James just smiled. I started to press him, when a loud voice from baggage claim started singing “Here Comes the Bride.”
“All right, all right!” I said, laughing. Raleigh, with his height and alternative appearance, hardly needed ribald singingto draw the attention of everyone in the airport. “I get it, you missed me. Where’s my girl?”
“With the sitter. We couldn’t fit the car seat and all four of us.”
“I offered to get a rental,” James explained, “but they insisted.”
I barely heard James as Raleigh lifted me into one of his bone-crushing hugs, sparing James the same treatment. I rubbed my sternum, shocked when Angel stepped forward to wrap his arms around me too.
“We won’t have any newborn vampires causing problems, will we?” he asked quietly.
We parted, and my hand snapped up to cover my neck. I should have realized Angel, of all people, would notice immediately.
It had come out during their last visit that “angel” was so much more than a name. The all-seeing eyes across his body were no mere tattoos, and while I hadn’t seen them myself, Raleigh confided in me that Angel had abeautifulset of wings.
He wasn’t human, and he probably could see the venom trapped beneath my skin, pulsing at the two marks on my neck.
“Someone’s got some explaining to do,” Raleigh rumbled. “And to beveryclear, you’re legally obligated to tell me if wedohave a newborn vampire on our hands. A human baby is enough to handle.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” I assured them, dropping my hand. “It didn’t work.”
I jolted when Angel suddenly pinched my chin between two of his fingers and turned my head side to side. “How many times did he bite you?”
“Twice.”
His icy blue stare went to James. “Twice?”
“Three times, technically,” I amended, “since there were two bites on the second attempt.”
James sighed. “We’ve got a lot to tell you two.”
“Come on.” Raleigh snatched my suitcase from me just as I had his months ago. “Let’s get away from the day dwellers.”
During the drive to the hotel, I caught my two closest friends up on everything that had come to light since the beginning of the year: I wanted to turn into a vampire as soon as possible to help James thwart the hunters of Virtus who’d been hunting us despite being led by vampires themselves—and, in all likelihood, by the twin sisters of James’s closest friend. Dani, our former bartender who we all thought to be dead was… well,undead. She’d been working with Virtus to take James down, but after the vampires turned her, she switched teams again. Unlike Dani,Icouldn’t become a vampire because I was descended from witches, and I needed to obtain the blessings of both of our families in order for the witch’s block to be lifted enough that James could turn me—a feat made all the more difficult because it would require a lot more venom to overcome my witch DNA. That same DNA meant that Hannah would become a witch and gain powers very soon.
By the time Raleigh pulled into the parking lot of the hotel and parked, exhaustion had swept over me once more.
“I need a drink,” he laughed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “And you chose to getmarriedin the middle of all this?”
James and I shared a smile. “Why not?”
My best friend watched me, shaking his head in disbelief. “Who are you and what have you done with Ryder Clark?”
“I said the same thing to you a couple of years ago.”
James stamped a kiss to my cheek. “I’ll go get us checked in.”
“I’ll come with you,” Angel offered.
As they went inside, Raleigh and I took the bags out of the trunk. I took a minute to stretch my legs, soaking in the Vegassun. In February, there was a slight chill to the air, but it was nothing compared to the bitter New England cold, and I was going to cherish every second of it.
The car wobbled, and Raleigh perched next to me. “You really ready for this?”
An involuntary smile curled my lips. “I know it sounds crazy, but I am,” I answered without hesitation. “I thought I’d feel a lot more nervous about it.”
Raleigh shrugged. “When you know, you know.”
He lifted his left hand, pushing it through his shaggy hair. As he did, his gold wedding band caught the sunlight.
