Oliver raised a brow but didn’t say it.Teresa might. Felipe ran a tired hand over his face. He needed to speak with her and set things right. The conversation was long overdue.
“But you are also the hardest on yourself,” Oliver added, kissing Felipe gently. “We can’t choose when our bodies will decide to change or give out or find new ways to upset us, but we can still ask others to love us for the person we are now, instead of hiding it. It’s worked so far for me, even though it was absolutely terrifying at first, but I don’t doubt you and Gwen love me as I am.”
Shutting his eyes, Felipe clung to Oliver’s solid warmth. How could he not hide who or what he was? Oliver had reanimated him, and in turn, Felipe had consumed a heart to save Oliver’s life. They had both committed sins others would gladly punish them for, but with their joined lives, Felipe knew whatever he became, Oliver would be a part of it, for better or worse. Felipe shuddered, his fist tangling in Oliver’s shirt. His existence was a grand experiment that could blow up in Oliver’s face at any moment if anyone found out.
“But what if the person I’m becoming isn’t quite... human?” Felipe whispered, half hoping Oliver wouldn’t hear.
Oliver’s arms tightened around him as he pulled back enough to search Felipe’s features. “Why wouldn’t you be human? If anything, you’re closer to a normal person now than you were before. Most of us don’t have the vitality of demigods.”
“But what if the hunger and seeing in the dark are only the beginning? What if I keep changing or worse?”
The tether pulled taut between them as Oliver gently brushed his fingers through Felipe’s curls. “Then, we’ll figure it out when it happens. I’ll do research when this case is over. There has to be something about people like you in the library.”
“And if there’s nothing?”
“Then, we will have to take things as they come. As Gwen has reiterated to menumeroustimes, we needn’t borrow trouble.”
Maybe you should, Felipe’s mind whispered. Maybe cutting him loose before something terrible happened was the wisest course of action. Oliver had gone against his principles for Felipe so many times, and every day Felipe was alive, Oliver put himself at risk.
As if sensing his thoughts, Oliver wrapped his arms around him, slipping his fingers into his hair and fanning them across the small of his back, before kissing him. It was the kind of earnest kiss Oliver gave him when he wanted to punctuate how much he meant every word, as if this simple, intimate meeting of breath and flesh held a gravity words could not.
Pulling back, Oliver’s sea grey eyes swept across Felipe’s features. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, Felipe. There hasn’t been a single moment since we’ve been together that I regret, and I know you’re afraid of what all this means. I would be too.” Twining their fingers together, Oliver held them between their hearts. “Just know that no matter what, I’m not leaving you or loving you any less because your life is slightly more complicated, Felipe.”
Shutting his eyes as Oliver kissed him again, Felipe believed him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Loose Ends
Felipe awoke to hushedvoices somewhere nearby. The midday sun shone through the open window and cut across his eyelid and cheek, warming his skin just to the edge of discomfort. Reaching across the bed for Oliver, he found the other side tidy but empty, save for a note.
Felipe, please sleep as long as you need. I’m cleaning up the lab. I love you. –Oliver
A sleepy smile crossed his lips as he pushed back the covers and sat up. His clothes were rumpled and his hair mussed, but he had looked worse. Slipping on his tie and jacket, Felipe wished he could use his toothpowder before meeting whomever waited in the lab; unfortunately, the sink was on the other side of the closet. The moment the closet door opened, Gwen and Oliver broke off their conversation. Oliver’s face brightened as he set down his coffee to pour a cup for Felipe and sent a waiting note up the pneumatic tube to the kitchen. When he glanced over his shoulder at him, Felipe caught the tension in Oliver’s lips, as if he wanted to say something but shouldn’t.
Nodding to him from her stool, Gwen asked, “How are you feeling? Oliver told me you all had an eventful night.”
