“What assholes,” I replied, trying to keep a straight face.
“I know, right?” she said, widening her eyes at me. “But it all worked out in the end. Last I heard, Jacy’s husband is a philandering douche, whileIhave a mate who literally can’t touch any other women. I win.”
I smiled and found her in the bedding, sliding my hand over the bare skin at her waist where her T-shirt had ridden up.
“Now I sound like an asshole,” she complained, blowing a little piece of hair off her face. “But to be fair, I hoped for a redemption arc for Jacy. She just never had one. She’s still justas bitchy as the day in third grade that she called me an ogre and made the rest of the class do it too. No one talked to me for a week. Literally. They pretended like I wasn’t there.”
“Cunt,” I replied. “Fuck Jacy Herbert.”
“Exactly.” She grinned at me, the little dimple in her cheek winking in and out of sight. She yawned, one of her hands sliding out of the blankets to cover her mouth.
“We should get some sleep.” I stretched out my legs and remembered too late that there wasn’t enough room. My feet hit the footboard with a thump that startled me and made Rosemary giggle. My lips tipped up at the sound, even though I knew I was going to have an epically shitty night of sleep.
“I’ll teach you the trick,” Rosemary announced. Without warning, she yanked the pillow out from under my head and scooted across the bed. “Come on.”
I followed her toward the edge and watched as she carefully set our pillows side-by-side but slightly overlapping to fit in the corner.
“We’ll have to sleep close, but if you lie diagonally, there should be more leg room.” Lying down, she patted my pillow. “Try it.”
Moving in next to her, I lay down on my side and stretched my legs out. The bed still wasn’t quite long enough, but by shifting a little?—
“Yep, see? Even if it’s still a little short, you can at least hang your feet off the edge. Better?”
“Much,” I agreed, wrapping my arm around her waist.
Rosemary turned over so her back was to me and scooted until her ass was tucked into my lap. Lifting her top leg, she cocked her knee out, and I immediately filled the space behind it with my own.
“Okay?” I asked, the scent of her hair making my chest clench. The heat had mellowed to a bearable simmer, but I knew it was a temporary reprieve.
“Yep,” she replied, her voice already a little groggy.
I lay there thinking about the events that had led us together, and beyond that, the lives that had prepared us for the moment we met. Outside factors meant that the beginning of our life together wouldn’t be easy. Always in the back of my mind was the knowledge that somewhere out there were humans searching for my mate—but inside that room? Our relationship was progressing in a way that I’d never have imagined in a hundred lifetimes.
Rosemary wasn’t afraid of this thing between us that was completely out of our control. She didn’t shy away from it. She didn’t question it. She accepted it. Accepted me, just like that. I’d heard the stories, and I’d watched my brothers as they’d struggled to find a way forward with their mates. Beau and Reese had cemented the bond very quickly, but had barely tolerated each other. Ambrose and Lucy had felt the attraction from the beginning, but she’d been pretty reluctant for what felt like a long time about tying her immortal life to a Vampire she’d just met.
Because that’s what Rosemary would get from me. Beyond our relationship and the children we made together, she also received immortality. Well, both of us did. As it stood now, I was set to live a very long life—hadlived a very long life—and it was very hard to kill me. But once we’d cemented the bond? Only beheading would end either of our lives.
We needed to complete the bond, and we needed to do it quickly. I wanted to make it special. Memorable. But with every second that passed—especially in the quiet of the night when Rosemary let out a quiet snuffle and her hand found mine—silent panic seemed to build in my chest.
Because until we completed the bond, my mate was vulnerable.
Chapter 5
Rosemary
Ididn’t remember falling asleep the night before, but when I woke up the next day, sunlight was streaming through the blinds, and I was alone in bed. Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the ceiling of my room and replayed the last twenty-four hours.
I had a mate. I had a frigging mate, and he was gorgeous. Tall and built and bearded and tattooed.
I took a moment to mourn that I hadn’t yet taken the time to study the tattoos that practically covered his chest and arms.
Beyond his appearance, which I couldn’t have improved on if I were imagining him, I actually liked the Vampire. He was protective, but it wasn’t suffocating. To be fair, itwasannoying, but I felt like I could probably push back on that when the time came. He was funny. He clearly loved his family. And holy hell was he good in bed.
I grinned. If he was that good with his hands, I had a strong feeling that he’d be even better with other parts of his body.
I felt like a new person as I climbed out of bed and stretched my arms above me until my fingers brushed the ceiling. It was amazing what an orgasm and a good night’s sleep could do for a person.
I hurried to get dressed and made a stop by the bathroom to brush my teeth so I could go search for my mate. I could hear noise coming from out back, and I followed it to find my pop standing by the wood splitter, his wheelchair waiting just a few steps behind him. As I watched, Daniel stepped out from around the shed, carrying a round of wood. He set it on the splitter, my dad pulled the lever, and the piece slowly split in half. As Pop held one half in place, Daniel set the other on the ground beside him and then readjusted the piece on the splitter so they could cut it down into pieces that would fit in our fireplace. They moved methodically, like they’d already gone through the same process a hundred times before. Warmth spread through my chest.
