It had been years since I thought of those days. We had a lot of good times after that.
"She seems like a good friend," he said, nudging me.
I nodded. "Yeah, she is, when I let her be."
"Our lives make it difficult to connect with those in the mundane world," Liam said. "I know it probably hurt you to pull back, thinking you were protecting her."
My smile was filled with regret. "Didn't exactly work out, did it?"
He lifted my chin, his expression grave. "You didn't make her a wolf. Taking on responsibility for a transgression that isn't yours brings no credit to you or her."
"Is that what you tell yourself when you think of Nora?"
His hold loosened. "Touché."
I patted him on the chest. "You be easy on yourself, and I'll try to do the same."
His nod was short but heartfelt.
I tapped his chin. "Now, about you and Brax? How did that friendship come about?"
He scowled. "Who says I'm friends with that mutt?"
"You forget, I've seen the two of you together. You have a bromance for the ages," I said, grinning.
"That is a story for another time." He leaned up, stealing a kiss. "The sun is coming up."
Lassitude stole over my limbs, preventing any argument from me.
"Fine, but you owe me."
At least that's what I meant to say, what came out was garbled and slurred. Sleep took me before I caught his response.
EIGHT
MY NEMESIS SUNK below the horizon, conceding the field of battle for the night. My eyes popped open, alertness flooding my body as it always did upon waking.
As a vampire, I was lucky. There was no grogginess, no desire to return to slumber that a human might have. As soon as the sun went down, my brain came back online.
I stayed in bed, staring up at the ceiling. I felt like I was forgetting something. Something important. A dream, maybe?
My dreams had always been vivid, sometimes weird, but always entertaining. This wasn't the first time I'd woken while feeling like I needed to remember.
Like I had in the past, I reached for what I'd forgotten, grasping at the edges as it fluttered out of reach. There, but the details fuzzy. A submerged leviathan waiting in the deep.
"Playing possum?" The bed moved as Liam climbed onto it. His face appeared above mine, his chest bare and his eyes seductive. "I can think of a few ways to occupy our time if you don’t feel like leaving this bed."
The edges of the dream shredded, taking with it any possibility of recovering it.
"I'm trying to remember," I told him.
He propped his chin on my chest, which was still covered by the comforter he must have pulled over me when I did my impression of a coma patient. "What are you trying to remember?"
My gaze turned distant. "A dream, I think."
"What was in the dream?"
"No idea, but it seemed important." I shook off the uneasy feeling, focusing on Liam for the first time. "You got your shower."
