In Cornelia's room…
James kicked the door to close and flung Cornelia on the bed.
Cornelia yelped in surprise, and she grimaced in preparation for the impact, but then she felt hot palms on her back that lowered her softly on the mattress.
Before she could regain her senses, James was on top of her, kissing her hungrily and swallowing her words before she could form any.
Both were practically naked, so there was a lot of skin-to-skin contact, the flimsy garments covering their crotch areas provided no obstacle for them to feel each other.
Cornelia could sense the urgency behind James' every move, and his masculine energy enveloped them both.
So far, James embraced Cornelia many times. He was always caring and gentle and considerate of her needs, and this time it was still all that, but it was different.
She could describe the experience as animalistic and raw, and she was drowning in his need to be with her. Was this how it would feel from the start if he was of age when they met? At that time, she didn't know him at all, and Cornelia didn't think she would be comfortable with a stranger feeling her out, even if that stranger was her soulmate. In a way, she was glad that they had this time to meet each other before doing the deed.
James' palms caressed her body with unexpected proficiency, setting her soul ablaze and she was surprised when he jumped off the bed.
'CRACK!'
Cornelia felt like someone poured a bucket of ice on her when she realized that James crushed a glass with his hand that was now balled into a bloodied fist.
"James!", Cornelia shrieked while scrambling off the bed.
She reached to grab his injured hand, but he jerked his arm out of her reach.
"Don't touch me.", he said breathily.
James walked to the open window to greedily inhale the air like he was suffocating.
Cornelia didn't know what he was doing, but that definitely looked like he was in distress.
"James, please… tell me what's going on."
James closed his eyes. "This… just… leave me alone."
"Not until you talk to me."
She touched his shoulder, and he twisted his body away.
"Don't", he squeezed through his teeth. "Why can't you leave?"
"I'm not leaving. This is my room.", she said stubbornly. The fact that he avoided her touch twice was killing her from the inside.
"Your room?", he asked while looking around, like it was the first time he heard about it. "Right. This is your room. I will leave."
"No!", Cornelia exclaimed and with one wave of her finger, the open window closed, and all three windows were shut now and shimmering in silvery light just like the door, and James knew that she locked them in.
James puffed his cheeks. "You want to know what's going on?"
"Yes."
"This is not right."
Cornelia realized that he was talking about what was almost happening on the bed. "What do you mean, not right? Don't you want it?"
"Yes! My desire for you is so strong that I had to cut my hand for the pain to help me regain control because I don't want to do something you will hate me for.", he responded in one breath.
"I wouldn't hate you."
James snorted. "Yeah, right."
"I'm not lying."
"But you are not telling the truth either."
Cornelia frowned. Did he call her a liar? "And you know what I'm thinking better than I do?"
James was looking straight into her eyes now. "I know that you are not willing, Cora. This is just the effect of the ceremony that did… something." He didn't tell her that his wolf told him they were mates, because that was not important. "Now you feel the arousal, but once it wears off you will be back in your thoughts about how no matter how much we love each other, we can't be together because I can't stay here, and you can't come with me since I'm not strong enough to protect you."
Cornelia's heart cracked. Those were her words and she said them more than once, but now that he said them… it hurt. Why did it all sound like James was the one who needed to compromise? Like he was the lacking one? Was there really no way for them to be together?
She felt guilt eating her up. James was her soulmate, yet she cornered him into a place where he didn't have a say, and where he felt inferior. What kind of a mate does that?
"It's my fault", she said. "Instead of looking for solutions, I was looking at obstacles."
She reached for his bleeding hand and was happy when he allowed her to inspect his injury.
James gritted his teeth and glared through the closed window like his mortal enemy was right there, all in the effort to ignore the magnificent sparks of their bond that prickled his skin wherever they touched.
Cornelia frowned at the sight of glass that was stuck in his palm and she ushered him to sit on the chair. She kneeled by his side and started carefully pulling the glass pieces out of his flesh.
Cornelia's heart shook with emotions she never experienced before. The tent in his crotch area was proof that he was aroused. Just a minute ago, she was on the bed under him, willing to let him take her and satisfy his hunger, yet he didn't. He choose to deny himself what he wanted and to harm himself, so he doesn't harm her.
Can he be any sweeter?
Cornelia's hands moved steadily to remove the glass as she talked.
"Since I've felt the bond, and I found out about your background, I was only seeing one obstacle after another. If you are just a guy from Damon's pack, it would be easy. If you are a guy from Talia's pack, it would be easier. But instead of making it easy, the forces beyond us decided that we should be soulmates and things became… challenging."
With the last piece of glass out of his hand, Cornelia murmured ancient chants that sounded like a lullaby, and his wounds closed at the rate visible to the naked eye.
After confirming that his wounds were gone, Cornelia spoke again.
"I am the second-ranked witch in the Silver Flame Coven, and you are the smartest person I've ever met. With my power and your mind, we have a lot to work with, and if anyone can make this work, that will be the two of us."
She raised his gaze to see his endlessly blue eyes trained on her.
"What are you saying?", he asked stiffly due to the tension that built within him. His wolf was stirring his emotions and muddling with his mind, urging him to claim mate, but James resisted.
"I am saying", she paused to lick her lips nervously. "We are mates, and we will find a way to be together."
James stared at Cornelia, and she could clearly see emotions washing over him. Disbelief, happiness, doubt, hope.
James waited for her to say more, but that was it. He chided himself. What was he expecting? Just the fact that she said how they should try to be together was progress.
