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Anger flushed her cheeks. “You bit me totestme?” With that, she leapt out of bed. Then, she swayed before steadying herself. “You’d have been sorry if Ihadsliced up your heart. How could you be so stupid? You could have gotten killed!”
Laughter blew out of him in a hiss. Bloody woman wouldn’t recognize irony even if it chewed her arse off.
“And so could you! Frankly, after years of wondering how you felt, it was worth risking my life to find out. Now, admit it, Kitten. You haven’t gotten over me any more than I’ve gotten over you, and all your denial, lies, or the moron you’re dating won’t change that.”
She flinched as if he’d struck her. Then, tears sparkled in her eyes before she glanced away.
“It doesn’t matter. It can’t work between us, Bones. Nothing can change what you are, and Iwon’tchange what I am.”
Before he shattered her illusions about that supposed obstacle, he needed to know something.
“Answer me this, Kitten. When it is just you and I, does it bother you that I’m a vampire? I know what the rest of them think-your mum, your boss, your workmates-but doyoucare?”
She didn’t even hesitate, and he’d expected her to take a moment to consider that. “No. I don’t care.”
Sincerity rang through her soft, vibrating voice. If she’d changed from hating all vampires on sight to this, didn’t she realize that they could overcomeanythingtogether?
If she didn’t, she’d learn starting now.
“You left because you didn’t think I could handle the obstacles before us. Then, you tried to get on with your life because you believed it would never work between us, but I couldn’t get on with mine because I knew wecouldwork. I’ve been looking for you every day since you left me, and I’m sick of being without you. You’ve had your shot at things. Now, let me have mine.”
She turned around, her expression a kaleidoscope of conflicting emotions. “What are you talking about?”
“Trusting me, which is what you should have done years ago. I’m strong enough to handle whatever your job or your mum throws at me, so we can beat the odds if you give us a chance.”
She drew in a ragged breath. “Even if you take out my job and my mother, what are you going to do when I grow old? Hand me some Ben-Gay for my arthritis? You’ll want me to change. You’ll resent it when I refuse, and it will destroy us.”
Bones got out of bed, holding her gaze with every step he took toward her. “I will never force you to become a vampire. Ever. Nor will I pressure you, guilt you, coerce you, or try to trick you. Is that clear enough?”
Tears turned her gray gaze into sparkling silver. “So, you’re fine with me getting wrinkled, decrepit, and then dead?”
She wasn’t ready to hear this next part, but nevertheless, she had to. “Kitten, sit down.”
She froze as if sensing that the hammer was about to drop. “No. Tell me now. What don’t I know? Am I dying or something?”
The opposite. “Haven’t you ever wondered how long you would live? Ever truly pondered it?”
Her laugh was short and sharp. “No. I thought I’d get killed pretty quickly with this job.”
She wasn’t wrong about its dangerousness, but he forced his anger about that back. This was about her now. Not him.
“Think past that. You’re half vampire. You’ve never been sick, your body heals faster than any human, and you can’t catch any of the diseases that affect the living. Even poisons and drugs need to be given in massive doses before they affect you, so what makes you think you’d only live to an average age?”
She drew in a breath to argue. Then, it sputtered out in something that was half gasp, half sob. Beneath her denial, she must have known this, even if everything her mum had taught her about her other nature made her immediately object to it.
“But I’malive. I breathe, get my period, shave my legs…for God’s sake, I had an entire childhood!”
“Yes, and you told me your vampire nature first emerged most notably in puberty,” Bones said in a steady tone. “Probably it was the hormonal surge, the same thing that can trigger congenital defects in humans, that increased your nosferatu traits, and they’ve grown ever since. Your pulse and breathing only make you easier to kill, but you’renothuman, Kitten. You never have been. You just mimic them better than vampires do.”
Her hand whipped out in a slap. “Liar!”
The blow didn’t even hurt. That’s how little effort she’d put into it because she knew, deep down, that he wasn’t lying.
“Your skin hasn’t aged a day since you left me. Not one line, not one furrow. Granted, you’re only twenty-seven, and wouldn’t show most signs of aging until later, but there should be some difference”-he touched her face before she batted his hand away-“and there isn’t. Then, there’s the blood.”
“What blood?” she asked instantly.
“Mine,” he said with a sigh. “I didn’t have a chance to tell you before because you left two days later, but the night we rescued your mum, you drank about two pints of my blood to make yourself stronger and faster. That alone would add fifty years to a normal human’s lifespan. To yours? Double, easily.”
