“Yeah. She says the women in her family age gracefully and she wants to make sure she does it better than her cousin Maribel.” Diah shrugs.
“She is aware if you turned her, she would age better than 99% of the global population, right?” Henry makes a disbelieving sound in the back of his throat.
“We’ve had that discussion.”
“So she’s just with you…for now?”
“She’s with me until she doesn’t want to be.” He shrugs again. He’s trying to play it cool, but it’s obvious he’s not happy with the nature of their relationship.
“Is that why you’ve broken up before?” I ask, curious as to why my brother pursues someone he has no future with.
“I used to push the issue with her, but I don’t anymore. She just wants to have fun. There’s not much I can do about it besides love her until I can’t.”
Diah ends the conversation by swallowing back the contents and pushing away from the table without another word. There’s a long silence, then Henry does the same.
“She’s keeping him from Elijah,” he whispers, and for the first time, I become aware of the tether between my brother and his best friend. “He won’t make a move until she’s left him for good.”
“He’s a good person.”
“Too good for her.”
“She loves both of them, but you’re not wrong.” I take a sip and decide I’m done drinking donor blood for the time being.
“What about you?” Henry looks down at Declan with judgement in his eyes. “Are you deserving?”
Declan reaches for me under the table and grabs my hand so tight he nearly breaks my fingers. We’re going to need to have a talk about his strength, but he leaves me silent when he looks me dead in the eye and answers my brother, “I hope to be.”
I wouldn't want him to leave, anyway
Hours later and my parents still haven’t come out of their room. In all honesty, I’m not eager to learn the ins and outs of whatever responsibilities I’m supposed to have now. I want to spend time with Declan, learn abouthim, and learn about what it means to have a mate.
Henry and Diah have both disappeared, and I pull Declan back upstairs to my room and close the door behind us.
“Is it normal to live at home like this?” he asks, resting his back against the sturdy wood.
“We’ve always stayed close. It’s safer.”
“Is it dangerous to be a vampire?”
“It can be. We all travel sometimes, but there are rogues who don’t stay with their families and venture out. Sometimes they can get a little wily. That’s the whole political side of it. Someone needs to be in charge somehow.”
“And that’s you now?” Declan pushes off the door and stalks toward me. He grabs the hem of my shirt between his fingers and pulls it over my head.
“Seems as such.”
“I’m mated to the big guy?” He arches a brow and drags his hands up my sides.
“You think I’m big?” I grunt, and he walks me backward until my knees hit the bed.
He answers me with a smile and pushes me down until I’m on my back. Declan straddles me and takes his shirt off, tossing it behind him onto the floor.
“Does this wear off?” He kisses my nipples, twisting them between his teeth until I hiss. I’ve never been one for pain myself, but there’s something about Declan that does it for me, whether he’s hurting me or hurting for me.
“What?”
“The horniness.” He grinds our dicks together and, no big shocker, we’re both hard.
“I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”
