The Queen's Forbidden Love

Chapter 15

Claudia's POV:

I quickly walked down the steps to the driveway to get to the car as fast as I could in hopes of a certain topic not starting before we got in the car. I would much rather be as far away from this area as possible before Bella started to ask questions.

"Claudia!" I heard her start in just as I got to the driver's side of the car.

"Not here!" I responded as I opened the door and got in.

I turned the car on and sat there, doing what I could to calm my breathing and slow my heart rate down. I was still feeling the adrenaline rush of being with Jovian and the excitement of his touch and kiss. I knew that my face was more than likely flushed because my entire body was feeling hot! I don't know what it is about him that gets me so hot and bothered but maybe it isn't really him but the idea of sneaking around with him. The fear of getting caught with him.

I hadn't realized that Bella hadn't gotten in the car until it had felt like hours since I sat in the driver's seat, only to notice that she wasn't in the seat next to me. That's when I happened to look to my side out the window and see that she was standing outside of my door with her arms folded over her chest with an angered look on her face. I pressed the button to open the window and her angered look didn't falter.

"Aren't you going to get in?" I asked her and all she did was shake her head.

"Your license was burnt to a crisp, remember?" She asked, reminding me that everything was burnt by the demon.

I breathed in deep just before I grabbed the door handle and opened the door. I stepped out, keeping my eye on her as she watched me. I walked around the car silently and got in. This time, she got in the car as well.

"I know more happened than you're admitting," She suddenly said as she backed out of the driveway.

"I saw you kissing him and you were more than willing," She said as she looked at me before putting the car in gear.

"Look..." I started to say and she shook her head, stopping me from continuing on.

"No, I don't want your excuses. I'm more than aware of how naive I actually am when it comes to all of this. Leaving my coven to learn from you has taught me that I have missed out on a lot of learning. I know this and I know that I don't know or understand why it is you are fighting the connection that you have with him. I also know that for some reason, you won't fill me in or at least tell me something that will help with the confusion." She continued to tell me and I just sat there and listened.

She wasn't wrong with anything that she has said to me. Maybe I had myself believing that she didn't know as much as she did. I know that I've told her about him and what we did together. I know that she's aware of the dreams and thoughts I've had but I guess I was just turning my back on the idea of her knowing how I truly felt about him. Maybe I thought if I could hide everything from her I was also hiding it from myself. I obviously wasn't doing a very good job because neither she nor I was convinced.

"I..." I started again but she was quick to cut me off.

"No, let me finish," She snapped as she pulled into the parking space of the gym where the man was exercising.

"Jovain seems like a good man, Claudia. It isn't fair to him. I've never seen nor heard of a vampire treating a human let alone a witch like he does with you. Sure, I've heard about Azariah's human but the royal vampires aren't cold-blooded killers. They have humanity. A turned vampire doesn't. They don't have beating hearts and they can't feel love the same way. The only thing I can figure is because of how old Jovian is, is the reason for how well he can control himself and allow himself to feel something for you." She told me as she turned in her seat and looked at me.

"If you aren't going to accept him, treat him as he should be treated and how he has tried to treat you, then let him go. Let him find another that is willing to give him what he deserves." She told me with a serious look on her face.

"It's not that I don't want to, Jezabella," I told her as I looked away from her and into one of the windows of the gym.

"Then what is it? You never actually tell me anything." She pushed but I kept my eyes on the building.

"For one, he will live forever...I won't." I told her but could tell with the way she breathed that she didn't feel that was everything.

"Then, have him turn you. It's not like it's hard for them to do and I'm sure he's more than aware of how to do it," She snapped in irritation.

"I can't." I snapped back as I opened the door.

"Why?" She shouted at me.

"It's against the royal law for the royal witch to be turned into anything other than what she was born as," I told her just before I shut the door and walked away from the car.

I got to the door of the gym and took a deep breath before opening the door. As soon as I was in the building, I could smell the scent of the man and knew that he was indeed in the building. I stood there and looked around the open room. There were several men of a variety of body types along with women of the same. The women were mostly all on the cardio machines while the men were doing what they could to enlarge the muscles that they didn't have. I would admit, a few of the men did have a few good-looking muscles going for them but I couldn't stop comparing what I saw on them with what I know Jovian has.

Jovian may have a lot of scars on his body but each scar in my mind is what gives him his story. His history and defines who he is. He is also very well built everywhere while several of these men were mostly working their arms and shoulders and not taking notice of how unproportioned their bodies were starting to look with the rest of them.

As I looked around the men, trying to see if I could figure out which one was the one I was looking for and hoping that he wasn't one that was excessively overweight or stickly thin, I hadn't noticed the scent of the man increase as a man took over the space just to the side of me.

"If it wasn't for my heritage, I wouldn't ever think a woman as gorgeous as you would be here seeking me out," I heard his voice that also told me just by the sound of him that he was the one I was looking for.

"What makes you think I am here looking for you?" I asked him without looking at him, keeping my eyes on the other possibilities.

