Page 5 of The Human’s Heart

He smiled and kissed my temple, then grabbed my plate and filled it to the brim before setting it in front of me and doing the same to his own plate.

He was so sweet.

And he was all mine.

Chapter 2

Zaos

After we finished eating, I went inside the house with Hugo so we could grab a minute together before he left for work and I went into my bedroom to study and finish my homework.

Luckily, Granddad and Grandpa stayed outside. I was pretty sure they knew I wanted a few minutes alone with my viramore.

But I knew anyone could walk in at any moment, so I ushered Hugo into our bedroom—I loved being able to call it ours.

“You okay?” he asked me as soon as I shut the door.

Instead of answering, I pulled him into my arms, holding him tight against my chest as I buried my nose in his hair. “I’m better now.”

He snorted and wrapped his arms around me, melting into my embrace and making my heart flutter with his trust.

Hugo didn’t trust easily, so even this small gesture, this small part of him that willingly let me hold him up, was a big deal. And I cherished it. Like I cherished him and every part of him he let me see.

After a minute, I slowly released my tight hold on him and leaned back, although I kept my arms around him, and he kept his around me. It made me smile at him.

“What?”

I shrugged. “Nothing. Just… you.”

“Just me what?”

I grinned and pecked his lips. “I love you.”

I could practically feel his insides melting at that statement the way they always did. “I love you too.”

With that, I melted right with him.

Another few seconds passed before I said, “My Uncle Julius is bringing that blood over tomorrow after my Uncle Del makes one of those portal things in the shed.”

“The shed’s gonna be finished by then?”

It didn’t pass my notice that he skipped over the whole blood thing. “They promised Granddad it would be, so I can only assume it will.”

He inhaled deeply. “Right. And this portal will take us straight to your coven land once it’s set up?”

“Our coven land, but yes, it will. They already have one set up to go from coven land to Uncle Remi’s backyard in Gauhala, so we know it works. And if we ever want to go to Gauhala, we can just step through our portal to Granddad and Grandpa’s, and then walk through the other portal to Gauhala.”

He made a face before shaking his head in something that looked partially like amazement, partially like fear, and partially like he maybe didn’t believe me.

“More than half my family has gone through the portal to visit Uncle Remi, Uncle Tan, Uncle Bel, and all the others that are now a part of our family over in Gauhala. It’s literally one step, and you’re on the other side of the world, or so I’m told.” I hadn’t wanted to leave Hugo when I’d been invited, and he hadn’t been able to get off work to go, so we’d stayed here.

Hopefully one day, we could visit. I’d never been to Gauhala before, so it would be a fun adventure.

Hugo shook his head. “That’s insane. And incredible, but also insane.”

I chuckled and shrugged. “That’s my family for you.”

He snorted at that, then tugged me back into a hug where he buried his face in my chest. After a few seconds, I heard him sniffing.