“You,” he whispered.
As the galaxy faded, the craving seized her. She had to seal what he had started.
Instantly Tai saw her need. He nodded. “Your turn.”
She couldn’t speak. She could only bite. Her teeth sank into his neck, and his blood was downright cold, deliciously sour. As it hit her tongue, she saw a flash of steel-colored eyes, and then her vision washed the same color, and shefelt. So much. Care and compassion, responsibility and worry, love and gratitude, struggle and pain, appreciation and joy, all swelling up from a safe bedrock of utter strength. It was him. It was all Tai. It came to her with a chorus of strings and piano. It came to her in wave after wave that pulled tears from her eyes. Her heart gave another beat, and his beat too. She could be on the other sideof the world from Tai Kristiansen, and she’d know each time his heart beat. She’d know each time he laughed, each time he cried.
She lifted her head and looked into his beautiful glinting eyes. She brushed a stray lock of his black hair from his forehead.
“Hi, my love,” she whispered.
He smiled and whispered back. “Hi, beautiful.”
She pressed her palm to her chest. “You’re here now. Right here. I can feel you.”
He nodded.
“You can feel me too?”
Another nod. A tear fell down his cheek, and she brushed it away.
“Leslie tried to describe this to me, but she didn’t do it justice.”
“Could you?”
Not anywhere close. She shook her head, pressed her lips gently to the silver scar at the dip of Tai’s shoulder. Then she rested her head there, overwhelmed with contentment, with the vitality of him that rested inside her now, a treasure to hold, a sealed bond that nothing would break for a thousand years.
“So…” He stirred against the wall, smirked as his eyes traveled up and down the way she’d nestled up to his chest. “The dress was in my plan. This…not so much.”
“Spontaneity for the win.” Claire took his lip between hers and pressed her teeth lightly, her fangs already retracted.
A laugh shook his chest. “I regret nothing. But we might want to get dressed.”
Getting her head back into formal mode wasn’t easy despite the glory of the dress. If Claire could have crawled into yoga pants and cuddled with her eternal instead of glamming up, she probably would have done it.
Her eternal.
She truly hadn’t needed this to feel secure about Tai. Not anymore. But what a gift to have it anyway, to feel his soul beat in time with hers. She couldn’t wait to tell Leslie, to tell Ember…yet at the same time, she could. It was so new, so intimate, maybe she’d keep it to herself for a day or two.
She was ready in plenty of time. Tai emerged from his room flipping the ends of his tie into a perfect, effortless bow. Of course the man could tie a bow tie. No clip-on for Tai Kristiansen. He stopped still when he saw her, and then a slow smile overtook his face.
“Beautiful,” he said.
“Same.” She nodded at him. Her eternal stood nonchalantly, unnaturally gorgeous as ever.
“No. Not the same at all.” He stepped in close and wrapped her in his arms. Her gown swished as she pressed in close, and he kissed the top of her head rather than her brightly glossed lips. “My beautiful eternal.”
“Is this how you’re going to be now? Bloodbound and sentimental?”
“Claire Elisabeth, if you haven’t noticed before now that I’m sentimental…”
“Fair point.”
They were quiet on the drive, content to absorb the other’s presence. Claire knew Tai was processing it all just as she was because…well, because she knew. His moods were part of her awareness now, even without looking at him or hearing his voice.
As they walked into the banquet hall, the festive elegance made her pause just past the doors. “Oh, Tai, it’s gorgeous. Who designed all this?”
“I contracted an event planner, and mostly she worked with my assistant, Bella. I did exercise veto power when Bella campaigned for snowman centerpieces.”