"For one, you didn't bring any clothes to change into to work out. I doubt you are going to work out in a skirt and blouse." He told me with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Maybe there's another that I'm here for," I told him as I slowly turned and looked up at him.

His hair was wet and he smelled of shampoo and body wash, indicating that we had almost missed him and that chat with Jovian was almost a bad idea. He was already changed in his everyday clothes with his bag over his shoulder. He was cleanly shaven with a clean haircut. He wasn't all that bad looking in the face and even though he was a little shorter than Jovian, he did appear to be one that probably did come to the gym regularly. Even in his everyday clothes, I could tell that he had a chance of being fit. How tone and muscular he actually was, I don't know but there was at least a chance and a chance that I might find out.

"You know just as well as I do, that I can also sense if there are others of the bloodlines near me and I can assure you, there aren't." He told me with a lift of his lip, showing me that he also had that perfect smile with perfect teeth.

Probably all fake because I can tell just by his attire that he has more than enough money to pay for his looks. I guess it doesn't really matter. It's not like I will probably stay with him. The wedding band on his left hand is more than enough to tell me that it would be a one-time thing if I were to choose to go with him. I doubt he would be willing to leave his wife for me anyway. They aren't exactly raised to expect anything more from the royal witch other than a one-night stand.

"Would you like to go out and grab something to eat? A coffee maybe?" I asked him and his look quickly became puzzled.

"Claudia, you and I both know that you aren't here to get to know me. I also know that you have already seen my wedding band and know that I wouldn't want anything more than what was destined to happen. Why try to make this whole thing more personal than it needs to be?" He asked and I suddenly felt like what I was doing with these men was stupid and wrong.

He was right. I'm only here for one thing, he's only here for one thing. Us going out together as if we wanted to get to know each other would be just a waste of time.

"You're right! Let's just get this done and over with so you can go on with your life and I can go on with mine." I told him and his puzzled look fell from his face, allowing for a more relaxed smile to form back on his lips.

"Do you know of somewhere decent we could go? I'm not all that familiar with this area," I told him and gave him the best fake smile I could muster up.

"Why not just back at the place you're staying?" He asked.

"Probably not a good idea. I didn't travel alone," I informed him and he nodded in acceptance.

"There's a fairly high-end hotel down the street from here. We can walk there, it's only about two blocks," He informed me.

I nodded to let him know that was okay and he headed to the door. I took one more look around the gym, almost as if I felt like I was betraying Jovian, and was checking to make sure no one saw what I was doing and would report back to him. Thankfully, no one in the room seemed to know that the two of us existed. They were all too busy working out, listening to their music, or watching the television that was on mute with the captions on.

"Are you coming?" I suddenly heard him, snapping me out of my thoughts and turning to look at him.

"Yeah, sorry," I told him with a nod and headed out the door with him.

---

"What is your name?" I asked him as we walked down the sidewalk with the hotel in sight.

"Does it matter if you know my name? You and I know that I will never see you again after tonight." He told me.

"I know...it's just," I started to say as I looked towards the sidewalk.

"It's not necessary. I will make it go as fast as I can, this way I can get back home to my wife and three kids," He told me and I just nodded.

Well, I guess getting to know them a little or enough about each of them to decide which one I want is going to be a little more difficult than I thought. I may not even see the other three at all if I end up going through with this tonight. So far he isn't as bad as the other few I've come across over the years. I'm also pretty certain he's the one who lives in the suburbs. I doubt he was the one that was in the strip club or the bar. At least, I would hope he wasn't since he has a wife and children at home.

"Are you okay?" He asked me when he stopped just outside of the hotel doors.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told him as I looked up at him.

"Look, I can already tell that you don't feel right about this. I can see that you feel that you're cheating on someone or maybe you don't like the idea of me cheating on my wife but we both knew this had a possibility of happening when we were young. Nothing tonight will ever be leaked back to my wife. She knows nothing of this life, the realization of supernaturals and I plan on keeping it that way," He told me as he stood there, waiting for me to make a decision.

"You're right, let's get this done and over with," I told him quickly and opened the door.

I walked over to the check-in counter and paid for the room. I planned on being the one to pay anyway to keep the chance of his wife finding out as low as possible. Once I had the key we headed to the elevators. We stood in silence as we traveled to the 14th floor of the building. I walked down the hallway to the room and unlocked the door. Once we were in, I made sure to lock the door with the chain.

When I turned around, I saw him setting his bag of gym clothes down on the floor next to the bed. I watched him as he sat down and took his tennis shoes off. I felt really out of place and awkward. This didn't feel right at all and it made me wonder how all the royals before me were able to do this and feel right about it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves and heart the best that I could but all I did was make my heart race more and the shaking in my hands worse. I opened my eyes, only to see him lifting his shirt off of his body, exposing his very toned and hard abs. Well, I guess that answers my question from earlier about how fit he was.

Before he had a chance to do anything more with his clothing, I walked quickly over to him, grabbed him by the face with both of my hands and pulled him down for a kiss.