“It was a simple moment. But the expression on your face… The warm comfort and unconditional devotion radiating in just a single look…” He wiped away the cool tear that’d tracked down my cheek. “It was the most beautiful memory I’d ever been drawn into. All I wanted was to experience that for myself.”
His attention dropped to where his fingers entwined with mine, thumb tracing over my racing pulse.
“It terrified me.” Then he lifted our hands up to brush his lips across my knuckles. Heat spread down my neck and through my chest at his admission and the reverence igniting his evergreen irises. “But you, Lynx, Aspen… You’re my family. Not the one I was born to, the one I was destined to build.”
“And Atlas?”
“He loves you. He loves Aspen. Whether you two are together or not, he is always going to be part of our lives.” He rested his forehead on mine, then kissed my cheek. “We’ll just have to see what he wants once he wakes. I’m guessing he’ll need time to absorb everything.”
I nodded, cupping his jaw with my palm a few moments. Then my gaze trailed over to Lynx who was still focused on Atlas. His brows were knit together in a way I’d never seen before, both of his hands clamped around one of Atlas’s that rested on his chest.
“How much longer?” he called behind himself to the darkness. “I hate that I can’t get a sense of his emotions yet. He’s alive…everything is just dulled.”
Vivaldi swept into view, a few additional vamps behind him. They were large, beefy, and seemed like they meant business. Nerves rioted through me, still unaccustomed to being around their kind. Even the few owls in the treetops hooted ominously before flying from their perches. “It varies from person to person. There are a multitude of factors: age, health, circumstances around their transition.”
“You promise this will work, though?” I asked, refusing to give up on Atlas coming back to us, not caring that it might look a bit different than before. My heart would always beat for him, even if his no longer would.
“I’ve never had performance issues before.” The Vampire King chuckled, gazing at me from under hooded eyes. The red in them bled out, glowing in the darkness. I gulped, and he shook his head, pulling a flask out of his pinstripe trousers. Once he’d taken a few sips, the red muted, filtering into a shade of crystalline blue. “You really should lighten up, Red. Life’s too short and immortality is too dull to not have some humor mixed in.”
“Remind me to be a ball of laughs for you after he wakes up, then.” I glared at him, which only seemed to amuse him further.
“Is there anything we should expect?” Lynx asked. “Anything to make this easier for him?”
“He will have an insatiable thirst and need at least one tether to feed from tonight and on the full moons through his newly sired immortality.”
“What does being a tether entail?” I asked Dante, luring his crimson-flecked gaze.
“A tether is a vampire’s lifeline. Someone he will regularly have access to as he transitions through the course of his newblood phase. Once he’s no longer a newblood, in a year or so, he won’t need to solely rely on his tethers to feed, but your connection will be critical for him. The bond, both emotional and physical, will remain throughout his immortal life. Yours as well if you choose to join him.”
“I’ll tether him,” I said, without giving it a second thought. I had the man I loved back. What was a little bloodletting?
“I really don’t think you should be doing this, Midnight,” Saros said, tone firm, concern seeping through his words. “You can’t be depleted all the time. Aspen needs you already to help sustain him.”
I moved closer to Atlas and Dante, awaiting the next instructions and fidgeting with my fingers. “It’s not your choice to make.”
Lynx grabbed my arm. “Maybe not, but we’re making it anyway.”
Dante rolled his eyes. “So who’s going to do the honors?”
“I am,” Saros said, cutting me a glare.
My eyes went wide. “You?”
“And me,” added Lynx.
I stood there in shock.
“We’re in this together, Wicked.” Lynx pulled me in for a kiss.
“It’ll be safer for us on the full moon when we are all trying to replenish our gifts. To have three tethers will ensure he will always be able to find any of us, and we will be able to help him through his transition,” Saros added matter-of-factly.
“Well, I must admit, I’m a bit envious of the Archon that he has three hearts ready to bleed for him,” Dante said, his sensual lilt licking up my spine. “Sounds like he will have a most memorable full moon feasting.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
“There’d be no fun if I ruined the surprise of it all.” He huffed. “Speaking of, seems like the acolytes have finished preparing his passage back to join the undead.”
Atlas’s nose began to wriggle as we knelt down next to him. Dante instructed me to take off the bloodstones from over his eyes. I set them off to the side, and Saros moved himself between me and Atlas, allowing me to stay near enough but not so close that he couldn’t protect me. While I wanted to push him out of the way, there was a part of me that was nervous, unsure what to expect in these first few moments of his transition.
