Page 76 of The Human’s Heart

In the years I’d known Quinn, I’d never seen him look so happy. It made my heart warm with affection for both of them.

And holy shit, they were viramores too. I just knew Quinn was right about that.

Chapter 23

Hugo

Iwatched Zaos hanging a picture in our new house—we were very slowly filling it with furniture and decorations. If it wasn’t for his family giving us a bunch of furniture they were no longer using or things they wanted to get rid of, our house would be nearly empty.

Just yesterday, Zay’s Uncle Nik brought over a very large dining room table. He said they weren’t using it anymore, but it looked brand new, so I had the feeling he’d just, like, gone out and bought it for us and was pretending it was a hand-me-down. A lot of the supposed hand-me-downs looked brand new.

I wasn’t about to complain.

If they all wanted to give us presents to help us fill the new house, I was all for it. Or at least, I was pretending to believe them about it, anyway. Especially because it made Zay so damn happy every time someone came over with something new.

As I watched him hang the new picture, I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off of his neck. I wanted to bite him there.

My gums tingled in anticipation, and I turned away quickly, covering my mouth in shock.

What the hell, fangs? I can’t just bite him, for fuck’s sake.

Zay said from behind me, “I wouldn’t mind. At all.”

“Oh my god, don’t say that. You’ll make me vamp out, and I don’t even know if I can drink from you yet.”

“So ask.”

I turned back to look at him. “Huh?”

“Go ask Uncle Toby if you can drink from me. We’re both dying to do it.”

“Really?”

“Why not? It won’t hurt anything to ask, right?”

That was true.

I let out a long sigh, then without another word, I turned for the door. Even though there was no true rush, I decided to give my vampirism a little test. I started running and called on my new other half, and before I knew it, everything was flying past me.

I almost ran smack into Toby’s house because I got there so fast I didn’t even realize it. Luckily, I saw it before I embarrassed myself by knocking myself out or something.

After walking into his house, I followed his scent to their family room where their ginormous TV was.

Toby stood and gave me a big dad hug, as always, smiling at me.

As soon as he released me, I blurted, “Can I drink from Zay?”

He blinked and put his thinking face on for a moment. “What’s making you ask now?”

“Honestly? I’ve been dying to for weeks, and today, I… well, I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m having trouble not biting him, if you know what I mean?”

He nodded. “I know exactly what you mean. Okay, well, if you want to do it that badly, you’re probably ready to.”

My eyes widened. “Really? You think so?”

He nodded. “You’re old enough now, and since he’s your viramore, I don’t think there’s any risk to you at all. Do you feel ready? As in, can you bite him and make it feel good rather than hurting him?”

I nodded. “Definitely.” I didn’t even realize how confident I was in this until he asked the question, but there was no doubt in my mind.