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Lucian kissed the bridge of my nose, giving me a lingering look before responding to Seraphina. “Take them to the safe house. Alaric, go make sure Cara’s roommates are okay.”
“What about Vlad?” he asked.
“I’m sure Vlad is fine. Just find her roommates and make sure they get to the safe house in one piece.”
“Thank you,” I whispered to Lucian.
47
Lucian
I hugged Cara from behind, pulling her into my chest as we overlooked the river. Above us, the headlights of cars shot yellow beams into the darkness, tires crunching on the asphalt.
I knew we weren’t finished with Dominic or the events Bennigan had set into motion. But the threat of Ana Black would at least buy us time.
For now, that was enough. Time.
It meant I could finally enjoy being with Cara. Yes, I still needed to keep alert for any efforts from my enemies—our enemies. But the level of threat had subsided enough that we didn’t need to hide. The danger was a low pulse in the background, not a deafening roar that demanded our full attention.
I softly lifted her chin, studying the curves of her face and her full lips.
That mouth of hers held a language I felt I’d quickly become a master of decoding. Subtle twitches spoke volumes from her, and I thoroughly enjoyed having my own private window to her thoughts.
I kissed her.
Her body relaxed instantly as if she was melting into my arms. There was the familiar rush of warmth that spread through my body like sunlight sinking into my skin.
My phone vibrated. I pulled it out and saw a text from Alaric. It was an image. Two images, actually. The first was his penis, which I quickly deleted. The second was him smiling and flashing a peace sign in front of Cara’s roommates, who looked tired but otherwise serviceable. I showed her.
“Thank God,” she breathed.
I hugged her tighter, watching the way the rippling river distorted the reflection of the stars and moon. “I can’t believe you managed to make something so effective against Bennigan in such a short time. You really are brilliant.”
“Thank you.” She pulled my hand up from her shoulder and gave it a quick kiss. “I am, aren’t I?”
I chuckled. “It’s one of your many charms.” I hesitated, then asked the question that was already beginning to eat at me. “Did you see anything when you examined your blood? Any possible routes to a cure?”
“It’s different than I thought,” she said. “It’s not just an additional element added into my blood like it was during the bond. It’s the blood cells themselves that are changed. I’m not sure how you’d even start trying to change that. But… I’m also not sure I’d want to.”
“You don’t mean that,” I said, even though my pulse was quickening because I guiltily hoped she did.
She turned toward me, resting her head on my chest so she could look up at me. “I know you think I’d be leaving too much behind. Maybe this is sad, but you’re more than I had. Just you. So when the choice is to give you up or get everything I’d be walking away from back, I choose you.”
“What about your aspirations to keep working on some sort of miracle blood? You’d need to leave all that behind as well.”
“No. I don’t think I would. Because this awesome, immortal weirdo I fell head over heels for is actually a good guy. And I know he wouldn’t stop me from discreetly finding ways to help people if I could, even if it did ruffle some vampire feathers.”
“You’re sure I know this guy?”
Cara swatted softly at me, head still on my chest so I could feel her voice vibrate through me. “So what’s it going to be? Can I keep looking at my blood and trying to find a way to help people with it?”
I narrowed my eyes, already sensing the danger in what she was suggesting. “You would need to promise to be discreet. I couldn’t give you my blessing to do something that would make you a target.”
“I could do it anonymously, but I need to do it. If there’s some way to use our blood to create cures for diseases, then I’m going to do it. I don’t care if I get money or credit. I can just drop it off at Anya’s with instructions on how to use it and what it does. Assuming my generous, kind vampire boyfriend is willing to buy me just a few scientific tools to do my work?”
“Boyfriend?”
She blushed. “I kind of assumed that—”
“I want to be more than that.”
Her eyes widened. “You mean—”
“I want you to bite me.”
“Lucian. That’s pretty kinky. But I don’t see what that has to do with our relationship status.”
“The effects of our bond will still fade with time. But if we feed on each other, it will be sealed. For as long as we live.” I got down on one knee, holding her hands and meeting her eyes. “Cara Skies. Will you bite me?”
