AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You sure you really trust this guy?” I asked, watching his expression carefully.
His brow furrowed. “Yeah, I do. Jackson can be a dick sometimes, but he’s one of the good guys.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “If you say so.”
“You don’t believe me?”
I shrugged. “I’m just remembering the last experience we had in a research facility that experimented on vampires. Pardon me for being wary.”
“Yeah, I understand. I do. But Jackson...it’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t lived the kind of life we have. I never had a brother, never had a real family, but Jackson and his sister...they were damn close to it for a few years.”
“His sister,” I said, nodding. “The one with the crush on you.”
“According to Jackson, she did.” Declan shrugged. “I never noticed.”
He had already been on his serum by then. “Of course not.”
“That was back before I earned most of my scars.” He rubbed his hand over his cheek. “And my eye…” He frowned. “Jackson was with me when that happened. We’d gotten over our heads, both cocky and thinking we were the shit. That there wasn’t a vampire strong and smart enough to take us out. This one nearly did. He took me down hard, moved so fast I couldn’t keep up. Desperation makes them stronger, and this one was desperate as hell to survive. Tore my eye out with his fingers, and I couldn’t see. There was a lot of blood. I figured that was it, the end. But Jackson was there, he handled the situation. Without him, I would have lost a hell of a lot more than an eye that day.”
I didn’t think I’d taken a breath during the entire story. “Declan…”
“So when you ask if I trust Jackson?” He gave me a grim look. “Yes. I trust him with my life.”
I was quiet for a moment as I silently thanked the younger version of Jackson Gale for saving Declan’s life. “You know, he kind of reminds me of somebody,” I said.
“Who?”
I raised an eyebrow. “You.”
Declan snorted humorlessly “You mean if I wasn’t all scarred up and pumped full of drugs that make me into a sexless robot?”
That was definitelynotwhat I meant. I guess I wasn’t the only one dealing with a regular dose of paranoia in this roller coaster of a relationship.
“Don’t say that,” I told him firmly.
He shook his head. “Why not? It’s true. You and I both know it. Hell, you’d probably be better off with someone like Jackson. He could protect you just as well as I can, and he definitely has no issues when it comes to his libido.”
Where was this coming from all of a sudden? I wanted to say that they were both brave as hell and loyal to the people they cared about.
Now we were talking about Jackson’s libido. Great.
“That’s crazy talk,” I told him as patiently as I could.
He shook his head. “Not crazy. Just facts.”
Declan and I had been together once when he’d briefly gone off his original emotion-and-desire-repressing serum for the first time in his adult life. I still couldn’t believe it, but the twenty-eight-year-old dangerous assassin standing in front of me, who oozed testosterone and kicked vampire ass on a regular basis, had been a virgin only a week ago.
Despite his inexperience, he’d been an incredibly quick learner. And I meant that as the very highest of compliments.
“That’s not why I’m with you, Declan,” I told him firmly. “And it’s highly unlikely I’m going to toss you aside for the next macho alpha douchebag that strolls along.”
He raised a brow. “Thenextone?”
I shrugged. “Seems like I attract them into my life like flies. But you’re the only macho alpha douchebag I’m currently interested in. Got it?”
Declan chuckled darkly under his breath. “Fine. Understood.”
“Good.” I pressed my hands against the hard planes of his chest and looked up at him. “For what it’s worth, I haven’t given up entirely on your currently AWOL libido. You never know what might happen with a little dedicated time and earnest experimentation, if you’re willing to be my research partner.”
