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It didn’t surprise me, but it put a new weight of sadness on our situation. I would lose him forever if he didn’t choose me in this life. I believed he would be the one to circumvent the Gods to prevent himself from returning. He was one of the few mortals I would trust to have enough willpower that he’d fight the Gods in the afterlife for permission to move on. Which amused me as much as it saddened me, because he was such a young soul. In his first or second life. So much to learn and experience. But could I blame him? Born into such an exhausting life. I felt for him. There was no rest to come, only war and loss and a love forbidden to him.
“You mistake me. I know what our tie means and the draw we can’t get away from, but I love you. This version of you. This corporeal presentation. Your personality. All of you. We are throwing away time. I don’t want to throw it away.”
“To what end?”
“I’m not willing to give up yet, and I don’t think you are either.” Maybe my soul sensed his resolve. It would explain my sudden reverse in course. “We are miserable without each other.”
“You think we have any shot of making this work?”
“I don’t know what we are capable of, Dominic. We’ve spent a lot of time fighting each other.” It was the truth. I’d done as much fighting as he had. Including trying to change who he was, and maybe it was wrong of me. Maybe I should have stayed and tried to be what he needed all this time. “I don’t know anything truly.”
He returned his attention to me. “I don’t know either. I may be killed for it.”
“Your war isn’t with my kind.”
“Close enough.” He dropped his gaze, staring at his drink. He was thinking it over, and I left him to it, knowing it would do me no good to interrupt his process. I’d learned enough about Dominic over the years to have given up trying to convince him while he was thinking. He made up his mind at his own pace.
“What does an ‘us’ even look like, Vinkettin?”
“Maybe we should try it and find out.”
SIX
DOMINIC
Ihadn’t expected him to follow me to the cabin. For him to venture so far into my lands. It was a risk. He would have never dared to do this before. I hadn’t expected to see him again before the year was out. We saw the world so differently, and it felt impossible to make our worlds meet.
“What are you asking me, Vinkettin?” I’d tried to find a solution so many times that didn’t involve me leaving my people. I’d fought for us for years. When I left, it was because I was soul tied. He’d never come to me before. I’d always believed he liked the power he held when I showed up at his penthouse, desperate for his touch.
“Maybe we’ve gone about this all wrong.”
“How do you mean?” My chest tightened.
“There is no reason for me to spell it out for you. You know what I want. What I’ve always wanted.”
“I have no idea what you want. I’m not sure I’ve ever known.” Or maybe it had changed too many times for both of us to know what we expected. We weren’t those naive people anymore.
“I want to figure out how to be together, and I don’t mean what we used to do, keeping it a secret. I want to do it together out in the open.”
The air left the room, and I couldn’t catch a breath even if I wanted to. I faced death nearly every day, and none of it fazed me, but Vin standing in front of me asking to be more terrified me. My hands shook as I wrung them.
“You want to walk down the street hand in hand like we aren’t a fucking abomination?” Emotion flooded my veins, and I fought it back to remain in control. There was a reason I’d shown up at his penthouse. I’d been dying for a solution, but this didn’t solve problems so much as it created many more.
“I do. I’m tired of running. From each other. From what we are. From our duties. I think it’s time we accept what we are and what comes with it.” Vin held out his hand.
I studied it, not taking it right away. “They could put a bounty on your head.”
“Yes.” He stood firm in his conviction.
“The pack could turn on me and kill me for such a transgression.”
“Yes. I assume that one is more likely than the Council putting a bounty on my head.” The European Vampire Council wouldn’t look kindly on a daywalker sleeping with the enemy, no more than the wolves would want me to. We’d both be labeled traitors. “We’ve tried everything else, and none of it worked.”
I put my hand in his and squeezed my eyes shut. “What changed?”
“I told you. I don’t want to waste the little time we have left. I want it all.” He brought my hand to his lips.“And if you’re done after this life, I’m not losing out on another minute.”
"I’m gonna need it spelled out and printed in triplicate. Maybe buried and unburied. Lose the paperwork for a few weeks before it sinks in.” I exhaled a weight I’d been carrying for a long time, letting myself enjoy his touch.
