“Thank you,” she murmurs and smiles. It’s a small, simple twitch of her lips, but her eyes tell me it’s real. “I’d like that.”
I wonder if she knows what I meant to say. I’ve found that love is a dangerous word. Something I thought I understood, but I now know better than to throw around. Love means surrender, and I can’t allow anyone to have that power over me again.
Callie pulls away, laughing awkwardly while tucking her hair behind her ears. “Yeesh. Look at us. It’s your birthday, and here I am being mopey about clothes.”
She grabs one of the towels, walks over to the side of the bed, and throws it over one of the pillows.
“Right. Let’s get you fed before the others show up.” As a blush spreads across her cheeks, and she quickly adds, “Not that we’re doing anything they shouldn’t know about. Just that it might be…uncomfortable to, you know, while they’re here.” A breath whooshes out of her as she flops down on the bed. “Is there an etiquette to this kind of thing?”
Laughing, I sit down next to her. “Honestly, I don’t know. Haven’t really had a chance to ask since my parents are the only other vampires I know.”
Suddenly, my sister’s face, with her fangs fully extended and that dark, hungry look in her eye, plays through my mind. I push it away and bury it deep. As far as I’m aware, only Donovan and Kaleb know that Letti was one of the demon-possessed vampires that night, and I’d like to keep it that way. I only knew her as pictures on the wall. A sibling lost before I was born. No reason to dredge up things that are better left forgotten.
“So... winging it?” Callie teases, bringing me back to the moment.
“Something like that,” I murmur, watching as she twists her hair over one shoulder and lays back. “You know you don’t have to do this.”
“I know,” she answers simply. “I want to help.”
But what will that help cost you? Will you start to see me only for the bite? Will I care by then? Or will I be just as addicted to you as you are to me?
These thoughts should scare me away, or at the very least make me reconsider what I’m doing. Instead, all I want to do is hold her close, take my time and savor her, and savor this moment where she gives to me because she wants to. Because she cares what happens to me. Because she wishes to help.
Apparently, I’ve been staring, because she squirms a little, inquiring, “What? Do I have something weird on my face?”
“No. Sorry, I just…got distracted thinking about something,” I apologize.
“Was it your birthday cake?” she queries and laughs, then makes a dreamy hum. “I saw it when we walked in. Chocolate with raspberries. Alicia outdid herself. Speaking of, I will eventually meet this woman, right? I’m starting to wonder if she’s real.”
“Yes, she’s real,” I confirm, chuckling while lying down beside her. Booping Callie on the nose, I ask, “Where do you think all the delicious food comes from?”
“Fairies? House elves?” she guesses with a teasing smirk that lights up her eyes. “Since coming here, I don’t consider anything out of the realm of possibilities.”
“That so?” I reply, then pounce, tickling her sides.
“No, not tickling!” she squeals, but she’s terrible at escaping, turning into my body instead of away.
I don’t stop until she’s breathless with laughter. We’re twisted around each other, with me on top and her legs tangled with mine. Her face is flushed, her smile wide, and she looks…beautiful. So goddamn beautiful.
“You’re wearing it,” she murmurs, running her fingers along the beads hanging from my wrist. A bracelet made of onyx, interspersed with silver beads that have little black bats carved into them.
“Of course I am. You made it for me,” I answer too softly. With too much truth exposed behind it.
Before I can lighten the words, tease it into something friendlier, she cups my face between her cool hands. “It really is okay, Nolan. Don’t feel guilty for accepting my help. You’re not taking. I’m offering, okay?”
With that, Callie turns her head to the side and leads my face to her neck—her arms wrapping around me when my lips brush against her skin. She smells sweet. A fruity, floral scent that is more than just its individual parts. It’s a combination that makes my head swim and I want to breathe her in slowly.
She swallows a gasp when my tongue runs along her neck, but she can’t hide the shivers trembling through her body. I know I should ease the mood. Make some dumb joke so this doesn’t feel as intimate as it is, but I don’t want to.
Maybe I’m lonely. Maybe I’m tired of not really mattering to the person I’m with. Either way, instead of teasing her, I hold her close. Reaching my fingers into her hair, I cradle her face and run my nose along her jaw. I take a moment to savor her in my arms, her body warm and soft, before extending my fangs and sinking them into her flesh.
I groan as her blood fills my mouth. The copper taste overpowered by her sweetness, by whatever magic that makes her special. It fills me, driving away everything that weighs me down, but I can’t help but want more.
When she moans, I press harder against her, letting my hand trail down her side to explore her new curves. She answers by pulling up my shirt and reaching underneath, her fingers searching for skin. She needs to touch me. The venom of my bite flows through her, exciting her with raw need that will keep her close to me, and I welcome it. I want her close. In my arms. In my bed. Reaching for me.
I take small sips when really I want to drink my fill. I draw it out to fight the desire to bite her again just so I can hear her sigh my name. Constantly surrounded by people, I’ve never felt my loneliness as acutely as I do right now, knowing I should pull away yet not wanting to let her go. In this moment, she’s mine.
My hand sweeps up her back and under her shirt, my fingers spread wide to touch as much of her as I can, while the other runs along her outer thigh. I enjoy the feeling of her muscles flexing as she locks her legs around my waist. Just as reluctant to let me go as I am of her.
