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“I wish I could feel you,” I told him, my hand rubbing across my chest. The emptiness was grating, like nails on a chalkboard. It was all wrong. How had I ever managed to live nineteen years without knowing my mates? It seemed impossible. Now that I was familiar with their connections, I didn’t want to live without them.
It was depressing that they were missing, even more so when I wondered if I’d be able to get them back or if Mara had truly fucked things up for us all.
Dark magick was forbidden for a reason. Who had she paid to work a spell so dark? Either way, she’d have to answer for her sins.
“I hate being cut off from the pack.” Dason paused, glancing down at me. “And you,” he confessed, “but right now I’m kind of glad you can’t feel what I’m feeling.”
“Why?” I asked, the single word lingering between us.
“Because” —he swallowed— “if you knew how much I wanted you right now, you wouldn’t be sitting beside me.” Dason turned away and closed his eyes, and I wondered if his fists clenched because he was fighting off the effects of the vampire venom or if he was trying not to reach for me.
“You’re right,” I replied before I thought better of it. “If I could feel your desire, I wouldn’t be sitting next to you.” A pregnant pause filled the air before I mustered up the courage to say what was on my mind. I was tired of hiding how I felt. “I’d be back on top of you, Dase.”
Gold flashed in his eyes, and I saw the visible shudder that worked down his spine.
“And if you could feel me,” I continued, “you’d know how much I want that without needing to feel the venom’s effect on your body.”
Pushing off the floor, I left him behind before he could answer, worried that what had just happened between us was only because of the venom and the intensity of the moment, and not because he actually wanted a relationship with me.
I cursed myself for my weakness, but after everything that had happened, I was too raw and exposed to chance seeing regret, or worse, rejection, written across his face.
For a creature who was supposedly undead, that would truly be the last nail in my proverbial coffin.
Thirteen
Lorn
Iheard Dason move from his place in the room as I pulled open the door and slipped through .
“Lorn.” There was a warning behind my name, an order not to flee, but I didn’t stop my trek down the hallway in search of a bathroom.
The wooden door had seen better days, the handle rusted and the paint chipping away, much like the bedroom’s had been. I cautiously pushed it open, wincing from the dim light spilling through the curtained window until my eyes adjusted. Coughing from the layer of dust that covered everything, I took stock of the toilet, the shower-tub combination with a fading curtain, and the sink with a dusty mirror hanging on the wall above it. I brushed it off, smudging the grime until I could see myself in its reflective surface. This place hadn’t been used in ages. Fingers crossed the pipes still worked.
“Running from me again?” Dason leaned in the doorway, his hand braced on the old wooden trim. His scent wafted into the room, refreshing the stale air of the bathroom.
“The blood,” I lied, touching my smeared chin, my fingertips coming away red and tacky. “I need to get cleaned up before the hunger hits me again.”
“Are you feeling alright?” Dason shifted, standing straighter, thankfully dropping our previous conversation for now.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I just want to be safe. Wearing your blood like a bad Halloween costume isn’t going to help when the craving strikes again.” My mind railed as cold, hard realization struck me.
I was a fucking vampire.
As if feeding off Dason hadn’t been evidence enough, I stared into the bathroom mirror when he muttered something about giving him a second. He disappeared from the doorway while I let my fangs descend again in peace.
Holy shit. I stared at the sharp tips of my canines, which were longer than the sharp teeth of my wolf. I ran my tongue over the lethal points. Then, slowly, I retracted them, watching as my mouth returned to normal. That was going to take some getting used to.
At least I’d still blend into the mundane world. But what did this mean for my being shadow touched? Would this fuck with my role as the veil keeper? Questions pounded away in my head, giving me a headache, reminding me what it’d been like to open my eyes with sunlight streaming through the window.
“This is going to complicate everything.” I blinked back the sudden emotion welling behind my eyes. If my role as the veil keeper was compromised, how was I going to save my dad?
A low hum kicked on in the distance, easy to hear with my heightened senses, and I sniffed and pulled myself together. My hearing, sight, and smell were all sharper than they’d been when I was shifted, enhancing my human form. That was going to take some getting used to also.
“This house had an old generator. Luckily it’s still working. You should be able to turn the water on now.” He motioned to the shower, and I moved to turn the knob.
The pipes rattled before water burst from the faucet. Brown water gushed out, full of sediment and rust, but after a few minutes, it started to clear.
“Thank you,” I whispered, running my hands underneath the flow and moving back to the sink to start scrubbing my face.
