My hand slid into Tate’s, our gaze focused on each other as we walked through the vampire’s dorms. Tate held the door open for me, letting me walk in front of him up the stairs and into the commons. Several students were getting ready to go to the woods, and the air buzzed with excitement and anticipation.
“So… a first date.” I dropped my eyes to where our hands were linked. “I can’t say I know what to expect.”
Tate didn’t say anything for a moment. “Is this your first date… ever?”
“Yeah.” I blushed and nodded. “Another first. Last night.”
“Ah, yes.” Tate chuckled a dark masculine sound that made things low tighten. “Kyren will be happy to hear that.”
My face heated more at the mention of Kyren.
“Now, you have to tell me, how does someone like you, looking like you do,” Tate gestured at me with a lopsided grin, “go twenty-five years without a date?”
I opened my mouth to answer and then clamped it shut. How did I answer this without giving away who I was? It wasn’t like I didn’t want to date — it was just… difficult.
“Overprotective parents.” I left it at that.
We walked out of the vampire crypt and followed the other students through the campus and out a side gate that lead into the woods surrounding the school.
“What about you?” I asked, our feet crunching on the ground. “Why’d you run off with a vampire instead of being… you know, part of a pack?”
Tate wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and he sighed. “My pack live back in Utah. My mom and dad were typical parents. They prepped me to take over the pack. Every day was about how best to be of service to them. My little brother, Dion, never could see why I didn’t want it. The power. The respect of our pack mates.”
“The responsibility,” I added on, understanding where he was coming from.
“Right.” Tate paused next to where they were handing out drinks. The bonfire crackled and burned nearby, warming the side of my body. He held out a drink to me and then pulled it back when I reached for it. “Don’t drink too much, I have plans for you.”
“Alright.” I fluttered my lashes, a small smile playing on my lips as I accepted the drink.
The warm smile spread across his face as he led me to one side of the party, offering me a seat on a stump. I cuddled up next to him, even though it wasn’t cold out.
“My parents meant well,” Tate continued his story. “But they were all work and no play. I felt stifled, forced to be something Iwasn’t. Then…” He paused, his eyes staring off into the distance as a small smile played on his lips. “Kyren showed up.”
“How’d that happen?” I sipped from my cup, watching the side of his face as he talked about Kyren.
“He was drunk off his ass, wondering the forest, muttering about —” Tate’s hand moved up and down my arm, his voice soft, almost full of awe as he talked about his master and lover.
I frowned when he cut himself off.
“Anyway,” Tate sighed, “enough about me. What about you? Alora just happened, so you had to have been doing something before now.”
I let out a hard laugh. “Not a whole lot, actually. I was homeschooled. My parents were… overprotective.”
“You said that, but you’re an adult. Why didn’t you just go out and… live?” He gestured emphatically.
“I did, sort of.” I stared down at the ground, scuffing my boot on the ground. “Then I started hanging out with this group of people, and they introduced me to Alora. And then… here.” I swallowed a mouthful of the witch’s brew, using it to keep myself from telling too much.
“That was… enlightening.” Tate chuckled. “How did —?”
“Look who it is,” a low gruff voice taunted. “The traitor and his girlfriend.” The werewolf from the cafeteria stood over us as a couple of his friends egged him on. “Does yourmasterknow you’re cheating on him?”
“Back off, Jed,” Tate growled, his hand tightening on my shoulder.
“Or what?” Jed gnashed his teeth at us, his eyes flashing yellow. “You gonna sic your vampire boyfriend on us?”
“It’s a party, just go enjoy yourselves.” Tate grinned at them. “Why bother with us?”
“Why?” Jed laughed and glanced at his friends. “Because you’re a filthy traitor. Letting that vamp bind you to him. It’s unnatural, and frankly, it’s sick.”
