He might know I was a vampire, but there were more things we had to talk about.
Later.
I carefully opened the bathroom door and was met by darkness. Not complete darkness, but the sun must’ve set at least an hour ago. It was dusky, but the evening sky still held a hint of bluish grey. For a moment, I just stared at the building opposite this one, at the exact same spot I usually sat right about now, watching Finn.
I’d have to come clean about that eventually. I couldn’t risk him finding out about that part on his own as well, but… not today.
My eyes darted over to the couch. To mymate.He was lying on his side, his hand under his face, his long lashes fanning over his cheek, a relaxed smile on his lips.
Something in my chest unfurled, the last knots of worry falling away.
He still trusted me, he had to. Otherwise, I highly doubted he’d have fallen asleep with me in the other room.
He definitely still cared about me.
I took a step closer and looked for signs of him waking up, but he didn’t move at all as I sat down on the floor in front of him. My fingers itched to reach out and brush a strand of his light brown hair out of his face. To caress his soft, rosy skin that looked so much better and healthier than a couple of weeks ago.
He’d been so damn angry when he’d seen me. For a moment, I thought he’d slam the door in my face—and I’d have deserved it. It’d taken me way too long to realize he was furious at me forhurtingmyself.
I brushed a stray strand out of his face after all.
My caring mate.
Myfeisty, caring mate.
Oh, how much I’d underestimated him.
I’d always thought of him as innocent and slightly naïve. Too pure to pull him into my world.
But he was navigating it better than I’d ever expected. Hell, he’d shouted at me, knowing I was a vampire. He’d practically spat in my face that I wasn’t scaring him.
I smiled, feeling his heartbeat beneath my fingertips, his blood calling out to me. I needed to feed, urgently so, but I couldn’t even think about leaving him alone right now. My hunger wouldhave to wait. I was stronger than the gnawing in my gut, stronger than the throbbing in my gums.
He’d watched me drink blood, I realized with a start. Had watched me devouring that fucking disgusting bag of blood like a starving lion would devour a slab of steak. My cheeks heated, and a trickle of unease set in.
He shouldn’t have seen me like that. That’s not how I wanted him to picture me when he thought about me feeding.
Because the time I’d fed off him had been different. It could be different. With us, I knew it would be sensual. Intimate. Ecstatic.
Finn shifted on the couch, and I stopped caressing his cheek, waiting for his eyes to open.
It took a couple of minutes, but eventually they did. And the way he smiled upon seeing me? It made all the pain I’d gone through worth it.
“Hey,” he said sleepily, blinking a couple of times. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” I said, wiggling my fingers to prove it. “Good as new. How are you?”
Finn grinned.
“Good, now that I know I’m not going crazy. You really are a vampire.”
“Yep.”
He giggled, then sat up.
“I’m gonna keep saying that again and again—and you’ll have to reassure me every time, okay? Because even though I’ve seen it and I know it’s true, it’s still hard to grasp, you know? Vampires are real. And if vampires are… what else is out there?”
I kept my mouth shut. I would answer his questions, all of them, but I had the feeling he’d had enough for one night.
