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Malachi hesitates, looking at me so fast that if I hadn’t been looking at him at the same moment, I wouldn’t have noticed it.
“I will not repeat myself,” Ambrose says with a low growl.
“Yes, sire,” the vampire beside me says with a sharp bow despite Ambrose being unable to see him. Then he’s gone and it’s just Ambrose and me in a warehouse full of dead bodies and blood.
I wait, unsure of what I should do. I still can’t feel him inside me, not the way I normally can. He’s still there, but it’s like when a hose gets bent and the water is cut off.
“Ambro—oof,” I end with a grunt as suddenly I’m surrounded by him. He’s gripping me tight, squeezing me against his chest as his fingers dig into my skin and his face is pressed into my neck. He’s holding me so tightly, I can’t even bring my arms up to return the embrace. “Ambrose?” I try again, my voice quieter. I don’t know what to do with this Ambrose.
He shifts and pain lances through my neck as he sinks his fangs into me. I groan at the unexpected intrusion, and how it morphs from pain to pleasure. He’s gulping at me greedily, his lips on me so fiercely that I’m definitely going to have a hickey from it. When he doesn’t stop after a few mouthfuls, I’m afraid he’s been hurt.
He stops as suddenly as he started but this time his forehead is against mine, his face contorted in pain as his chest heaves with ragged breaths. Worry turns into real fear and I fight against his embrace. He loosens just enough that I can squeeze my arms up between us and catch his face in my hands.
“Ambrose.” Fear makes my voice harsher than I intend. “You’re scaring me. Are you hurt?”
He flinched when I said he was scaring me, but his eyes open when I ask. His golden eyes are still clouded with red, but streaks of gold are glinting through.
“No, my little lamb,” he murmurs, his voice hoarse and rough unlike moments ago while speaking to Michael. “I’m already healing from the fight.”
I search his eyes, wishing he would just spit it out and not make me pull the words from him one by one. His mouth quirks up in a smile, his eyes softening as he cups my cheek with one hand, stroking it with his thumb.
“I am in awe of you, Ms. Morse,” he whispers. “Rather than run from me, you fear for me. I do hurt, though.”
My mouth parts in shock and I try to step back to look for his injury but he laughs. A true, unexpected, loud laugh.
“I hurt from how I could have lost you tonight,” Ambrose says, his eyes still the blended swirls of red and gold. “I’ve been hurting since the moment you walked into my office with your chin held high.”
Ambrose dips his head, capturing my lips in a gentle kiss. I don’t even care that he has blood on his mouth and down his chin. He doesn’t deepen it though, and steps back again, my heart pitter-pattering and my stomach doing flips. “I hurt from how much I love you.”
Tears burst from my eyes, this breaking the dam that’d held back all of my emotions from what we’d just experienced. And then I can feel him again, deep inside me. It’s warm, and stronger than it’s ever been. I’m a blubbering mess, but I throw my arms around his neck and I kiss him hard.
“I love you, too,” I say between sobs before kissing him again and holding him as tight as I can as a human.
We stand there in the shadows of the transport boxes, stinking of blood and the air filled with death. But it doesn’t matter because I’m in Ambrose’s arms and he’s in mine. I’d offered three months of my life to Ambrose and I will give him so much more. Forever, if he will turn me. For him, I’ll do it.
He loosens his embrace and looks down at me with the broadest smile I’ve ever seen on his devilishly beautiful face. “Let’s go home, ma belle lionne.” He sweeps me into his arms, carrying me so I don’t have to walk through blood or around bodies.
When we get closer to the car, two SUVs pull up. I look at Ambrose, who nods in their direction. The SUVs back up so the back ends are right in the garage bay opening. Ambrose doesn’t even look back as the doors open and I decide I don’t care either. As he sets me down in front of the car, I realize thereissomething I care about though.
He tilts his head in silent question, waiting patiently.
“I know this is really stupid, considering what just went down, but...”
He cocks an eyebrow. “But?”
I bite both of my lips before blurting my request out. “Can I still drive home?”
For the second time that night, Ambrose fills the air with his laughter. It’s officially my favorite sound, and I vow to make him laugh more just so I can hear it. I even feel the gazes of the vampires from the SUVs and when I glance at them, they’re watching Ambrose in shock. Then one of them looks at me and smiles, as if in gratitude. I smile back and give my attention to my mate.
He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the key. I don’t know how they stayed in his pocket in the chaos, but I grin up at him and hold my hand out flat. He drops the key with a softer smile on his face. “It’s probably better that you do.”
I race around to the driver’s side, and maybe it’s because he can tell how excited I am, but he doesn’t beat me there. He lets me fling open the door and jump inside. He gets in the passenger seat, and I’m giggling as I watch him loosen the harness straps while I have to tighten mine considerably. And move the seat up as far as it can go. Pushing in the clutch and brake, I turn the key and when the car engine purrs to life, I seriously have the biggest grin. I don’t think I can smile any harder.
Ambrose’s hand lands over mine on the gear stick, and I look at him. He’s leaning his head back against the rest, looking at me indulgently. My blood-covered vampire king. Ambrose, my mate. And the vampire I love.
“Take us home, little lamb.”
As I slide the shifter into gear and ease off the clutch, I realize I was wrong. I can definitely smile a lot harder.
