Kissed by a Dark Prince(35)

Olivia trembled in response, the shivery hot ache returning, running through her and driving her to touch him again. She swept her fingers over his side as she placed the remaining pads on him. He leaned towards her and she looked up at him, anticipation swirling inside of her, cranking her so tightly that she was tiptoeing towards him, bringing her lips to his before she got control of herself.

Loren looked disappointed when she placed the mask over his mouth and nose and tightened it.

That feeling echoed in Olivia, and this time it wasn’t a product of the bond. It was becoming harder and harder to resist her desire to know his lips and to feel his arms around her, gathering her close as he kissed her. She wanted it as much as he did and resisting it hurt her just as much too.

She stepped away from him, giving Bleu a clear view of him. She kept her gaze on her feet as she told him which pads to stick where and waited until he announced that he was done before she moved to the computer and checked his vitals to ensure he had followed her instructions correctly.

Both Loren and Bleu’s vitals were coming in perfectly.

“What size feet do you both have?” She rummaged through the boxes of running shoes they kept on hand.

“Why is that necessary information?” Loren looked down at his bare feet. “It does not seem relevant.”

Olivia held up a pair of orange and black running shoes. “For your feet.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Bleu shook his head at the same time as Loren.

“We would rather run barefoot. How does this thing work?” Loren stepped onto the machine and grabbed the handlebars when the belt beneath his feet moved. “I see.”

“Just start out slowly. Try to keep pace with each other,” Olivia said but Bleu paid her no attention and picked up pace at a frightening speed.

Her eyes shot to the computer. He was going too fast. The machine was reading him at over twenty miles per hour already.

“Slow it down. This is about stamina. It’s not a race, Bleu.”

Loren growled. Olivia made a mental note not to use Bleu’s name or speak to him specifically while he had his top off. The effect of the bond was fascinating though. Loren clearly regretted his actions whenever he attacked or threatened Bleu, as if he had no control over himself. Did the bond drive him to protect her from any male he viewed as a threat, whether it was a threat of physical harm or a threat of stealing her away from him?

She couldn’t exactly ask him. If she did, he would think she desired Bleu and wanted his attention, or something equally as ridiculous. She didn’t want to provoke him into attacking his friend again.

Olivia studied them on the computer, already feeling the effect of Loren’s running, even though he had only been at it for a few minutes. His statistics were far lower than Bleu’s, and she felt terrible as she watched them deteriorating. They were still above the levels of an extremely fit human, measuring high above Archangel’s best hunters, but Bleu was in a different league. He showed zero signs of fatigue. His pulse was slow and steady, and his breathing was just as even and unaffected by his running.

She looked over her shoulder at them. Both men were keeping pace with each other, but there was a marked difference in their gait. Bleu had effortless strides. Loren was struggling with his and already a fine sheen of sweat coated his back.

Olivia lost track of time as she stared at his back, mesmerised by the way his muscles shifted beneath his pale skin. His markings flashed over his shoulders and down his back, and he growled, turning his head slightly towards her.

Did she make that happen?

Whenever the markings had done something similar back when he had taken her to his castle, he had glared at her as though she had caused them to flare. Did they irritate him?

They shimmered again and her heart picked up this time, pounding harder. A sudden rush of desire blazed through her blood and Loren frowned and ran faster, pushing himself. Olivia’s head spun and she struggled to breathe.

“Slower... please?” she whispered and leaned over to clutch her knees. They trembled, her legs feeling achy and tired, as if she was the one running.

Loren slid her an apologetic look and nodded, decreasing his speed.

The effect of the bond was fascinating.

The moment he had disappeared from her apartment, she had felt different. Normal. When he had returned, the feeling of being linked to him had come back too. Did it increase when they were close together and decrease when they were apart? Was distance a factor in the strength of the effect of the bond?

The nerdy science junkie in her wanted to leave the room and go down the hall to see if the effect of the bond diminished as she moved further away from Loren, and so she wouldn’t feel Loren’s fatigue or his racing heartbeat as much. She couldn’t leave him though, not even in the name of her research into his species.