Finally, he coughs. “There’s something you should know.”
“Yeah?”
“So, among my kind—immortals—bonding our lifelines…well, that soulbinding, you know, it’s—”
“You sure are tongue-tied,” you tease, grinning. You’ve never felt happier. Suddenly, everything is going right. “What, don’t tell me soulbinding means something romantic.”
“Well, that’s the thing.” He takes a step closer, suddenly back to his usual confident scoundrel demigod self. With one hand on your jaw, he tilts your chin up, leaning down close.
His fangs glide over the side of your neck, sending tingles down your spine until you can’t help but let out a soft little, “Oh.”
Drawing his teeth along the side of your jaw, he stills as he says, “Soulbinding is to my kind what marriage is to yours.”
Your heart skips a beat.
Staring up into his eyes, you can barely breathe. All the air evaporates from your lungs.
“Are you saying—” you choke out, the words barely more than a gasp. “Are you saying we’remarried?”
Ziros grins.
Not just a little smirk. A full, evil, triumphant grin that lights his eyes brighter than you’ve ever seen.
“That’s right, human. You’remineforever now, and there’s no taking it back.”
Before you can say anything, he crushes his lips against yours, pressing your back to the wall, the muscular length of his body pinning you in place.
Of course you thought sharing a lifetimesoundeda lot like a marriage, but at the time, you had much bigger things to think about.
Things like not dying.
Ziros pulls away, leaving you breathless as he smirks down at you. “So what do you have to say for yourself, human? Do you regret your decision?”
“Never,” you reply without even having to pause to think. Leaning forward, you press your lips against his in a soft kiss. “I could never regret it.” Lifting his hand in yours, you ask. “But what about you? Now you’ll…die.”
“Not for a long time,” he says, waving off your concern. “Not until you do.”
You wince. “Humans get sick all the time. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow—”
“You won’t.”
He kisses you again, softly, then harder, one arm braced on the wall beside your head.
Finally, he says, “You won’t, because my magic will protect you from sickness. And I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you ever again. And definitely not a bus.”
“Because you don’t want to die?”
“No, my precious, crazy human. Because I refuse to loseyou. And now that I have you, I’m going to make sure we grow old together.”
You kiss him again, not sure why your eyes are stinging. Blinking back a wave of tears, you have to ask the thing that’s been bothering you. “What if you regret it? What if you come to regret sacrificing yourself to save me? We haven’t even known each other that long, and—”
“I won’t, human,” he whispers, and the confidence in his voice warms your heart. He wipes the tears from your cheeks with gentle fingers. “Are you questioning the wisdom of an immortal? I think I’ve lived long enough to know what’s real by now.” He pauses, tilting your chin back up toward him. “And this feels real to me.”
You blink back more tears, trying not to keep crying, but he’s so…it’s so…
“Human. Look at me.” He lifts your jaw, leaning in close. “It gets lonely when you live forever, you know. I’d rather spend one lifetime with you than all eternity alone.”
With that, he kisses you. There’s no hunger in this kiss, only healing. Only love. Only a softness that you never would have expected when you first met.
