Page 116 of Vameer

A soft purr fills the air as he gently presses his lips to mine.

I close my eyes.

“Do not cry.” His tongue drags across my lower lip, catching the blood. “Please do not cry.”

The fear and sadness from this morning come crashing back over me.

“You were gone,” I whisper.

A sound breaks through the purr, and it sounds like a whine. “Lo siento.” Vameer pulls me into him. Hugging me. Lifting me.

He shifts until he’s sitting with me across his lap, one side of his robe pulled between us.

“I am sorry.” Vameer holds me tight, pressing my ear to his chest. “I—” I feel him swallow. “I do not think there is a way to reverse what has changed.” Pain laces his tone, like it hurts him to even say it.

I sniff as I try to shake my head, but one of his big palms holds me in place.

“Lo siento,” he whispers.

And new tears form on my lashes.

He has it all wrong.

I push at his hold, hard, and he lets go, dropping his arms to his sides.

Letting me go.

A flash of anger burns across my skin as I twist to face him.

My emotions feel like they’re on a hair trigger, but I’d rather be mad than sad, so I embrace it.

“It’s your turn to try listening,” I snap.

Even sitting on his lap, he’s still so much bigger than me. So I twist even more until I’m kneeling on his thighs.

I’d never dream of doing this to another human. But Vameer is made of different stuff. He can handle my weight.

Eye level with him, I watch him cautiously search my gaze.

I bring our faces closer, inches apart, how he does to me. “I’m not upset about my eyes turning black. Or growing fangs. Or my nails changing. Or the fact that I can see in the damn dark. Or the heat that has taken over my body since my birthday. Since the day I saw you in that cave. Which”—I poke him high on the chest—“we will be talking about.”

He slowly lifts his hands until he’s holding my hips again, gently. “You are telling me the truth? The changes… You’re not upset?”

I grip his shoulder with one hand and reach up with the other to run my fingers through his long hair. “I’m not upset. I…” I pull in a deep breath and tell him the full truth. “I’m excited about the changes. I don’t know how to describe it, but all my life, I’ve always felt this need to move. Like there was somewhere else I was supposed to be. It’s why I’ve never stuck with a job. Why I move every year or so since I first moved out of the house at nineteen. The feeling has always been there. I’d ignore it as best I could, until I couldn’t, then I’d move again. But ever since I saw you… in that cave.” I curl my fingers around a section of his hair and hold it, loving the way it feels. “Since I saw you, that feeling shifted. It turned into a need to find you. You became my destination. And when you found me last night, that feeling of needing to move… it’s disappeared completely. It’s like for the first time in my life, I’ve finally found what I was looking for.”

His fingers flex against my hips as I swallow.

“When I woke up and saw that I had changed, it meant that it wasn’t all a dream. It meant you were real. But then…”

His shoulders sag. “I was gone.”

I nod. “I finally felt whole, and I was afraid you’d left forever.”

Vameer blinks as his onyx eyes shimmer, and I inhale a lightning strike.

“Por favor, me perdoe.” Vameer chokes the words as a tear sizzles down his cheek.

Pressure builds in my eyes as I cup his face with hands that look too small. “Please don’t do that.” I brush away the lingering dampness.