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“At least,” Max confirmed bleakly. “Do you really have to have my father’s permission?”
“It’s an antiquated rule,” Zander acknowledged, making a face. “From olden times, where you had to have the permission of at least one parent.”
Franklin rose from the couch. “Zan, let me know what I can do to help. I want to get back to campus, keep an eye on things there.”
Zander gave him a nod, dropping his hands so he could put an arm around Max’s waist and draw him closer. “Thanks, Franklin.”
“No problem.”
Franklin left, closing the door behind him, giving Zander the privacy to focus on Max. Zander hated the fear he saw in Max’s eyes, even more so that he had no immediate way to alleviate it. Which made everything worse. Dammit, and Max had made such great strides in conquering his fear around other vampires. Zander was afraid this would regress all that progress.
He smoothed hair back from Max’s face, trying to give his lover a smile. It felt forced, but he was still too angry to fully commit to the expression. “I’ll make this right, my Max. One way or another.”
Max’s eyes searched his. “They really can’t force my hand, right?”
“They really can’t. They must have your consent, freely given.” Even as Zander said the words, both he and Max understood that people could be forced, bought, manipulated, and threatened into doing things they wouldn’t choose otherwise.
Max closed in, hugging Zander tightly, forehead resting on his shoulder. The tension radiated throughout his body. “I told her what happened to me as a kid, that I was attacked by a Glutton. Made sure she understood that if it weren’t you, I wouldn’t choose a vampire as my spouse at all. If I can’t have you, I won’t have anyone. I will always choose you.”
What…did he just say? Zander’s thoughts skittered to a stop, heart speeding up. He tilted his face down, needing to see Max’s expression just then. “You mean that?”
Lifting his head, Max regarded him quizzically. “You know this.”
The fuck he did.
“I wouldn’t have cared if I was a vampire’s mate or not if not for you. It would have been a moot point. Being a mate just meant I could stand side by side with you and no one could question my right to be there. That’s the only reason I wanted to know, so I could have the confidence to be with you.”
He looked at Max, this gorgeous, sweet man who honestly thought it took being a vampire’s mate to somehow be worthy of Zander. That wasn’t the case–at all—but Max had believed it. He’d believed it so firmly that he’d tested the theory immediately—all because he wanted to stay with Zander.
Zander was loved this much?
Max hugged him again, holding him close. “Didn’t you understand why I tested your theory?”
Zander hugged him back, filled with relief so acute it felt like his heart twisted under the feeling. He was past words for several seconds, lost in the relief that he’d somehow, at some point, won this man’s heart. “I drive you crazy, though.”
“I hope you continue to drive me crazy for a few hundred years more. I won’t accept anything less.”
It was such a Max-like declaration of love. “I love you too.”
“You’re good at translating me. I fell so quickly for you, my head’s still spinning. Never again doubt my love, okay?”
Zander beamed, giving Max a squeeze, so giddy it felt like he’d vibrate out of his skin. “Okay.”
Max kissed his way up Zander’s neck, lips soft, each caress provoking Zander. He turned his head to meet that sweet mouth, each press of their lips stronger, deeper, his need for this man rising by the second.
Pulling back, Max panted a little. “Take me home? I want you to bite me.”
Great Buddha above, this man was trying to ruin him. Zander didn’t have a lot of willpower to begin with. “Sweetheart, I’d love to, but doing it any sooner than a two-week span is hard on your health—”
Max blinked imploring eyes up at him, all wide-eyed and—well, not innocent. Definitely not that. “Just a little nibble?”
RIP willpower.
Chapter 17
Max spent the next two weeks on tenterhooks. He was in limbo until his father woke up. Bodyguards basically surrounded campus and the house, following him wherever he went. Nice guys. Really, all of them were super nice, but it was still cumbersome. Max felt like he was walking around with extra appendages.
When the day dawned that Max’s father could finally be taken out of the coma, he felt like weeping tears of relief. Finally, finally he could talk to his dad. So much had happened since the accident, nearly two months of events he had to catch his father up on. The fact that his entire world had changed in such a short time still made Max’s head spin. He anticipated his father was going to need a second to wrap his mind around it all.
