Ember was quiet a moment, knowing the significance. Knowing the story…of Claire. “Okay, that’s tough. But I can see how, with his condition, it might not be safe.”
“I don’t believe that for one minute. He just needs time to be ready, to trust himself, so my job is to be patient until he is.”
Ember was quiet a moment. “Claire, are you sure…? I mean, if he said pointblank that he can’t, maybe he really can’t.”
Claire’s heart gave an extra hard beat. Her breath froze at the horrible possibility. Ember was wrong. Tai was trustworthy. It was a recent concept, but she’d already latched onto it, and she wouldn’t let her grip be loosened now.
“He can,” she said.
Ember paused again, then seemed to decide something. “How will you feel if you’re wrong about this?”
“I like him a lot. I mean, I really, really like him a lot.”
“A minute ago you said you were falling in love with him.”
“No, I didn’t…did I?”
“Definitely did.”
A slow smile took over her face. Falling in love. With Tai. The panic retreated, overwhelmed by certainty. “I’m not scared of it. I want it.”
“Okay, I believe you, but we’ve also talked for years about your being scared. That you’d fall for someone who didn’t want to be bloodbound, who’d take off like your dad.”
“Where’s Dad, though? Will he come next week?”
“Claire, you’re ten years old now. You’re too old to keep asking for your dad.”
“But when is he coming back? Why can’t I know when?”
Claire blinked away the memory of her mother’s tight frown, the way she wouldn’t meet Claire’s eyes. She rubbed her thumb over the inside of her arm, over her tattoo. Feather of strength. “Tai does want it. We’ll be bloodbound eventually, Em. You’ll see.”
“Okay. I really hope he can. I’m rooting for y’all.”
“I know it seems fast, knowing already that I want a life with him. But I do.”
“Woman, you’re talking to someone who committed herself to a lifelong bond approximately two weeks after meeting her wolf.”
“Um, there were some major extenuating circumstances in your case,” Claire said.
“My point is, I knew. Yeah, I rushed in. If Quinn ever tries to do romance the way Aaron and I did it, I’ll give him several pieces of my mind. But I knew Aaron was my wolf. No doubt in my mind or my heart, completely sure.”
Ember’s words sank into Claire’s own mind and heart, whispered as if to a mirror. Until this conversation, this very moment, the certainty had been growing inside, not ready for words yet, not wholly conscious, but now… She saw him distractingly hot in a tuxedo, owning the gala stage, speaking with passion about helping those who couldn’t help themselves. She saw him gently prying a stupid turtle off his foot. She saw him caved over her bar, head on his arms, shaking with the aftermath of his pain, and she saw him standing strong and supportive beside Ryker at the wedding, smiling with joy for his friends, delivering a toast that was funny and real and appreciative of people he loved. She closed her eyes and saw it all. She felt his fingers in her hair, felt his lips on hers, his lean muscles shifting under her hands as she held on to him and insisted on more of his kiss.
And she knew more strongly than ever: someday soon, he’d be ready, and they would be bloodbound.
“I’m sure,” she said. “I’m so completely sure.”
Eighteen
Peter Updike didn’t look like a bloodfiend.
Then again, neither did Tai. Then again, what did a bloodfiend look like? A vampire. Normal. Undetectable until the thirst came for him, commandeered his brain and his body, turned his eyes black, brought down his fangs, shredded his throat. He’d wondered for years if his steel-colored irises were an indicator, but no, Peter’s eyes were peridot-green, almost neon.
All these connections, answers, new questions flooded him in the first two seconds of meeting Peter, shaking the man’s hand, joining him on a park bench across from the waterfall where Tai swam with Claire barely a month ago. He’d picked the meeting place.
At first he thought he needed to be here purely for privacy from random vampires that would drift in and out of a restaurant or coffee shop. Here, they’d smell approaching hikers in plenty of time to stop talking and, if the hikers were vampires, allow them to pass. If they were human, the waterfall ensured they wouldn’t overhear regardless of how close theycame. But there were a few establishments in town that utilized soundproofing for their booths, so that couldn’t be the only reason his brain insisted on meeting at the waterfall. Then he realized he needed the space too—the lack of walls and the peace of nature.
Tai glanced at Peter again before gazing out on the crashing water, the rocky cliffs on either side and the churning pool at the bottom. Peter’s hair was sandy blond, overgrown around his ears. His build was typically lean. Other than a subtle cleft in his chin, the man didn’t have a single standout feature—at least not to Tai’s eyes. Humans would of course find Peter attractive as they found all vampires, part of the apex nature.
