A Heart For The Heartless

The next day, Mikhail began delivering popular crime and thriller novels to Cassy’s room to keep her entertained. Despite himself, he did not like to see her sitting on the living room sofa, staring into empty space as she waited for him.

She was not here to be a prisoner. She was here because she was his mate, and he wanted to protect her and keep her for himself at the same time.

Kill two birds with one stone, as they say.

Since then, she would be reading a book every time he returned home. Surprisingly, she still waited for him, but at least she had something to distract herself in the meantime.

It was still a little strange that she refused to explore the rest of the mansion, but that was understandable since she still did not trust any of the vampire servants here.

Three days later, Cassy stopped him before he could go to his room after returning home as usual.

“I’ve already read most of them,” she told him.

Mikhail raised an eyebrow. “What is this about?”

“The novels,” she said. “The ones that you’ve been sending to my room each day. I had already read most of them before since they’re pretty popular.”

“I see.”

“Also, I refuse to read some of them, so I shoved them to the side.”

He stared at her. “Why not?”

She gave him an unimpressed look. “They were written by vampire authors. I refuse to read books like that.”

“I see. Then please give them to Deidre,” he said calmly. “I will dispose of them immediately and make sure to bring you the ones authored by humans instead.”

“I appreciate it.”

She then moved aside to let him return to his room in peace.

An interesting woman, this human. Mikhail suspected that she was feeling a little more comfortable with him now that she was talking to him so bluntly, as if it were a natural thing.

The next day, Mikhail promptly sent her titles that weren’t particularly well-known or popular. Rather, they were what some reviews called ‘hidden gems’ and ‘underrated’.

Thanks to his vampire abilities, Mikhail was able to read quickly, and after reading through five chapters of numerous books, he selected the ones that were decent enough to give to Cassy.

He admitted to himself that the books were indeed intriguing, but he would not confess that to her yet. After all, he still had his vampire pride.

He did this for the next ten days, with Cassy looking noticeably better as time went on. Every time he came home, he found her reading in the living room. Sometimes he would join her in silence, and sometimes he would read quietly with her, curious to see what she found so interesting in the story.

To his mild surprise, she seemed to like dark and tragic stories. She even mentioned how ‘cathartic’ it felt to read such books. It was a bit strange, but not completely out of character.

Perhaps he had a misconception that people only liked happy stories with happy endings.

This was the first time he had shown such interest in a human, to the point of accompanying them while they were busy with their hobbies.

‘Josef and Sarim would be horrified to see me like this,’ he thought to himself dryly.

One night, she was waiting for him when he came home.

She wasn’t reading anything this time.

“What is it?” Mikhail said, stopping in front of her. “You look like you have something to say.”

“I’m out of books,” she said simply.

“…Are you trying to make me spoil you?”

“I’m not forcing you to do anything. You’ve been doing things of your own accord so far.”

Mikhail raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and went to his room, signaling the end of the conversation.

Cassy, on the other hand, watched him go, an unreadable expression forming on her face.

She had been living here for almost a month now, but she still couldn’t quite get used to it. She didn’t have a choice, and she knew better than to offend one of the most powerful vampires in the world.

However, in order to gain his favor and prevent him from seeing her as a human liability or threat, she had to act normal with him and not show her fear and doubts in any way. In this way, she could attract his attention and make him interested in her.

How strange that she had to do this when they were supposed to be mates…

Cassy leaned back against the sofa and thought about the moments they had shared so far. There wasn’t much, to be honest. Besides, the only time he was ‘intimate’ with her was when he drank her blood.

Surprisingly, he was quite considerate and did not feed from her very often. Even though he had nonchalantly expressed a few times before that he found her blood more delicious than others, he still exercised restraint when it came to her health.

It was times like that that reminded her that they were indeed mates. That he cared for her, albeit in his own strange way.

‘I can’t believe I’m starting to get used to him and his drinking sprees,’ she thought darkly as she lifted her hand, her fingers brushing the side of her neck where Mikhail often sunk his fangs. It still throbbed, but the pain was dull now.

A vampire’s bite was euphoric in nature, and it brought her an embarrassing kind of pleasure whenever he drank from her. But whenever the deed was done, she felt terrible afterwards.

As if she had committed some kind of sin. As if she had done something from which she could not turn back.

It was a wicked feeling, like a guilty pleasure of some sort. She knew that she wasn’t supposed to be enjoying him feeding from her and even living together with him under the same roof, but…

It was complicated. Everything was just so, so complicated right now.

Cassy heaved a sigh, closing her eyes.

It wasn’t even three months yet and her resolve was already wavering.

She needed to straighten herself out this time. Mate or not, it was never a good thing to fall in love with a vampire.

Especially when she hadn’t even seen his true nature yet.

Sooner or later, he would show his true colors. He would prove to her that he was one of those heartless, bloodthirsty maniacs who saw humans only as food, as disposable objects, as playthings.

Even if she had to reject him and suffer pain for the rest of her life, at least she would have her dignity.

‘You’re not fooling me, Mikhail Ivanov,’ Cassy thought to herself, eyes narrowing in distaste. ‘Not me. Not ever.’