“You said last night that you couldn’t mess with people’s memories. Is that true?”
“It is.”
“Why not?”
They were interrupted by their waiter as he set down a basket of soda bread in the center of the table. Kohl thanked him and waited for him to leave before he answered her. “Uh…I just can’t.”
“But isn’t that a normal thing for vampires?”
“Yes, but I’m not your normal vampire, Devon.” Kohl’s stomach churned. But not from hunger. This was not a conversation he wanted to get into right now.
“You keep saying that, but you’ve yet to explain what that means.” She set down the knife she was buttering her bread with. “So, what does it mean, Kohl?” Her eyes bore into his, waiting for an answer, and if he didn’t know better, he would swear she could see right through to the beast inside of him.
Fuck. He wasn’t getting out of this, was he?
“And don’t even think about trying to blow off my question again. I want to know who you are.” She waved her knife at him. “Dammit, I deserve to know.”
Nope. Not this time. “Devon?—”
“Kohl, don’t do that,” she said quietly.
He was confused. He’d barely said anything. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t patronize me. I can hear it in your voice and read it on your face. Just…don’t.”
She was right. She was absolutely fucking right. Kohl took a deep breath and gave her a nod. “I’m sorry.”
Picking up her knife, she resumed buttering her bread. Every few seconds, she’d shoot him a look while she ate, but she didn’t ask again.
Lacing his fingers together on top of the table, he leaned forward.
She sat back and waited, eating her bread with a bored expression.
Kohl took a large drink of wine and tried again. “I’m only half vampire.”
“And what’s the other half? Human? Werewolf?”
“Kind of like that.”
The bread landed on her plate so hard the knife fell off and landed on the table with a thud. “Kohl!” Glancing around, she lowered her voice. “Please. Just tell me. I’m not going to run away screaming. I know all about you guys, remember? Hybrids are rare, but they’re not unknown to me.” She took a deep breath and covered his hands with her own. “Please. I just need to know. I want to understand you.”
The words began to pour out. “I can’t fuck with your head because I’m only half vampire. My father was—is—a vampire. I don’t know him. My mother…my mother came here from Iceland after she was publicly shamed for being with him. She got pregnant, and rather than drinking the herbs to rid herself of an unwanted child—a child she had no idea would survive or if it would be disfigured, or worse—she fought to keep the child and was banished. She came here to the states and the coven I now live with took us in. She had an old friend here.” He paused. “She died when I was young.”
Devon was staring at him with something akin to amazement lighting her features. “What is your mother, Kohl?”
He only hesitated a moment. “She was a shifter.” And she’d died before she could teach him how to deal with that side of his nature.
“From…Iceland.”
“Yes.”
Devon released his hands and sat back in her seat, staring at him in awe and something else he couldn’t read. “Oh my God. That’s not possible.”
Kohl chugged down the rest of his wine. This is why he didn’t tell anyone what he was. The only ones who knew the truth were Hawke and the Master. All of the others only knew he was a hybrid. They probably assumed it was wolf. He let them think what they wanted.
“Truly?” she whispered. A dawning look of understanding came over her face, and she sat up, her excitement washing over him. “That explains what I saw at the lake last night. Your eyes. And your skin.”
“My skin?”
