would return her anyway, even if she hated him, even if he would never wait for her forgiveness. After all, he has already said that she belongs to him, and he does not just let go of what is valuable to him.

After Marcel left, left face to face with Raphael, Thea felt a lack of security. His piercing scarlet eyes seemed to lick her from the top of her head to her heels and this made her heart beat treacherously, so loud and strong that she felt the vibration of her own chest. But for him, she pretended to be unperturbed, as if this heartbeat was caused by nothing more than a recent run.

However, Raphael was not so easy to fool with this trick, because he saw how the blush spread over her delicate cheeks, how nervously she bit her lower lip and often flapped her eyelashes, overwhelmed with tension.

- Do you want to bury me under a layer of snow? - he asked, innocently batting his eyelashes.

- I suppose it would be useless. - She hissed with seriousness, slightly raising her eyebrows.

- Does what you see in front of you frighten you? – he asked and grinned. – You don’t change at all.

- A lot has changed! - Thea raised her voice.

Her disheveled hair was in a complete mess, and her bare feet shifted, and her fingers curled up, feeling cold. With her hands, she pulled down her nightgown every now and then, feeling completely naked under this hot gaze.

Thea blamed herself for her weak character, she had to keep her anger at Raphael with a death grip, because she threatened to crumble into dust right here in front of him. She felt this impending shame of her own defeat.

- You lied to me! - her mouth bared, showing even white teeth. – You betrayed me, you hid your essence from me, you... you... you have no right to be angry that I left!

She lifted her chin, straightening her shoulders and emphasizing her perfect posture.

- You didn’t answer my question. – his voice sounded dry and demanding as he didn’t take his eyes off her and took a few steps forward.

Rafael wasn’t trying to scare her, so he walked so slowly that she could see his movements, so that she had time to make a decision to move away or stay in place. He didn’t even hope for her to come to him, but his heart thawed a little when he noticed that she was still standing in her place.

Magic still sparkled on the tips of Thea’s fingers, light discharges, like a toy lightning, reflected her inner tension, but she did not attack him, although she did not refuse to remove the magic.

The last step and he was right in front of her. There wasn’t even four inches between them, so she could feel his hot breath from his height. The single hairs on her face fluttered and tickled her cheeks under his breath.

For a while she looked anywhere but his face, but after a couple of silent moments hanging between them, she still raised her face again.

Her breath completely decided to leave her lungs, she froze and again felt the same feeling that so attracted her to him every time. A feeling that couldn’t be ignored, as if her body didn’t belong to her or he was skillfully manipulating her.

In his eyes, she no longer saw just a beautiful scarlet color. Knowing his essence, she now saw only blood spreading there, fresh and warm, as if someone had just let it out of an open wound. And yet they were the same eyes that had attracted her so much once.

She was brought out of her own thoughts by the warm touch of his hands on her hands, which were still sparkling with magic, but Raphael didn’t seem to care at all. At the touch, her magic began to crackle, burning his hands, but he didn’t even flinch when his fingers squeezed between her fingers, enveloping her with tenderness.

This was what Thea hated the most–her weakness, her restraint.

- I’m not afraid of you. - she wanted to say it loudly, but due to her unstable emotional state, the answer came out in a whisper.

One of his hands smoothly freed itself and slid up her forearm, leaving a tickling sensation on her skin until he touched her flushed, embarrassed cheek.

He liked the look of her in his eyes, her submissiveness, her embarrassment, her yielding to his hands, but as soon as his hand touched her cheek, she immediately recoiled, as if waking up from a dream and this made his gaze harden.

- If you have some kind of mesmerizing vampire charms, then I dare say they don’t work on me. - she looked at him boldly and pulled her hand out of his grasp, making an attempt to get around him, but was immediately captured in a secure cage from his hands.

He hugged her from behind, not letting her leave, and it was the best feeling he had experienced in a while. Now she was here with him, in his arms, albeit against her will, as if it were in a dream. He could feel her warmth, her trembling, and the doubts that plagued her.

Raphael slightly bowed his head, nuzzling her shoulder and felt her freeze, but this barely audible soft sigh did not escape his acute hearing and this prompted him to leave one single kiss on the delicate skin of her neck, pulling another sigh out of her mouth.

Her uneven heartbeat was a serenade to his ears, boosting his confidence in his own actions.

- You’re my little liar. I can hear your heart pounding, as if it’s in my ears. – another kiss, the touch of a hot, rough tongue, and Raphael pulled her closer, as if imprinting her into his own body.

Her back hit his hard chest and she closed her eyes, literally screaming in her head that she had to break out of his spell. But she couldn’t imagine that he wasn’t using any magic on her.

Every touch of his lips burned her skin, sending a wave of unrestrained goosebumps down her spine.

- If you don’t stop right now, then I can’t vouch for myself. – she hissed, drowning out another trembling sigh with words.

- I will stop if you promise that we will talk and you will listen to me. – he knew that she would have no choice but to agree, although he did not want to let her out of his arms at all. This was his paradise, a place of tranquility.

Finally, having given his consent, he unwittingly loosened his grip around her waist and she was able to slip out, stating that she needed to clean up.

She quickly trotted upstairs and found warm pants and Irma’s sweater in the master closet. She was terribly uncomfortable and ashamed to dig into other people’s things without asking, but it was the only right decision at the moment not to walk in a short nightgown and not provoke sexual activity of Rafael and at the same time, her own desires in relation to him.

Warm socks turned out to be very useful after she spent some time barefoot. Warmth began to spread through her muscles, warming and relaxing. After all, she was unaccustomed to such severe weather conditions, despite the fact that it was also winter in Riliya, but the temperature there rarely dropped below ten degrees.

Standing in front of the mirror in Marcus and Irma’s bedroom, Thea adjusted her clothes so that they fit more or less tolerably on her and pushed her hair back.

Her gaze immediately caught on one place of her body, which now looked virginally healthy. The scar on her neck that Raphael had left her has now disappeared without a trace. Eugene had healed her wound, but the scar was still an unsolved problem, and now it was gone.

She ran her fingers over the place where just a few days ago there was a scar, feeling the joy of his absence.

Raphael, who heard a lull in the room upstairs, decided to go up to see if she was all right when he noticed Thea standing at the mirror, carefully examining her neck.

- I’m really sorry about that time. – he said softly, drawing her attention in the mirror.

He came and stood behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

- If I had known right away that it was you, I wouldn’t have done this to you. - his fingers ran over the place where he had left her a wound. There was a note of regret in his voice, but Thea just frowned.

- I have too many questions for you. – she said and Raphael nodded, realizing that they were going to have a long conversation. - How did you know it was me?