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His mate’s expression cracked into a small smile. “Not that fragile. You need to remember that I want to be a vampire. I want to spend centuries with you. I just need a little more time as a human. Maybe a decade. And during that time, I’m going to be extremely careful so that we can have our centuries together.”
“I know. I panicked.” Winter turned his head to kiss the center of Fox’s palm where it had been resting against his cheek. When he met Fox’s eyes again, the worry was still there, creating a churning of guilt in Winter’s stomach.
“I love you more than magic, Winter Varik. If my staying human even for a decade is going to leave you existing on the edge of panic, change me now.”
Winter lurched backward, rising to his knees to stare speechless at his lover. Fox had finally uttered the three words he’d been longing to hear since he’d realized Fox was his mate. He’d been dying a little every day in this torturous wait to make Fox a vampire, to make him more resilient and stronger.
But not like this. Fox was a witch. He’d been waiting his entire life to learn magic, and he had one of the best teachers in the world. He deserved to have this time. Winter could wait ten years.
“No,” he said firmly, inwardly proud that he didn’t choke on the word.
“What?” Fox shoved into a sitting position, his hand wrapping around Winter’s biceps. “I thought—”
“I can wait. I trust you to be careful with your life.”
Fox smiled brilliantly up at him. Winter’s personal shining sun. “My life belongs to you.”
“And I want that life filled with the happiness that comes from doing magic. Stay human a while longer, my perfect mate.” He brought his lips down for a kiss to the tip of Fox’s nose. “When the time is right, I’ll be there waiting for you.”
A Picture of You
Ronan paced.
He couldn’t possibly sit down.
How could this have happened? He was screwed. There was no way around it. He was just screwed. And because of his stupidity, he was going to hurt Aiden as well.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Look, we’ll figure it all out as soon as Winter gets here,” Ethan promised. Ronan was pretty sure the fledgling had said that at least once before, but the words weren’t permeating his brain. No, he was edging straight toward full-blown panic, and he wasn’t the type to panic. He was a thousand-year-old vampire. He’d survived wars and plagues and the birth of the Internet and microwaves. He could get through this.
His only concern was for Aiden. He couldn’t hurt Aiden. His mate was his everything. He’d waited a lifetime to finally hold Aiden in his arms. They’d enjoyed just a few short months together—this stupidity couldn’t destroy their chance at happiness.
Footsteps echoing along the hall had Ronan spinning to the partially open door for Ethan’s office. His heart stuttered and threatened to stop, fearful that it was Aiden. A relieved breath nearly exploded from him when Winter poked his head into the room followed by Fox. Aiden hadn’t expected to see the witch, but he should have. Fox was never too far from his mate.
Ronan cursed himself. He probably should have asked Winter to come alone. The fewer people who knew about this the better—but then, would Winter really keep a secret from his mate? Probably not.
“It’ll be okay. Fox can help us brainstorm,” Ethan said as if reading his mind. He hurried over to the door, waving Winter and Fox inside, and closing it behind them.
“What’s up?” Winter inquired, his gaze bouncing from Ethan to Ronan.
“We have a minor-ish emergency,” Ethan announced.
Fox’s eyebrows jumped up toward his hairline. “Marcus okay? What can we do?”
“It’s not Marcus,” Ethan replied with a smile.
Winter shook his head. “It can’t be Aiden. We just saw him in crossing the main hall with someone from the Montgomery clan.”
“It’s me. I fucked up,” Ronan admitted. He shoved both hands into his hair and pulled. How could he be so careless? He would never have reached such an old age if he’d lived so stupidly.
“I’ll be okay. Winter’s here. I bet he can totally fix this, and Aiden will never have to know,” Ethan comforted. The young vampire crossed to his desk and dropped back into the chair. He rolled it so that he could easily see around the double-monitor setup that dominated the desk.
“I wasn’t all that worried before, but now that I’m hearing we need to hide something from Aiden—”
“And probably Marcus,” Ethan added with a wince. “Just until it’s all taken care of. You know how fussy he gets. I don’t want to worry him.”
“Fussy?” Winter scoffed.
