Low murmurs come from the bedroom, but Vlad is sitting on the sofa, faintly scowling with his gaze fixed on the window. They’ve covered it with black bags, looks like, all the shattered glass swept away. My magic pushes out to keep the light at bay; until it’s fixed, or until we’re gone, I won’t risk the light hurting Vlad. He’s blinking too much already, and even more so when I step between his legs and tip his chin up.
“What did you hear?” he asks.
I shake my head. “It hurts?”
His expression shutters. “I’m fine.”
“Vlad…” I make my tone as stern as I can. All things considered, the last two days have been some of the best of my life, even if some people tried to kill me. I’m not having him push this away just because things are getting complicated.
They’re not even getting complicated forus, after all. Nothing between the two of us has changed.
Vlad sighs and pushes his cheek against my hand. I rub a thumb over his cheekbone. His beard is coarser than the hair on his head, but still soft, though I don’t think I’ve ever seen him groom it. I’ll have to ask about that. See if I can help, maybe? It might be nice to sit at night and brush his hair.
“I stared out too long. I wanted to be certain you were safe.”
“You canfeelthat I’m safe,” I say, and my magic is already reaching out, but when it brushes up against Vlad, I gasp and draw it back.
He frowns up at me. “What is it?”
“Asher told me about what happened on the beach. My magic hurt you.”
“Ah.” Vlad lifts his head and I drop my hand. “That. Yes.”
“I don’t—I don’t understandwhy. I don’t want to hurt you. I’dnever—”
“I know,” Vlad says, voice ringing with utter conviction. “And I admit to fearing some incompatibility, should we try to strengthen our bond.”
“But we have the bond already.”
“We do.”
“So shouldn’t we be fine?” Vlad using my magic has to be different to the bond that exists between us. It has to.
“We could be. I do not know. And I will not hesitate to do the same again, should it be needed, but—”
“Oh, absolutelynot.”
“Grant!”
“What? No! What would you say if you were in my position? There’s not a chance you’d be letting me pull your blessing into me, knowing that.” I shake my head and push away to pace. No way. I don’t understand it. My magic didn’t hurt him before and I’d never want to hurt him, so why is this happening? Not like Maurice will know. Hell, not like even the Huntsman will know, probably, because it doesn’t seem like he knows definitively about Asher and Quinn, and I’m sure he knows much more about wolf magic than whatever the fuck is going on with me.
Vlad gets to his feet and steps in my path, so I have to stop so I don’t bump into him. I glare up at him instead, and for some reason that has him smiling and cupping my face in his hands.
“All is well,” he murmurs. “We will both be careful, won’t we?”
“Yes.”
“There is no long-lasting damage. I healed through rest.”
“Sure, but—”
“I will not do it again unless necessary.”
“Absolutelynecessary.” I narrow my eyes when his smile doesn’t wilt at all. “I mean it. Not just when I, I don’t know, trip over my own feet or get a paper cut or—”
“Of course.”
I groan and wrap my arms around his waist, leaning my cheek against his chest. “Another vampire died on the beach this morning.”
