sharp shake to my head. “I won’t risk your life.” What I won’t tell her is how I’m doing this precisely to preserve hers.
“My life…” Her arms flail. “What’s that without you?”
I mean something to her. Could it even be possible?
My eyes go to her lips. I step closer. What is this thing between us? What would it feel like to let ourselves go? To pretend our lives were different, that the smallest of our decisions didn’t have deadly consequences?
She opens her mouth but hesitates. “What are you thinking?” She speaks in a wondering tone, as awed and confounded as I.
“I’m thinking…” Again, my eyes go to her mouth. I’m thinking I might not survive the week. I’m thinking I’d like to kiss her before I die. But I won’t make something happen that she doesn’t want. She has Carden to consider, and so I must be sure. “Are you afraid?”
She shifts. Did she just edge closer?
“There are things I’m afraid of when you’re around,” she says, “and it’s not this.”
What does that mean? If it’s going to end soon for me, I can’t do it with this hanging over my head. This feeling. This unasked question. I must know what it’s like to kiss her.
There’s nothing to stop us. Not even Carden could avenge me for taking a simple kiss—not when I’m dead from my attempt to kill Dagursson.
And what of Carden? She shares a blood bond with him—a vampire of tremendous power—and, yet, even that isn’t enough to stop this thing between us.
But does she want it, too?
Her hand grazes mine. She has edged closer. Her eyes are steady on mine. She does want this.
I have to seize it. To take what might be this one last pleasure. To answer this one last question.
To take this one kiss.
Slowly, I lean down. I touch my mouth to hers.
They say the world stops when you experience something this pure, this shatteringly true. But as I kiss Annelise the world doesn’t stop at all.
Rather, for the first time I can remember, I can breathe again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Striding to the breakfast the next day, I’m a man reborn. I can face anything. Anyone. Dagursson, Alcántara, Carden… Bring it on.
Bring it on. It’s something Annelise would say. Her spirit has infused me that fully, touched me that deeply. I’ll make her mine completely. I’ll find a way.
With the thought, I spot the Scottish vampire heading toward me on the path. Does he know about Annelise and me? Did he feel something from afar, stirring in her heart as we kissed? Does he know it was me?
I pull back my shoulders and pick up my pace. I can face anyone… especially Carden McCloud.
Maybe Annelise has already told him. She told him she feels something for me, and he’s come to confront me. I meet his focused glare and don’t look away.
But as our paths cross, the only thing he has to say to me is, “Best hurry, pup.”
“Hurry?” It takes me a moment to process that his scowl has nothing to do with Annelise. As pleasant as it is to imagine confrontations with my rival, it’s time to get out of my head.
“Aye, lad. Hurry. As in shake a leg. Get cracking. However you toddlers say it. Freya wants Dagursson dead. Or have you forgotten?”
I grit my teeth. “No, Master McCloud. I’ve not forgotten.” I’m so not in the mood for his vampiric condescension.
He cuffs me on the shoulder. “No need to ‘Master’ me, pup. You know I find the customs of Hugo and his lads to be a load of shite.” He swings an easy arm around my shoulders and pulls me into a walk. “I’m only wanting to know why Alrik is still walking about.” The shift in his tone is subtle, but I hear it like the blast of a foghorn—he’s serious.
“It’s not that simple. I had to stake him out first.” And then kiss your girlfriend.
“Time to stop staking out and just start staking.” He jostles me with a good humor I know is counterfeit.
I stop short, spinning to face him. “And what if I do my part and fail?” I’ve played
“My life…” Her arms flail. “What’s that without you?”
I mean something to her. Could it even be possible?
My eyes go to her lips. I step closer. What is this thing between us? What would it feel like to let ourselves go? To pretend our lives were different, that the smallest of our decisions didn’t have deadly consequences?
She opens her mouth but hesitates. “What are you thinking?” She speaks in a wondering tone, as awed and confounded as I.
“I’m thinking…” Again, my eyes go to her mouth. I’m thinking I might not survive the week. I’m thinking I’d like to kiss her before I die. But I won’t make something happen that she doesn’t want. She has Carden to consider, and so I must be sure. “Are you afraid?”
She shifts. Did she just edge closer?
“There are things I’m afraid of when you’re around,” she says, “and it’s not this.”
What does that mean? If it’s going to end soon for me, I can’t do it with this hanging over my head. This feeling. This unasked question. I must know what it’s like to kiss her.
There’s nothing to stop us. Not even Carden could avenge me for taking a simple kiss—not when I’m dead from my attempt to kill Dagursson.
And what of Carden? She shares a blood bond with him—a vampire of tremendous power—and, yet, even that isn’t enough to stop this thing between us.
But does she want it, too?
Her hand grazes mine. She has edged closer. Her eyes are steady on mine. She does want this.
I have to seize it. To take what might be this one last pleasure. To answer this one last question.
To take this one kiss.
Slowly, I lean down. I touch my mouth to hers.
They say the world stops when you experience something this pure, this shatteringly true. But as I kiss Annelise the world doesn’t stop at all.
Rather, for the first time I can remember, I can breathe again.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Striding to the breakfast the next day, I’m a man reborn. I can face anything. Anyone. Dagursson, Alcántara, Carden… Bring it on.
Bring it on. It’s something Annelise would say. Her spirit has infused me that fully, touched me that deeply. I’ll make her mine completely. I’ll find a way.
With the thought, I spot the Scottish vampire heading toward me on the path. Does he know about Annelise and me? Did he feel something from afar, stirring in her heart as we kissed? Does he know it was me?
I pull back my shoulders and pick up my pace. I can face anyone… especially Carden McCloud.
Maybe Annelise has already told him. She told him she feels something for me, and he’s come to confront me. I meet his focused glare and don’t look away.
But as our paths cross, the only thing he has to say to me is, “Best hurry, pup.”
“Hurry?” It takes me a moment to process that his scowl has nothing to do with Annelise. As pleasant as it is to imagine confrontations with my rival, it’s time to get out of my head.
“Aye, lad. Hurry. As in shake a leg. Get cracking. However you toddlers say it. Freya wants Dagursson dead. Or have you forgotten?”
I grit my teeth. “No, Master McCloud. I’ve not forgotten.” I’m so not in the mood for his vampiric condescension.
He cuffs me on the shoulder. “No need to ‘Master’ me, pup. You know I find the customs of Hugo and his lads to be a load of shite.” He swings an easy arm around my shoulders and pulls me into a walk. “I’m only wanting to know why Alrik is still walking about.” The shift in his tone is subtle, but I hear it like the blast of a foghorn—he’s serious.
“It’s not that simple. I had to stake him out first.” And then kiss your girlfriend.
“Time to stop staking out and just start staking.” He jostles me with a good humor I know is counterfeit.
I stop short, spinning to face him. “And what if I do my part and fail?” I’ve played
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