How could she expect him not to have bitten anyone else? The man was a vampire. It was in his very nature. She could understand that even when she felt some of her confidence shrivel up at the thought.
In the space between heartbeats, a new thought dug its claws into her:If he’s had anchors before, how long will it be before he finds another one?
She felt the blood drain from her face, though she did her best to keep her expression blank. It was fine if he wanted multiple partners, of course, but she needed to know before she got in too deep. Certainly she needed to know before she went and bonded with the man. She had no moral scruples against having multiple partners, but it wasn’t for her.
She wanted to be more than just one of many. She wanted to be someone’sonly.
And, she now recalled, he said he wanted somethingpermanent.Notmonogamous.
“Zia?”
She blinked. Her eyes focused back on the screen to find Harlan sitting up, his brow deeply furrowed and his jaw tense.
“Sorry!” She tried to laugh the uneasy moment off. “I got lost in thought for a second.”
“You are upset.”
“I’m not upset,” she protested.
There was something strangely comforting about watching him lift his lip to bare his fangs. He made that clicking noise again — that distinctly vampiric sound of annoyance that shouldn’t have warmed her heart and yet did so anyway. He looked fierce and more than a little scary, but shelikedthat about him.
Harlan’s camera moved as he sat up completely. For a moment, all she saw was long hair, a darkened room, and the slope of a bare shoulder. “I’m coming over there.”
Zia made a small gurgling sound of panic. “No! Harlan, the sun is up! You’ll get hurt!”
“It’s not the first time I’ve had a sunburn, Miss North,” he rumbled mulishly. “You are upset. I’m coming to you.Now.”
“No,you’re not.” She ran her fingers through her tangled, frizzy curls and let out a hard sigh. “If I tell you what bothered me, will youpleaselay back down? I’ll start crying if you get hurt, Harlan. It’ll make me so mad I might not even let you in!”
His face came back into view with dizzying speed. His expression was brutal, just on the edge of panicked, when he commanded, “You willnot.”
“I will!”
He gnashed his fangs. “This would not be a problem if you were here,” he muttered, vexed in the way that men who usually get everything they want tend to be when toldno.“Tell me what upset you, Zia.”
Queasiness settled in her stomach. She looked down at her lap and tried not to feel the low pulsing in her thigh, nor his gaze as it pierced her through the lens of his camera. “I… was just surprised that you had other anchors. I shouldn’t have assumed, obviously, but I— Well, I did, and it made me wonder about what kind of relationship you’re looking for. It’s okay if you’re looking for something casual, or…” She swallowed. “Multiple partners. But I need to know that before we go any further.”
There. The big, grown-up, mature words were out. Now she just had to endure the consequences they came with.
“Pet, look at me.”
Zia forced her eyes up. Her stomach rolled with nerves. When she looked at the screen, every muscle tensed, her fight or flight instincts immediately prickling to life. Harlan stared back at her with a look so fierce, it transformed his face into something savage.
His words came out clearly, concisely. It was as if he worried she would misunderstand him if the gaps between them were too short, or if the syllables rolled too quickly off of the tongue. “I said I had bitten others before,notthat I had other anchors. They are not one and the same. Anchors are… special. They take time, effort. They are a gift. Most vampires only have the one — though there are always exceptions, or those who choose multiple partners.”
He shook his head with a small grimace. “I have never had an anchor before you, Zia. I’ve never wanted one. Not until you. And I’m not the kind of man who shares well. I won’t take another.”
Relief was a wash of warmth through her, whisking away all that sour doubt. Still, she had to ask, “So you’re serious about this being a… forever kind of thing?”
Harlan’s expression darkened. “Yes, pet. This is aforever kind of thing.”
Zia let out a shaky laugh. “Oh, good. That’s good. Okay. Yes. Good.”
A question about how he felt about being witchbonded danced on the tip of her tongue, but she chickened out at the last second. There was only so much mature conversation she could handle in a day. Besides, she wanted to bask in the glow of this news before she broached another fraught topic.
Before Harlan could say anything, she plowed ahead. “You should probably get to sleep, right? You must be tired.”
The look on his face wasn’t exactly encouraging, but he did eventually sigh and lay back down. “Lay with me for a moment, pet.”
