There were lots of good men in the world, and Mike was one of them. Mollie brushed her fingers over her watch as she recalled her grandpop, the only man before Mike who never let her down.
“I don’t want to lose you,” Aida said.
“You won’t,” Mollie vowed. “I won’t do this unless I have your blessing.”
Aida blinked at her. “But you love him and can envision an eternity with him when I can barely see past three months with any of the guys I’ve dated. And before you try to analyze me, it has nothing to do with our donor; I get bored easily.”
It was true, Aida preferred to play the field and didn’t stick to a type as Mollie had before Mike. However, none of the guys Aida dated held her attention for long. The same with subjects at school; Aida wanted to learn it all, but she couldn’t settle on anything she loved enough to do it for the rest of her life. Her plan with college was to study everything and hopefully decide on something.
“I do love him, very much,” Mollie said. “I want to spend an eternity with him, but I love you too, and I won’t lose you.”
Aida’s eyes filled with tears before she flung herself across the space separating them and into Mollie’s arms. “You’ll never lose me,” she sobbed. “No matter what, I’ll be here for you.”
Mollie lowered her head to Aida’s as she ran her hand over her sister’s silken hair. “And I’ll always be here for you.” Mollie braced herself for Aida’s reaction to her next words, but she had to tell her all of it. “Mike also said mates can’t live without each other, they either go mad or die if something happens to the other.”
Aida lifted her head from Mollie’s chest and blinked at her. “So, if you become a vampire, if he dies, you die or go bonkers, and vice versa?”
“Yes.” When Aida stiffened in her arms, Mollie rushed to get her next words out. “I’m hoping Mike can wait for a little bit. He said it would become more difficult for him not to complete the bond as time progresses, but I have to make sure you’re safe and settled before we do anything just in case something does happen to one of us.”
“Well, if something happens to you while you’re mortal, then I lose you anyway, and becoming a vampire would make you stronger. Plus, I’ve seen him in action; not much is going to take that guy out, so I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
“Aida—”
“You love him, Mollie, anyone can see that. You’ve put your life on hold for me since Mom got sick, and I won’t let you do it anymore. I’m eighteen; I have a plan in life, sort of, but I’ll figure it out as I go, I always do. However, I’ll never forgive myself oryouif you use me as an excuse to keep putting your life on hold. If this is what you want, do it and do it tonight before he snaps, because that won’t be pretty.”
Mollie didn’t know how to respond, and she was saved from having to do so by Aida’s next words.
“It’s not fair; I’m going to get old and wrinkled while you stay forever young,” Aida muttered.
“Who knows, maybe you’ll become a vampire too,” Mollie teased, and Aida shuddered. Mollie’s amusement vanished when she recalled the agony of Raul’s bite. That pain was something Aida experienced for days at the hands of the monsters holding her captive. “Do you want to talk about what happened while we were apart?”
“I don’t… don’t know if I can,” Aida said in a hitching voice.
A knock on the door separating their rooms brought Mollie’s head up before Mike cracked it open and peered inside.
“Everything okay?” he asked when he spotted Aida clinging to her.
“Fine,” Mollie said, giving him a small smile, which he didn’t return.
“I have to step out for a minute; I’ll be in shouting distance. So if you need me, foranything, scream,” he said.
“We will,” Mollie assured him as Aida pulled herself from Mollie’s arms and sat beside her on the bed.
“I won’t be gone long.” Mike closed the door behind him when he left the room.
Mollie yearned to go after him and comfort him too, but Aida needed her, and Mike didn’t seem ready for that.
Aida lay on the bed and rested her head on the pillow. “I do like him,” Aida said. “And I really like that he’s notyourtypical wimpy guy. About time you stepped outside the box and found yourself a hottie.”
Mollie grabbed the other pillow and playfully hit her sister with it. Aida smiled as she batted the pillow away.
“So, do you want to talk about it?” Mollie asked.
Aida shrugged. “You saw it. They kept us in that room, Scott took pleasure in humiliating us, and they fed on us. It hurt.”
“I know.” Mollie’s hand went to Raul’s marks on her neck before she yanked it away. She didn’t want any reminder of that guy. “Did they do anything else to you in there?”
“They didn’t rape us. That would have made us damaged goods.”
