I've never heard of mytherun, but if it will make my girl's abilities less painful for her, I nod and manipulate the metal until it's tightly stuck into my jacket.
"Ready?" the thrall checks.
To see my girl again? I've never been more ready for anything. I'm salivating already, thinking about her taste and her smell and her soft voice.
"Sure am. Wanna be my backpack this time?" I joke.
Ian makes a face. "For the last fucking time, I'm not getting on your bike. I'm faster on foot, and you'd just end up with my fangs in your neck going sixty on a back road. Not a good idea."
I follow him out of the motel room and down the metal stairs into the overcast parking lot, frowning as I realize something.
"You're really fucking unstable right now, huh?"
"Thanks for noticing."
I grip the thrall's arm, forcing him to face me in the parking lot. Even though he's cleaned himself up, I don't miss the way his blue gaze darts to my neck again—or the way he swallows hard as hunger crosses his face.
"Hey," I level with him. "You gonna kill Heidi?"
Ian's eyes snap to mine, that hunger transforming into shocked, insulted fury. "What?I would never. I could never hurt her, let alone fucking?—"
"Great. Because if you did, I'd have to murder you to avenge her." I release his arm, brushing off his shoulder. "Not really interested in doing that, 'cause believe it or not, I happen to like you. So here's the deal: gorge yourself all you fucking want on me without draining me dry, but you're not gonna so much as touch her until you're less bloodthirsty and…" I gesture at all of him vaguely. "Y’know."
"Deranged?" he offers, self-aware.
"Yeah, that," I laugh. "Don't get me wrong, I don’t mind deranged behavior, but not if it puts our girl at risk."
Ian makes a face. "What did you just say?"
"I said I don’t mind?—"
"No. You called herour girl."
I shrug. "You're in love with her, I'm in love with her. What the hell else would we call her?"
"You aren't going to pull some demon shit on me, like trying to kill me once we find Heidi so you can keep her all to yourself?"
"You said you grew up with her," I point out, jangling the keys in my jacket pocket. "Assuming she liked you then and likes you now, killing you would probably get me in the doghouse with her, right? So no, I won't pull anything on you. No point in doing that, so long as I get to love her, too."
He studies me for a moment before, once again, tingling pricks down my spine. His irises deepen in color, trapping me so I can't look away.
"Are you telling the truth?"
"Yes," I huff.
It's annoying as all hells that he's able to hypnotize me, but I also get it. I'd use the same shit if I could, since trust is a luxury I haven't gotten much of in my life.
Ian releases me and finally nods. "All right. I'll take you to our girl's house."
"Well, this is… what's it called again?" I squint at the empty forest next to a bend in a back road outside Koasville, wracking my brain for the right English word. "Right—acclimatic."
"Anticlimactic," Ian corrects, distracted with scowling at the edge of the road like it's betrayed him.
"Sure, that one."
The English language makes no sense, anyway. It's so inconsistent, random, and full of slang that changes all the fucking time, so what does it matter if I'm off a couple of letters?
"I swear the road leading to her house was right here," Ian huffs, glaring at the trees. "Something's not right."
