Chương 8: Security Feed

The driver dropped Margo off in the garage at the third-floor entrance. Inside the door she turned immediately to her right and took the private elevator to the penthouse on the forty-seventh floor. She slid her key-card into the door and went inside. Margo was sure that Antione had heard the elevator since it went right by his apartment on the forty-sixth floor and would be up shortly.

Margo went into her bedroom and took a quick shower before dressing in sweatpants and a band shirt. She had a lot of band shirts from people playing at the club. Margo brushed out her hair quickly and headed to the kitchen for a bottle of blood wine. She grabbed a glass and uncorked the bottle, taking both the glass and the bottle to her study. Margo needed to see her mate and she couldn't wait any longer.

Margo wanted Cora in 27C for several reasons. First, it was a beautiful apartment and Margo hoped that it would make her happy, next was the fact that there was no access to the twenty-seventh floor for residents or visitors unless they were staying on that floor.

This was because the twenty-fifth through twenty-eighth floors were designated for visiting vampire dignitaries from other clans. The last reason was because the twenty-seventh floor was designed to house clan's hostile to her own clan and had a very advanced security system.

This system had cameras in every room in the apartment. Margo recognized that this could be considered creepy or stalking. That it might even be construed as wrong to watch her mate like this, but the truth was that she was a very old very mature vampire, and her instincts were stronger than a human.

She was supposed to keep her distance from her mate which would be nearly impossible if her mate had been another vampire that could protect herself. Cora wasn't a vampire. She was a weak human and if Margo was unable to verify that she was okay, that she was safe, that she was happy…

Well then it would be entirely possible that Margo could lose control of her instincts, meaning she would hunt her and claim her by turning Cora. If she did that right now Margo knew she would have to kill Cora as she would be uncontrollable if turned under the eclipse and they both would be lost. Margo vowed that she would give Cora privacy and not watch her in a compromising way, but she had to know she was okay. So, her inner monster wouldn't take control and ruin everything.

Margo poured a glass of wine and took a large gulp before setting the glass beside her laptop. She popped the lid up and powered up the machine. She took another long sip of her wine while she waited. After typing in her passcode, she pulled up the application for the tower's security system. Then from a list of available cameras she chose the file marked twenty-seven and then file 'C'.

Her monitor filled with screen icons, and each had a designation and a running clock. The clocks matched the one in the bottom corner of her screen. They were showing live video feeds. Margo started checking the rooms for Cora and found her in the bathroom and she went to click off the screen but realized she was in the tub with the jets on and she couldn't see anything through the churning water, so Margo left it on. She would close the screen when she went to get out of the water.

Margo took the moment to study her mate, but the angle wasn't good to see her face. Then Cora laid her head back on the lip of the bathtub and Margo was able to see her. Cora's face was heart shaped with full pouty lips and long dark eyelashes over high cheekbones. The water must be hot because her cheeks were rosy.

Cora sat up quickly hearing something and looking around. Margo became alarmed and had half risen from her seat when Cora settled back down and went back to bathing. Margo sat back down slowly. Her mate was uneasy and jumpy. Was she uncomfortable here? It was her first night in a new place, so she probably was.

Margo reminded herself to give mate time to adjust before panicking. Margo finished the glass of wine and poured another. By the time she was finished Margo noticed Cora beginning to rise from the tub. Margo closed the screen and opened the bedroom screen assuming that she would be heading to bed.

Margo jumped up to distract herself from her naked mate and when to the mailbox retrieving the file full of paperwork for Cora's employment that HR had sent over. Margo wanted to have everything ready for Cora first thing tomorrow so that she would feel secure here. Margo would finish putting everything together after Cora went to bed and her mind would calm down, knowing that her mate was well. This situation wasn't ideal but hopefully it will work for now.

Sitting back down Margo tossed the file on the desk and glanced at the screen. She had expected Cora to be in bed getting ready to sleep. What she hadn't expected was Cora to be splayed across the white duvet completely nude. Margo sucked in a gasp of breath. She certainly hadn't expected what her mate was doing right at this very moment. She hadn't expected to see her perfect innocent mate to be pleasuring herself or the look of ecstasy on Cora's face.

She hadn't been expecting to want to join her so insistently. Cora looked so beautiful that all she wanted to do was touch her. Caress her cheek and pull herself close to her mate's body. It was an overwhelming feeling made more so by the fact that Margo had never felt anything like it before in her long life.

Margo growled viciously as those instincts she was worried about slammed through her aggressively. Cora shouldn't need to do this herself when Margo was right here. Her instincts screamed that her mate needed her. With every ounce of will Margo possessed she reached over and snapped the laptop closed with a loud snap. She was trying gain control past the rushing sound in her ears and the voice screaming "mate, claim, mate, my mate, claim, mate mine, and a lot of curse words."