“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I was embarrassed, and I thought you might take it the wrong way. Like I wanted to steal your boyfriend or something.”
“I don’t see any bite marks on your neck,” says Lorena. “Why is there blood?”
“I put it there,” admits Salma. “I thought the fresh blood would tempt him, so he wouldn’t think it over too hard.”
“Is that why his fangs were out?”
The two of them are farther now, and William darts down the tower to keep listening.
“Yeah, I think the blood did that. But… he resisted. He said he wouldn’t bite anyone without talking to you first.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He’s fang-whipped.”
“Very funny. You really scared me.”
“I’m sorry,” says Salma. It sounds like they have stopped moving. “I’m worried about you, Lore. You might never be safe.”
“The other vampires need Will more than he needs him. They stand to lose too much by harming me.”
“There’s another way, though.” Salma’s voice is now a whisper, and William edges even closer, until he can spy on them.
“What?” asks Lorena.
Salma takes her hand. “He could change you.”
William grips the wall so hard that paint chips fall to the floor, and his fingers leave indentations in the stone.
“No,” says Lorena, freeing her hand from Salma’s. “Maybe someday, I don’t know. But not yet. Not now.”
William takes off to patrol, not wanting to hear more.
He is not sure how Lorena’s answer makes him feel. He is both disappointed and relieved, and the contradiction is making it hard to figure out what he wants.
Racing through the forest at full tilt, he can hardly believe that for one brief moment after his meeting with Lenny, he actually thought he was free and facing a future of his own choosing. Possibly even one with Lorena.
He runs for so long that he misses dinner. When he finally climbs back inside the manor through the opening in his room’s wall,sheis there.
Tonight, Lorena wears a tiny red dress, the color of blood, that makes it hard for him to think straight, particularly with its plunging neckline.
“Where did this come from?” he asks, his gaze trailing down to the hemline, which ends far above her knees.
“The forbidden drawer,” she says, and he can hear how much faster than usual her heart is beating. “Salma got it for me for my eighteenth birthday. I didn’t think I’d ever have a reason to wear it.”
“What is the reason tonight?” he asks, a smirk overtaking his face born from inappropriate thoughts. “Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Navarro?”
“Maybe,” she says, her flush darkening her skin.
“Okay,” he says, sitting down on the couch, arms extended across the seat back as his body takes up most of the space. “I am all yours.”
She smiles as if she likes the sound of that. “The way you’re sitting is called manspreading,” she says, coming closer without joining him.
“You meanvampirespreading.” The urge to reach for her is so strong that he locks his fingers behind his head. “How speciesist of you.”
She keeps moving in until she is standing between his knees. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this.”
