“You’re choosing to die.”
“Maybe.”I step even closer, until our bodies are almost touching.“Or maybe I’m choosing to live.Really live, for the first time in my life.Because running from danger, hiding from monsters, trying to stay safe, it’s not living.That’s just...existing.”
His hands are shaking where they rest on my face.“You’re going to regret this.”
“Probably.”I smile slightly.“But I’d rather regret taking a risk than regret never trying at all.”
“Tessa—”
“I choose you,” I say, the words fierce and final.“Monster and all.Fangs and danger and blood bonds and whatever else comes with this insane life.I choose you, Vex.”
Something in him breaks.
His mouth crashes down on mine, and this kiss is different from all the others.Not desperate like in the garage.Not gentle like in his bed.This isclaiming.This is a vampire finally giving in to what he wants, consequences be damned.
His hands slide into my hair, tilting my head back to deepen the kiss, and I open for him without hesitation.His tongue sweeps into my mouth, cool and demanding, and I can taste winter and darkness and him.
My hands fist in his shirt, pulling him closer, and he growls, the sound vibrating through his chest and into mine.The bond flares to life between us, emotions bleeding back and forth in waves that make my head spin.
His desire.My need.His fear.My certainty.All of it tangled together until I can’t tell where he ends and I begin.
When he finally pulls back, we’re both breathing hard.His eyes are white, glowing softly in the dim room, and his fangs are fully extended.He looks feral.Dangerous.Like the monster he keeps insisting he is.
But he’s also trembling.And the emotion pouring through the bond is so intense it makes my chest ache.
Love.
He loves me.
And he’s terrified of it.
“I can’t promise I won’t hurt you,” he says, his voice rough.“I can’t promise the bond won’t kill you.I can’t promise anything except that I’ll try.I’ll try so fucking hard to keep you safe, even from myself.”
“That’s all I’m asking.”I cup his face, thumb stroking his cheekbone.“Just try.And let me try too.Let me be part of this instead of something you’re protecting.”
His eyes search mine for a long moment.Then, slowly, he nods.
“Okay,” he whispers.“Okay.”
He kisses me again, as though he’s memorizing the taste of me, the feel of me, the miracle I’m choosing him despite everything.
When we break apart, his eyes have faded back to dark, and his fangs have retracted.He rests his forehead against mine, and we stand there, breathing each other in, connected in ways that go far beyond the physical.
“What happens now?”I ask quietly.
“Now?”His smile is sad.“Now we figure out how to survive this.Together.”
“Together,” I echo.
And as we stand there in his room, the bond humming between us like a living thing, I realize something that should terrify me but doesn’t.
I’m not afraid anymore.
Not of the Khorvath.Not of the mark.Not even of this connection that could kill me.
Because for the first time in my life, I’m not running from danger.
I’m choosing it.
